Geology took its rise in the Academy of Freyberg, with the illustrious WERNER, to whom we owe its present interesting condition. This being the case, we ought not, (as is at present too much the practice), amidst the numerous discoveries in the mineral kingdom which have been made since the system of investigation of that great interpreter of nature was made known, forget the master, and arrogate all to ourselves. In this Island, Geology first took firm root in the north: in Edinburgh the Wernerian geognostical views and method of investigation, combined with the theory of HUTTON, the experiments and speculations of HALL, the illustrations of PLAYFAIR, and the labours of the Royal and Wernerian Natural History Societies, excited a spirit of inquiry which rapidly spread throughout the Empire; and now Great Britain presents to the scientific world a scene of geological acuteness, activity, and enterprise, not surpassed in any other country. On the Continent the writings of CUVIER, distinguished equally by purity and beauty of style, and profound learning, have proved eminently useful in aiding the progress of Geology. In this country CUVIER was first made known as a geologist by the publication of the present essay, which, from its unexampled popularity, has made his name as familiar to us as that of the most distinguished of our own writers. ROBERT JAMESON. COLLEGE MUSEUM, EDINBURGH, _25th November 1826_. ADVERTISEMENT TO FOURTH EDITION. This Fourth Edition of the celebrated Essay on the Theory of the Earth, contains, besides many additional facts and statements in regard to the Natural History of the Earth, also learned discussions by CUVIER, on the newness of the present continents, as confirmed by the history of nations; and on the proofs regarding the antiquity of nations alleged to be contained in their astronomical and other monuments. ROBERT JAMESON. COLLEGE MUSEUM, EDINBURGH, _2d April 1822_.