During the preparation of this book Professor Norton has frequently discussed its plan with me by correspondence, and we have considered together the matters of scope, arrangement, and presentation. As to scope, the needs of the young student and not of the expert have been our guide; the book is therefore a text-book, not a reference volume. In arrangement, the twofold division of the subject was chosen because of its simplicity and effectiveness. The principles of physical geology come first; the several chapters are arranged in what is believed to be a natural order, appropriate to the greatest part of our country, so that from a simple beginning a logical sequence of topics leads through the whole subject. The historical view of the science comes second, with many specific illustrations of the physical processes previously studied, but now set forth as part of the story of the earth, with its many changes of aspect and its succession of inhabitants. Special attention is here given to North America, and care is taken to avoid overloading with details. With respect to method of presentation, it must not be forgotten that the text-book is only one factor in good teaching, and that in geology, as in other sciences, the teacher, the laboratory, and the local field are other factors, each of which should play an appropriate part. The text suggests observational methods, but it cannot replace observation in field or laboratory; it offers certain exercises, but space cannot be taken to make it a laboratory manual as well as a book for study; it explains many problems, but its statements are necessarily more terse than the illustrative descriptions that a good and experienced teacher should supply. Frequent use is made of induction and inference in order that the student may come to see how reasonable a science is geology, and that he may avoid the too common error of thinking that the opinions of "authorities" are reached by a private road that is closed to him. The further extension of this method of presentation is urged upon the teacher, so that the young geologist may always learn the evidence that leads to a conclusion, and not only the conclusion itself. W. M. DAVIS Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. July, 1905 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ILLUSTRATIONS