Читать книгу Britain’s Structure and Scenery - L. Stamp Dudley - Страница 6

IT IS ONE of the principal objects of the NEW NATURALIST series to present in simple language to the lay reader the results of recent scientific work in the many fields covered by the general term “Natural History.” Another is to take the results of laboratory research into the realm of field studies and particularly to recapture the spirit of the old naturalists whose keen delight was in the study of animals and plants in their native haunts.

The present volume may be regarded in many respects as a background volume to the whole series in that it attempts to trace the evolution, through the many millions of years of geological time, of the geography of the British Isles and so to present a general view of the stage and setting of Britain’s Natural History.

The task has been rendered especially difficult for several reasons. In the first place it has been necessary to compress a large section of the science of geology into a very small space; in the second place it has been necessary to eliminate a whole scientific terminology which to the geologist makes for brevity and precision but which would be unfamiliar to the non-geologist. In addition, any attempt to reconstruct the geography of past ages is beset with pitfalls, so that the generalisations here presented may appear to have a definiteness which is not warranted by the facts. They must be regarded as liable to constant revision and even now, as the results of the borings undertaken in the intensive war-time search for oil are studied, they may be greatly modified.

THE EDITORS