Excerpt from Dictionary of Geology Mineralogy: Comprising Such Terms in Natural History as Are Connected With the Study of Geology
If submitting tho following pages to public approbation, or public censure, I avail myself of the accustomed privilege to offer a few prefatory observations ; explanatory, on the one hand, of the motives which led to their preparation; and deprecatory, on the other, of severity of criticism.
The labours of the lexicographer greatly differ from those of authors generally. Dr. Johnson has observed, "every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompence has been yet granted to very few. It is the fate of those, who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good; to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals is tho writer of dictionaries; whom mankind have considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obstructions from the paths through which learning and genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their escape."
When I commenced collecting materials for the present work, I was induced to undertake the labour from a conviction that something of the kind was greatly needed. At entering on the study of geology, scarcely had I read through a single page, ere I found my difficulties much enhanced by the non-existence of a dictionary, containing such technological terms as are peculiar to this branch of science, and, for a time, I was frequently obliged to pass over words, without any distinct comprehension of their force or application. Assuredly, some writers on geology have appended a glossary to their productions; but, I need scarcely say, these are, for the most part, necessarily meagre and ineffectual. The very necessity, also, for their insertion, I may, perhaps, claim as one of the strongest arguments in justification of my present attempt.
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