The following pages are intended to supply the student with a comprehensive account of the present condition and probable early history of the external crust of the earth, an elementary treatise on the science of Crystallography, and a systematic arrangement and description of the various Minerals found in nature.

The author of the treatise on Geology has already published both elementary and practical works on the subject; and to one of these he feels it right to refer, as it may seem not dissimilar to the present treatise in plan and treatment. The work alluded to (“ Elementary Course of Geology, Mineralogy, and Physical Geography,” London, 1850) is, however, in reality very unlike this, and adapted for a different purpose. It may either succeed or accompany this volume in the hands of the student, but cannot be substituted for it, being more technical, and in greater detail in the departments of Physical Geography and Descriptive Geology ; while the Geological portion of the following pages will be found to abound in generalization,—theoretical, descriptive, and practical. As an instance, the Author may mention the distinct treatise on the application of Geological Knowledge to the Art of Landscape Painting, which forms a prominent part of the division entitled “Practical Geology:' The novelty of this subject, its great interest, and a due consideration of the many ways in which the observations of the Artist and the Geologist run parallel, form an ample apology for its insertion; and the mode in which the subject was received by the profession (when it formed the substance of a series of Lectures delivered a few years ago at the Suffolk Street Gallery, before the Society of British Artists) has induced the Author to bring it forward on the present occasion. <...>

If rock can be thought of as the foundation upon which all life on Earth stands, minerals are the foundation upon which rocks are built. Essentially, minerals are the most simple chemical compounds that make up rocks. This book is designed to take the reader on a tour of the various mineral groups, the unique characteristics that set one mineral apart from another, the features different groups of minerals share, and the roles minerals play in the rocks themselves.

Geomaterials are defined as ‘processed or unprocessed soils, rocks or minerals used in the construction of buildings or structures, including man-made construction materials manufactured from soils, rocks or minerals’ (Fookes, 1991). The definition deliberately includes manmade materials such as bricks or cement but excludes allied engineering materials whose manufacturing is more extensive, such as steel and synthetic paints.

The process commonly called going underground has been very well observed recently around the world. In short it means rather rapidly developing transference of numbers of even highly civilized human activities to the underground space. Geosphere, having been traditionally used as source of energy and raw materials, has now become the space where any anthropogenic activity could be placed and realized.