The chapters of this work purport to be chronicles of the present state of our knowledge of the mineralogy of the northern portion of the kingdom. The geognosy and lithology are treated of to such an extent only as, in the first place, to explain the position of the minerals ; and, in the second, to aid future investigators in their explorations.

In these chapters, in order to do full justice to the work of others, the authority for, and the original discoverer of every locality mentioned, will be quoted, wherever known.

The author, having attempted to visit every known mineral locality to the north of the Forth and Clyde, and having succeeded in this attempt with less than half-a-dozen exceptions, is able in most cases to authenticate, or the opposite, as the case may be, the statements of previous observers.