134 On Bafaltes* 



muft have all melted into one mafs; befides, thefe gentlemen 

 make us wait too long for proof. 



Mr. Rafpe, obferving that the Giants' Caufcway ran into 

 the fea, and conceiving it to be a current of lava, fuppofed 

 that fome unknown quality in the fait water, together with 

 the fudden cooling, oecafioned the material, of which it was 

 compofed, to a (fume regular forms. 



But many currents of lava have been found in different 

 parts of the world running into the fea, while prifms, like 

 thofe at the Giants' Caufeway, have not been obferved at 

 any of them. 



An attentive examination of our coaft {hows the weaknefs 

 of Mr. Rafpe's theory, though warmly adopted by M. Do- 

 lomieu ; for, although bafalt pillars and colonades abound in 

 the faces of our precipices hanging over the fca for twenty 

 miles, yet columnar bafalt comes into contact with the fait 

 water but in three points; to wit, the two interfe6tions of 

 the Giants Caufeway ftratum mentioned above, and at Car- 

 rickarede, five miles eaftward. 



Dr. Hutton, adhering to the igneous fyltem, but giving 

 up the ufual mode of producing lava by volcanic eruption, 

 affirms that all bafalt (the ftone of which the Giants' Caufe- 

 way is formed) is lava, firft fufed, and then consolidated in 

 the bowels of the earth, whence it was elevated to its fur- 

 face, and to the tops of our mountains, by the expanfive 

 force of fubterranean fire. 



Wild as this fafhionable theory muft appear, and contrary 

 to all probability, it is alfo unfupported by any fpecies of proof, 

 and contradicted by facts in every part of this country ; for, 

 inflcad of the diflocation and contorfion of the ftrata, which, 

 according to his theory, he fa)9, we muft expect, (Edin- 

 burgh Transaction*, vol. i. p. 265,) and inftead of finding 

 them, as he fays we do, i( in every poffible pofition, from 

 horizontal becoming vertical, from continuous broken and 

 feparated in every poffible direction, from a plane bent and 

 doubled," nothing can exceed the regularity with which the 

 ftrata are difpofed over the whole face of this bafalt country, 

 nor does their Heady parallelifm feem ever to be difturbed. 



Though bafalt has for a long time been pretty generally 

 confidered as a volcanic production, yet more accurate mo- 

 dern obfervers have difcovered many circumftances which 

 fhow it never could have been in fufion; for inftance, 



All lavas abound with air-holes, while not a fingle cavity 

 is to be found in any of our bafalts, except what are men- 

 tioned below. * 



9 AW 



