t 257 ] 



XLV. Observations on a late Paper ly Dr. Wm. Richard- 

 son, respecting the basaltic District in the North of Ire- 

 land, and on the Geological Facts thence deducible ; in Con- 

 junction with ot tiers observable in Derbyshire and other En* 

 glish Counties : with the Application of these Facts to the 

 Explanation of some of the most difficult Points in the 

 Natural History of the Globe. By Mr. John Farey. 



" By making ourselves acquainted with effects, we shall be better qualified; 

 to investigate causes ; and if those effects shai! appear to be beyo: d the powers 

 of such natural agents as we are already acquainted with, we shall be justified 

 in admitting the performance of operations to which we have seen nothing 

 similar; and also in admitting the former existence of powers of far superior 

 energy to any we have ever knowa in action." — Dr. W. Richardson. 



To Mr. Tilloch, — Sir, 

 IN ext to the delight occasioned by the discovery of any 

 truth of important application, few things can be more 

 pleasant to an ingenuous mind, than to observe others ar- 

 riving at a similar conclusion, by modes sufficiently distinct 

 to give additional evidence to the truth acquired. 



I was led to these reflections, from having considered all 

 that I had read or heard, concerning the basaltic districts of 

 our globe, previous to the perusal of Dr. William Richardson's 

 late able paper in ihe Philosophical Transactions, (reprinted 

 in your two last Numbers, and which I shall take the liber- 

 ty therefore of referring to,) as showing, that no part of the 

 surface or crust of the whole earth was less likely to harmo- 

 nize with the conclusions, to which I had been led, seven 

 or eight years ago, by an attentive consideration of the geo- 

 logical facts which Bedfordshire then presented to my mind, 

 and which have since received ample, and I think I might 

 say complete confirmation, in a more extended field of ob- 

 servation. 



Of the nine geological facts deduced by Dr. Richardson, 

 as applicable to his basaltic district or area, seven of them 

 appear exactly conformable to all my experience in other 

 districts, including very various kinds of strata; and perhaps 

 my not fully comprehending some expressions in his 4th 

 and 5th facts, (page 113,) may alone have prevented a like 



Vol. 33. No. 132. April 1809. R con- 



