318 SIR JAMES HALL on the Consolidation of the Strata. 



It had often been urged, and apparently with good reason, 

 against this branch of the Huttonian Theory, that no amount of 

 heat applied to loose sand, gravel, or shingle, would occasion the 

 parts to consolidate into a compact stone. And as all my ex- 

 perience led to the same conclusion, I saw that, unless, along 

 with heat, some flux were introduced amongst the materials, no 

 agglutination of the particles would take place. The striking 

 circumstance above alluded to, as occurring near Dunglass, and 

 which will be particularly described presently, having suggested 

 to me the idea that the salt of the ocean might possibly have 

 been the agent in causing the requisite degree of fusion, I in- 

 stituted a series of experiments, the details of which I am about 

 to bring before the Society. By these, I conceive it will be 

 shown, that this material, under various modifications, is fully 

 adequate to explain the consolidation of the strata, and many 

 other effects which we see on the surface of the Earth. 



My success, from the first, was such as to promise the most 

 satisfactory result, though it is only within the last year that I 

 have been able to command the repetition of the experiments in 

 a manner fit to be laid before this Society. This must be my 

 apology to those who hear me, and to such of my friends as take 

 an interest in these investigations, for having so long delayed 

 the publication of a set of facts, some of which had presented 

 themselves to my view many years ago. 



Whoever, indeed, has had any experience in the prosecution 

 of new subjects of experimental inquiry, knows that, owing to 

 his ignorance of the requisite adjustment of the proportions of 

 the ingredients, and of other similar arrangements, he must de- 

 pend, in a great degree, upon chance for the success of his first 

 results, and that he must often submit to spend much time and 

 labour upon a subject, even after it has been made out to his 

 own satisfaction, before he has acquired sufficient command 

 over its details to answer for the result of any particular experi- 



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