Outlines of Geology. 73 



In speaking, therefore, of Werner's theory, we can only avail our- 

 selves of such transient glimpses as he has himself thought fit to 

 give us, and must fill up the various chasms and breaks, with mate- 

 rials derived from the more extended and finished sketches and 

 illustrations with which we have been favoured by his pupils and 

 disciples. Werner's theory then amounts to this : — The matter of 

 our globe was once in a fluid state, or at least its nucleus was 

 enveloped by a chaotic solution of such a nature as to retain the 

 various earthy bodies found in the lowest strata in chemical com- 

 bination ; but this state of things was of short duration, and the 

 chaos began to deposit a variety of crystalline aggregates, such 

 as the different species of granite, certain kinds of slates, or as 

 they are more technically called, schists ; the genuine kinds of 

 marble, serpentine, and porphyry, and a few other more equivocal 

 compounds. These constitute the primitive rocks or formations of 

 the Wemerian school ; they are supposed to have had their origin 

 antecedently to the creation of living beings ; they are more or less 

 crystalline in their texture, and never contain any organic remains 

 or rounded pebbles. 



The second class of rocks included in this arrangement, are 

 supposed to have been formed during the transition of the Earth 

 from its chaotic to its habitable state. They are partly crystal- 

 line aggregates, and partly mechanical deposits ; they contain 

 fragments of pre-existing rocks, and are sparingly interspersed 

 with imperfect remains of some of the lower orders of animals ; 

 certain dark-grey compact limestones, and the rocks called grau- 

 wacke, composed of fragments imbedded in a slaty paste, are 

 the leading members of this family. 



It is, then, imagined, that the elements acting upon these 

 older rocks tended to their attrition and disintegration, and that 

 several substances being mechanically diffused throughout the 

 waters that covered the primitive and transition series were 

 deposited upon them in successive layers, in a horizontal position. 

 These are Werner's Floetz rocks; they not only contain, but 

 even abound in, vegetable and animal remains ; and among the 

 latter, skeletons of amphibious animals are not uncommon. 



