110 REMARKS ON THE 



cient to attain perfection ; nor could it reasonably be supposed, 

 that an}' district, however extensive, should be so singularly 

 favoured, as to contain all the variety of facts, that occur in 

 other parts of tlie world, from which deductions are to be 

 drawn, and elucidations afforded, investing phenomena, with 

 characters which they do not present elsewhere. 



In forming his arrangement, Werner may have exhausted 

 the means he possessed; he, therefore, ought not to be reproach- 

 ed, for although his conclusions are more general, than are war- 



■^' ranted by the circumscribed field to which he was confined, 



yet he has formed a groundwork, on which the labours of fu- 



% ture geologists may rear a system, more capable of affording sa- 



tisfaction. 



It is greatly to be wished, that arrangements of this kind 

 were less dictated by theory. The pupils of the Wernerian 



"■* School have been peculiarly fettered, by an ideal necessi- 



ty of suppoiling the principles of their master ; but the blend- 

 ing of theory with description, is an error common to all spe- 

 culative geologists ; the support of preconceived opinions beino- 

 very generally the principal object in view. 



Hence we find, that collections of those facts which are 

 supposed favourable to certain doctrines, have been eagerly 



' pursued, and others, equally interesting in themselves, entire- 



ly overlooked ; while that minute detail, which is alone capa- 



i ble of placing the student in a situation to draw conclusions of 



his own, has been totally neglected. 



The part of the Wernerian System, which it is my inten- 

 tion to notice at present, is the class of rocks termed Tran- 

 sition. After stating the grounds on which this distinction 

 has been established, and the particular rocks of which the 

 series is composed, with their extent and importance, I shall 



endeavour 



