4^3 



to do, he fays, page 228 " Thus it will appear, that to confoli- 



date flrata, formed at the bottom of the fea, in the manner now 

 " confidered, operations are required unnatural to this place, confe- 

 " quently not to be fuppofed to fupport an hypothefis j" I cannot 

 help thinking, that kindling fires at the bottom of the fea, and fufing 

 all fubftances to be found there, are performing operatipm unnatural 

 to this place, and confequendy, not to be admitted merely to fupport 

 Dr. Hutton's hypothefis. 



He is not the firfl: who has fixed on the bottom of the fea, as 

 a place where operations may be performed, which neither nature 

 nor art can execute in our aerial regions. 



M. St. Fond, as zealous a partizan of the Volcanic Theory, as either of 

 our gentlemen is of the Huitonian, met with at Chamavelle, in the Viva, 

 rois, what he calls, Un courant de lave compade ; un Ruijfeau de bafalte en 

 fufton ; which had penetrated into limeftone rocks, and mixed with 

 calcareous fubftances in a moft extraordinary manner, fo that with- 

 out feeing, without touching this bafaltic lava. Von nefe perfmderait 

 jamais qu'un fait pareil put exi/ler dans la nature. 



A current of lava from Etna or Ve/uvius, could in our days, he 

 fays, exhibit nothing fimilar. He is therefore reduced to a dilemma; 

 he muft either give up the volcanic origin of bafalt, or he muft account 

 for thefe extraordinary phenomena. 



Giving up is out of the queftion ; no theorift was ever guilty of 

 fuch a weaknefs ; he therefore, as well as Dr. Hiitton and Mr. Playfair, . 

 muft account for operations that could not have been performed in a/r, , 

 and like them, he has recourfe to another element. 



Fleilere Ji nequeo fuperos, Acheronta movebo. 



He pronounces pofitively, that the volcano was fubmarine, and 

 poured forth its currents of lava along the bottom of the fea. 



Upon 



