51 



the time of the eruptions, in Auvergne, wiil, probably^ 

 throw light on the question, and enable him to decide 



between them. 



Sidonius Apollinaris, Bishop of Clemiont, in Auvergne, 

 in the fifth century, describing the calamities of his coun- 

 try, to which he was witness, says: 



" The mountains vomited out fire; their height was in- 

 " a-eased, by the quantity of burnt matters they threw 

 " up, and which, as they fell, heaped upon one another: 

 " the wild beasts fled into the towns for shelter." 



We cannot have a more accurate description of Mr. 

 Guetard's mountains, composed of scoria^ cinders, pumices^ 

 and ashes; but not one word of Mr. Desmarest's cun-ents 

 of lava, which,, by his accouoat, covered a district, eight 

 or nine leagues ui diameter; and mighty torrents of Uquid 

 fire would have heightened Sidonius's picture, who ap. 

 pears disposed to be turgid. 



Mr. Desmarest seems to have suspected, that the obsen- 

 vations he made upon Auvergne, . alone, were not suffi- 

 cient to establish his discovery, that basalt prisms were 

 a volcanic production.. He must call in. the aid of some 

 ^ther country, and shew,, that itt' it, also, basalt was pro. 

 duced by subterraneani firc- 

 He selected:.our county of. Antrim, for his purpose; a 

 country he had not visited, and whose basaltic wonders, 

 though even then much celebrated, had nm&x been ex- 

 .amined with care; nor was any tolerable account of them, 



of 



