55 



But, as I perceive, from the late publications in the National 

 Institute, that Mr. Desmarest still wields his pen, I trust he 

 will explain. 



All that remained, to enable Mr. Desmarest to complete 

 his proof, of Antrim being a volcanic country, was, to find 

 the scoria, which, he well knew, Avas admitted, by all na- 

 turalists, invariably to accompany every volcano. Not one 

 English writer, on the subject of the Giant's Causeway, had 

 mentioned the word scoria: but Mr. Desmarest assures us, 

 that their not having mentioned the scoria, along our coast 

 and precipices, was pure omission; and, as to the scoria, 

 that ought to have been found on the Giant's Causeway 

 itself, it was (as he tells us) all washed off by the breach 

 of the sea. 



As Mr. Desmarest has been pleased to give us so much 

 information, about our county of Antrim, Avhicli he never 

 saw ; I think the least I can do is, to return the obligation, 

 and give him some information, relative to his Auvergne, 

 which I have never visited. 



I, therefore, venture to assure him, that Auvergne was, 

 originally, a basaltic country; with its materials, arranged 

 by the hand of nature, precisely in the same manner, as 

 they are in Antrim, and, I believe, in all basaltic countries: 

 that is, in extensive strata, horizontal, or nearly so; exhi- 

 biting flat terraces, accumulated upon each other, in several 

 tier; often abrupted into perpendicular facades, displaying 

 the prismatic and columnar construction of the basalt, of 



. H 2 which 



