69 



On another occasion he is more decided; for, finding 

 biittes isolees unconnected Avith currents of lava, he says, they 

 were forced hors de terre, by the eiforts of tlie two superior 

 craters. (Page 269-) A combination of forces, and a con- 

 junction of operations, which, 1 confess, I do not well 

 comprehend. 



Mr. St. Fond's account of Pont de Baume is very im- 

 portant; as it describes, accurately, a circumstance, common 

 to many basaltic countries, to wit, strata of columnar ba- 

 salt, alternating with strata of another variety of this fossil ; 

 as at StafFa, Bolsena, the Giant's Causeway, and the whole 

 neighbouring country. We see, too, that Mr. St. Fond him- 

 self cannot reconcile this arrangement with the common 

 mode of volcanic formation. 



I will now proceed to state some of the postulates, which 

 Mr. St. Fond finds himself under the necessity of making, in 

 order to reconcile, to his theory, the extraordinary facts, 

 which are perpetually occurring to him. He seems to forget, 

 that the sole proof, adduced to support the Volcanic Theory, 

 is, that basalt prisms Avere found in actual currents of lava. 

 He now proceeds to invent, for his purpose, new and extraor- 

 dinary operations, without assigning any reason, or proof, to 

 shew, that nature ever performed any such. 



Mr. St. Fond describes, and gives us a drawing of Mont 

 Maillas, which appears to be an enormous basaltic hum- 

 mock, of great elevation, formed by an horizontal stratum 

 of columnar basalt, exhibiting a colonnade round its peri- 

 phery. He admits, no crater is to be found near Mont 

 vot. X. K Maillas; 



