80 



nion lava, generally called, by tliese gentlemen, bamltique 

 lave, is merely fused basalt, as was first suggested, 1 be- 

 lieve, by Mr. Werner, 



Plence, we can easily account for the resemblance be- 

 tween basalt and lava: and we are no longer sur- 

 })rised, that chemists have proved them to consist of ex- 

 actly the same materials, and in the same proportions. 



Whether Mr. St. Fond was aware, or not, that lava Avas 

 merely fused basalt, I will not presume to inquire; as 

 he is perpetually asserting the contrary. Yet, it appears 

 rather extraordinary, that the truth of this proposition 

 should have escaped him; as Mr. Werner could not have 

 demonstrated it better, than Mr. St. Fond himself has 

 done, in the fourteenth chapter of his " Mincralogie dis 

 " Volcans." 



The title he gives this chapter is, " Basaltes et Laves 

 " compactes, passant d. Vttat des Laves cellulaires:" and he 

 commences it, by pronouncing, " les laves poreuses doivent 

 " leur origine (i lave compacte, ou hasalte reciiite." He then 

 tells us, " ay-t petit imiter en petit, ce que la nature execute 

 " en grand:" which he explains, by shewing, that, Avhile 

 nature fuses basalt, and turns it into lava, in the craters 

 of volcanos; art can do the same thing en petit, and 

 change the basalt, of which lime-kilns are built, into po- 

 rous lava. 



This he confirms by a specimen, which, though the 

 work of art, " n'en est moins propre a repandre du Jour sur 

 " la thcorie des laves poreuses." « 



His 



