16 Remarks on the Transition Rocks of Werner. 
speculative geologists; the support of preconceived opi- 
nions being very generally the principal object in view. 
Hence we find, that collections of those facts which are 
supposed favourable ‘to certain doctrines, have been eagerly 
prrsued, and others, equally’ interesting in themselves, en- 
tirely overlooked ; while that minute detail, which is alone 
capable of placing the student in a situation to draw con- 
ehisions of his own, has been totally neglected... 
The part of the Wernerian system, which ii. my inten 
tion to notice at present, is the class of rocks termed Trans- 
ilion. After stating the grounds on which this distinction 
has been established. and the particular rocks of which the 
series is composed, with their extent and importance, I shall 
endeavour to show, that those which constitute its principal 
members, are similar in different districts ; and, finally, that 
they are of an older date than granite, which maintains the 
first place in point of priority in the system of Werner. 
It is well known, that one of the principal arguments 
brought forward by Dr. Hutton, is drawn from the pene- 
tration of the stratified rocks by veins extending from the 
mass of granite, which he considered as affording a deci- 
sive proof, of the subsequent formation of that rock. It 
miust not, therefore, be supposed, that I aim at any thing 
original in the above assertion, or that I even wish to limit 
the term alpine schistus, as applied by that ingenious phi- 
losopher ; there can be no doubt, that, under this name, he 
included both the primitive and transition stratified rocks 
of Werner; but itr his time no distinction had been drawn 
between them: it is only later discoveries that have im- 
posed the necessity of, more specific language, which may 
at onee account for that want of precision by which his 
writings are so much obscured, and the deficiency of mi- 
neralogical knowledge, with which he has been so frequently 
charged, ’ ane nin: 
Werner, in the construction of his systematic arrange- 
ment, thought that he perceived grounds for considering 
all rocks, from granite down to clay-slate, as bearing marks 
of having been deposited from the original chaotic fluid, 
i a certain determinate order. In them no detritus, or 
any thing like organised nature, was to be observed; and 
to this point every rock remained exactly in the same _ state 
yn which it was at the period when it first acquired solidity. 
To these alone the title of primitive was attached, 
In the rocks immediately following, of which limestone 
is said to be the first, he remarked an essential difference ; 
the limestone not only abounded in organic remains, but 
; . other 
