96 Remarks on the Transition Rocks of Wernéf. 
seams of the stratified rock, and are cut off by the granite 
in the same line without any interruption. 
To the opinion of Dr. Berger they also offer some reply. 
If the grauwacke had been deposited on the granite in the 
way he supposes, it is natural to conclude, that it would 
have been arranged in lines parallel to the sides of the ele- 
vations, somewhat similar to the coating of bark on the 
-» ostrunk of a tree: but in place of this, the seams of the killas 
os set at an angle of abont 30° to the planes of intersection 
with the granite; consequently, if deposited from a super- 
natant fluid, they have assumed a very different position 
from that which either mechanical or crystalline influence 
would have induced. 
The hypothesis suggested to Dr. Hutton by the appear- 
ance of these veins, meets every difficulty : they conveyed 
to him evidence of being derived from a source of the 
greatest violence ; and also that nothing but liquid matter 
Injected from below: could have created the disturbance 
among the stratified rocks, so conspicuous when in contact 
with granite. As it is a self-evident position, that a rock 
which is cut by a true vein, must have existed in a solid 
state previous to the formation of that vein 3 so is it equally 
obvious, that if the vein can be traced into an adjoining 
mass, of which it is found to be a part, that mass must 
stand in the same relation, in point of period, to the rock 
which contains the vein, as the vein itself does: as also, 
that if pieces of one rock be found imbedded in another, 
the including rock must have been of subsequent forma- 
tion to the included. No theory, however, but that of Dr. 
Hutton can account for these appearances: to nothing but 
force can the position be attributed which the stratified 
rocks have assumed in the vicinity of the unstratified ; and 
nothing but matter injected in a liquid state, could possi- 
bly have formed the shoots which traverse from the great 
mass of granite perforating the stratified rock, and at the 
same time envelop detached fragments of that rock. As 
the idea of violence in these operations has been so fre- 
quently combated, I cannot refrain from noticing here, a 
very striking mark of it I met with at Coul in Ross- shite, 
when visiting Sir George Mackenzie. There the strata of 
gneiss are much disturbed by the invasion of granite veins; 
near which, on the outside curvatures of some of them [ 
perceived rents similar to what we might expeet on bending 
a flattened mass of clay nearly deprived of moisture. fF 
am fortunately enabled to present to the Society specimens 
illustrative of this interesting fact (Nos. 68, 69.) : 
n 
