ANNALS 



OP 



PHILOSOPHY« 



FEBRUARY, 1815. 



Article I. 



An Essay on the Shapes, Dimensions, and Positions of the Spaces^ 

 in the Earth which are called Rents, and the Arrangement of the 

 Matter in them. By Mr. John B. Longraire. 



(To Dr. Thomson.) 

 SIR, 



I COMMENCED in the year 1812 to write an essay on rents^ 

 which I advertised in the beginning of the year 1813 as a work 

 « the object of which was to prove, that metallic veins, dykes, 

 slips, and all other rents, in the internal part of the earth, were 

 formed when it was passing from a fluid to a solid state, and are 

 owing to the unequal contraction of ils matter ; and that the phe- 

 nomena of stratitication, and formations, in some points of view, 

 as well as the features of the earth at its surface, are effects of the 

 same cause." This work I intended to puhlish in the beginning of 

 the present year ; but since advertising, I have extended it much 

 beyond what 1 originally intended ; and as 1 purpose to make con- 

 siderable additions to it, perhaps a few years may elapse before I 

 publish it ; but as some of my friends and correspondents have 

 requested its early publication, I have determined, with your per- 

 mission, to give an abstract of it in the Annals of Philosophy. In 

 doing 80, 1 will commence with that part which relates to rents. 

 1 am, Sir, with great respect, 



Y(Jur very humble ser\'ant, 



Troutbtck, near Kendal, JoiIN B, IxJNGJtflBE- 



Oct. HO, mi 4. 

 Vol. V. N« II. F 



