





INTRODUCTION. 













Dissolutions 

 and sediments, 







Sequences. 

 Objections. 



inquiry, the position that granite is the universally radical 

 rock, would appear to be rather an assumption founded on 

 theory, than a fact supported by proofs 5 for if we examine 

 the accounts of the substances found at the greatest depths, 

 in coal mines and other excavations, there is no appearance 

 of granite 5 and if lavas often arise from a vast depth, a fact 

 now admitted from the prodigious extent of the preceding 

 earthquakes and other phenomena, the chief substance is iron 

 mixed with clay 5 and the mineralogical appearances tend to 

 confirm the opinion of astronomers and natural philosophers, 

 that the nucleus of this planet consists of iron j which, even 

 when native, is seldom found unmixed with silex, so that if 

 any rock can be called fundamental, it must consist of such 

 a mixture. It is true, that granite itself presents such a 

 composition, as iron is found in the mica, and still more in 

 the siderite, which in the oldest granites often supplies its 

 place 5 and what is chiefly to be regretted, is the want of 

 positive proofs concerning the anteriority of granite. 



Werner proceeds to explain the effects of the gradual and 

 slow diminution of the primeval waters, in producing chemi- 

 cal dissolutions from a great height, and afterwards gradual 

 sediments ; so that, according to his theory, the shell of this 

 globe, instead of presenting a ruinous and unaccountable 

 confusion, exhibits, when viewed on a large scale, a regu- 

 larity and harmony, such as are admired in the other works 

 of the great Creator. 



Having thus briefly explained this celebrated theory, it 

 must be added that the rocks are divided into various forma- 

 tions, which often receive arbitrary and unexpected epithets. 

 Thus the series called the SLATE FORMATION, is so named 

 from the central member SLATE, rising to mica slate, and 

 passing from gneiss into granite ; while, on the other hand, 

 the descent ends in coal, sand, and clay. It must strike every 

 enlightened observer, that such a distribution, instead of 

 leading to a just and accurate knowledge of rocks, as they 

 occur in different parts of the world, would only form an 

 illustration of the Wernerian system , which may, in the 



