MODE III. BASALTIN. 4J 



not composed of porous lava, as Dolomieu allows 

 that some are, while others, as he says, are com- 

 pact, because the water stops the internal effer- 

 vescence; and whether, if the observers had 

 seen the elegant articulated columns of the 

 north of Europe, they would not have rejected 

 the comparison*? But as Sicily may be said to 

 be in our possession, and the interesting work of 

 Dolomieu has not been translated into English, 

 it may not be irrelevant to present an extract, 

 that future observers may decide whether the 

 appearances be caused by the eruptions, or be 

 antecedent to them. 



" As basaltic columns rarely appear in cabi- Basaitinof 

 nets, and it is more interesting to see them on 

 the spot, that their groups may be the better fol- 

 lowed, I shall point out those parts of Etna 

 where the most curious phenomena of this kind 

 may be observed. 



" In the second of the Cyclopic isles, of 

 which the form is that of a Jong pyramid, 

 immense prismatic columns, perpendicular, ar- 

 ticulated, and for the most part hexagonal, ap- 

 pear; the diameter of which is from two to three 



feet. 



i 



* I have seen, in the beautiful collection of M. Patrin, at Paris, 

 berils articulated in the same manner with basaltin : but no one 

 fcas supposed that berils are produced by fire. 



