46 DOMAIN I. 61DEROUS. 



the ancients, is allowed on all hands not to be 

 of a volcanic nature, the distinct name basaltin 

 becomes the more necessary, in order to discri- 

 minate a wholly different substance, the origin 

 of which is still liable to contestation. 



Concerning basaltin, by many called compact 

 lava, further observations will be found in dis- 

 cussing the Volcanic Rocks. .The testimony of 

 , Daubuisson, concerning the volcanic origin of 



this substance, is too remarkable to be omitted, 

 as in his able treatise on basalt he has strongly 

 enforced the contrary opinion, embraced while 

 he was at Freyberg, and enveloped in the vortex 

 of Werner. This change of his Neptunean ideas 

 occurred after his visit to Auvergne, a country 

 which presents many extinct volcanoes, as all 

 who have seen it or its products must confess ; 

 this curious fact being only denied by those who 

 are lost in the mist of prejudice, and who in fact 

 ruin their own system, by pushing it so far as to 

 maintain tenets palpably absurd, and contradic- 

 tory to the common sense of mankind; such as, 

 for example, that pumice itself is of an aqueous 

 origin ! The following abstract of Daubuisson's 

 remarks on Auvergne is given in the Journal de 

 Physique*. 



* 1804. 



