56 DOMAIN I. SIDEROUS. 



English reader interesting extracts from such 

 works in the foreign languages, as, from their 

 very nature, can scarcely be expected ever to be 

 known to him by translation. 



statement " ^ nas a ! rea( ty ^ een sa ^ m ^ e Introduction, 

 p. 68, that mountains of secondary trap, and 

 chiefly the basalts, were looked upon by some 

 mineralogists as produced by volcanic fires, while 

 Mr. Werner, and almost all the learned men of 

 Germany, are of opinion, that they have been 

 formed, like other rocks, by the waters which 

 inundated the surface of the globe. 



ce The former ground their opinion on the fol- 

 lowing reasons. 



" 1. In the masses produced by volcanoes 

 which have burnt in our time, are found pris- 

 matic basalts, and other rocks which' resemble 

 trap, and which nevertheless bear no character 

 of fusion, and which only the locality and po- 

 sition indicate as volcanic. 



" 2. It is an error to believe that all the 

 masses ejected by volcanoes must be vitrified 

 substances ; such are on the contrary very rare. 



" 3. Neither is the black colour essential to 

 volcanic products : there are some grey, others 

 brown, and even white. 



" 4. Many observations have proved, that the 

 fire of volcanoes is very inferior to that of our 



