MODE III. BASALTIN. 



summits he there met with, seem to be the 

 remains of a vast bed of decayed basalt. 



" 9. In sh >rt, the conical form of trap moun- 

 tains, and above all those of basalt, has the most 

 perfect resemblance to that^ of volcanic moun- 

 tains; and it is this resemblance which gave the 

 first idea of attributing - a volcanic origin to 

 basalt. 



" The advocates for the formation by the hu- 

 mid way, or the Neptunists, on their part sup- 

 port their opinions by many observations, of 

 which these are the principal : 



" 1. It is true basalts are found among pro- 

 ducts of burning volcanoes, but they are ex- 

 tremely rare, and modern eruptions have not 

 produced any. 



" 2. Whatever origin may be attributed to 

 the division in prisms, tables, &c. it is not pecu- 

 liar to trap rocks: there are gypsums, marls, 

 sand-stones, which frequently offer this struc- 

 ture. Thus then this division in prisms, very 

 rare among real volcanic products, on the con- 

 trary exists in many stratified rocks. 



" 3. Basalts often repose immediately on coal, 

 as at Meissner, near Cassel : now, if this basalt 

 was volcanic, it must necessarily have produced 

 the combustion of these beds of coal, 



" 4. The remains of vegetables and animals, 



