NOME II. BASALTIN ANt> BASALT, OR BASALTON. 167 



thin layers of sandstone and sand, followed by a 

 bed of coal, in some places not less than 28 

 yards in thickness. Immediately upon this coal 

 reposes a platform of basaltin, forming the level 

 on the summit, which is about nine miles in 

 length and about three broad. The basaltin 

 exceeds a hundred yards in thickness. 



" The grunstein appears almost every where 

 above the basalt, and in some places has the ap- 

 pearance of a beautiful granite; the grains of 

 siderite being black or green, laminar, and as 

 large as peas, while those of felspar are whitish. 

 On the lower part of the platform, towards the 

 west, there is a basalt in prisms ; the most black, 

 the most compact, and the most homogenous, as 

 far as can be judged, that can well be observed. 

 I here arranged the sequence of a dozen speci- 

 mens, which presented a decrescent progression, 

 with regard to the size of the grain, from the 

 beautiful grunstein to the compact basalt, of 

 which I have spoken ; and to shun the objection 

 that the specimens did not belong to the same 

 continuous mass, I chose some in which the 

 small grained grunstein was in the midst of the 

 compact basalt; and they might be seen, so to 

 speak, melting into each other." He then 

 quotes the remarkable passage of Dolomieti in Ancient basalt, 

 these terms: " I have seen many statues, mor- 



