290 



DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



Other 

 opinions. 



Dolomieu 

 inaccurate. 



nor must we, in the modern spirit of in- 

 gratitude, nor even of 



Th' unwilling gratitude of base mankind, 



forget the state of mineralogy at the time 

 he wrote, because superior illumination 

 has since been thrown on many topics. 

 On the other side, the works of Dolomieu 

 on the Lipari Islands, on those called 

 Ponces, near the Gulf of Naples, and on 

 the volcanic productions of Etna> were 

 written before he had attained much expe- 

 rience in lithology. This truth lamentably 

 appears from the latter production, where 

 two or three passages demonstrate that he 

 did not even know what granite is*; yet 

 we are told that exact nomenclature, and 

 the precise knowledge of particular stones, 

 are not necessary in geology ; which is as 



* In p. 20 1, he tells us that the lase of granite, consists of mas- 

 sive felspar : and p. 257, he mistook a mixture of schorl, felspar, 

 and chrysolite, for a granite. Equal errors may be found in man} 

 books of geology ; a study which totally depends on a previous 

 acquaintance with petralogy and lithology. Dolomieu was a mili- 

 tary man, who at an advanced age entered on this difficult study. 



