APPENDIX. 619 



mountains of granite in search of orbicular granite, in which 

 search he was unsuccessful, he had in some measure been in- 

 demnified by the discovery, on the flank of a mountain co- 

 vered with wood, between Monte Pertusato and the valley 

 which leads to Santa Maria la Stella, of " a block of stone, 

 four feet and a half in length by three in breadth, which was 

 sunk in the earth, and displayed on one of its sides globular 

 bodies remarkable for their disposition and colour."* M. 

 Rampasse added, that he was unable to sunder more than 

 about eighty pounds weight from the stone, and that he con- 

 sidered it a proper appendage to the orbicular granite. Some 

 time after M. Rampasse came to Paris, and the specimens of 

 globular porphyry which he brought with him strongly ex- 

 cited the attention of naturalists. 



It was not then generally known, and I myself was at that 

 time ignorant, that M. Mathieu had discovered, twelve months 

 before, orbicular porphyry on its native site, not only in 

 large masses, but in ,a kind of veins, very thick and of consi- 

 derable extent, and that he had already sent to Paris two 

 memoirs on the occasion, accompanied by plans and charts, 

 the one intended for presentation to the Institute of France, 

 the other addressed to M. Vialart-Saint-Morys, who resides 

 on one of his estates at Houdamville, in the neighbourhood 

 of Clermont, in the department of the Oise ; this latter was 

 also accompanied by several specimens of the stone, which, 

 with the memoir, were contained in a case that had not yet 

 been opened, and which M. de Saint. Morys was requested by 

 M. Mathieu, on his passing through Paris, to deliver into my 

 hands. From this memoir I propose to designate the site of 

 the globular porphyry found by M. Mathieu, in a different 

 spot from that in which M. Rampasse discovered his insulated 

 block partly buried in the earth. 



" The territory on which the globular porphyry is found, 1 ' 

 says M. Mathieu, in a memoir sent to M. Vialart-Saint-Morys, 



See the letter of M. Rampasse, inserted Tome viii. page 470, of the 

 Annales du Museum <? His fair e 'Naturdle. 



