IV 



Hutton on Granite 175 



be seen to have come in abruptly in one continuous succes- 

 sion of strata, which, above and below it, are exactly alike, 

 and have obviously been at one time in contact with each 

 other. 



Granite, as Hutton pointed out, differs in many important 

 respects from " whinstone," more particularly in its position, 

 for it was then believed to lie beneath all the known rocks, 

 rising to higher elevations and sinking to greater depths 

 than any other material in the crust of the earth. Yet 

 though he admitted its infra-position, he differed from the 

 Neptunists in regard to its relative antiquity. He believed 

 it to be younger than the strata that rest upon it, for he 

 regarded it as a mass that had once been melted, and had 

 been intruded among the rocks with which it is now found 

 associated. He based this conclusion upon various obser- 

 vations, chief among which was the occurrence of abundant 

 veins that diverge from the granite and ramify through 

 the surrounding rocks, diminishing in width as they recede 

 from their parent mass. 



Properly to appreciate the value of these doctrines in 

 regard to the development of a sound geological philosophy, 

 we must bear in mind what were the prevalent views 

 entertained on the subject when Button's work was 

 published. We have seen that granite, generally regarded 

 as an aqueous formation, was affirmed by Werner to have 

 been the first precipitate that fell from his univeral ocean. 

 De Saussure, who had seen more of granite and its relations 

 than Werner, or indeed than any other geologist of his 

 time, remained up to the last a firm believer in the aqueous 

 origin of that rock. Even after the death of the great 

 Swiss geologist, Cuvier, sharing his opinions on these 



