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TRANSACTIONS. 



Report on the State of Knowledge respecting Mineral Veins. 

 By John Taylor, F.R.S., Treasurer of the Geological So- 

 ciety and of the British Associatioii for the Advancement of 

 Science, Sfc. 8fc. 



X HAVE found it very difficult to execute the task proposed to 

 me in a manner satisfactory to myself, as we have at this time 

 no digested account of the views entertained by geologists of 

 the present day upon this interesting subject. The most per- 

 fect treatise is that of Werner, which deserves much attention 

 for the observation of facts which it displays; but as it was 

 written to propound a theory, and as that theory depended 

 upon views of the structure of the crust of the earth which 

 modern geology has at least thrown much doubt upon, so his 

 work cannot be taken as an outline of our present state of 

 knowledge. 



Since his time but little has been attempted respecting vein 

 formations; and the subject has been, I think, rather neglected 

 by geologists, who have advanced other branches of the science 

 with extraordinary skill, industry and success. Detached pa- 

 pers have, indeed, appeared by English authors, among which 

 that on the veins of Cornwall, by Mr. Joseph Carne, holds a 

 distinguished place. 



As some proof that the subject of veins has not been much 

 attended to, I would remark, that in the Second Series of the 

 Transactions of the Geological Society of London, consisting 

 now of the first and second volumes complete, and two Parts of 

 the third volume, no paper expressly on veins is to be found. 

 In the First Series there are two papers, one by the late Mr. 

 W. Phillips, giving an outline of facts more generally obsei'ved 

 with respect to veins in Cornwall, from observations made 

 principally in the year 1800. Another is by Dr. Berger, on 

 the physical structure of Devon and Cornwall, from observa- 

 tions made in 1809. The writer adopts the Wernerian theory, 

 and mentions cases which he thinks confirmatory of its truth. 



In the four volumes of the Transactions of the Royal Geo- 

 logical Society of Cornwall, we shall find this subject more 



1833. B 



