}. 



^< 



tr 



ti. : 



I 



,1 f 



i 



It 



HXJTTONIAN THEORY. 



519 



t 



453. The theoretical conclufions of another ac- 

 •curate and fkilful obferver, Dolomieu, furnifh a 

 ilill more remarkable example of a tendency to 

 union between fyftems profefledly hollile to one 

 another. 



This ingenious mineralogill, obferving the iri- 

 terpofition of the bafalt between ftratified rocks, 

 fo that it had not only regular beds of fandftone 

 for its bafe, but was alfo covered with beds of 

 the fame kind, faw plainly that thefe appearan- 

 ces were inconiiftent with the fuppoiitior 

 common volcanic explolions at the furface. 



of 

 He 



therefore conceived, that th 



erupt 



had happened at the bottom of the fea, (th 



f wh 



for 



S 



had been much 



higher than at prefent), and that the materials 

 afterwards depofited on the lava, had been in 

 length of time confolidated into beds of Hone, 

 ft is evident, that this notion of fubmarine vol- 

 canoes, comes very near, in many refpedls, to 

 Dr Hutton's explanation of the fame appearan- 

 ces. If the only thing to be accounted for were 

 the phenomenon in queftion, it cannot be denied 

 that Dolomieu's hypothelis woi 



fuffic 



but Dr H 



1 would be perfedly 

 , to whom this phe- 

 nomenon was familiar, and who, like Dolomieu, 

 conceived the bafalt to have been in fufion, was 

 convinced that the retreat of the fea was not a 

 fad w€^il attefted by geological appearances, and 



Kk4 if 



