278 ORICiN Of BASALT. 



Facis and ob- to the county of Antrim for proofs, I hope that I too will be 



servaiions re- allowed to extract, from the same source, such proofs-as appear 



specting the ^ , . 



basalt in the to me to support the negative. 



ccHinryof An- In discussing this question I shall abstain from all argu- 



to show that it "^^nts a priori, and limit myself io facts alone; of which. I 

 is not volcanic, hope t(y lay before the reader several that have escaped the 

 notice of my predecessors; feeling that I ought to make him 

 some amends for having detained him so long in a barren dis- 

 cussion of opinions, and an uninteresting detection of misre- 

 presentations. 



Before I proceed to compare the circumstances in which 

 our basaltic area resembles or differs from volcanic countries, 

 I must answer a charge that has been brought against me. I 

 have been told, that it is presumption in me, who never saw a 

 volcano, to take up a question, the solution of which must 

 depend upon an intisoate knowledge both of basaltic and vol- 

 canic countries. 



I first plead example; as not one of my predecessors, who 

 have written upon this topic, has (•^o far as I can find) exa- 

 mined both volcanic countries and our basaltic one. 



I have also authority for saying, that an examination of 

 existing volcanos is not very instructive. Mr. Kirwan tells 

 us CoUini twice ascended Vesuvius, and witnessed its erup- 

 tions, but complains he got no knowledge by it. Mr, Ferber's 

 testimony is exactly similar. And, indeed, it is plain that, 

 in an eruption, the lighter materials fiist projected upwards ; 

 then falling down, and accumulating upon the weightier, that 

 had flowed in lava, must make it very difficult to trace arrange- 

 ment; and this is the surest guide in all questions relative to 

 cosmogony. 



Mr. Strange's observations on this topic are amusing: he 

 lets out the secret without knowing it, or availing himself of 

 it. He says, " The pha'nomena of recent volcanos are very 

 " little calculated to give us instruction. A few days tour in 

 *' Auvergne, Velay, or the Venetian State, are worth a seven 

 " years apprenticeship at the foot of Vesuvius or iEtna." 



Mr. Strange was not aware, that ilTuvergne, Velay, and 

 the parts of the Venetian state he alludes to, Avere originally 

 basaltic countries, in which, afterwards, volcanos erupted. 

 Herf he found a rich variety of materials: for, besides the 

 common volcanic substances, he found all the varietes of 



basalt^ 



