various parts of Scotland. 429 



its existence Implies no chemical impossibility. That which occurs 

 on a small scale may occur on a large. The terms are but com- 

 parative, and the works of Nature are not to be limited by a measure 

 taken from our own confined dimensions. 



Thus we find on the small scale, that antimony is divisible into 

 laminae, while its sulphuret splits into columns ; that mica has a 

 lamellar texture, and asbestos a fibrous one. Should a mountain of 

 the size of Goatfield occur, formed of a solitary crystal of mica, we 

 Should not be entitled to call it stratified, while we considered a 

 neighbouring mountain of asbestos to be columnar. 



Such I conceive to be the analogies by which we may safely 

 guide our reasonings on this subject. Nor is the great lamellar 

 texture which has so often been considered as the effect of stratifica- 

 tion, peculiar to granite. In examining the Cuchullin hills in Sky, I 

 have observed that the syenite and greenstone are bedded as it were in 

 layers, either curved or straight, either horizontal or slightly inclined, 

 resembling so much the disposition of granite beds, that even an 

 experienced eye would at a distance be deceived by them. It is 

 not necessary to illustrate this view by any further analogies, as 

 every person's memory will afford examples in the disposition of 

 some kinds of porphyry. My design is merely to suggest the 

 necessity of considering the greatness of the scale on which Nature 

 operates, and the probable occurrence of a chemical texture, if 

 I may use such an expression, different from, and additional to that 

 which may be observed in the smaller masses, and probably as 

 constant in the larger masses which constitute the different rocks, 

 as the minuter crystallization is in the smaller parts which unite to 

 form them. 



Thus far I have only argued on the probability that Goatfield 

 does not consist of stratified granite, by analogical reasoning and 



