Remarks on Dr. Boase's Primary Geology. 555 



science abounds with copious and good descriptions, which are 

 daily increasing in number and in importance ; whilst that of veins 

 scarcely possesses any plain and honest details unencumbered with 

 hypothesis. Indeed, the low state of our knowledge of these curious 

 phenomena is plainly denoted by the neglect with which they have 

 been treated in the most recent and most esteemed geological publi- 

 cations. Thus the student looks in vain for any practical infor- 

 mation on this subject in the voluminous work of Lyell on the 

 Principles of Geology : and in the Manual of De la Beche, he must 

 rest contented with some short details ; indeed, the author has 

 apologised for the brevity with which he has treated this branch of 

 the science, and adds, that his notice of it ' is solely intended to 

 call the attention of the student to a few interesting circumstances.' 

 We rather suspect that the confusion of facts and theory in the 

 descriptions of veins, rendered the subject unfit for the pages of 

 his practical work. In Macculloch's System of Geology, also, al- 

 though the account of veins occupies a few more pages, yet it does 

 not convey an accurate notion of a vein ; and is, as in every other 

 work, so blended with hypothesis, that the student cannot dis- 

 tinguish fact from conjecture. 



" This fault, both in our elementary and systematic works, is 

 certainly to be regretted : it is not, however, attributable to these 

 eminent Geologists, but to the mode in which this part of the science 

 has been treated; and their names are only here adduced as au- 

 thorities to show the truth of our observation, that the knowledge 

 of veins is very defective." 



And the Chapter thus concludes : 



" In concluding this brief sketch of the Cornish veins, which has 

 been divested as much as possible from all theoretical considerations, 

 we would ask whether enough has not been advanced to show that 

 the general idea of these veins is incorrect : and when we hereafter 

 discuss the nature of their origin, it will be seen that our knowledge 

 on this subject is as unsatisfactory as the descriptive details. From 

 the leading facts which have been now brought together, we learn 

 that veins, whether large or small, possess precisely the same 



characters : they are intimately connected with the containing rock 



4 c 



