LIFE of Dr HUTTON. ' 69 



lefs than the difcovery of a vein of iilver or gold, that could 

 call forth fuch ftrong marks of joy and exultation. 



Dr Hutton has defcribed the appearances at this fpot in the 

 third volume of the Edinburgh TranfaSHons, p. 79. and fome 

 excellent drawings of them were made by Mr Clerk, whofe 

 pencil is not lefs valuable in the fciences than in the arts. On 

 the whole, it is certain, that of all the junctions of granite and 

 fchiflus which are yet known, this at Glentilt fpeaks the molt 

 unambiguous language, and moft clearly demonfirates the vio- 

 lence with which the granitic veins were injected among the 

 fchiftus *. 



In the year following, Dr Hutton and Mr Clerk alfo vifit- 

 ed Galloway, in fearch of granitic veins, which they found at 

 two different places, . where the granite and fchiftus come in 

 contact. One of thefe junctions was afterwards very carefully 

 examined by Sir James Hall and Mr Douglas, now Lord 

 Selkirk, who made the entire circuit of a tract of granite 

 country, which reaches from the banks of Loch Ken, where 

 the junction is beft feen, weftward to the valley of Palnure, oc- 

 cupying a fpace of about 1 1 miles by 7. See Edinburgh Tranf- 

 attions, vol. III. Hi/lory, p. 8. 



In fummer 1787, Dr Hutton vifrted the ifland of Arran in 

 the mouth of the Clyde, one of thofe fpots in which nature has 

 collected, within a very fmall compafs, all the phenomena moft 

 interesting to a geologilt. A range of granite mountains, pla- 

 ced 



* I MUST take this opportunity of correcting a miftake which I have made in 

 defcribing the junction in Glentilt, (Illujlrations of the Huttonian 'Theory, p. 3i.a.) 

 where I have faid, that the great body of granite from which thefe veins proceed, 

 is not immediately vifible. This, however, is not the fact, for the mountains on 

 the north fide of the glen are a mafs of granite to which the veins can be directly 

 traced. This 1 have been allured of by Mr Clerk. Dr Hutton has not defcri- 

 bed it diftinctly ; and not having feen the union of the veins with the granite on 

 the north fide, when I viftted the fame fpot, I concluded toohaftily, that it had not 

 yet been discovered.. 



