ioB 



MINER A LOGICAL QjJERIES. 



2. If there is a general direction and dip of the 

 strata, is it confined to the primitive rocks, 

 or does it not also extend to the transition 

 and flcetz formations ? 



I * and rotation of the earth : What Friesleben, Von Buch, 

 44 and Griiner, have proved better than I, — will be found 

 " confirmed, namely, That the succession of the flcetz- 

 44 strata, which was considered as a peculiarity of certain 

 4 4 provinces, such as Thuringia and Derbyshire, takes 

 44 place generally ; and that there appears an identity in 

 44 the order of the strata : from whence, there is reason to 

 44 conclude, that the same deposition has been effected at 

 44 the same time over the whole surface of the globe. All 

 44 these ideas are of the greatest importance, not only to 

 44 the philosopher, who endeavours to rise to general 

 44 principles, but also to the miner, who must conceive in 

 44 his mind what he has not before his eyes, and guide 

 44 himself by analogy deduced from actual experience. " 



As the sketch of the geognostic structure of South 

 America, above alluded to, was written during a journey 

 attended with every difficulty, and transmitted to Europe 

 in the form of letters to different individuals, it is not 

 surprising that it contains a few errors ; and one of the 

 most striking of these, is contained in the concluding 

 paragraph of the quotation, wherein Humboldt claims for 

 himself, and the celebrated pupils of Werner, Von Buch, 

 Friesleben, and Griiner, the discovery of the universality 

 of formations, — a doctrine which they, for the first time, 

 heard proposed and explained by Werner, at the Aca- 

 demy ot Freyberg. 



