29O ON THE HIGHLANDS. 



M. Saussure might perhaps have conceived it pos- 

 sible for the famous puddingstone of Valorsine, 

 to have assumed its actual posture, without an ex- 

 traordinary convulsion of nature ; and his wonder 

 at what he considered as so unusual a phenome- 

 non, might have somewhat abated. 



If we extend the idea which is suggested by 

 the obvious origin of the conglomerate, it will 

 appear, that the structure of every rock, which 

 exhibits the characters of a sandstone, that is, 

 contains fragments or particles of another and 

 higher rock, affords a demonstrative argument in 

 favour of the Geognosy. It has indeed been que*- 

 stioned, whether such formations of stony sub- 

 stances could ever have taken place in water. 

 But from the wonderful discoveries which have 

 lately distinguished the progress of electro-che- 

 mical science, and which have brought within the 

 circle of our knowledge, a new world of energies 

 and changes among the elements of nature, there 

 is reason to believe, that all the objections hitherto 

 urged against the theory of aqueous consolida- 

 tion, as a fact in the mineral kingdom, will at 

 length be completely removed. 



II. It is a fact which confirms another part of 

 the Geognosy, that as far as I was able to observe, 

 the mica- slate, which in this quarter of the High- 

 lands, is generally undulated, contains no gar- 

 nets. — The waved structure, which here exhibits 

 an endless variety of forms and appearances in 



