150 
WERNERIAN’ SYSTEM. 
This intcrcst- 
itiK tact was 
cstablislx d by 
Werner and 
his pupils. 
Instances, 
Werner also 
pointeii out 
and u'^ed the 
hist i.icthods 
of iuvestiijat- 
insr these j;;t'nc- 
ral relatiuns of 
rocks, &c. 
Leading fact; 
ord< r of su- 
perposition. 
Masses called 
fonuations; 
simple 
fact of the utmost interest and importance, for the distinct 
knowledge of which, however probable it may have appeared 
from analogy, we <ire indebted principally to Werner and his 
pupils. His own observations in various parts of Germany, 
those of D’Aubuisson in France, of Humboldt in South Ame- 
rica, of Mr. Jameson in Scotland, h::ve proved, that rocks, iden- 
tical in characters, present themselves in all these regions, and, 
to all appearance, in the same relative order of succession. 
The basalt.s of Germany, Auvergne, the Isle of Bourbon*, of 
Scotland, and of Soudi America, the granite of India, Scot- 
land, Siberia ; the clay-stone and compact lelsparof the Pent- 
land hills, near Edinburgh, and those of Saxony, are all, respec- 
tively, alike. And greenstone and clinkstone were by Hum- 
boidtt found to exhibit, on the lofty ridges of the Andes, the 
same features of external aspect and position, as on the summits 
of Saxony and of Scotland. 
The various relations of rocks thus universal, become, there- 
fore, the object of very interesting inquiry, as they must be 
attributed to the agency of causes uniform and extensive in 
their operation. It is to Werner, also, that we are indebted for 
having pointed out the best method of investigating these re- 
lations, and for the developement of certain principles respect- 
ing them, which must be admitted to be of very general ap- 
plication, if it be denied that they hold universally throughout 
the surface of the globe. 
The leading fact to which this method directs the attention, 
is the order of superposition in the masses constituting the exte- 
rior of the earth. It has been obsen’ed, that certain strata, 
or masses of rock, are generally found together in groups 
which have a ccriain unify of structure and position ; or, in 
fte words of Mr. Jameson, in “ determinate assemblages 
of similar and ’dis.similar rocks, each of which is charac- 
terized as an independent whole by external and internal 
relations.” These assemblages Werner has denominated “ for- 
matiens ; simple when the same species of rock constitutes th« 
• D’Aubiiisson sur Ics basaltic dc la Saxe, p. 76. 
t Tableau Pliysiquc, &c.p. 1, 2, 3, 4. 
whole 
