Hints for the Formation of 
the mountains, whether primitive or secondary, from 
which they are supposed to have issued. 
7. To examine whether there are found there any ves- 
tiges of organized bodies* 
8. To examine whether there are not found, in their 
exterior part or surface, strata that seem to have been de- 
posited by stagnant water, or at least water not much 
agitated ; or, on the contrary, whether every thing in 
them seems to have been transported by some violent 
movement ? 
CHAP*. XIV. 
Observations to he made on Secondary Mountains . 
1 . To determine with precision the distinguishing cha- 
racters between primitive and secondary mountains. This 
is difficult, especially in the genera found equally in pri- 
mitive mountains, such as slate, serpentines, and some 
kinds of trapps and porphyry. With regard to the cal 
careens, a granulated fracture seems to characterize the 
primitive. M. Fichtel, however, doubts this principle, 
and believes that there are secondary granulated, calca- 
reous, and compact primitives. 
2. Is it certain, as Dolomieu assess, that in secondary 
mountains there are no strata composed entirely of gra- 
nulated and crystallized stones ? 
3. To determine the respective antiquity of the genera 
and species of the earths and stones which enter into the 
composition of secondary mountains. Might we not as- 
sign characters by which, in the same genus, we might 
distinguish the most modern species and varieties ? 
4. Whether the secondary mountains are always in- 
clined in such a manner as to lean towards the nearest 
primitives ? 
5. Whether their superior stratum, especially in the 
