BBS Hints for the Formation of 
F. Also that, in the same vein, the lowest parts are the 
most ancient. 
Gr. That in some veins there are found rolled pebbles ; 
in others the remains of organised bodies, shells, and 
wood ; and in others, of coal, stones, and sea-salt. 
H. That one may assign the relative age of the forma- 
tion of different minerals $ for example, that tin mines 
may be said to be of the most ancient formation ; then 
those of uranite, bismuth, &c. 
The greater part of the following questions will furnish 
confirmations of this theory, or objections against it, ac- 
cording to the solution given of them : 
13, Is it true that there are mountains, or portions of 
mountains, so pierced with cotemporary veins that they 
could not have supported themselves, had not the sub- 
stance with which they are filled been created at the 
same time as the mountain itself? I have used the ex- 
pression cotemporary, because, if we can suppose that 
.the fissures filled, by these 'veins were formed in succes- 
sion, the objection which this fact would present to the 
theory of Werner would be by these means resolved. 
13. A. I must here repeat the 10th question of Chap. 
II. How can it be conceived that all the metals and sub- 
stances found in a vein should have been dissolved by 
the water of the sea ?* 
14. Is it true that there are in Derbyshire vertical 
veins of lead intersected several times by horizontal stra- 
ta of amygdaloides or loadstone ? 
15. Are there found, in the neighbourhood of veins, 
strata of the same mineral contained in these veins, and 
which seem to have been deposited at the same time when 
the deposits of the sea filled the fissures occupied by 
these veins ? 
* Or in the waters of the great ocean 3 which are supposed to have covered 
the whole globe of the earth. Til. 
