130 Dr Berne's Geological Comparative view of the 
nearly the same structure. Granites are still very extensively dif- 
fused, crystalline slates (gneiss) in particular are abundant, and 
here and there the coal formations with their porphyry are beau- 
tifully exposed. (Figeai.) The Pyrenees are a great transition 
chain , very regularly stratified from W.NW. to E.SE. The pre- 
dominant rocks- are slates and greywackes, with their subordinate 
common indurated quartzose or calcareous slates, and masses of 
limestone. These last are not only compact, or intermixed with 
slate, as in Argyleshire, but are often most beautifully crystalline, 
in short, appear as true primary limestone, and with many inter- 
esting minerals imbedded, such as augite (pyroxene), hornblende, 
(amphibole), made, grenatite, &c. ; yet these in the same bed 
pass into the compact conchiferous and calcareous rock, and 
even contain here and there traces of organic beings *. In one 
or two instances we observe also in these slates a bed of granu- 
lar gypsum, (Tarascon). Among these great accumulations 
of transition rocks, there appear large imstratified masses , 
sometimes surrounded by small portions of crystalline slates. 
These masses consist of granites , sienites, serpentines , and 
hornblendic (pyroxenic) rocks. The granites occupy the 
greatest spaces, and are especially associated with crystalline 
slates (gneiss, and mica-slate , chiefly feldspathic) ; yet these 
last pass every where, and most evidently, into the true tran- 
sition slates, and even alternate with them. (See Palassou.) 
Similar facts are seen every where, and from this circum- 
stance, Werner established his class of primitive clay-slate, — 
a class which can no longer be admitted, since all the lo- 
calities where this deposit ought to exist in Europe contain 
organic remains. This transition has also led the chief of the 
Edinburgh School to his idea of the contemporaneous formation 
of many rocks, which at first were considered as of a very differ- 
ent nature. 
The granites of the Pyrenees do not form nuclei, as Werner 
supposes ; but they present themselves in the form of what he 
would have called immense beds in gneiss. This appearance, 
however, is not real ; for minute examination on a great scale 
shows, that they have all the characters of veins, often here and 
* See Palassou’s Work, and his three volumes of Memoirs published in 
1815, 1819, 1821. 
