pect, that some of
the expanded matter might be found condensed in the bodies which have
been heated by that igneous vapour; and that matter, foreign to the
strata, may have been thus introduced into the fractures and separations
of those indurated masses.

We have but to open our eyes to be convinced of this truth. Look into
the sources of our mineral treasures; ask the miner, from whence has
come the metal into his vein? Not from the earth or air above,--not from
the strata which the vein traverses; these do not contain one atom of
the minerals now considered. There is but one place from whence these
minerals may have come; this is the bowels of the earth, the place of
power and expansion, the place from whence must have proceeded that
intense heat by which loose materials have been consolidated into rocks,
as well as that enormous force by which the regular strata have been
broken and displaced.

Our attention is here peculiarly called upon, where we have the
opportunity of examining those mineral bodies, which have immediately
proceeded from the unknown region, that place of power and energy which
we want to explore; for, if such is the system of the earth, that
materials are first deposited at the bottom of the ocean, there to be
prepared in a certain manner, in order to acquire solidity, and then to
be elevated into the proper place of land, these mineral veins, which
contain matter absolutely foreign to the surface of the earth, afford
the most authentic information with regard to the operations which we
want to understand. It is these veins which we are to consider as,
in some measure, the continuation of that mineral region, which lies
necessarily out of all possible reach of our examination. It is,
therefore, peculiarly interesting to know the state in which things
are to be found in this place, which may be considered as intermediate
between the solid land, upon the one hand, and the unknown regions of
the earth, upon the other.

We are now to examine those mineral veins; and these may be considered,
first, in relation to their form, independent of their substance or
particular contents; and, secondly, in relation to the contained bodies,
independent of their form.

In examining consolidated strata, we remarked veins and cutters as a
proof of the means by which those bodies had been consolidated. In that
case, the formation of these veins is a regulated process, determined
by the degree of fusion, and th