[Footnote 132: Bergman de Productis Volcaniis, Opuscula, tom. iii. p. 214, &c.] The answer to this argument is already given. The reasoning, as in the former instance, is conclusive only against the action of volcanic fire, or fire at the surface; but not against the action of heat deep in the bowels of the earth, and under the pressure of the superincumbent ocean. In such a situation, the bituminous schistus might be in contact with the melted basalt, and yet there might be no evaporation of the volatile, nor combustion of the inflammable parts. It does not, however, always happen, that the bituminous substances, or substances alterable by fire, which are found in contact with basaltes, are without any mark of having endured the operation of fire. Instances in which such operation is apparent are given above, § 30; and more will be added in the conclusion of this note. 249. The same mineralogist founds another argument for the aqueous formation of whin or trap on the existence of that stone in the form of veins, included in primeval rocks: "Invenitur hoc saxum (trap) in Suecia pluribus locis, sæpeque in montibus primævis, angustas implens venas, adeo subtilis structuræ, ut particulæ sint impalpabiles, et, dum niger est, genuinum efficit lapidem Lydium. In hisce montibus, nulla adsunt ignis subterranei vestigia."[133] [Footnote 133: Opuscula, _ubi supra_.] The phenomena here described, namely, a vein of compact whinstone traversing a primary rock, is, without doubt, as incapable of being explained by the operation of a volcano, as it is by that of aqueous deposition. It is, however, a most complete proof of the original softness of the substance of which the veins consist, and affords one of the strongest possible arguments for such an operation of fire as is supposed in the present theory. The main arguments, therefore, which have been proposed as subversive of the igneous origin of basaltes, are only subversive of their formation by one modification of fire, viz. of fire acting near the surface; and thus the weapons which directly pierce the armour of the Volcanist, and inflict a mortal wound, are easily turned aside by the superior temper of the _Plutonic_ mail.