271. Notwithstanding all this accumulated and unanswerable evidence for the igneous formation of basaltes, a great objection would still remain to our theory, were it not for the very accurate and conclusive experiments concerning the fusion of this fossil, referred to above, § 75. A strong prejudice against the production of any thing like a real stone by means of fusion, had arisen, even among those mineralogists, who were every day witnesses of the stony appearance assumed by volcanic lava. They still maintained, on the authority of their own imperfect experiments, that nothing but glass can ever be obtained by the melting of earths or of stones, in whatever manner they are combined. An ingenious naturalist, after describing a block of basaltes, in which he discovered such appearances, as inclined him to admit its igneous consolidation, rejects that hypothesis, merely from the imaginary inability of fire to give to any substance a stony character: "Quelque mélange,"says he, "de terres que l'on suppose, quelque soit le degré de feu que l'on imagine, quelque soit le tems que l'on emploie, il est très certain que l'on n'obtiendra pas, par le seul fluide igné, ni basalte, ni rien qui lui ressemble."[138] [Footnote 138: Journal de Phys. tom. xlix. (1799,) p. 36.] Sir James Hall's experiments have completely demonstrated the contrary of what is here asserted: they have added much to the evidence of the Huttonian system; and, independently of all theory, have narrowed the circle of prejudice and error. NOTE XV. § 83. _On Granite._ 1. _Granite Veins._ 272. It is said above, § 77, that granite is found in unstratified masses, and in veins. In the former of these conditions, it constitutes entire mountains, and forms the central ridge of many of the greatest chains that traverse the surface of the earth. It is the granite of this kind that has been most generally described by travellers and mineralogists. The veins have not been so much attended to, though they are of peculiar importance for ascertaining the relation between granite and other fossils. 273. Though Dr Hutton was the first geologist who explained the nature of granite veins, and who observed with attention the phenomena which accompany them, he is not the first who has mentioned them. M. Besson found veins of this kind in the Limoges, in an argillaceous schistus, and unconnected, as far as appeared, with any large mass of granite.[139] [Footnote 139: Journal de Phys. tom. xxix. p. 89.] Saussure met with granite veins in the Valorsine, but did not see them distinctly. He ascribed them to infiltration.[140] The date of this observation is in 1776: He afterwards discovered similar appearances at Lyons.[141] [Footnote 140: Voyage au Alpes, tom. i. § 598, 599.] [Footnote 141: _Ibid._ § 601.] Werner also, in enumerating the substances of which veins are formed, reckons granite as one of them.