286. Scotland also affords other examples of granite veins, and some of them have been actually described. Mr Jameson has taken notice of some which he saw in the bottom of the river Spey, at Glen Drummond, in Badenach, and has represented them in an engraving.[144] They traverse the strata in various directions, and inclose pieces of the micaceous schistus; and, from the great number of loose blocks which he found, exhibiting portions of such veins, it is probable, that they are very numerous in this quarter. The same mineralogist mentions some instances of similar veins in the Shetland Isles.[145] [Footnote 144: Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles, vol. ii. p. 3.] [Footnote 145: _Ibid._ p. 216.] In Ross-shire, Sir George Mackenzie has observed a great variety of granite veins, some of them of large size. One of them, in particular, not far from Coul, when first discovered, was supposed to be a single mass, rising from under the schistus; but, on a more careful examination, has been found to be a part of a great system of veins which intersects the micaceous schistus of this tract in various directions. 287. The granite veins are not the only proof that this stone is more recent than some other productions of the mineral kingdom. Specimens of granite are often found, containing round nodules of other stones, as, for example, of gneiss or micaceous schistus. Such is the specimen of granite containing gneiss, which Werner himself is said to be in possession of, and to consider as a proof, that the schistus is of greater antiquity than the granite. Such also seemed to me some pieces of granite, which I met with in Cornwall, near the Land's End; and others which I saw in Ayrshire, in loose blocks, on the sea coast between Ayr and Girvan. It is impossible to deny that the containing stone is more modern than the contained. The Neptunists indeed admit this to be true, but allege, that all granite is not of the same formation; and that, though some granite is recent, the greater part boasts of the highest antiquity which belongs to any thing in the fossil kingdom. This distinction, however, is purely hypothetical; it is a fiction contrived on purpose to reconcile the fact here mentioned with the general system of aqueous deposition, and has no support from any other phenomenon. 2. _Granite of Portsoy._ 288. The granite of Portsoy is one of the most singular varieties of this stone, and is remarkable for this circumstance, that the feldspar is the substance which has assumed the figure of its proper crystal, and has given its form to the quartz, so that the latter is impressed both with the acute and obtuse angles belonging to the rhombic figure of the former. The angular pieces of quartz thus moulded on the feltspar, and ranged by means of it in rows, give to this stone the appearance of rude alphabetical writing.