This ingenious mineralogist, observing the interposition of the basalt between stratified rocks, so that it had not only regular beds of sandstone for its base, but was also covered with beds of the same kind, saw plainly that these appearances were inconsistent with the supposition of common volcanic explosions at the surface. He therefore conceived, that the volcanic eruption had happened at the bottom of the sea, (the level of which, in former ages, had been much higher than at present,) and that the materials afterwards deposited on the lava, had been in length of time consolidated into beds of stone. It is evident, that this notion of submarine volcanoes, comes very near, in many respects, to Dr Hutton's explanation of the same appearances. If the only thing to be accounted for were the phenomenon in question, it cannot be denied that Dolomieu's hypothesis would be perfectly sufficient; but Dr Hutton, to whom this phenomenon was familiar, and who, like Dolomieu, conceived the basalt to have been in fusion, was convinced that the retreat of the sea was not a fact well attested by geological appearances, and if admitted, was inadequate to account for the facts usually explained by it. He conceived, therefore, that such lava as the preceding had flowed not only at the bottom of the sea, but in the bowels of the earth, and having been forced up through the fissures of rocks already formed, had heaved up some of these rocks, and interposed itself between them. This agrees with the other facts in the natural history both of the basaltes and the strata. It is plain, that, in this, there is a great approach of the two theories to one another: both maintain the igneous origin of basaltes, and its affinity to lava; both acknowledge that this lava cannot have flowed at the surface, and that the strata which cover it have been formed at the bottom of the sea. They only differ as to the mode in which the submarine or subterraneous volcano produced its effect, and that difference arises merely from the one geologist having generalized more than the other. Dolomieu sought to connect the basalt with the lavas that proceed from volcanic explosions at the surface; Dr Hutton sought not only to connect these two appearances with one another, but also with the other phenomena of mineralogy, particularly with the veins of basaltes, and the elevation of the strata. 455. In another point, the coincidence of Dolomieu's opinions and Dr Hutton's is still more striking. The former has remarked, that many of the extinguished volcanoes are in granite countries, and that, nevertheless, the lavas that they have erupted contain no granitic stones. There must be, therefore, says he, something under the granite, and this last is not, at least in all cases, to be considered as the basis of the mineral kingdom, or as the body on which all others rest. In this system, therefore, granite is not always a primordial rock, any more than in Dr Hutton's.