He first observed the granitic veins, which have called forth so much attention from geologists, about the year 1797; probably before they had excited much scientific notice: he is disposed to regard them as peculiar to the low metalliferous granite and mica formations; he had seen several cases of granite veins near Dublin, in the Isle of Arran, and in other parts of Scotland; he had also observed several instances near Morlaix in Brittany, but he had in vain searched for them in the points of junction of the schist and granite, both in the Maritime, Savoy, Swiss, and Tyrolese Alps, and likewise in the Oriental Pyrenees. The _serpentine_ district of Cornwall, he thinks, has not yet met with the attention it deserves. "I have seen no formation," says he, "in which the nature of serpentine is so distinctly displayed. The true constituent parts of this rock appear to be _resplendent hornblende_ and _felspar_; it appears to differ from _sienite_ only in the nature of the _hornblende_, and in the chemical composition of its parts, and in being intersected by numerous veins of _steatite_ and _calcareous spar_." The nature and origin of the veins of _steatite_ in serpentine, he considers as offering a very curious subject for enquiry. "Were they originally crystallized," he asks, "and the result of chemical deposition? or have they been, as for the most part they are now found, mere mechanical deposits?" He is inclined to the latter opinion. The felspar in serpentine, he observes, is very liable to decomposition, probably from the action of carbonic acid and water on its alkaline, calcareous, and magnesian elements; and its parts washed down by water and deposited in the chasms of the rocks, he thinks would necessarily gain that kind of loose aggregation belonging to steatite.