He had some years before made a rude, comparative analysis of the felspar in serpentine, and of the soap-rock, when he found the same constituents in both of them, except that there was not any alkali or calcareous earth in the latter substance. It is very difficult to conceive, he says, that steatite was originally a crystallized substance which has been since decomposed; for, in that case, it ought to be found in its primitive state in veins which are excluded from the action of air and water; whereas it is easy to account for the hardness of some species of steatite on the former hypothesis; for mere mechanical deposits, when very finely divided, and very slowly made, adhere with a very considerable degree of force. A remarkable instance of this kind occurred to him amongst the chemical preparations of the late Mr. Cavendish, which, on the decease of that illustrious philosopher, had been presented to him by Lord George Cavendish: there was a bottle which had originally contained a solution of silica by potash; the cork, during the lapse of years, had become decayed, and the carbonic acid of the atmosphere had gradually precipitated the earth, so that it was found in a state of solid cohesion; the upper part was as soft as the steatite, but the lower portion was extremely hard, was broken with some difficulty, and presented an appearance similar to that of chalcedony. In speaking generally of the mineralogical interest of Cornwall, he observes, that "it may be regarded, [Greek: kat' exochên], as the country of veins; and that it is in veins that the most useful as well as the most valuable minerals generally exist, that the pure specimens are found which serve to determine the mineralogical species, and that the appearances seem most interesting in their connexion with geological theory. Thus veins, which now may be considered in the light of the most valuable cabinets of nature, were once her most active laboratories; and they are equally important to the practical miner, and to the mineralogical philosopher." With regard to the general conformation of Cornwall, he states it to be in the highest degree curious, and he considers that the facts which it offers are illustrative of many important points of geological theory. "It exhibits very extraordinary instances of rocks broken in almost every direction, but principally from east to west, and filled with veins again broken in, diversified by cross lines, and filled with other veins, and exhibiting marks of various successive phenomena of this kind. "Respecting the agents that produced the chasms in the primary strata, and the power by which they were filled with stony and metallic matter, it would be easy to speculate, but very difficult to reason by legitimate philosophical induction." In the concluding passage, however, he very freely admits his preference for the doctrine of fire.