Note 795 — Chapter V · (continued 2)

‘Although Hutton had never explored any region of active volcanos, he had convinced himself that basalt and many other trap rocks were of igneous origin.’ Lyell's Principles of Geology, London, 1853, p. 51. To this I may add, that he wrote his work without having examined granite. He says (Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 214), ‘It is true, I met with it on my return by the east coast, when I just saw it, and no more, at Peterhead and Aberdeen; but that was all the granite I had ever seen when I wrote my Theory of the Earth. I have, since that time, seen it in different places; because I went on purpose to examine it, as I shall have occasion to describe in the course of this work.’ Hutton's theory of granite is noticed in Bakewell's Geology, London, 1838, p. 101: but Mr. Bakewell does not seem to be aware that the theory was formed before the observations were made.