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ner gave the name of greywacke-slate. This last mineral contains petrifactions, both vegetable and animal. Hence it follows that these rocks must have been formed after the earth was inhabited both by sea animals and vegetables.

Transition lime-stone is usually black on the continent of Europe. But we have already observed that this is not the case in Great Britain, either in Derbyshire or at Plymouth, in both of which places transition lime-stone occurs in abundance. We have already observed that clay-slate ought to be considered as a transition rock, as well as a primitive. The principal other transition formations are trap and flinty-slate.

The floetz formations occur in a flatter country than either the primitive or the transition. They seldom or never constitute mountains, but merely hills of moderate height. Hence they lie in beds that have a certain degree of horizontality, and convey the idea of having been deposited under water. Hence the term floetz, by which Werner distinguished them. These rocks can be traced frequently over a great tract of country, and as they contain abundance of petrifactions, and as peculiar petrifactions characterize the different rocks, it is no difficult matter to trace them a considerable way, and to recognize them when they make their appearance at a great distance. These circumstances led thinking men to conclude that the floetz formations are distributed round the whole globe. This was the opinion of Mr. Whitehurst, and it conducted him to the formation of his theory of the earth; a theory founded chiefly on the appearances which occur in Derbyshire, and to which, in our opinion, too little attention has been paid by succeeding geologists. It contains a great number of facts, seemingly well-authenticated, and highly worthy of the study of all who are interested in determining the position of the different rocks which constitute the crust of our globe. It was, probably, the examination of the floetz formations which cover so great a portion of Germany, that led Werner to the happy idea of the regular distribution of rocks. The study of the floetz formations in England led Mr. Smith to a similar conclusion, and induced him to construct his geological map of England, which is of so much value to British geologists, Mr. Smith's merit, as a geologist, is, in our opinion, uncommonly great. He thought for himself, unhampered by any sys tem. He studied the strata with unwearied industry for nearly twenty years, and he formed a table of the relative position of the floetz beds almost the same with that which had been previously constructed by Werner. Had Mr. Smith possessed a liberal, or rather a minerological education, he would probably have formed for himself a geology exactly similar to the geognosy of Werner, or differing only in consequence of certain peculiarities which

distinguish the constitution of our island. As the case stands, his merit is very considerable, and he has brought forward the strongest mass of facts in corroboration of the Wernerian geog nosy which has yet appeared. And what adds to the value of these facts, the author himself does not seem to be aware that his own opinions and those of Werner coincide, as far as the distribution of the floetz rocks is concerned.

As a very considerable portion of England is composed of floetz rocks, and as in consequence of canals, mines, &c. it has been explored in every direction, we are very well acquainted with the whole of these rocks, and with the order of their distribution. This order confirms in a remarkable manner the series of floetz formations as given by Werner. At the same time it enables us to introduce some modifications into the Wernerian floetz formations, and to bring the system in this part to a greater degree of perfection than it has attained in Germany. For it is only by comparing together the same series of formations in different countries that we can distinguish the general structure from the local peculiarities. Werner, whose opinions were deduced from the structure of Germany alone, fell into some unavoidable errors, both with respect to the position and the importance of particular formations. Those English writers who have confined their observations to their own country, have been led equally into mistakes, but of a different kind. By a careful comparison of the Wernerian arrangement with the known position of the British floetz rocks, we shall, probably, be able to improve somewhat this very important and interesting part of the system.

The first of the floetz beds, according to Werner, is the old red sandstone. This rock may be traced from the county of Mearns in Scotland, to Dumfriesshire, and every where in the exact position assigned it by Werner. But many rocks occur in this great sandstone formation which Werner did not suspect to constitute a part of it. For example, the Ochil hills seem to constitute a congeries of great beds in red sandstone. They consist of beds of amygdaloid, limestone, claystone, clinkstone, greenstone, claystone porphyry, and compact felspar, which is sometimes porphyritic. It is not unlikely, from the observations of professor Jameson, in Dumfriesshire, that the independent coal formations of Werner, about the position of which Werner himself was uncertain, constitute in reality only a series of beds in the old red sandstone. At any rate it seems clear that the inde pendent coal formation of this country very frequently lies over the old red sandstone, and sometimes alternates with it. This may be seen very well in the county of Fife, and in Dumfriesshire. What is known in England by the name of mountain lime, is nothing else than the limestone that occurs in beds in the

independent coal formation. A very good example of it occurs in Crossfell, a mountain in Cumberland, composed entirely of the independent coal formation rocks. Nineteen beds of this limestone may be reckoned in this mountain. These beds are familiar to the lead-miners in Northumberland, and distinguished by particular names.

The next floetz formations, according to Werner, are
First floetz limestone,

First floetz gypsum,

Second, or variegated sandstone,
Second floetz gypsum.

We are of opinion that these four might, with great propriety, be converted into two; namely, first floetz limestone, and second sandstone. In England the first floetz limestone is usually distinguished by the name of magnesian limestone. It may be seen in Durham, Yorkshire, &c. lying immediately over the independent coal. The second sandstone in England has usually a red colour, and is often mixed with red marl.It is in it that the

rock salt usually occurs. The gypsum in England is small in quantity, and accompanies the salt. It occupies the very place assigned it by Werner; but is not abundant enough to figure as two distinct formations.

The second floetz limestone of Werner might, perhaps, with, out impropriety, be subdivided into two distinct formations. The first, or lowest, consists of the limestone, well known in England by the name of lias. The second, or uppermost, consists of an oolite, called Bathstone, &c. and is very abundant. But as the lias in some places becomes oolitic, it is not improbable that these two rocks are too intimately connected with each other to be separated into two distinct formations.

The third sandstone of Werner lies in England immediately below the chalk, and is usually known by the name of green sand.

Next come the chalk formations, which are three in number; but concerning which it was not in Werner's power to convey much information, as he had no opportunity of examining them in person. Over the chalk lie the curious series of formations so well described by Cuvier and Brogniart, as occurring in the neighbourhood of Paris. Mr. Webster has shown that they occur likewise in the Isle of Wight, and that the London clay, and the beds of gravel, and curious petrifactions in the Isle of Sheppey, &c. are connected with them. Last of all come the newest floetz trap rocks, which cover the floetz rocks precisely as the porphyry does the primitive formations. These rocks may be studied with most advantage in the country which lies on both sides the Frith of Forth, in Scotland.

Such is a short sketch of the distribution of the rocks which

constitute the crust of our globe, so far as it has been made out; and such are the principal difficulties which still remain to be cleared up. We have omitted altogether the consideration of veins, because it would have laid us under the necessity of exceeding our limits. We shall merely observe, with regard to them; that no satisfactory theory respecting their formation has been yet offered to the public. The Wernerian theory is plausible, and applies very well to many veins; but it certainly will not account for all the appearances.

ART. XV.-POLITICAL ECONOMY AND TAXATION. 1. On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. By David Ricardo, Esq. 8vo. London, 1817. Murray. 2. Traité d'Economie Politique, ou simple Exposition de la Manière dont se forment, se distribuent, et se consomment les Richesses, &c. &c. Par Jean Baptiste Say. 8vo. Paris, 1817.

MR. RICARDO is well known to the public as a very ardent and not unsuccessful labourer in certain corners of the wide field of political science. His several treatises on bullion, the currency, and Bank paper, gave proof of a considerable degree of acumen and observation, and thus drew from many who differed with him, even on the leading principles of his system, the highest encomiums for practical good sense and patient industry. The work now before us, however, seems to afford but too strong evidence that his mind is better suited for conducting an argument on an insulated question than for taking extended views of his subject, or for establishing general doctrines-that he is, in short, one of that numerous class of writers, who succeed in a pamphlet and fail in a volume. We do not positively assert that there are no sound principles nor important discussions to be met with in his book. There is; on the contrary, a good deal of both scattered throughout its numerous pages; but, we must add, there is also in it much more of extravagant paradox and learned absurdity than we have encountered in any similar publication since the commencement of our critical career. reasoning, generally speaking, is seldom found to respect the actual state of things as they appear to the observation of ordinary men who have no theory to maintain, but most commonly turns on a collection of hypothetical cases springing out of his own imagination, and accommodated to his own particular views; on which account it very frequently happens that when we have arrived at the end of a long chain of positions and inferences, most

His

laboriously concatenated, we have the mortification to discover that his conclusions are totally inapplicable to the real transactions and condition of human life. In perusing Mr. Ricardo's volume we had often recalled to our recollection the speculations of the mathematician, who undertook to determine the rate of a ship's sailing and the period in which she would complete a voyage, from the form of her hull, the length of her masts, and the quantity of canvas stretched out on her yards; without once taking into account the resistance of the medium through which she was to pass, modified as that resistance always is, by a variety of tides and currents. He appears, in fact, to have constructed the model of a political system after his own imagination, to have set it up before his eyes in the solitude of his study, and then to have guided all his calculations, and established all his conclusions, according to the particular movements which his piece of mechanism exhibited.

We shall, at this stage of our remarks, give an example of his enigmatical way of setting forth his notions, and of confounding the intellect of his readers, even in matters of the simplest nature. It is one of his opinions, we may observe, which however we stop not to examine at present, that profit on stock and wages of labour make up the whole price of commodities whether manufactured or agricultural, and that it is only in certain particular cases that rent makes any addition whatever to that price. Connected with this view of exchangeable value, he likewise holds that the rise of wages makes no increase in the market price of goods, and that the fall of wages does not make them sell for less money; the difference of expense in producing the commodities, with high or with low wages, affecting only the profits of the manufacturer on the stock which he has embarked in his trade. We allow all this to pass, satisfied, however, that it is true only in a certain very limited acceptation of language, and a very particular combination of circumstances, and come to his singular maxim that "all commodities, in the production of which fixed capital enters, not only do not rise with a rise of wages, but absolutely fall; fall too, as much as 68 per cent. with a rise of seven per cent. in wages. Now, it must be a matter of extreme curiosity to know what are the conditions of the case in which this remarkable effect is produced; for if these conditions are placed within the ordinary range of human discovery, and are at all reducible to practice, we shall thereby have a mostdesirable expedient put into our hands for enriching our workmen, and at the same time for lowering the price of manufactured goods. The scheme, alas, is shortly this; the whole work is to be done by machinery, and the machine is to last a hundred years, and the men whose wages were raised are all to be turned

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