Now though it is not to be here maintained that granite is the
most durable of those alpine rocks, yet as a mountain, either granite in
general, or in particular, certain species of it, may be esteemed such,
consequently, this massy stone, remaining highest in the mountainous
region, will naturally be considered as the centre, and according to
this rule, as having the pre-eminence in point of seniority.
The rock which stands in competition with granite for the title of
primitive in the order of mountains, is that micaceous stratified stone
which is formed chiefly of quartz, but which admits of great variety
like the granite. The difference between those two bodies does not
consist in the materials of which they are composed, for, in their
varieties, they may be in this respect the same, but in a certain
regularity of composition, in this alpine stone, which evidently arises
from stratification or subsidence in water.
If we shall thus consider all the varieties of this alpine stone as
being of one kind, and call it granite, then we shall distinguish in
this body two different species, from whence perhaps some interesting
conclusion may be formed with regard to the operations of the globe.
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