T h e ft rata that form the fummit o f the mafs E, on which: -
the ancient caftle flood, are o f gravel, o f various forts and colour
jTorfle are o f quartz, and fome contain marine foil'd bodies-:
The^lifrattimV-F,viv'df1'a ftone- like, that o f Nanto in the Vicem-
tine, which refembles the Moikit of the French., In. rambling
around th* ruggid hill g o , I colle&ed feveral Nummales, both o f
the ordinary fpecies's which has it fpires,. or circumvolutions,,
hid, and o f that lefs common, which lliews them on its fur-
face' j- befides an excellent fpecimen o f a fpecies o f Chama, and
afnprig'Sther foifils many fiftulous Coralloids,. and African Echz>-
nites, but in bad condition. I faw befides, various turbinated
•univalves, particularly cochlea, and the common Buccina, with
dome rare fpecimens o f .an-exotic fpecies o f Fungita, orbicular,
• flattiih, and fometimes rather hollow in the middle, not. the
third part o f a line thick at the edges, and commonly, not
above an inch- in diameter. On the. hill, where the caftle
formerly flood there are fignsof a ftratum o f very beautiful fpot-
ted marble, compofed o f fmall marine .fragments, and o f vulcanic
fan.d, worn fmooth, and rounded by water.
The covered ftratum H, is o f a blueifh hardened clay,,
Kke that o f which the foot o f the contiguous hill is compofed,,
and a row o f other little hills which, extend to Brebit, and from
thence to Scardona. And here I muft take notice, that I cannot
agree with the celebrated Rafpey who attributes thefe vertical
fiffures in the ealcarious ftr.ata, as well as many other fimilar
phasnomena, to earthquakes. Their fubdivifions appear too min
ute and regular, to be derived from fo fudden, and violent an
agent y add to this, that I have often obferved in Dalmatia, that
thefolid maffes o f marble have their .fiffures likewife, and o f the
feme nature in every refped as thefe juft taken notice of.. Thefe
fiffures are ingeniouily accounted for by the learned Paffer-i,
in his Natural bifioty o f fo fik o fjb e ^ r ^ o r y / ^ P ^ p .i,. a
work, that well deferves to be .repainted, and to be better
known beyond the Alps. I am however by no means averfe
to allow with M . Rafpe, and my friend Pafferi (who,, by
the by, feems partial to the Hookian lyftem) a great deal to the
force o f earthquakes,, and vulcanic fif.e,.,whjch is the caufo o f
them, when the queftion- is. to, explain the greater fiffures and
openings, or the fubverlions o f «mountains, .B u t e x am p le o f
great bodies thrown out o f equilibrium,, and overturned by the
long flow labours o f fubterraneous waters,. have fo frequently occurred
to me, in my travels through Italy,-and. this country, that
I dare not prefer more unknown and remote caufes to them,. , .
N o t many years ago, a fen, near the village o f Oftrovizza, was
ftruck with lightening, and' its bottom being turf, it burnt a
long time underground, though the fire was viiible only in the
night}, after it was extinguiihed, the whole fen remained black,
and the upper foil became barren ; -and it was juft; that black-
nefs that raifed my curiofity to obferve it....
Your Lordfhip w ill agree , with me, that we have a right to
place lightening among the original caufes o f vulcanos} for if
a thunderbolt fall in a mountain o f lulphur, would it no| in all
probability, make a much, greater explofion and have more remarkable
confequences,. than falling on .the wet turfy fen o f Of-
trovizza ? and I remember to have read fomewhere, that when
Linnseus was travelling through the ifland o f Oelan:', he faw
a tMocKe lby feveral heaps o f minerals,, from which the alum had
been