Pofition perpendicular.
«
Inclined.
Horizontal.
SECT. Y.
Üfe of. fif- .
fiires.
146 N A T V R A L A H I S T : O R Y
tradition, whiehrlbrmed >the maficr-wem, gradually ceafed and died
aWay,- the, fubordinatecracks and little fide-veins; proceeding laterally
from thetufeme farces, became left- ahd fefsfW tbefy bteefeihe
more diftant'frbm thexchief fource o f ‘ raotiold ^ " '
Fiflures are either perpendicular, inclined, or horizontal. The
general pofition of fiflures^ atI firflyWaS probaMfthe perpendicular
or near f t ; for it is .a eommoh obfervatiMfy that;- the fifliire-j which
inclines nuach'nearithe furfaee, grows gradually I more xiprightf
as it fhoots deeper into the
compadt, and eonfequendy more apt t<f hlVe prefcved the primary
pofition than thofe which are nearer tfre-Turfece, in ff therefore
more liable to have been difturbedi
, Fiflures inclined (that is,> deviating 'fern their TerperrditAiferj’ a§
indeed mod of them do) owe their obliquity partly to the .firft
irregular contradtion of the firata, and partly tbfottie
whereby the neighbouring ƒ were unfooted, and, in 'proportion
to their own fubfidence, inclined and Btent fitifo'tileir" natural
tion every thing in their reach;-: aswill more d e a r l y - i n ' , the
lamination of the properties of lodes in the“fdlowing chapter. ;
Horizontal fiflures are owing probably to the accidental intefpo-
fition o f hard and different bodies, whereby the firata were’ kept
from contadt and fettling clofe upon one another, and partly to the
different efforts of the upper and under mafles at their firft fetiu-*
ration. By either of thefe caufes, Or % 'both conjdhfiyphbrizdh^
tal chafins in the firata might be formed; but' they are muclj Ids
frequent than the perpendicular and inclined. We find them
fbmetimes replete with metals and minerals, and call fherh floors,
not lodes.
Some fiflures are quite broken and difeontinued, and the deferteo
fragment, from which they have been divided, found again at a
fmail diflance: this is alfo the effedt of violence, and will come to
be, particularly explained among the properties of lodes.
Although thefe fiflures are the natural refult of a moiftened and
mixed congeries of matter, palling by approximation of parts into
a ftate of lolidity and drought, We are by no means to conclude
them ufelels, or the works of chance, produced without or befide
the defign of the firft caufe : No ; the great Architedt, who contrived
the whole, determined the feveral parts of his feheme lb to
operate, as that one ufeful effedt fhould become the beneficial caufe
of another. God provided for the ufes of things in his firft ideal
dilpofition of them, and their retpedtive beneficial ufes flowed naturally
from each other thus aptly dilpofed. Hence it happens that
matter could not contradt itfelf into folid large mafles without
leaving
; C O R N F A ' L L. - ■ ^
lea!vM% fiflures- be¥weeh,'them ;* ahd Vejy fiflures are äs neceffefy
and ufefuV as thrbugh > which’Thfey pafs.
•Firft, -t-hel^^ fie ' drains which carry dff f-hfe redundant moifture
from ^he-^’eafthl; Which, 'hut^feriftfem, -would be too full of, fens
and bögs for animal tOtiifefor pfehts fix thrive1 on.
'”',fThrbugh tHefefiffiifes’the raihj^hidi finks-bendath the chartels’Of
f i v e r hävmg^he a'd^htagöbMhat-cori^eyärieb feböve ground, &£.
turns'intd the.fea^bringing the fah^ anti'tnineM^iefes of thbCarth into
th'eAbdan, enabling ut ^thereby'1 to liipply the firtaarfient with proper
fend fuflicienfc-moifture, afld preferring that vaft body.öf Water,the
fea, wholefömep'fit* for filh to live in, and fäilors16 'ndYigater%
'■ T n ‘thefe’fifllirdsj the fefiral ingredients, which fotih-'the richeft
lodes, Aby the1'Continual palling of waters, and the -metiftiyia of me-
tfels, are educed'Out of the ebilededi Ä f f ceSvetf-/
enfly-lodged in amarrOw Chanel, tiiüch to tub advantage of' thbfe’who
fefefeh for and ptrffüe them ; for if metals andminbrals were more
dilperfedj .and fcfetteffed thinly in the body .dt tht firäia^- 'the trouble
of 'finding and getting at- mdffels (tiiöfe nfeeeflaty inffrtirnents of aft
fend commerce,' ahd the örnärhents^ of life j would be etiäleß, - and
the expence o f procuring exceed the value of th& aequifition.
- Laftly, without thefe A id e s 't^ Oould never make drains to ouf
Minted'äfid quarries,- äüd eöhfequently neither metals flöf-‘marbles; m
neither fafts not eferihs; nor ftöheS, cöiiMbe fö-feafily, or in fuel
plenty provided as is neceflaty for the ufe df man.
C H A ' P. X IV .
jQ f I^ e s^ their Properties, Parts, and Inclinations. ‘&c> .
F R O J^the fiflu re s* . which they contain,'s e c T .l •
and Whatever fills them, whether clay, mineral, of
tiietal,, wq call in Cornwall a Lode, and not improperly; Tor a lode
is very feldom rich, or equally itppregnatcd; metals arG^locÄ dif-
tributed fparingly, not beftowed without referve, found in feme,
not in all parts of the lode ; but, where the lode is barren, it may
ferve to Jead us to what is rich,^henGe the name Iqde.öf tthe fiube
fignification as the Englilh word, lead, or led1.
Firft, let it be ob|erved, that if the general run ,of, the neigh- sE©f>n.
-bouring firata be of any particular colour, be lax or compadl, be^®^“
of a fpar or cryftal cement, be of flat, granite, or any other ftone,
* From an old Anglofaxon word, lode, idem ac lead; folode-ftone quafi leading-ftone. ,See L je’s ,
Edit.',of Junius ad verbum. ... fe