y passames aussi la nuit, dans l'esperance de pouvoir
monter le lendemain sur le _Brocken_; mais il fut encore enveloppe de
nuages; ainsi nous continuames a marcher vers _Clausthal_, passant de
nouveau par le _Bruchberg_, ou le _sable_ et ses gres recouvrent le
_schiste_; puis arrivant a une autre sommite, nous y trouvames la meme
pierre _sableuse_ par couches, melee de parcelles de _schiste_, que nous
avions vue sur les montagnes _calcaires d'Elbingerode_. Il est donc
toujours plus certain que le sol primordial de toutes ces montagnes
existoit sous les eaux de l'ancienne mer; puisqu'il est recouvert de
diverses fortes de depots, connus pour appartenir a la _mer_; et que les
_fentes_ des _filons_ existoient dans cette _mer ancienne_; puisqu'elle
en a rempli elle-meme quelques unes, et qu'elle a recouvert de ses
depots quelques autres _filons_ tout formes. Quant a celles des matieres
de ces _filons_, qui ne paroissent pas etre _marines_ (et c'est de
beaucoup la plus grande quantite), j'ai toujours plus de penchant d'en
attribuer une partie a l'operation des _feux souterreins_, a mesure que
je vois diminuer la probabilite de les assigner entierement a _l'eau_.
Mais quoi-qu'il en soit, ces gangues ne font pas de meme date que les
montagnes[30].

[Note 30: I most willingly admit the justness of our author's view, if
he thus perceives the operation of fire in the solids of our earth; but
it is not for the reasons he has given us for discovering it here more
than in other places; for there is not a mineral vein, (so far at least
as I have seen), in which the appearances may be explained by any thing
else besides the operation of fire or fusion. It is not easy to conceive
in what manner our author had conceived the opinions which he has
displayed in these letters. He had no opinion of this kind, or rather he
was persuaded that subterraneous fire had no hand in the formation of
this earth before he came to this place of the Hartz; here he finds
certain appearances, by which he is confirmed in his former opinion,
that water had operated in forming mineral veins; and then he forms the
idea that subterraneous fire may have operated also. But, before the
discovery of the chasms in the schistus mountains having been filled
with the stratified materials of the sea, How had he supposed veins to
be filled? If this philosopher had before no opinion of subterraneous
fire, as instrumental in that operation, How comes he now to change that