The Histology and Physiology of Granite

Abstract

THE convenient system of the Royal Irish Academy, by which each paper in their Transactions constitutes a separate part, makes this quarto memoir of nearly a hundred pages virtually an independent work. As such it should be possessed by all engaged in serious petrographic research; while to workers in other branches of geology, it will give a clear idea of the patient methods and precise observations by which the history of rock-masses is gradually being brought to light. The merchant and the connoisseur of ornamental stones will find little in these pages concerning the broad features of granite, the joints that so often limit the exposed masses, the modes of disintegration, or even the life-history of the Leinster mountain-chain; while the lover of scenery will miss with regret the handsome plates, connecting surface features with geological structure, which adorned the Transactions of Societies at the commencement of the present century. But we would refer such readers to the limitations and restraint shown in the title of the present paper. It is the work of one who appreciates the labours of his predecessors; yet, despite the bibliography which Prof. Sollas has here drawn up, we soon become aware that our knowledge of the familiar rock, granite, is greatly in need of these "contributions."The detailed chemical and numerical observations of Dr. S. Haughton, so freely quoted from by geological writers during the last thirty years, have clearly borne good fruit in Dublin on their natural soil.

Contributions to a Knowledge of the Granites of Leinster.

By W. J. Sollas, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Dublin. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXIX., Part XIV., January 1891. (Dublin.)