In transcribing the following passage from Smith’s text, I have begun with the rough OCR material provided by the Internet Archive and then collated it with the Internet Archive’s page images. If you spot any errors, please notify the webmaster. — George P. Landow
Cornwall, considered of itself, has not much decided character from its strata; and those who call it an unstratified county, might doubt of its having any. Considered, however, with relation to other portions of the earth, Cornwall is only part of a great connected whole, which differs not essentially from other surfaces or the same strata. The granite must generally form poor land, and the schist but rarely forms good. The granite occupies most of the high ground from whence the rivers descend through valleys in the schist: the rugged characters of both which are here very, different from that which they generally give to the elevated ground.
No land in Cornwall is very high, although the frequent abrupt ness of ascent gives it the character of a hilly country. Its central eminences of granite, though rocky, arid, and open, have none of the: dreariness of Dartmoor. The spaces, as well as the elevations, are less; and though the surface be naturally rocky, arid, and sterile, and rendered still more so by numerous excavations for its minerals, every smooth spot of ground is rendered valuable, by the great population which such works require.
Smith’s Description of Other Parts of Great Britain
Related material
- Smith’s Explanation of His Map of Geological Strata in England and Wales
- The History of the Idea of Geological Strata before William Smith’s Formulation and Map
Bibliography
Smith, William. A Memoir to the Map and Delineation of Strata of England and Wales. London: John Cary, 1815.
Created 11 September 2018