Report o?i a Manuscript Work of M. Andre. 313 



augmented, that there are at present above 80, and that it 

 is necessary to class them in a certain order, only to aid the 

 memory in retaining their leading principles. Yet the ex- 

 ample of some of the ablest philosophers, during the last 

 thirty years, has contributed so little to prevent additions to 

 this long list, that we every day see some new systems ad- 

 vanced, and our scientific journals filled with reciprocal at- 

 tacks and defences of their authors. 



How can so many men of talents, replete with science and 

 integrity, be so discordant, and continue such controversies ! 

 The reason is very simple ; it is, that if one of them were 

 right, neither he nor the others could ascertain it. To dis- 

 cover if a fact is owing to a certain cause, it is necessarv to 

 know the nature of the cause and the circumstances of the 

 fact. What, therefore, in the actual state of the sciences, 

 are the authors of geological systems, but persons who seek 

 the causes of facts, before the facts themselves are known? 

 Can we imagine an end more chimerical ? Yes : we are ig- 

 norant, we do not say merely of the nature and disposition 

 of the interior of the globe, but even of its most exterior 

 crust. 



The researches of miners, such as Pallas, Saussure, De- 

 luc, Dolomieu, and the school of Werner, have furnished 

 us with some important general observations, although not 

 yet incontestable, on the primitive mountains : but the se- 

 condary ones, which constitute the most embarrassing part 

 of the problem, are scarcely touched ; and the principal 

 points, on which necessarily depends what relates to causes, 

 are yet in question. We could cite a multitude of examples; 

 but to be brief, we shall confine ourselves to one or two. 



Have organised beings lived in the places where their re- 

 mains are found, or have they been transported there ? Do 

 these beings still live, or have they been wholly or partly 

 destroyed? 



Is it not evident that the system of supposed causes must 

 ditTer as much as black and white, according as these ques-. 

 tions are answered in the affirmative or negative? Never- 

 theless, no person can yet answer them positively ; and what 

 is still more singular^ no philosopher, I believe, has ever sus- 

 1 pected 



