266 THEORY of the EARTH. 



and the power that has been necefTarily required for their 

 change, has not been inferior to that which might have been 

 required for their elevation from the place in which they had 

 been formed. 



In this cafe, natural appearances are not anomalous. They 

 are, indeed, infinitely various, as they ought to be, according 

 to the rule ; but all thofe varieties in appearances confpire to 

 prove one general truth, viz. That all which we fee had been 

 originally compofed according to certain principles, eftabliftied 

 in the conftitution of the terraqxieous globe ; and that thofe 

 regular competitions had been afterwards greatly changed by 

 the operations of another power, which had introduced appa- 

 rent confufion among things firft formed in order and by rule. 



IT is concerning the operation of this fecond power that we 

 are now enquiring ; and here the apparent irregularity and dif- 

 order of the mineral regions are as inftruclive, with regard to 

 what had been tranfacted in a former period of time, as the or- 

 der and regularity of thofe fame regions are conclufive, in re- 

 lation to the place in which a former flate of things had pro- 

 duced that which, in its changed ftate, we now perceive. 



WE are now to conclude, that the land on which we dwell 

 had been elevated from a lower fituation by the fame agent 

 which had been employed in confolidating the ftrata, in giving 

 them {lability, and preparing them for the purpofe of the living 

 world. This agent is matter actuated by extreme heat, and ex- 

 panded with amazing force. 



IF this has been the cafe, it will be reafonable to expect, that 

 fome of the expanded matter might be found condenfed in the 

 bodies which have been heated by that igneous vapour ; and 

 that matter, foreign to the ftrata, may have been thus intro- 

 duced into the fractures and feparations of thofe indurated 

 mafles. 



WE have but to open our eyes to be convinced of this truth. 

 Look into the fources of our mineral treafures ', afk the miner, 



from 



