8 Origin of Stratijied Roch. 



are found were at that instant in a state of dissolution, whicli would be 

 absurd to assert. The sea, therefore, deposited them wheresoever they are 

 now to be found, and that by slow and successive degrees. It appears also 

 that the sea co^-ered the whole earth from the appearance of its layers, which, 

 lying regularly one above the other, seem all to resemble the sediment formed 

 at different times by the ocean. Hence by the irregular force of its waves,, 

 and its currents driving the bottom into sand banks, mountains must have 

 been gradually formed within this universal covering of waters ; and these 

 successively raising their heads above its surface, must in time, have 

 formed the highest ridges of mountains upon land, together with continents, 

 islands, and low grounds, all in their turns. This opinion will receive addi- 

 tional weight, by considering that in those parts of the earth where the 

 power of the ocean is greatest, the inequalities on the surface of the earth 

 are highest. The ocean's power is greatest at the equator, where its winds 

 and tides are most constant, and, in fact, the mountaii^is at the equator are 

 found to be higher than in any other part of the world. The sea, there- 

 fore, has produced the principal changes in our earth, rivers, volca- 

 noes, earthquakes, storms, and rain, having made but slight alterations, and 

 only such as have affected the globe to very inconsiderable depths." 



If Buffon had been living during the beginning of the present century, 

 no doubt he would hi#e become a very able geologist. His idea, that the 

 sea produces the principal changes on the surface of the earth, lies at the 

 foundation of the science of geology ; but he attached too little importance 

 to the operations of the other jDhenomenou of nature, such as storms, rain^ 

 rivers, earthquakes, and volcanoes. It is by the combined efforts of these 

 working together through a long series of ages, that the whole surface of the 

 earth has been remodelled over and over again. 



If we consider what must be taking place upon the floor of the ocean 

 at present, and suppose the same operations to continue for a few thousand 

 years hereafter, it may perhaps serve to give us a clearer idea of the origin 

 of the great beds of stratified rocks with their animal contents which at 

 present furnish so much material for interesting research. 



The sea may be regarded as the grave of the land, — the continents are 

 yearly, daily, and hourly being swallowed up by the ocean — every wave that 

 beats upon the shore carries back with it some portion of the soil which 

 after floating about for a Avhile sinks into the depths. Every river is con- 

 tinually pouring out into the sea a cloud of dust, held in solution in its 

 waters, but gathered from the interior of the continent ; it deposits this dust 

 upon the bottom in wide spread out layei-s, whence it returns to land no 

 more ; although the sediment remains where the currents leave it, yet the 

 water by which it was transported has no rest ; it is taken up into the clouds 

 by evaporation, it is blown inland by the winds, it falls upon the plains or 

 mountains, collects into brooks, forms mighty rivere and again journeys 

 down to the ocean freighted with another cargo of sediment ; year after year 

 it labom-s on, silently but unceasingly, " water weareth the stone," and we 

 have only to grant sufficient time to the rivers and the waves to perform 



