so 



STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the Earth, by means of tempefts and hurricanes^ 

 which agitate them to the very foundation, and 

 cover their banks with the wreck i and how, after 

 having redored thefe wrecks to their firft ele- 

 ments, by fires in the air, by volcanos, and the 

 perpetual motion of the waves, which reduces 

 them to fand, and to an impalpable powder on the 

 fliore of the Sea, Ihc repairs, by means of winds 

 and attractions, the inceffant diminution of the 

 mountains, occafioned by the rains and torrents. 



I {hall demonftrate, in a word, that, notwith- 

 ftanding the enormous maffes of the mountains, 

 the profundity of the vaUies, the tempeftuous 

 Oceans, and temperatures the mod oppofite, 

 which enter into the compofition of this Globe, 

 the communication of all it's parts has been ren- 

 dered eafy to a being fo fmall, and fo feeble, as 

 Man, and is poffible only to him. This lad view 

 will furnidi me with fome curious conjedlures re- 

 fpeding the earlieft voyages undertaken by Man- 

 kind. 



I flatter myfelf, that I have faid enough to 

 fhew, in this fimple profpe6lus, that the fame In- 

 telligence, whofe productions we fo juftly admire 

 in plants and animals, prefides^ equally in the edi- 

 fice which we inhabit. The Earth has, hitherto, 

 been confidered as only in a flate of ruin j and it 



is 



