r 55 ] 



Hen; E the conckifions of our author relative to the imper- 

 fedl conflitution of the globe fall to the ground ; and the pains 

 he takes to learn " by what means a decayed world may be 

 " renovated," are fuperfluous. " But further (continues our 

 " author) the folid parts of the globe are in general compofed 

 " of fand, gravel, argillaceous and calcareous ftrata, or of 

 ' various compofitions of thefe with other fubftances." This 

 certainly cannot be affiimed as a fadl, but rather the contrary ; 

 it holds true only of the furface, the bafi? of the greater part 

 of Scotland is evidently a granitic rock, to fay nothing of the 

 Continents both of the Old and New World, according to the 

 teftimony of all mineralogifts 



In the fucceeding paragraphs, pages 119 and 120, there is 

 fome ambiguity, which it is proper to explain. In all regions 

 of the globe immenfe maffes are found, which though at pre- 

 fent in the moft folid ftate, appear to have been formed by the 

 coUeiSlion of the calcareous exuvia of marine animals. " That 

 " all maffes of marble or limeftone are compofed of the calca- 

 " reous matter of marine bodies may be concluded from the 

 " following fadls : — Firft, few beds or marble or limeftone occur 

 " in which may not be found fome of thofe objeds which 

 " indicate the marine origin of the mafs. We fliall thus find 

 " the greater part of the calcareous maffes upon the globe to 

 " have originated from marine calcareous bodies. That thefe beds 

 " had their origin at the bottom of the fea, and that they have 

 " the calcareous fubftancc which they contain, from the fame 

 " fource as marble or limeftones." If by marine origin the 



author 



