[ 6o J 



'' regular ftrudlure ; the one congealatlon from a fluid ftate by 

 " means of cold ; the other accretio?i, and this includes a fepa- 

 " ratory operation ; to produce folidity either way, fluidity mufl: 

 " be induced, either by heat or by a folvcnt." This reafoning 

 tacitly fuppofes a fadl which we have already feen to be either 

 falfe or precarious. The particles which now form the folld parts 

 of the globe need not be fuppofed to have originally been either 

 fpungy or porous, the interior parts at the depth of a few miles 

 might have been originally, as at prefent, a folid mafs. The 

 more fuperficial maflTes might have been partly difl\ifed and 

 partly diflx)lved in the prlmogenial fluid. The particles, for 

 infliance, of which argillaceous flates were formed, might have 

 been originally barely difiufed, as they feem to have been 

 formed by mere fubfidence. " The ft;rata formed at the bottom 

 " of the fea are to be confidered as having been confolidated 

 " either ^ by aqueous folution and cryftallizacion, or by the 

 " effedl of heat and fufion ; if by the firft of thefe two ways 

 " the folid ftrata have attained their prefent ftatc, there will be 

 " a certain uniformity obfervable in the efteds ; and general, 

 •' laws by which this operation muft have been condu<5led." 

 Here fubfidence and precipitation, as part of the general means 

 of the formation of ftones in the moifl way, fliould not have 

 been omitted. 



'.'d ,'i'\i\>] I-.-nor.Jl ■■'.,■■ 

 As to the uniformity ^rtp- be - expeded in the effeds of 



cryftallizatlon, the learned aiithor is certainly too well acquainted, 



with the fubjed not to know that this uniformity is not to 



be expcded but when all the clrcumftances are perfectly fimilar. 



T ■ r .^ , . He 



