[ ^^3 ] 



he iufthy inferred that the limeftonc was in a foft flate, but the 

 gneifs already confolidated, when the contad took place ; 36 

 Roz. 359. Similar to this is the obfervation of Mr. Sauffure, 

 I Sauffur. 528, that a puddingftone with a calcareous cement 

 or argillaceous grit is generally interpofed betwixt the uppermoft 

 ftrata of the primary and the loweft of the fecondary ftrata as the 

 foft fecondary matter inveloped the pebbles or gravel on the fur- 

 face of the primary ; this he obferved in the Alps, the Vofges, 

 the Cevennes, &c. This is alfo conftantly obferved in coal mines 

 where femi-primigenous ftrata (Todliegendes) a fandftone or 

 brecia with a calcareous or argillaceous cement, forms the laft 

 flratum immediately over the primitive rock. 



Matsiy, indeed moft of the obfervations hitherto made, are ex- 

 plicable on thefe principles, which, not to extend this part of the 

 Effay beyond its due limits, I here omit. 



The retreat of the fea appears to have continued through the 

 rifts already mentioned, or poffibly through others fubfequently 

 made, probably until a few centuries before the deluge. Its cef- 

 fation long before the deluge I infer from the hardnefs which the 

 mountains muft have acquired to withftand the fhocks they muft 

 have underwent during that cataftrophe. To acquire this hard- 

 nefs a long period of time was neceffary, both for their deficcation 

 and the infiltration of thofe particles to which the ftrata of fe- 

 condary mountains owe their folidity. 



I DO 



