91 



counting for the want of these features, be satisfactorj 

 or not. 



Secondly. If basalt be lava, and (as this theory sup- 

 poses) once flowed from a volcano, we should expect to 

 find it arranged in the same manner, with the currents of 

 lava, which are contiguous to most known volcanos. But 

 here the difference is most striking: for, while all writers, 

 that describe volcanic countries, represent the ejected 

 matters as confusedly arranged, and, altogether, a heap 

 of disorder; Avith us, we observe, in the disposal of our 

 basalt, the most consummate regularity: every separate 

 stratum preserving steadily its own place, and never break- 

 ing into that of another. ^., -, , 



Besides, most writers admit, that currents of lava are 

 never parallel tO; one another: while our basalt strata, ac- 

 cumulated upon each other, preserve the most steady pa- 

 rallelism. 



When we compare our accumulations of basalt strata, 

 Avith accumulations of currents of lava, which have been 

 heaped upon one another, by successive eruptions, we ob- 

 serve a most important difference. Currents of lava have 

 always a layer of vegetable earth between them: this is 

 admitted by all parties. For, while those, who wish to im- 

 peach the chronology of Moses, make a prodigious inter- 

 val between the eruptions, necessary for the formation of 

 this layer of earth; Moses's advcicates prove, from facts, 

 that it is oftep formed in a mucli shorter time. 



"" "*''''''"' ^" ''' . Interposing 



