290 ^f^' Middleton on the gradual tttse of the Ocean. 



%vho,iii their libels, accuse — of possessing 

 i double pension — :i man who never re- 

 ceived but one, ami to wiiom not even 

 one is paid. How cowardly arc tlieir 

 agressions, when, in spite of the most 

 solemn promises, villainy the most atro- 

 cious, attacks indigence itself, in a man 

 worn out with faligue, sorroA\-, and per- 

 secution, and arrived at an age when his 

 ■wants, in multiplying;, become more 

 imperious, and who cannot now reduce 

 liis expeuccs to the level of his re- 

 sources, but by the most rigorous priva- 

 tions ; yet let his friends, real and pre- 

 tended, be consoled, never will he annoy 

 them with (he recital of his sufferings ; 

 Graving adversity, he will alfo brave 

 the perverse, in practising towards them 

 his favourite maxim — Do unto man all 

 the good you are able, and expect from 

 them the contrary. 



The religion with which he is pene- 

 irated tonsolcs him in all, for, having 

 spoken and acted on this principle, he 

 mas frequently, at the convention and 

 since, treated as fanatical and supersti- 

 tious. This language, then much in use, 

 has ceased to be in vogue ; certain pcr- 

 T5ons have substituted for it an ascetic 

 hypocrisy and theological furies, which 

 the gospel disavows: whether they slan- 

 der by order or by natural instinct, whe- 

 ther avowing the slander with their name 

 or for the roost part anonymously, and 

 therefore always concealed, their cou 



[Nov. 1, 



suring from the surface to the forniatioH 

 of the slate stratum onh'. This great 

 thickness has the appearance of being 

 composed of such materials, and accu- 

 mulated in the very slow, but never- 

 ceasing, manner, which I have there de- 

 scriboil. In speaking of the rate in 

 which such accumulation could take 

 place, it will not be expected that accu-^ 

 racy can be attained at this time, but 

 re.isons have been stated for supposing 

 it was effected at the rate of about ten 

 feet in every thousand yeais. Therefore 

 say, as ten feet is to 1 ,000 years, so is 

 7,700 feet of strata to 770,000 years, 

 which have passed while this work, 

 partly of creation, and partly a new ar- 

 rangement of old materials, wasgoingon, 



in case it should be discovered that 

 the slate stratum contains marine shells, 

 or the impressions of them in any consi- 

 derable number, it may then be admit- 

 ted to have been formed in the same 

 manner as the other strata were ; and 

 that would extend the estimate of years 

 to upwards of a million. 



Since the last paragraph was written 

 it has been communicated to the public 

 iu the Cyclopedia by Dr. Rees, that the 

 slate stratum contains many remains of 

 marine animals ; consequently that stra- 

 tum has been created and accumulated 

 as the others were. This stratum is so 

 Very thick, that, allowing it to have been 

 formed at the same rate of ten leet in 



•«iuct proves that there exists a class of <.vcry thousand years, it would extend 



■privileged assassins mrtre criminal than 

 ihose who seek your life. 



Cregoire, 

 Ancien Erefiue de Jilois. 

 Faris; Sept, 181G. 



To the Editor of the Monthbj Magazine. 

 SIR, 



IT is now several months since I ad- 

 dressed you on tlie gradual rise of 

 the ocean; and this letter is intended to 

 iihew that similar ojieriitions have been 

 <.ontinued for an immensely long time. 

 To avoid repeating the observations 

 which I have made, I shall request the 

 attention of your readers to the proofs 

 printed in your forty-first volume, p. 1. 

 jBy whicli 1 think they may be satisfied 

 that solid materials arc successively 

 created upon the bottom of the ocean, 

 where they do not perish, but accumu- 

 4atc in extremely large quantities. An 

 examination of the strata of this planet, 

 made with tolerable attention, would 

 discover them to amount at this time to 

 about 7,700 feet, which is little less than 

 '•nf mile and a halt' in thickuessj luea- 



thc estimate to upwards of a million 

 years ; which this planet has existed 

 since the granite stratum was finished, 

 and the formation of slate began. 



The upper layers of all strata ar» 

 softer than those which lie below ; the 

 greater degree of infiltration and com- 

 pression which the lower layers have 

 undergone, has rendered them more 

 compact and hard; and such parts of 

 tlic layers as lie within the influence of 

 the atmosphere are hi a state of decom- 

 position. ]\Iuch of such strata as con- 

 tain fragments of marine shells have the 

 appearance of being formed, paitly by a 

 new creation, and partly by a new ar- 

 rang<;nient of the old materials of land 

 destroyed. The tlien newly-created 

 part is the natural produce of shell-fish 

 and corals; the new arrangement is also 

 the natural result of the clilis along the 

 coasts of all land being washed down, 

 beat to pieces, and spread over the bot- 

 tom of the ocean. The operation of 

 spreading the earthy materials of fbrniec 

 land over the bottom of llie ocean, 

 •would gcucraliy put shell-fish to great 

 iHconvcnieiice^ 



