342 Amperes Theory qfthe Formation of the Globe, 



on, the maximum of temperature would neither be at the centre 

 nor yet at the surface of the mass, but at the preciae'point where 

 the uppermost bed reposes on the one subjacent, since it is there 

 that the chemical action, according to our hypothesis, ought to 

 be developed. 



It would only be after many convulsions had taken place, and 

 after large portions of the earth's crust, which were already soli- 

 dified, had been reconverted into a gaseous condition, that, by 

 virtue of a further cooling, a continuous crust would be formed 

 of a sufficient consistency to oppose an obstacle to fresh chemi- 

 cal combinations. 



When, however, the temperature had sunk low enough to ad- 

 mit of a new substance being deposited upon this solid substra- 

 tum, calculated to act chemically upon it, we should have the 

 same phenomena which had previously occurred, reproduced 

 upon the contiguous surfaces of the two deposits. On the other 

 hand, supposing the bed immediately subjacent not liable to 

 be acted upon, but to have underneath it a bed of matter, a 

 certain period might elapse without any action occurring be- 

 tween the first and third, until the liquid last deposited reached 

 the surface of the latter through fissures in the intermediate 

 bed, fissures produced by preceding convulsions, or occasioned 

 by a contraction which resulted from a cooling of the materials 

 subsequently to their becoming solid. 



The first effect of this would be that of producing explosions, 

 which must widen the fractures in the bed interposed, and thus 

 increase the lines of communication between the two bodies 

 which possess a mutual affinity. Hence would result fresh con- 

 vulsions, the effects of which would be the more considerable, 

 in proportion to their slowness in beginning, and to the obstacles 

 they had to overcome in order to burst through the intervening 

 substances. 



It is thus we may conceive the successive revolutions which 

 the terrestrial globe has undergone to have been brought about, 

 and may account for the fractures and the varieties of inclina- 

 tion belonging to beds, which we should imagine to have been 

 at first deposited in a linear series. 



It is also conceivable that the surface of the earth, instead of 

 having cooled in a gradual manner, may have experienced, from 



