Facts appUcfflleJo the Tlieory of the Earth. 1 55 



• 'onQuctino: such labours m,iy dctcniiiae the production of 

 very difll'rt'ut substances. • 



. In short, it seems probable that some of those substances 

 which in the present state of" our knowledge we are obliged 

 to consider as the most simple elements, such as oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and azote, arc, in faet. compounds j and it sOj, 

 the formation oi one or more oi' these may take place under 

 circumstances in whicli we should not expect them to be 

 present, and uiav produce such results as those now under 

 consideration. 



This subject is extremely interefting, and we hope Mr. 

 Peel and other philosopher? will coaliaue tn give it tliat 

 attention which its importance seems to demand. — A. T. 



XXIV. Meinoir on some zoological Facts appUcalle to th^e 

 Theory of the Earth. Read^i/i the Phyucal and Mathe- 

 matical Class of the French National histilute on the ^id 

 of October 1804. By M. Pehox, Katiiralist to the Ex- 

 pedition for malimg Discoveries in Australasia *. 



Colics etire vidcntiir; • 



Surgct humus; cresciint Icca, dccrescentibiis undis. 



Vn<h Ma. iib. !. ver. 342. 



Xf excursions confined to the countries of Europe can fur- 

 nish matter for so many useful works and for so many va- 

 luable comparisons, and if slight differences in the physical 

 constitv.tion of the soil, in its temperature, and in its pro- 

 ductiona, could give rise in all ages to' grand ideas and im- 

 portant theories, how fertile in the most valuable residts of 

 every kind must be distant navigations ! 



The tra\eller in voyages of this kind, transported, as wc 

 may say, on the wings of the wind, traverses in a few- 

 months the most different climates ; distances vanish, and 

 small difterenccs disappear along with them. 'J'he large 

 masses alone can strike liim ; and they are every where re- 

 produced with an opposition, and contrasts so great and so 

 numerous, that the coldtst imagination cannot fail to be 

 interested in such a spectacle. In one place, the sjunmit 

 of the Peak of TeneriBe, which has been rendered celebrated 

 by the valuable researches of M, Humboldt, seems to un- 

 fold before him the history of the grand catafiro))hts of na- 

 ture, and of their cflecls ; while in another he sees rising at 



• From the Jou/ncl de Phjsij.tr, riimauc, an 13, 



the 



