200 On the Production of Valleifs. 



the planetary system ; for it assuredly is the great and sim- 

 ple instrument ior movnig and niouldina all the exterior 

 and interior parts of our canh. llenee alone we can discover 

 the obvions reason why it bear^ "o larye a pn^portion on the 

 S;nfare of the globe. lis present (juantiiy and extent arp 

 indispensable to effect that gigantic transportation of poi\- 

 (lerable matter, which all the strata of the earth testify, 

 ^vhich the principles <jf renovation ni such a material system 

 require, and wliieh no data we now possess can authorise 

 lis lo doubt is now in as full force and action as at any 

 former period. Nor have we any reason to despair that 

 human sagacity and science, at present so active in thg in- 

 vestigation of Nature, will in due time be enabled to de- 

 velop those laws by which alternations of sea and land have 

 been, and doubtless yet cv^iuinuc to be effected, with as 

 much precision as planetary bocjies are wheeled in their se- 

 veral orbits. For puny and nnphilosophical indeed must 

 his views of nature be, who can imagine that the whole 

 portion of the earth, on which the very existence of all its 

 organized beinos is dependent, has hitherto been moulded 

 and fashioned by fluctuating and fortuitous laws, and is yet 

 to be the sport of accidental violence, or that its continual 

 propensity to disintegration and waste has no restorative 

 balance. 



These extended views of geology, Mr. Farey will find it 

 easy to call rhapsodical ; but he will do wiser to give them 

 a serious and just consideration, as an antidote against his 

 fondness for the igiihfnhius of hypothesis. It is only by 

 such new impressions that his mind can be weaned- from 

 rambling after and bringing down other worlds, to patch 

 up and eke out our own. His seolooical surveys merit the 

 highest praise. Such pursuits, indeed, are of great national 

 interest^ and I can truly assure him that he has no frientt 

 who more sincerely wishes him every support and success 

 than myself; but if he continues in his singular and obdu- 

 rate prejudices against the efficacious and important actioix 

 of moving water, as the general operator of geological phae- 

 nomena, as well on the surface, as in the stratified regions 

 of the interior of the earth ; he may, indeed, be the col- 

 lector of a niimerous assemblage of valuable facts, but it 

 will be left to others lo employ them, successfully, in the 

 investigation of that cf>ninion cause which has disseminated 

 such a diversity of effects in and over every part of the 

 globe. I am, sir, your most obedient huiTible servant, 



John Cakr. 



Princess Street, Manchester, 

 Sept. 7, 1809. 



XXVI It. Further 



