On the Exritement of Voltaic Plates. 2j5 



reach, to injure and deface them ; and as to the violent vol- 

 canic explosion, by which our author supposes this island uiay 

 have been raised at once fVoni the bottom of the sea ; the facts 

 1 have just quoted are utterly irreconcilable to such supposition, 

 and would rather lead us to a long train of alternate operations; 

 violent ignition, regularly followed in succession by gigantic ba- 

 saltic formation, and the result a mighty accumulation of steady, 

 parallel strata, at length laid bare by posterior operations, re- 

 moving much, but disturbing nothing, and disclosing in the vast 

 precipitous facades of the island, the early arrangements of >}a- 

 ture, with the materials still retaining the positions in which 

 they were originally placed. 



1 shall now proceed to try if the new matter furnished by this 

 singular island atlords any additional support to the wild posi- 

 tions I have already sustained, to wit — that our present, is not 

 the original surface of our globe, but much less elevated, and 

 greatly diversified by the action of powerful agents, with which 

 we are not acquainted. — That these agents have carried off im- 

 mense masses of our original materials without disturbing what 

 tliey left behind — and that the accumulations of our strata once 

 readied higher than the summits of the loftiest moimtains I have 

 had it in mv power to examine. 



The facts from which these positions follow as conclusions, 

 must be reserved for another letter, in which I mean to gene- 

 ralize ; and after proving that these positions receive the fullest 

 support fiom the facts found in St. Helena, I shall probably 

 extend my views, and show that similar operations have been 

 performed oa other parts of the world, which I have not ex- 

 amined. 



And what may appear yet more wild — that there is a portion 

 of the world still reserved for similar operations. 



W. Richardson, D.D. 



LI I. On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates ; in Reply to Air. Dr 

 Luc's OLjf.ctions to the Doctrines maintained hy the Author. 

 By 3. D.'Maycock, M.D. 



[Concluded from p. 172.] 



It has never been my intention to propose a new hypothe.'^is for 

 explaining the excitement of the Galvanic pile : but as M. Volta's 

 {differently modified) appeared to be very generally and impli- 

 citly received, I noticed in my Essay some objections to which 

 I considered it liable; and as it will not take up much of the 

 time of your readers, it may not be amiss to touch on that sub- 

 ject itgain. 



Tlie 



