INTRODUCTION. . i 



guished j while in modern times perhaps only two volcanoes 

 wholly new have appeared, that of Jorullo, in New Spain, 

 and that of Cahorra, under the peak of Teneriffe. The in- 

 fluence of heat in the chaotic state of the world is well ex- Chaotic heat, 

 plained by an able though anonymous author. 



" Incessant and infinite motions must have existed in chaos, 

 from the universal operation of endless varieties of unsatu- 

 rated attractions and repulsions. In those vast fluctuations, 

 therefore, of universally intermingled and heterogenous par- 

 ticles, quantities possessing every order and degree of affinity 

 must have come within their mutual spheres of attraction. 

 The weaker affinities must have been overpowered by the 

 stronger j and thus, in the process of time, immense quanti- 

 ties of uniform quiescent and digested masses of matter must 

 have been produced : and in these formations do we trace the 

 first rudiments of organised nature. In them we find the 

 origin of earths, metals, acids, alkalis, water, and atmospheric 

 air. 



" Combustion, or oxygenation, is the grand and principal 

 chemical process by which most, if not all, such compounds 

 are by the new system of chemistry known to be formed ; 

 even water itself, so long supposed to be a simple element, is 

 now proved to be the combination of hydrogen and oxygen 

 by combustion. Nature every where presents proofs of the 

 agency of fire in her primary combinations ! 



" As fire has been seen to be the first process of nature in 

 the formation of digested masses out of chaos, so is water 

 found to be the great organ of arranging these masses in the 

 next operation of nature, in the formation of the spheres : 

 and here may I not for one moment pause, to observe how 

 admirably this reconciles the contending opinions of geolo- 

 gists as to which of these agents has been employed by na- 

 ture ? Each of these sects has produced innumerable argu- 

 ments, innumerable documents and instances, to prove his 

 theory j and, in truth, nature abounds in appearances, in 

 examples, of the agency both of fire and water. In the de- 

 monstrations before us we behold each serving in its turn the 



