THE EARTH. 15 



are considered as substances entirely terrene. But 

 it is otherwise with the inquirer after nature, who 

 finds them, not only in shape but in substance, 

 every way resembling those that are bred in the 

 sea ; and he, therefore, is at a loss to account for 

 their removal. 



Yet not one part of nature alone, but all her 

 productions and varieties, become the object of 

 the speculative man's inquiry : he takes different 

 views of nature from the inattentive spectator ; 

 and scarcely an appearance, how common soever, 

 but affords matter for his contemplation : he in- 

 quires how and why the surface of the earth has 

 acquired those risings and depressions which most 

 men call natural ; he demands in what manner the 

 mountains were formed, and in what consist their 

 uses 5 he asks from whence springs arise, and how 

 rivers flow round the convexity of the globe ; he 

 enters into an examination of the ebbings and 

 flowings, and the other wonders of the deep j he 

 acquaints himself with the irregularities of nature, 

 and endeavours to investigate their causes j by 

 which, at least, he will become better versed in 

 their history. The internal structure of the globe 

 becomes an object of his curiosity ; and although 

 his inquiries can fathom but a very little way, 

 yet, if possessed with a spirit of theory, his imagi- 

 nation will supply the rest. He will endeavour to 

 account for the situation of the marine fossils that 

 are found in the earth, and for the appearance of 

 the different beds of which it is composed. These 

 have been the inquiries that have splendidly em- 

 ployed many of the philosophers of the last and 



56 



