34 HISTORY OF 



" The strata formed at the bottom of the ocean 

 are necessarily horizontal in their position, or 

 nearly so ; and continuous in their horizontal di- 

 rection and extent. They may change and gra- 

 dually assume the nature of each other, so far as 

 concerns the materials of which they are formed; 

 but there cannot be any sudden change, fracture, 

 or displacement naturally in the body of a stra- 

 tum : but if these strata are cemented by the heat 

 of fusion, and erected with an expansive force 

 acting below, we may expect to find every species 

 of fracture, dislocation, and contortion in those 

 bodies, and every degree of departure from a 

 horizontal towards a vertical position. The strata 

 of the globe are actually found in every possible 

 position ; for, from horizontal they are frequently 

 found vertical ; from continuous they are broken 

 and separated in every possible direction ; and 

 from a plane they are bent and doubled. It is 

 impossible they could have been formed by the 

 known laws of nature, in their present state and 

 position. And here the apparent irregularity and 

 disorder of the mineral regions are as instructive, 

 with regard to what had been transacted in a 

 former period of time, as the order and regularity 

 of these same regions are conclusive, in rela- 

 tion to the place in which a former state of things 

 had produced that which, in its changed state, 

 we now perceive. 



" We are now to conclude, that the land on 

 which we dwell had been elevated from a lower 

 situation, by the same agent which had been em- 

 ployed in consolidating the strata, in giving them 



