CHAP. xn. GEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. Ill 



held the field as the exponent of geological theory. A 

 fifth edition of the English translation appeared in 1827, 

 and a German translation so late as 1830. In this work 

 it was maintained that almost all geological phenomena 

 pointed to a state of the earth and of natural forces very 

 different from what now exists. In the raised beds of 

 shells, in fractured rocks, in vertical stratification, we 

 were said to have proofs " that the surface of the globe 

 has been broken up by revolutions and catastrophes." 

 The differences in the character of adjacent stratified 

 deposits showed that there must have been various suc- 

 cessive irruptions of the sea over the land; and Cuvier 

 maintained that these irruptions and retreats of the sea 

 were not slow or gradual, " but that most of the catas- 

 trophes which have occasioned them have been sudden.'' 

 He urged that the sharp and bristling ridges and peaks 

 of the primitive mountains " are indications of the vio- 

 lent manner in which they have been elevated; " and he 

 concludes that " it is in vain we search among the powers 

 which now act at the surface of the earth for causes suffi- 

 cient to produce the revolutions and catastrophes, the 

 traces of which are exhibited in its crust." This theory 

 of convulsions and catastrophes held almost universal 

 sway within the memory of persons now living; for al- 

 though Hutton and Playfair had advanced far more 

 accurate views, they appear to have made little impres- 

 sion, while the great authority attached to Cuvier's name 

 carried all before it. 



But in 1830, while Cuvier was at the height of his 

 fame, and his book was still being translated into foreign 

 languages, a hitherto unknown writer published the first 

 volume of a work which struck at the very roots of the 



