INTRODUCTION. 13 



itation of any thing endowed with the 

 principle of life, or pertaining to organ- 

 ized beings, as now constituted. 



Assuming, therefore, as a conceded 

 fact, the former fluidity of the earth, 

 and that it has been gradually cooled, 

 by parting with its caloric of fluidity, 

 we have endeavored to account for the 

 manner in which it became fluid ; and 

 have supposed, that the same causes 

 acted on all the material universe, 

 that similar effects with those we have 

 described as pertaining to the earth, 

 were produced on the other orbs rolling 

 through space. 



We have then left the last, to con- 

 tinue revolving in their appropriate 

 orbits, and have endeavored to trace 

 the effects produced, on the surface 



of the earth, by the gradual accumula- 

 2 



