62 ORIGIN OF THE 



It will at once be perceived, that the tempera- 

 ture of the waters, and consequently of the 

 atmosphere, derived from the internal heat of 

 the earth, must have been, for ages, very much 

 higher than at present, and nearly equal over 

 every part of the globe ; the heat of the sun 

 having but little, if any, influence, owing to the 

 high temperature of the earth, and the constant 

 accumulation of vapor suspended in the atmo- 

 sphere. 



f The waters became pregnant with life and 

 / animation ; and the germs of vegetable and ani- 

 \rnal life were formed therein. 



This uniformity of temperature, over every 

 part of the earth's surface, at the same time, 

 while its reduction was so gradual as scarcely 

 to be perceived for a great number of years, will 

 account for the frequent discoveries of the re- 

 mains of tropical animals and vegetables near 

 the poles, instead of resorting to the theory 

 of St. Pierre and others, that the relative situa- 



