GEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. >7 



associated with the remains of a few terrestrial 

 species — that these accumulations of organic and 

 inorganic materials, have gradually consolidated, 

 and subsequently been elevated from the depths 

 of the ocean, by those subterranean forces that 

 are every where in action, and of which the 

 earthquake and the volcano are paroxysmal 

 effects — and that such transmutations of the 

 sea and the land have been, and are, constantly 

 taking place. 



Geological principles. — From the first 

 moment that dry land appeared on the earth's 

 surface, whatever may have been the materials of 

 which it was composed, the disintegrating effects 

 of atmospheric agents, and of water in motion, 

 must have commenced. The detritus thus pro- 

 duced, transported to the tranquil depths of the 

 ocean, would there subside in successive layers, and 

 a series of sedimentary strata be gradually formed ; 

 and after the creation of living things, the durable 

 remains of animals and vegetables must have 

 become intermingled with the detritus of the land, 

 and imbedded in the deposits then in progress. If 

 the land were sterile, destitute of vegetation, and 

 untenanted by any species of animals, the relics of 

 the inhabitants of the sea would alone be im- 

 bedded; on the contrary, if the sediments were 

 c 



