CALORIFICATION. 383 



separate parts, was thereby accomplished, with 

 the various subordinate divisions and separa- 

 tions of those parts into smaller portions, as they 

 are found to exist in different islands, seas, &c. 

 that this shock was more particularly felt under 

 the line of the equator, where the solar rays, 

 from their vertical position, have the greatest 

 power; that by means such as these, two 

 great continents were formed ; the waters, 

 divided from the waters, and dry land ap- 

 peared ; the whole fitted and adapted for the 

 habitation and residence of the infinite multi- 

 tude of animated beings, which were afterwards 

 created. 



Whoever reflects on the effects which would 

 be produced on the whole planetary system, by 

 the intervention of the expansible bodies pro- 

 duced, by the various mea o ns to which I have al- 

 luded, will see the absolute necessity which ex- 

 ists, that no part of them should ascend beyond 

 their proper bounds, but that means should ex- 

 ist, by the operation of which they should be li- 

 mited and confined. If it were otherwise, if their 

 decomposition did not take place, there is every 

 reason to suppose that the whole mass of wa- 

 ter, of which the ocean is composed, would, in 

 the process of time, be evaporated, and convert- 

 ed by the sun into a gaseous form ; the conse- 

 quence would not only be felt, by the state of 

 desiccation that would, long before this, have 



