3i REMARKS ON TJir, PROBABLE DATS 



probably ^ as inhabited by Hyaenas soon after it was 

 consolidated, and they began to multiply upon the 

 earth. We conceive this rock containing organic 

 remains, to have been held in solution by the accu- 

 mulated waters of the deluge, and by elective 

 attraction settled into their respective beds or strata, 

 not covering the primitive formation regularly, 

 but in patches, as one kind of rock is known to sub- 

 side into another. We have illustrations of the 

 affinity of different properties for each other, on the 

 sea shore, where we find different sorts of earths 

 associated and left by the reflux of the tide, as well 

 as different classes of sea weeds. It may appear 

 strange to some, that the crust of the old world 

 should have been so completely broken up by the 

 action of water and volcanic agency, as to be gran- 

 ulated and qualified to take a fresh formation. But 

 if we suppose the covering of the primative rock, 

 to have been softer and more detached than the 

 present secondary formation, and therefore more 

 easily decomposed, the difficulty lessens, and the 

 hypothesis is more readily admitted Some change 

 of this nature must have taken place, else we could 

 not find spoils of the animal and vegetable king* 

 dom included in solid rock, to which there was no 

 passage from without, but were like nuts included 

 in their shells ; and as this rock was not made at the, 

 format ion of the world, in the form it is seen at 

 present, there must have been a remodification of 

 the crust of the earth, and these remains were mix* 

 ed up with the earth when that re modification 

 took place. 



