22 . II. RELICS. Introduction 



Obs. During this period the most ancient of the 

 secondary tracts were formed, and the remains of 

 zoophytes and shell-fish, the only animals apparently 



ried and disordered position of the secondary strata, which rest 

 against them. 



In Mutton's system of the earth, mountains are considered as the 

 production of subterraneous heat. The Doctor supposes our pre- 

 sent habitable earth to have been formed of materials furnished by 

 the decay of one more ancient. These materials, collected at the 

 bottom of the sea, and horizontally arranged by the action of the 

 water, were first consolidated into strata by an intense subterraneous 

 heat, and afterwards broken and elevated by the eruptive force of 

 the same agent, acting on mineral matter in perfect fusion. Thus 

 he accounts for the emersion of our continents from the depths of 

 the ocean, the formation of mountainous tracts, and the various 

 direction and positions, in which their strata have been thrown. 

 The eject* d matter, which accompanied these effects, still exists, ac- 

 cording to his theory, in the substances of veins and unstratified 

 jocks, of which last trap and granite are the principal. Hence ac- 

 cording to Dr. Hutton, granite is a more recent rock formation than 

 the superincumbent strata of other stones and earths. 



The action of subterancous fire, under various modifications, has 

 been used, also, by Whitehurst, Lazzaro Moro, Faujas St. Fond, 

 Born, Raspe, and many other authors, in explanation of the phc- 

 nomina of mountains, and the derangement of the strata which 

 compose them ) 



9. After the formation of the primary rocks, the water, which hi- 

 therto covered the entire surface of the earth, began to diminish in 

 height, and the more elevated parts of our continents to appear. 



(Obs. Hence the secondary mountains never attain the height of 

 the primary, being deposited when the waters were lower than the 

 summit of these greater rock formations. 



The diminution in the height of the water is accounted for, bv 



