69,6 



GEOLOGY. 



peared, and their surface descending below the level 

 of the waters, a general inundation ensued. This 

 was the general deluge. The sea now covered all 

 the globe, except the islands of its ancient bottom, 

 which increased in number and magnitude, until the 

 weight of the water, added to that of the superior 

 vaults, crushed the inferior ones, and deepened more 

 and more the new bed of the ocean ; so that, at last, 

 by a motion rapid, but not violent, all the waters 

 retired from their former bed, and left our continents 

 dry. Secondary mountains and other irregularities 

 were afterwards produced by volcanic commotions, 

 and maritime currents and convulsions. 



Next to the theory of M. de Luc, appeared that 

 of Mr. Milne, which, though it did not engage so 

 much attention, was framed with considerable inge- 

 nuity. This gentleman declared himself a warm 

 friend to revelation, and professed to have formed a 

 system in strict conformity with the sacred history. 

 In some respects he agreed with Mr. Whitehurst ; 

 in others, he adopted the opinions of M. de Luc ; 

 while, with regard to a third class of his doctrines, 

 he claimed to be original. He supposed that the 

 earth, immediately after the fall, and in consequence 

 of the curse pronounced against it, underwent a total 

 change by means of the elementary fire lodged at 

 that time near its centre, and that hence arose the 

 irregularities which now appear in the earth's surface. 

 There are other geological writers who have accumu- 

 lated many interesting facts, and whose insulated 

 observations are truly curious and valuable ; but their 

 general hypotheses are of so chimerical a cast, as 

 rather to resemble eastern allegories than European 

 philosophy ; and we are now to proceed to examine 

 the theories promulgated by Professor Werner of 

 Freyburgh, and Dr. Hutton of Edinburgh. Each of 

 these distinguished writers has been ably supported 

 by the proofs, illustrations, and comparative views, of 

 acute and eloquent controversialists. Thus two dis- 

 tinguishing sects have been formed under the appel- 

 lations of Wernenans and Huttonians. 



The disputes and differences of these contending 

 geologists would now be prematurely noticed. They 

 each profess to proceed, as rigidly as the subject 

 allows, in the path of induction ; to reject mere hypo- 

 thesis, and raise their theories upon accumulated 

 facts ; and yet, by a strange perversion of facts, they 

 arrive at conclusions diametrically opposite. 



The first principle of the Wernerian theory assumes 

 that our globe was once covered with" a sort of chaotic 

 compost, holding either in solution or suspension the 

 various rocks and strata which now present them- 

 selves as its exterior crust. From some unexplained 

 cause, this fluid began first to deposit those bodies 

 which it held in chemical solution, and thus a variety 

 of crystallised or primitive rocks were formed. In 

 these we find no organic remains, nor even any 

 rounded pebbles ; but in the strata which lie upon 

 the crystalline, or first deposits, shells and fragments 

 occasionally occur. These, therefore, have been 

 termed transition strata, and it is imagined that the 

 peopling of the ocean commenced about this period. 

 The waters upon the earth began more rapidly to 

 subside, and finely divided particles, chiefly resulting 

 from the disintegration of the first formations, were 

 its chief contents ; these were deposited upon the 

 transition rocks chiefly in horizontal layers. They 

 abound in organic remains, and are termed by the 

 Wernenans jftoetz, or secondary rocks. 



It was now conceived that the exposure of the 

 primitive, transition, and secondary rocks, to the 

 action of wind and weather, and to the turbulent state 

 of the remaining ocean, produced inequalities of sur- 

 face, and that the waters retreated into lowlands and 

 valleys, where a farther deposition took place, consti- 

 tuting clay, gravel, and other alluvial formations. 

 There are also certain substances which, instead of 

 being found in regularly alternating layers over the 

 earth, are met with in very limited and occasional 

 patches. Rock salt, coal, basalt, and some other 

 bodies, are of this character, and these Wernef has 

 called subordinate formations. Lastly, subterraneous 

 fires have sometimes given birth to peculiar, and 

 and sometimes very limited products ; and these are 

 called volcanic rocks. Such is Werner's account of 

 the production of rocks, which he arranges under the 

 terms primitive, transition, secondary, alluvial, subor- 

 dinate, and volcanic formations. 



A number of delicate distinctions and accurate 

 minutiae of description attend this theory, which we 

 cannot notice in this brief view, and which do not 

 affect the general conclusions. If we examine the 

 stratification of our globe, we shall doubtless find that 

 certain substances do occur in a certain order of 

 arrangement, and that they appear to have been suc- 

 cessively deposited, one upon the other, in the manner 

 Werner would have us believe. He, therefore, and 

 his disciples, have perhaps given a satisfactory account 

 of their own country ; but when we examine other 

 parts of the earth's surface, so many incongruities are 

 discovered, and so much is at variance with their 

 leading doctrines, that we are obliged to give them 

 up in favour of views more generally applicable. 



Dr. Hutton gives a very different account of the 

 present order of things. Looking upon the face of 

 nature, he observes everything in a state of decay ; 

 and as she has obviously provided for the regenera- 

 tion of animal and vegetable tribes, so the philosophic 

 mind will descry, in this apparent destruction of the 

 earth's surface, the real source of its renovation. 

 The lofty mountains, exposed to the action of the 

 varying temperature of the atmosphere, and the 

 waters of the clouds, are, by slow degrees, suffering 

 constant diminution ; their fragments are dislodged ; 

 masses are rolled into the valley, or carried by the 

 rushing torrents into rivers, and thence transported 

 to the sea. The lower and softer rocks are under- 

 going similar, but more rapid, destruction. The 

 result of all this must be the accumulation of new 

 matter in the ocean, which will be deposited in 

 horizontal layers. Looking at the transition rocks of 

 Werner, he perceives that, though not strictly crystal- 

 line, they appear made up of finely-divided matter, 

 more or less indurated, and sometimes very hard in 

 texture, and of a vitreous fracture ; and that this 

 hardening is most perceptible when in contact with 

 the primitive or inferior rock, which often pervades 

 them in veins, or appears to have broken up or 

 luxated the superincumbent masses. According, then, 

 to Dr. Hutton, the transition and secondary rocks of 

 Werner were deposited at the bottom of the ocean, in 

 consequence of operations similar to those which are 

 now active, and the primary rocks were formed be- 

 neath them by the action of subterranean fires ; their 

 crystalline texture, their hardness, their shape, and 

 fracture, and the alterations they have produced upon 

 their neighbours, are the proofs of the correctness of 

 these views. It is by the action of subterraneous 



