470 ON THE SUCCESSIVE FORM* 



strata. Yet this absence does not prove a negative* 

 These strata were formed beneath an ocean ; and, 

 under that, terrestrial plants or animals could not 

 have been deposited, without a transportation which 

 few could have resisted with the preservation of their 

 integrity ; which none might. It is still possible that 

 such remains may be found, as our experience is yet 

 limited as to these subjects. 



Whether the revolution which first elevated the 

 primary strata from the bottom of the sea, was uni- 

 versal, or partial, we cannot determine. Theorists have 

 considered it universal, it is true; but the proofs 

 are far from conclusive. These rocks are indeed found 

 so widely disseminated over the present surface of the 

 earth, that, in a certain sense, they may be called 

 universal. But it must be remembered that they do 

 not appear above that highly disproportionate extent 

 occupied by the ocean ; so that even if proved to be 

 elevated where they are now visible, at one period of 

 time, that revolution would not be universal in the 

 strict sense of the term. But perhaps this is to re- 

 fine too much: it would be fairly judged so, if it were 

 not proved that many revolutions of the surface were 

 strictly partial, and that every one ought therefore, 

 probably, to be viewed as involving changes of greater 

 or less extent. 



It must here be recollected, that the whole of the 

 primary strata as we know them, were not brought 

 to their present places by one revolution; we are 

 certain that they underwent two, and even more; as 

 it is evident that they must have been elevated a 

 second time, at least, together with the secondary 

 strata, were there even but one revolution as to these. 

 The rocks which furnished the materials of the latter 

 were unquestionably elevated above the ocean by the 



