THEORY OF THE EARTH. 419 



gave them. The "primary strata" include fragments 

 of strata, and those fragments contain clay, sand, and 

 mica. These are the materials of former supramarine 

 rocks : but there is no evidence to prove that those 

 comprised strata. If the clay which formed the slate 

 of these fragments was derived from previous slate, it 

 would follow that there was an intermediate earth, 

 subsequent to the purely granitic one: if from the gra- 

 nitic rocks, there was none between that and the fol- 

 lowing condition ; and, in this latter conclusion we 

 must probably rest. 



The first Revolution which we can certainly infer, 

 elevates these strata above the waters, where they be- 

 come, in a similar way, the joint materials, with the 

 igneous rocks, for our "primary" ones: while the 

 fragments of strata in them prove that this was a 

 stratified as well as a terraqueous earth. It is the 

 first Stratified earth ; but it is the fifth form of the 

 globe, under the present views, as it is the third form 

 of a solid earth. And the evidence appears to be per- 

 fect : since in no other manner can we explain the ex- 

 istence of fragments of strata in the " primary" strata 

 and since the same explanation is admitted in all the 

 subsequent cases of general conglomerate rocks. And 

 if we cannot yet find any demonstrable mass of this 

 first set of strata, it is not an opposing argument ; 

 since, while the difficulty must be great, under the nu- 

 merous subsequent revolutions, they have never yet 

 been sought for, from deficient views of a theory of 

 the earth among geologists. 



A second revolution, elevating the submarine strata 

 thus generated under this fifth form of the globe^ pro- 

 duces a sixth one, being, at the same time, its second 

 stratified form. And here the evidence is no longer 

 disputed : since the supramarine strata of this earth 



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