54 ALTERATION IN THE 



less, they would, if soft, suffer bendings and inflec- 

 tions while accommodating themselves to a globe 

 constantly diminishing in magnitude ; and if indu- 

 rated, they would break asunder, and assume a posi- 

 tion somewhat inclined to the horizon ; and as the 

 globe diminished more and more in magnitude, the 

 strata would approach more and more to a vertical 

 position ? " 



82. How is it that " strata deviate the more from 

 the horizontal position as they are the more ancient ?" 

 "If this globe has constantly diminished in magni- 

 tude, then the more we recede from the present 

 period the greater will be its magnitude, and, conse- 

 quently, the more ancient the strata, the greater 

 would be the globe upon which they were deposited. 

 Since, therefore, strata, according to their seniority, 

 would, when deposited, form as it were the circum- 

 ference of a larger globe, and they are now all in- 

 vesting the same nucleus, and that the nucleus of a 

 less, it is evident that the strata last formed would 

 require to shift less from their original horizontal 

 position, in order to accommodate themselves to the 

 present magnitude of the globe, than strata of a 

 prior formation ; that, therefore, the more ancient the 

 strata, the more must they be displaced from their 

 first position ; the primitive strata must have there- 



