222 SOFTER STRATA. 



of the earth have the traces of their aqueous origin 

 still more legible, except in cases where we can ex- 

 plain why they have been obliterated. The lava of 

 Etna, Vesuvius, and various other mountains, which 

 still continue to burn that of many others which 

 are now extinguished, or have been so since the 

 commencement of history the sea of glass in Ice- 

 land and all the other productions of fire with 

 which we meet in large masses are no more ori- 

 ginal or primary formations, than the scoria and 

 cinders of an iron furnace, which ,are nothing but 

 certain parts of the ore, the lime, and the coal, after 

 the iron has been taken out of them by the process 

 of melting. The power of those fires cannot be 

 doubted ; and, indeed, it would not be easy to find 

 words by means of which their effects could be over- 

 rated. Every mountain on the face of the earth 

 may have been reared by fire of that description ; 

 and where they are of rock, and not accumulations 

 of fragments, which can be explained by mechanical 

 causes acting at the surface of the earth, if we do 

 not consider heat as the agent in their elevation, we 

 cannot at all account for the fact of their being ele- 

 vated, any further than by saying, "God made 

 them ;" and though in all cases we must come to 

 those words some time or other, we should never 

 do so at the beginning of an inquiry. That is one 

 of the most obvious, as well as one of the most un- 

 deniable truths, to any one who thinks even slightly 

 on the subject; but it is a truth too general for 

 guiding us to the knowledge of any particular in na- 

 ture ; and therefore, unless for the effect which it 

 has on the feelings and conduct, there is no need for 

 repeating it. Indeed the repetition of it is a species 

 of fraudulent idleness ; if we go on with an inquiry 

 in the proper manner, we are always sure to come 

 to it ; but if we begin with it or resort to it before 

 the proper time, our inquiry is at an end, and oui 

 ignorance of that subject is sealed. 



