flat position, and cones of harder and chrystallated 

 rock, in which no strata are discoverable, forced up 

 through them. In some of these we notice remains of 

 vegetable matter; in others of animals. In some places 

 we find rocks rolled and.rounded as if by some violent 

 action ; m others we see particles deposited as if by the 

 gentlest motion. Cutting into beds of some rocks, we 

 behold viens of metal injected into fissures. Often the 

 rocks themselves seem melted as if by suppressed fires. 

 When we descend into the interior of the earth, we 

 have a sensation of heat increasing at the rate of one 

 degree for every fifty feet ; when we examine its sur- 

 face we find something like two hundred mouths vomit- 

 ing forth internal fires. But to illustrate these phe- 

 nomena further : — if we see in the bosom of the earth, 

 a body of rock, not spread oat into layers, having the 

 appearance of being once melted by fire; if this rock 

 presents no sign of animal or vegetable remains, it is 

 no strained conclusion, that it was moulded amidst in- 

 tense fires, and surrounded by an atmosphere of too 

 high temperature for the existence of organised life. 



Again — If we discover rocks of different chemical 

 composition, lying in- strata, having the appearance of 

 the deposits we now see formed from water, if of great 

 thickness, and full of the remains of vegetables, — it is 

 a just conclusion that these also are deposits from wa- 

 ter, the work of ages ; and that heat and moisture, the 

 chief conditions of vegetable life, prevailed. 



If in the strata of other rocks, we find the remains 

 of organised life, which could not have existed in an 

 atmosphere necessary to the vegetation last consider- 

 ed, it'is but just to believe, that a lower temperature, 



