184 Natural History. 



Pye/ Waller lus/ Bailly, Franklin/ Darwin/ 

 and several others no less eminent. Some of these 

 gentlemeii have adopted theories, nearly agreeing 

 in their outlines with several of those which have 

 been stated: and to attempt a further detail of 

 such as have any considerable claims to originahty, 

 would be to present the reader with new vagaries 

 of imagination, rather than with sober inquiries of 

 philosophy. 



But although there has been, in modern times, 

 as appears from the foregoing pages, a wonderful 

 variety of fanciful productions, under the name of 

 geological theories, we are by no means to ima- 

 gine that little has been usefully done in this de- 

 partment of natural history. Amidst all the splen- 

 did rubbish with which it has been incumbered, 

 some precious treasures have been brought to light. 

 Amidst the speculations which have darkened 

 counsel, large additions have been made to our 

 knowledge of this important subject. These may 

 be briefly summed up in the following particulars. 



The materials for the formation of a correct and 

 rational theory of the earth have been greatly aug- 

 mented during the last age. Enlightened mine- 

 ralogists, practical miners, and patient chemical 

 experimenters, have been engaged, throughout the 

 century, in making accurate observations; in visit- 

 ing foreign countries; in exploring the bowels of 

 the earth ; in comparing the strata of every portion 

 of the globe; in examining their form, direction, 

 extension, and connection; in analyzing their com- 

 ponent parts; and in collecting a multitude of 

 facts, which have all tended to throw light on the 



p The Mosaic Theory of the Solar System^ by SamuEL Pye, M. D« 

 4to. 1765. 



q Meditationcs Physico-chemica de Origine Miindi. 8 VO. Stockholm, 1 779. 



r Conjectures concerning the Formation of the Earthy in a letter tO the Abbe 

 Soul AVI E. See Americ. Philos. Trans, vol. iii. 



s See the Sotanii Garden : AddiiiQnal Notes to pajt i. 



