Sect. IV.] Geologtj. 01,5 



in which are the relics of sliells, and other produc- 

 tions of the ocean. I'he whole snrface of the earth, 

 therefore, as y\c now behold it, was, at a period 

 long subsequent to its separation from the sun, 

 covered by an ocean; and the waters forming this 

 ocean probably remained for a succession of ages 

 on what are now inhabited continents. Hence the 

 remains of marine plants and animals to be found 

 in almost every part of the globe, on or near its 

 surface. M. IkifTon supposes, further, that, since 

 the period \\\\q\\ the primitive waters encircled the 

 earth, there have been repeated partial inundations, 

 in different places; and, in others, instances of land 

 formerly covered with the ocean being elevated 

 above it, and becoming inhabitable; and similar 

 events, he seems to suppose, may in future occur. 

 According to him, also, the earth, for many ages, 

 too intensely heated to admit the existence of ani- 

 mal life on its surface, first acquired at the poles a 

 more genial temperature. There, consequently, 

 must we look for the first abodes of man. To Green- 

 land or Iceland y to Spifzhergcn or Xova-ZembhTy 

 w^e must have recourse for the verdant bowers of 

 Eden. And, fmally, he contends tliat all the other 

 planets belonging to our system were stricken oil' 

 from the sun in the same manner with that which 

 we inhabit, and have probably undergone similar 

 changes, so far as their respective circumstances 

 admitted. 



Such ar6 the outlines of a theoiy bold and plau- 

 sible, as might ha^ e been expected from tlie mind 

 of its author, but unsubstantial and deceptive. Its 

 manifest object is to exclude the agency of a Di- 

 vine Architect, and to represent a world begun 



