216 Natural History, [Chap, III. 



and perfected merely by the operation of natural 

 undesigning causes. That it cannot be reconciled 

 with the sacred history, will appear evident on the 

 slightest inspection ; and that it involves the grossest 

 philosophical absurdities has been clearly shown 

 by succeeding geologists. It was embraced, how- 

 ever, by M. Bailly, of France, by the celebrated 

 Hollmann, of Goettingen, and others; and continues 

 to be respected and adopted by many to the pre- 

 sent time. 



M. de BufTon's theory was warmly opposed, 

 soon after its publication, by Raspe, a geologist of 

 Germany*. He also opposed the theory of Moro, 

 before mentioned, though he considered it as ap- 

 proaching much nearer the truth than the inge- 

 nious fable of the French naturalist. He insisted, 

 that the opinion of continents and mountains hav- 

 ing been thrown up from the bottom of the ocean, 

 solely by submarine conflagrations and volcanoes, 

 ^vas abundantly refuted by close observation. He 

 contended, likewise, that in veins of sand, marble, 

 chalk, and slate, there are found no indications of 

 a burning soil, but rather of a sediment disposed 

 by the agitation of the sea. Accordingly, he main- 

 tained, that the strata, of which the shell or surface 

 of the earth is composed, were originally formed 

 at the bottom of the sea, by the constant agitation 

 of the waters, and the continual production of 

 plants and shells; that the subterraneous explosions 

 and earthquakes, breaking through the bottom of 

 the sea, not only formed banks, hills, and sub- 

 marine mountains, of its broken parts, but also 



* Specirneu Jlistnn's Natiiralis Glohi Tcrraquai.'^Autorc Rudol- 

 pho trico Kaspe. 8vo^ Leipiiic,, 17()3. 



