Sect. IV.] Ceologj/. 019 



ration of the solids and fluids increased, the former 

 were moved from i)laee to place, ^vill^()u( r(\:^nlH- 

 rity; and hence the sea hccame unequally ilccp. 

 These inequalities dail}^ becominp: greater, in ])ro- 

 cess of time dry land was formed, and divifh'd the 

 sea^ islands gradually apjjeared, like sand-hanks 

 above the water, and at length became firm, dr}-, 

 and fit for the reception of the animal and vege- 

 table kingdoms. He supposed that mountains and 

 continents were not primary productions of nature, 

 but of a very distant })eriod from the creation ; that 

 they are the eilects of subterranean fires and com- 

 motions, and were produced when the strata of the 

 oarth had acquired their greatest degree of firmness 

 and cohesion, and when the testaceous matter had 

 assumed a ston}^ hardness. And, finally, that the 

 marine shells found in various places, on and below 

 the surface of the earth, were for the most part \ 

 generated, lived and died in the places in which 

 they are found; that they were not brought 

 from distant regions as some have supposed 3 and, 

 consecjuently, that the'se beds of shells, &c. were! 

 originally the bottom of the ocean. 



Two or three years after the appearance of Mr. 

 Whitehurst's publication, M. de Luc, of Geneva, 

 dissatisfied with all the numerous theories which 

 had been proposed, oilered another, which has 

 occupied considerable attention in the scientific 

 world*. He supposes that the ocean once covered 



•" L'Jitres Physiqites ct Morales stir VJJlsloire dc la Tcrre et de 

 PHumiuCf &c., by J. A. de Luc, 8vt), 5 torn. l/SO. This theory, 

 as to its principal outlines^ \v<is lir.st su^^g,.*.stcHi by .Mr, lidwjrd 

 King ; but was aftei\\\u\ls nmdi cxlcndcvl and improved by JNI. 

 «lc Luc. 



