406 VOLTAIC ACTION, AND 



basalt, and other volcanic products, which are 

 composed chiefly of metallic oxides, such as 

 those of silicium, calcium, aluminum, iron, pot- 

 assium, and sodium, the oxygen of which is 

 derived mostly from sea water. 



There is something great and sublime in the 

 simplicity of the idea, that the same familiar 

 power which " warms in the sun," and clothes the 

 world with enchanting beauty, raises mountains 

 from the ocean, and keeps the whole stupendous 

 fabric of the universe in a state of perpetual 

 motion and circulation. 



It was supposed by some of the older geolo- 

 gists, that in the earlier periods of the world, 

 there were no volcanos by others, that they 

 were far more active than at present while 

 Descartes, Leibnitz, Buffon, Fourier, and a mul- 

 titude of more modern philosophers, have main- 

 tained that the earth originally existed in a state 

 of fusion or incandescence throughout ; and that 

 it has been gradually cooling down ever since. 

 To those who believe in the uniformity of 

 nature's laws, it is needless to insist, that 

 none of these opinions have any foundation 

 in fact ; and that they are discountenanced by 

 all analogy. We are rather authorized to be- 

 lieve that the amount of chemical action going 

 on throughout the earth is the same in all given 

 periods of time, and in proportion to the amount 

 of matter. But if volcanic agency were due to a 



