12 BOOK OP NATURE LAID OPEN. 



earth's surface, as neither to obstruct by their bulk 

 the operations going on upon it, or to be beyond the 

 reach of moderate labour, when the necessities of 

 man call aloud for their use. 



How inconvenient would it have been, and what 

 small space left for cultivation, had these useful 

 layers of Stone and Lime, Coal and Clay, been 

 promiscuously scattered about in our fields and vine- 

 yards, or plied up in uncouth, naked, and deformed 

 masses, without the slightest depth of soil for a co- 

 vering; and how inaccessible to human labour and 

 ingenuity, or to what an expence of loss of time 

 must man have been put in coming at them, had 

 they been sunk miles instead of feet into the bowels 

 of the earth ? Reflecting upon these things, we have 

 good reason to exclaim, In goodness, as well as 

 " in wisdom hast Thou made them all!" 



CHAP. III. 



THE FORM OF THE EAETtt. 



" O Nature! all-sufficient, over all! 

 Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! '' 



On returning from our subterraneous excursion, 

 our attention is naturally directed to the shape or 

 form of that stupendous fabrick, which contains so 

 many convenient apartments, and is enriched by so 

 many valuable materials; and were we to trust to ap- 

 pearances as they present themselves to our limited 



