( 79 ) 



demonftration that thefe places have never 

 been covered by the fea, fince it is poffible 

 that the marine bodies its waters had left, 

 may have been afterwards deftroyed by 

 caufes which are not wanting in countries 

 that, at various epochs, have fufFered the 

 adlion of fire ; I fhall only obferve that we 

 are thus deprived of one of the moft con- 

 vincing proofs of this fuppofed inundation; 

 and I know not on what other we can rely, 

 with refpe(£t to a country entirely volcanic. 



That zeolites derive their origin from 

 water and not from fire, is proved by the 

 water of cryftallization which is more or 

 3efs abundant in them, and the numbers of 

 them found in fome provinces of Sweden^ 

 which have never been fubjeded to the ac- 

 tion of fire. That this water has fometimes 

 been that of the fea, the above-cited obfer- 

 vations of M. Dolomieu will not permit us 

 to doubt ; but it has been proved that there 

 are likewife inftances of their having origi- 

 nated from frefli water ; of which an ob- 

 fervation by Bergmann may furnifh an ex- 

 ample. 



