THEORY OF THE EARTH. 13 



We say for the last time, because, if we exa- 

 mine with still greater care those remains of or- 

 ganised bodies, we discover, in the midst of even 

 the oldest strata of marine formation, other strata 

 replete with animal or vegetable remains of ter- 

 restrial or fresh- water productions ; and, amongst 

 the more recent strata, or, in other words, those 

 that are nearest the surface, there are some in 

 which land animals are buried under heaps of ma- 

 rine productions. Thus, the various catastrophes 

 which have disturbed the strata, have not only 

 caused the different parts of our continents to rise 

 by degrees from the bosom of the waves, and di- 

 minished the extent of the basin of the ocean, but 

 have also given rise to numerous shiftings of this 

 basin. ' It has frequently happened, that lands 

 which have been laid dry, have been again covered 

 by the waters, in consequence either of their be- 

 ing ingulphed in the abyss, or of the sea having 

 merely risen over them. The particular portions 

 also, of the Earth, which the sea abandoned in its 

 last retreat, those which are now inhabited by 

 man and terrestrial animals, had already been 

 once laid dry, and had then afforded subsistence 

 to quadrupeds, birds, plants, and land produc- 

 tions of all kinds : the sea which left it had, 

 therefore, covered it at a previous period *. 



* See Note C. 



