16 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



great and terrible events are every where distinct- 

 ly recorded, so as to be always legible by the eye 

 skilled to decypher their history in the monu- 

 ments which they have left behind. 



But what is still more astonishing and not less 

 certain, life has not always existed upon the 

 globe ; and it is easy for the observer to distin- 

 guish the point at which it has begun to deposit 

 its productions. 



Proofs that there have been Revolutions anterior to the 

 existence of living beings. 



If we ascend to higher points of elevation, and 

 advance towards the great ridges, the craggy sum- 

 mits of the mountain chains, we shall presently 

 find those remains of marine animals, those in- 

 numerable shells, of which we have spoken, be- 

 coming more rare, and at length disappearing alto- 

 gether. We arrive at strata of a different na- 

 ture, which contain no vestiges of living beings. 

 Nevertheless, their crystallization, and even their 

 stratification, shew that they have been also in a 

 liquid state at their formation ; their inclined posi- 

 tion, and the cliffs into which they are broken, 

 shew that they also have been forcibly^ moved from 

 their original places; the oblique manner in 

 which they dip under the shelly strata, that they 

 have been formed previously to these latter ; and 

 lastly, the height to which their rugged and bare 



