SOFTER STRATA. 231 



strata of the earth, have the traces of their aque- 

 ous origin still more legible, except in cases where 

 we can explain why they have been obliterated. 

 The lava of Etna, Vesuvius, and various other 

 mountains, which still continue to burn that of 

 many others which are now extinguished, or have 

 been so since the commencement of history the 

 sea of glass in Iceland and all the other produc- 

 tions of fire with which we meet in large masses 

 are no more original or primary formations, 

 than the scoria and cinders of an iron furnace, 

 which are nothing but certain parts of the ore, the 

 lime, and the coal, after the iron has been taken 

 out of them by the process of melting. The 

 power of those fires cannot be doubted ; and, in* 

 deed, it would not be easy to find words by means 

 of which their effects could be overrated. Every 

 mountain on the face of the earth may have been 

 reared by fire of that description ; and where they 

 are of rock, and not accumulations of fragments, 

 which can be explained by mechanical causes act- 

 ing at the surface of the earth, if we do not con- 

 sider heat as the agent in their elevation, we 

 cannot at all account for the fact of their being 

 elevated, any further than by saying " God made 

 them;" and though in all cases we must come to 

 those words some time or other, we should never 

 do so at the beginning of an inquiry. That is one 

 of the most obvious, as well as one of the most 

 undeniable truths, to any one who thinks even 

 slightly on the subject ; but it is a truth too gene- 

 ral for guiding us to the knowledge of any particu- 

 lar in nature ; and therefore, unless for the effect 

 which it has on the feelings and conduct, there is 

 no need for repeating it. Indeed the repetition 

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