ACTION OF THAT PRESSURE. 



water at rather less ' than it would come to, ac- 

 cording to the guesses of the most eminent and 

 eminently cautious men, who have calculated as 

 far as they could, and then speculated on that 

 most extensive subject, it must follow that when- 

 ever some parts were elevated so as to be at a less 

 depth, other parts must have been depressed so 

 as to be at a greater. Thus, the very pressure of 

 the water, which resisted the powers by which 

 the continents and islands were elevated, would 

 assist those powers in their progress, after the 

 elevation was begun. Whatever of matter was 

 forced upward by the heat, (for if heat was not 

 the instrument, we know it not, and heat is fully 

 adequate to the task,) there would be no vacancy 

 left, because the superincumbent pressure would 

 send down the remaining parts with more energy 

 and effect than it resisted the ascending ; so 

 that, as the mountain reared its head, it would 

 continue to do so with less and less of the original 

 propelling force ; and when it came to the air and 

 the sunbeams, its labour would, comparatively 

 speaking, be at an end at least compared with 

 the first struggle in the deep. 



To those who have been accustomed to look at 

 nature only on the small scale, and as conducive 

 to the puny possessions of man's little life, those 

 speculations may appear to have but little to do 

 with the "popular" observation of nature ; but, 

 in truth, they belong to the popular, and not to 

 the systematic part of natural history: for they 

 come upon the popular student in his very novi- 

 ciate, nay, they probably force themselves more 

 or less upon the attention of all young people, 

 learned and unlearned, when they are permitted 



