GEOLOGY. 173 



by a solution of saline beds. For where have the latter 

 come from ? 



841. With the separation of the ore and the Inflam- 

 mable out of the primary water and the confluence of the 

 Earthy into marine salt, its metamorphosis upon the 

 surface or when exposed to light is at an end. All forms 

 of the planet have been successively developed out of the 

 earth-element. It can attain no further to anything new, 

 and if nature had not yet been concluded, that which in 

 the sequel is still dynamically developed upon our earth, 

 must be thus a product, which extends beyond the mi- 

 neral kingdom. 



842. As the fundamental earths lose themselves in 

 pure carbon, in resin, and so in the vegetable world, so 

 the series of corrosive earths resolves itself likewise in 

 remnants of an organic, and that indeed the animal, king- 

 dom. As the pit-coals and resins are associated with the 

 metals and Inflammables, so are the fossil animal remains 

 with the calcareous earth ; and thus the voice of the or- 

 ganic world speaks already with force and clearness to 

 those that hearken, from out the stones. 



843. For the metamorphosis of the earths, nature has 

 twice prepared herself, has planted at the same time two 

 great points of origin, according to which all her action 

 is directed, and which remain in constant correspondence 

 with each other. 



844. The main pole is granite*_-lt is at once the pri- 

 mary pole, to which the second main pole, the lime, is 

 directed. The granite brings the series through gneiss 

 and mica-schist down to clay- and talc-slate, then makes 

 a sudden transition to the ores, and terminates at a 

 boundary, where pit-coals and resins conduct us into a 

 new kingdom. 



845. The lime rejects from itself the sand and sedi- 

 mentary clay, progresses through barytes and strontian 

 up to gypsum, makes a sudden bound or transition from 

 thence to the salts, and terminates at a limit, where 

 corals and molluscous animals conduct us into a new 

 kingdom. 



