CHAPTER X. 



Liable to Decomposition. There is not, perhaps. 

 a more prevalent opinion, or one more generally be- 

 lieved, than that which relates to the universal ten- 

 dency of every species of rocks to a slow, but pro- 

 gressive state of disintegration, or decomposition. 

 It is an opinion that has been long inculcated and re,- 

 ceived, and so deeply impressed are many, with a 

 belief of the fact, that they hesitate not, to assert, 

 that the solid materials which constitute the body of 

 this earth, are but the debris of a former world that 

 has undergone the process of decomposition, and from 

 which, our present globe is composed. 



Was it not that such an assertion is tantamount to 

 a libel against the letter and spirit of Holy Writ 

 and also the tendency of such a declaration to 

 encourage scepticism aud infidelity, it might be suffer- 

 ed to pass, with the idle winds unheeded and without 

 comment or notice. But the tenor of such an hypo- 

 thesis is too gross and improbable for belief, and de- 

 serves the pointed animadversions of an abler pen 

 than mine. 



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