



THEORY OF THE EARTH. 39 



to discover the period at which animal produc- 

 tions began to be deposited. 



7. Proofs of the Occurrence of Revolutions before the 

 Existence of Living Beings. 



As we ascend to higher points of elevation, and 

 advance towards the lofty summits of the moun- 

 tains, the remains of marine animals, that multi- 

 tude of shells we have spoken of, begin very soon 

 to grow rare, and at length disappear altogether. 

 We arrive at strata of a different nature, which 

 contain no vestige at all of living creatures. Ne- 

 vertheless their crystallization, and even the na- 

 ture of their strata, show that they also have been 

 formed in a fluid ; their inclined position and their 

 slopes show that they also have been moved and 

 overturned; the oblique manner in which they 

 sink under the shelly strata shows that they have 

 been formed before these ; and the height to which 

 their bare and rugged tops are elevated above all 

 the shelly strata, shows that their summits have 

 never again been covered by the sea since they 

 were raised up out of its bosom. 



Such are those primitive or primordial moun- 

 tains which traverse our continents in various di- 

 rections, rising above the clouds, separating the 

 basins of the rivers from one another, serving, by 

 means of their eternal snows, as reservoirs for feed- 

 ing the springs, and forming in some measure the 



