42 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



the shelly strata; the granite in mass never rests 

 upon the crystallized marble, except in a few 

 places where it seems to have been formed of 

 granites of newer epochs. In one word, the fore- 

 going arrangement appears to be general, and 

 must therefore depend upon general causes, which 

 have on all occasions exerted the same influence 

 from one extremity of the earth to the other.* 



Hence, it is impossible to deny, that the waters 

 of the sea have formerly, and for a long time, co- 

 vered those masses of matter which now consti- 

 tute our highest mountains; and farther, that these 

 waters, during a longtime, did not support any 

 living bodies. Thus, it has not been only since 

 the commencement of animal life that these nume- 

 rous changes and revolutions have taken place in 

 the constitution of the external covering of our 

 globe: For the masses formed previous to that 

 event have suffered changes, as well as those wiiich 

 have been formed since; they have also suffered 

 violent changes in their positions, and a part of 

 these assuredly took place while they existed alone, 

 and before they were covered over by the shelly 

 masses. The proof of this lies in the overturnings, 

 the disruptions, and the fissures which are obser- 

 vable in their strata, as well as in those of more 

 recent formation, which are there even in greater 

 number arid better denned. 



* NoteC. 



