304 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



members of our strata ; but that they were all deposited nearly about 

 the same period. — The doctrine of successive formations is connected 

 with the opinion, that ages intervened between one formation and 

 another; and that the lowest strata are of very high antiquity, while 

 the upper strata, such as the chalk beds, are comparatively quite 

 modern. To the same system belong the notions, Avhich we have 

 already exploded, that the animals petrified in the several formations 

 are peculiar to these formations, and that they have lived and died 

 on the spots where we find them. 



As the formation system has many learned and zealous advo- 

 cates, it is the more necessary to set forth the leading facts, from 

 which we draw the conclusion, That the different members of our 

 strata have been all deposited nearly about the same period. 



(1.) The breaks in the strata are not limited by the boundaries 

 of any particular member of the series, but affect the whole mass of 

 the strata at the places where they occur. Had the strata been 

 deposited in successive formations, separated by ages, or long pe- 

 riods of time, we ought to find in the lower formations their own 

 peculiar breaks and irregularities; an«l might expect to see, in nu- 

 merous instances, breaks leaving off at the limits of the several 

 formations ; and to observe the materials of the higher foi'mations 

 descending into the fissures of the lower. Now, when we perceive, 

 on the contrary, the same breaks passing directly through the alumi- 

 nous beds, the coal measures, the oolite, and all the intermediate 

 strata, without any regard to supposed formations, it is natural to 

 conclude, that the division of the strata into such formations is the 

 work of fancy. We do not, indeed, find any one break crossing the 

 whole series; but we see a succession of breaks connecting the 

 difTerent members, and shewing the whole to be, not a series of 

 formations, but one grand foi'mation. — The effects of the denudations 

 of the strata lead to the same conclusion; for the chalk, the upper 



