40 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



i 



afo 



to 



much doubt 



ing the principle of its confolidation. 



F 



Thus, then, the teftimony given to the opera- 

 tion of fire, or heat, as the confolidating power 

 of the mineral kingdom, is not confined to a few 

 foflils, but is general over all the ftrata. How 

 f^r the unftratified foflils agree in fupporting the 

 fame conclufion, will be afterwards examined. 



3. Fojition of the Strata *. 



36. We have feen of what materials the 

 ilrata are corapofed, and by what power they 

 have been confolidated : we are next to in- 

 quire, frorn what caufe it proceeds, that they 

 are now fo far removed from the region which 

 they originally occupied, and wherefore, from 



F 



being all covered by the ocean, they are at 



* 



prcfent railed in many places fifteen thoufand 

 feet above its furface. Whether this great 



change of relative place can be bell accounted 



for by the depreflion of the fea, or the elevation 

 of the ftrata themfelves, remains to be coniider- 

 ed. 



Of 



# 



Theorj of the Earth, vol. i, p. I2q, 



K 



