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Very little attention to the phenomena df 

 the mineral kingdom, is fufScient to con- 

 ceHio; vince us, that the condition of the earth's fur- 

 sir ol face has not been the fame at all times that it is 

 fthei at the prefent moment. When we obferve the 

 trutt impreffions of plants in the heart of the hardeit 

 irclal rocks; when we difcover trees converted into 



fimt, and entire beds of limeftone or of marble 

 ^"S^' compofed of fhells and corals; we fee the fame 



individual in two Hates, the mod widely differ- 

 ent from one another ; and, in the latter in- 

 fiance, have a clear proof, that the prefent land 

 was once deep immerfed tinder the waters of 

 the ocean. If to this we add, that many maifes 

 of rock, the mod folid and compadl, conliil of 

 no other materials but fand and gravel ; that, 

 on the other hand, loofe gravel, fuch as is form^ 

 ed only in beds of rivers, or on the fea-lhore, 

 now abounds in places remote from both: if 

 we refledt, at the fame time, on the irregular 



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