HUTTONIAN THEORY. 



55 



to 



an 



til 



e 



I 



ID 



'! 



tend, none feems fo capable of the effed: we 

 would afcribe to it, as the expanfive power of 

 heat ; a power to which no limits can be fet, and 

 one, which, on grounds quite independent of the 

 elevation of the flrata, has been already conclu- 

 ded to act with great energy in the fubterra- 



neous regi 



We ha\' 



ndeed. no oth 



ternative, but either to adopt this explanation, 

 or to afcribe the fa6ts in queftion to fome fecret 

 and unknown caufe, though we are ignorant of 

 its nature, and have no evidence of its exift- 

 ence. 



We are therefore to fuppofe, that the power 

 of the fame fubterraneous heat, which con- 

 folidated and mineralized the Itrata at the 

 bottom of the fea, has fince raifed them up to 

 the height at which they are now placed, and 

 has given them the various inclinations to the 



horizon which they are found adlually to pof- 

 fefs. 



48. The probability of this hypothelis will be 

 greatly increafed, when it is conlidered, that, be- 

 lides thofe now enumerated, there are other indi- 

 cations of movement among the bodies of the mi- 

 neral kingdom, where effects of heat more cha- 

 raderiitic than fimple expanlion are clearly to 

 be difcovered. Thus, on examining the marks of 

 diforder and movement v/hich are found among 

 the Itrata, it cannot fail to be obferved, that not- 



D4 



withftanding 





