122 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



fign inanifefted in the ftrudlure, or economy of 

 the world. The enlarged views of thefe, which 

 his geological fyftem afforded, appeared to Br 

 Button himfelf as its moil valuable refult. They 

 were the parts of it which he contemplated 

 with greateil delight ; and he would have been 

 lefs flattered, by being told of the ingenuity and 

 originality of his theory, than of the addition 

 which it had made to our knowledge of ^«a/ 

 caufes. It was natural, therefore, that he Ihould 

 be hurt by an attempt to accufe Ijim of opinions 



fo different from thofe which he had 



way 



taught ', and if he anfwcred Mr Kirwan's attack 

 with warmth or afperity, we muit afcribe it to the 

 indignation excited by unmerited reproach. 

 120. But to return to the natural hiiiory of the 



Though there be in it no data, from which 



the commencement of the prefent order can be 

 afcertained, there are many by which the exiil- 

 ence of that order may be traced back to an anti- 

 quity extremely remote. The beds of primitive 

 fchiflus, for inftance, contain fand, gravel, and 

 other materials, colleded, as'' already fhewn, from 

 the diifolution of mineral bodies ; which bodies, 

 therefore, mufl haveexifled long before the oldeft 

 part of the prefent land was formed. Again, in 

 this gravel we fometimes find pieces of fandftone, 

 and of other compound rocks, by which we are of 



courfe carried back a ftep farther, fo as to reacji 



a 



A 



