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ICI, 



is. 



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HtFTTONIAN THEORY. 



145 



the fea, and from materials there depofitecL 

 general conclufion is, " that all the ftrata of 



H 



earth, not only thofe 



lifting of fuch calca- 



reous malTes, but others fuoerincumbent 



pon 



thefe, h 



had their origin at the bottom of 



the fea, by the colled ion of fand and gravel, of 



ihells, of 



and cruftaceous bodies, and 



of earths and clays variouily mixed, or feparated 

 and accumulated. This is a general conclufion, 

 well authenticated by the appearances of nature, 

 and highly important in the natural hiftory of 

 the earth *." 



135. In his Geological ElTays, Mr Kirwan fays, 

 that " fome geoldgifts, as BufFon, and of late Dr 

 Hutton, have excluded calcareous earth from 

 the number of the primeval, afTerting the maftes 

 of it we at prefent behold to proceed from fhell- 

 fifh. But, in addition to the unfounded fuppo- 

 lition, that Ihell-fifh, or any animals, pofTefs the 

 power of producing any limple earth, thefe phi- 



^ I 



lofophers Ihould have confidered, that, before 

 the exiftence of any fifti, the ftony malTes that 

 inclofe the bafon of the fea, muft have exifted ; 

 and, among thefe, there is none in which calca- 

 reous earth is not found. Dr Hutton endea- 

 vours to evade this argument, by fuppofmg the 

 world we now inhabit to have arifen from the 



K 



rums 



* 



Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 26 



> 



