412 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



to which they are fubjed, have remained inva 

 riably the fame. 



374. Objecflions have been made to that tranfla 



tion 



f m 



by the 



f th 



ocean 



which is fuppofed in this theory, particularly by 

 Mr Kirwan, in his Geological Effays ; and, though 

 I might perhaps content myfelf with the remark 

 already made, that' the Neptunian fyftem ior 

 volves fuppofitions concerning the tranfportation 

 of folid bodies by the fea, in the early ages of 



I 



the world, as wonderful as thofe which, accord- 

 jng to our theory, are common to all ages, I am 

 unwilling to remain fatisfied with a mere ar- 

 gumentum ad hominem^ where the fallacy of the 



reafoning is fo eafily dete<5ted. 



375. One of Mr Kirwan's objedlions to the de- 

 poiitiori of materials at the bottom of the fea, is 



thus ftated : *' Fkisi has remarked, in his ma- 

 thematical difcourfes, that if any conliderable 

 mafs of matter v/ere accumulated in the interior 



_ f 



of the ocean, the diurnal motion of the globe 

 would be difturbed, and confequently it would 

 be perceptible ; a phenomenon, however, of 



ny 



ac 



which no hiflory or tradition gives £ 



F 

 4 



count *." 



The appeal made here to Frili is fingularly 

 unfortunate, as that philofopher has demonftra- 



ted 





-t* 



■* GsoL Eflays, p. 441 



■j 



