

HUTTONIAN THEORY. 495 



axis, put on a fpheroidal figure, which it has 

 retained, though now cooled down to congela- 

 tion. 



This fyftera need not be coniidered in detail ; 

 the foundation of it is laid in fuch defiance of 

 the principles of geometry and mechanics, that 

 the architect, notwithftanding all the fertility of 

 his invention, and all the refources of his genius. 



able to give any folidity to the ftr 



ture. 



But it will be faid, that we may take a part 

 of the fyftem, without venturing on the whole, 

 and may fuppofe that the earth, or at leafl the 

 external cruft of it, has been fluid by fire, 

 though we do not inquire into the caufe of this 



fire, or into the manner in which it was produ- 

 ced. 



It is indeed true, that, when this is done, we 

 have not the fame fort of abfurdity to encoun- 

 ter that we met with in the Neptunian 

 ftem, and that the Vulcanic theory does r 

 like it, come into dired collifion with an axiom 

 of geometry. There are, neverthelefs, great 

 objeaions to it; for though all the pheno- 

 mena of the mineral kingdom atteft a flui- 

 dity of igneous origin, yet it is a fluidity that 

 was never more than partial; and though it 

 has been over all the earth, has been over it in 

 fucceffiop only. Befides, we are not entitled 



to 



