» 



I 



.ll' 



HUTTONIAN THEORY. 



5ii 



fon ; and fo will pafs, in their turn, thofe of 

 Hutton and Werner. 



446. This unfavourable view of geology, ought 

 not, however, to be received without examina- 

 tion ; in fcience, prefumption is lefs hurtful than 



defpair, and inadivity is more dangerous than 

 error. 



One reafon of the rapid fucceffion of geolo- 

 gical theories, is the millake th'at has been made 

 as to their objedl, and the folly of attempting 



Pl 



by 



m th 



firft 



• m 



gin of things 



This millake has led to fanciful fpeculations that 



had nothing but th 



Ity to recommend 



m 



and which, when that charm had 



fed, were rejeded as mere fuppofit 



mca- 



pal 



of proof. But if it is once fettled, that 



theory of the earth ought to have no other 



aim but to difcover the laws th 



gul 



changes on the furface, or in the interior 

 the globe, the fubjecT: is brought within 



the 

 of 



fph 



either 



there is no reafo 



f obfervation or analogy 



the 

 and 



has 



to fuppofe, that 



m 



mbered the liars 



d 



m, who 

 eafured their 



forces, fhall ultimately prove unequal to this in- 

 velligation. 



447. Again, theories that have a rational ob- 

 jed, though they be falfe or imperfed: in their 



principl 



for the molt part approximations 



|o the truth, fuited to the information at th 



timq 



