5-^ 



"7. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



time when they were propofed. They are Heps, 

 therefore, in the advancement of knowledge, 

 and are terms of a feries that rauft end when 

 the real law^s of nature are difcovered. It is, on 



this 



ra(h to conclude, that in the 



t 



lutions of fcience, what has happened muft con- 

 tinue to happen, and becaufe fyftems have chan 

 ged rapidly in time pafl, that they mull neceffa 

 rily do fo in time to come. 



He who 



ould have reafoned fo 



d who 



had feen the ancient phyfical fyftems, at firft all 

 rivals to one another, and then fwallowed up by 

 the Ariftotelian; the Ariftotelian phyGcs giving 

 way to thofe of Des 'Cartes ; and the phyfics of 

 Des Cartes to thofe of Newton ; would have pre- 

 dicted that thefe laft were alfo, in their turn, to 

 give place to the philofophy of fome later period. 

 This is, however, a conclulion that hardly any 



enough to maintain, after 



11 now be bold 



hundred years of 



moft fcrupul 



exami 



have d 



nothing but add to the evi 



dence 



f the Newton 



Sys 



It feem 



certain, therefore, that the rife and fall of theo- 

 ries in times paft, does not argue, that the fame 

 will happen in the time that is to come. 



448. The multifarious and extremely diverfi- 

 fied objed of geological refearches, does, no doubt, 



render the firft fteps difficult, and may very 



well 



giv 

 of 



inq 

 1 



the 



and 



fes 



Wl 



gre 



the] 



fou: 



and 



deg 



phe 



fed 

 ner,j 



clui; 



Th( 



as i 



not 



of 



c 



adh 

 th 



e 



Plyi 



crec 

 but 



I 



