514 



illustelAtions of the 



the planetary motions were underftood, all 

 phyfical hjpothefes vaniflied, like phantomSj,. 

 before the philofophy of Newton. Hence the 

 number, the variety,, and even the complica- 

 tion of fads, contribute ultimately to feparate. 

 truth from falfehood ; and the fame caufes which, 

 in any cafe, render the firft attempts toward a- 

 theory difficult, make the final fuccefs of fuch 

 attempts jull fo much the more probable. 



4 



This maxim, however^, though a general en- 

 couragement to the profecution of geological 

 inquiries, does not amount to a proof that we' 

 are yet arrived at the period when thofe inqui- 

 ries may fafely alTume the form of a theory,. 

 But that we are arrived at fuch a period, appears 

 clear from other circumllances. 



449. It cannot be denied, that a great multi- 

 tude of fadts, refpeding the mineral kingdom, are 

 now known with coniiderable precifion ; and 

 that the many diligent and ikilfulobfervers,.who 

 have arifen in the courfe of the lail thirty years,, 

 have produced a great change in the ftate of geo- 



It is unnecelTary to enu- 

 merate them all ; Ferber, Bergman, De Luc,, 



logical knowledge. 



Saussure. D 



are 



thofe 



whom D 



H 



hiefly relied 



d it is on their obfer 



vations and his own that his fyilem is founded* 

 If it be faid, that only a fmall part of the earth's 



furface has yet been furveyed, and defcribed 



with 



is 

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in: 



oh 



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 tio 



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am 



in 

 the 



the 



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the 



por 



and 



at ; 



tok 

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gen 

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