LIFE of Dr HUSTON. 53 



ted, which at the furface are eafily feparated, might occafion the 

 fufion of fome bodies which in our fires are only calcined. 

 Hence the objections that are fo flrong and unanfwerable, when 

 oppofed to the theory of volcanic fire, as ufually laid down, have 

 no force at all againft Dr Hutton's theory ; and hence we arvs 

 to confider this theory as hardly lefs diftinguifhed from the hy- 

 pothefis of the Vulcanifls, in the nfual fenfe of that appellation, 

 than it is from that of the Neptunifts, or the difciples of Wer- 

 ner. 



III. The third general fact on which this theory is founded, 

 is, that the ftratified rocks, inftead of being either horizontal, or 

 nearly fo, as they no doubt were originally, are now found pof- 

 fefling all degrees of elevation, and fome of them even perpen- 

 dicular to the horizon ; to which we muft add, that thofe flrata 

 which were once at the bottom of the fea are now raifed up, 

 many of them, feveral thoufand feet above its furface. From 

 this, as well as from the inflexions, the breaking and feparation 

 of the flrata, it is inferred, that they have been raifed up by the 

 action of fome expanfive force placed under them. This force, 

 which has burfl in pieces the folid pavement on which the 

 ocean refls, and has raifed up rocks from the bottom of the fea,. 

 into mountains 15,000 feet above its furface, exceeds any which 

 we fee actually exerted, but feems to come nearer to the caufe 

 of the volcano or the earthquake than to any other, of which the 

 effects are directly obferved. The immenfe diflurbance, there- 

 fore, of the flrata, is in this theory afcribed to heat acting with 

 an expanfive power, and elevating thofe rocks which it had be- 

 fore confolidated. 



IV. Among the marks of diflurbance in which the mineral 

 kingdom abounds, thofe great breaches among rocks, which are 

 filled with materials different from the rock on either fide, are 

 among the mofl confpicuous. Thefe are the veins, and com- 

 prehend, not only the metallic veins, but alfo thofe of whin- 



flone.-. 



