402 



LITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



we are sensible, by a simple inspection of the 

 figures, that the minuter concretions must have 

 been formed in an inclined, or even, in many 

 ^ cases, a vertical position, and frequently also in a 

 bent or waved line. 



From these remarks, it t\70uld appear to be not 

 improbable, that further discoveries may after- 

 wards shew us, that other powers, in addition to 

 those of gravity, or even chemical attraction, have 

 been concerned in producing the appearances now 

 presented. Is it not possible, that magnetism and 

 electricity, lodged in the great central masses of 

 the globe, may have performed a more important 

 part, in affecting the arrangement of the mate- 

 . rials deposited in the form of strata, than we are 

 yet fully prepared to allow 1 And may not the 

 action of a magnet on iron-filings, when a sheet of 

 paper is interposed, as well as many phenomena of 

 chemical and electrical attraction, convey some 

 idea of what may have taken place at the period 

 of such deposition ? 



If action of this kind might be admitted on the' 

 small scale j no difficulty would remain, in con- 

 ceiving that nature on the great scale might have 

 formed strata, as we now see them, under any 

 angle of inclination to the horizon, more especially 

 when modified by the form of the nucleus or sub- 

 stratum on which the deposition may be supposed 

 to have taken place. In like manner, with re- 

 gard to the size or mass of the strata, it is plain, 



