IN SIMPLE MINERALS. 573 
Or, should the stone be Sandstone, or part of 
any Conglomerate, or fragmentary stratum, made 
up of the rounded detritus of other rocks, the 
ingredients of such a stone would bear similar evi- 
dence of movements by the force of water, which 
reduced them to the state of sand, or pebbles, and 
ptransorted them to their present place, before 
the existence of the stratum of which they form 
a part ; consequently no such stratum can have 
lain in its present place for ever. 
Again, should the supposed stone contain within 
it the petrified remains of any fossil Animal or 
fossil Plant, these would not only show that ani- 
mal and vegetable life had preceded the forma- 
tion of the rock in which they are embedded ; 
but their organic structure might afford examples 
of contrivance and design, as unequivocally at- 
testing the exercise of Intelligence and Power, as 
the mechanism of a Watch or Steam engine, or 
any other instrument produced by human art, 
bears evidence of intention and skill in the 
workman who invented and constructed them. 
Lastly, should it even be Granite, or any 
crystalline Primary Rock, containing neither 
organic remains, nor fragments of other rocks 
more ancient than itself, it can still be shown that 
there was a time when even stones of this class 
had not assumed their present state, and conse- 
quently that there is not one of them, which can 
have existed, where they now are, for ever. The 
