2Q3 
WERNERIAN SYSTEM. 
supported Speculation. The case is, in this instance, very dif- 
ferent from that of the advocates of Werner, with respect to the 
disposal of their extraordinary prim?rval fluid. The fact ofelevation 
is obvious from the most direct conclusion : whilst the existence 
and movements of their fluid, at a period almost beyond the 
reach of time, are, at best, but an hypothesis, opposed, as has 
been shewn, by the strongest physical objections, and, in 
truth, unnecessary for any purpose but that of supporting the 
system for which it has been gratuitously devised. 
The convert to the Huttonian theory, indeed, will urge us Unuoiii.nn 
to proceed in speculation, and will assert that, in his central 
iiotatlniisinilc. 
fire, there is to be found power adequate to the effects we liave 
described, the agency of which or. fossil bodies is demonstrated, 
as he supposes, by evidence derived from the appearances of 
piinerals themselves. But this reasoning cannot be admitted j 
for the existence of such a heat is not only contrary to the re- 
ceived laws of temperature ; but the action of heat on mine- 
ral substances in general, seems to be disproved both by their 
individual appearances, and by several of their relations of 
position and structure. 
This subject naturally leads to the consideration of the theory Opinion of 
of volcanoes: for if there continue to act in nature any power 
' _ ‘ spcctnig vol- 
adequate to the effects just mentioned, it must be sought for canov.sj 
apparently in their explosive agency. And here again the 
opinion of Werner, that the activity of volcanoes is confined 
to the newest Floetz-trap formation, appears to rest on grounds 
the most unstable. The effects and phenomena of eruptions, 
it is true, are so impressive on the imagination, that several ob- 
servers who have witnessed their ravages, have assigned them 
an importance, in the present operations of nature, perhaps be- 
yond the truth. But the depths from the surface to which not piob.it#l 
their power seems to extend, the vast portions of the globe 
shaken, almost simultaneously, by earthifuakes, and the mighty 
force that is necessary for their effects, which are evidently 
connected with some power resembling that of volcanic con- 
vulsion, are circumstances sufficient of themselves to prove 
the futility of Werner's conclusions, that volcanic eruptions” 
are 
