GEOLOGY. 
nected, and it certainly possesses, although 
in its tendency it is highly exceptionable, 
a more prepossessing appearance, since it 
ascribes the formation of continents, of 
mountains, vallies, &c. not to accidental 
occurrences, but to the operation of regular 
and uniform causes ; making the decay Of 
one part subservient to the restoration of 
another, by successive reproductions, Thus 
he supposes this globe to he regulated by 
a system of decay and renovation, and that 
these are effected by certain processes 
which bear a uniform relation to each other. 
The solid matter of the earth, especially of 
the rocks and high lands, he supposes to be 
perpetually separating by the reiterated ac- 
tion of air and water, and when thus de- 
tached, carried by the streams and rivers, 
and then deposited in the beds of the 
ocean. From these deposits, the various 
strata of our earth are supposed to he 
formed, obtaining their consolidation from 
the action of sub-marine fires ; which being 
placed at immense depths, must operate on 
these stratified depositions under the cir- 
cumstance of vast pressure ; by which vola- 
tilization must be prevented, and such 
changes produced as would not otherwise 
be effected by the power of heat. The ex- 
pansive power of subterraneous fire, is 
called also in to explain, by the elevation 
of strata, their various positions. Thus, 
whilst the ocean is in one part removed by 
the accumulation, and the elevation of 
strata, fresh receptacles are forming for it 
on other spots, where new strata will be 
deposited, rendered solid, and elevated. 
According to this system, therefore, in 
the present world, which is made up of the 
fragments of those which preceded it, the 
materials are arranging for the formation 
of its successor ; the system manifesting, as 
its author avowed, neither vestige of a be- 
ginning nor prospect of an end. 
Having thus sketched the outlines of the 
most interesting of the systems, which sup- 
pose the formation of this globe to have 
chiefly depended on the agency of fire, we 
shall now proceed to take a view of those in 
which the same effect is described, as having 
been produced by the influence of water. 
Woodward, with too little attention to 
facts, well known at the period at which 
he wrote, supposed that the solid parts of 
the earth were arranged in strata, accord- 
ing to their degrees of specific gravity ; the 
water which had held them in solution, hav- 
ing afterwards retreated to the grand abyss 
iviiich he supposed to exist jn the centre, 
After some time, God ordained that the 
crust should break and fall into the abyss, 
and that the water should cover the sur- 
face. By the great solvent powers of this 
water, he supposed that every thing was 
again dissolved, and that afterwards they 
were again precipitated in concentric layers. 
The surface was then supposed to have 
been again broken, by which the waters 
again reached the centre, and the broken 
surface yielded those inequalities which now 
exist. 
De Luc conceived, that in the beginning 
the sun did not exist in a luminous state, 
and that the earth, not feeling its influence, 
was frozen ; but that, as the sun diffused 
its rays, the ice on the earth’s surface be- 
came thawed, and penetrating inwards, dis- 
solved the earth and other frozen matters 
to the depth of several leagues below the 
surface. But the thaw having reached this 
point, he supposes that the dissolved sub- 
stances became either crystallized or preci- 
pitated, and that as they solidified they 
formed the primitive crust of the earth. 
After this, organized beings were created, 
many of which became involved in new 
strata, (the secondary) which were now 
formed at the bottom of the ocean; and 
the thawing of the internal parts of the 
globe continuing, cavities were formed, in 
consequence of the thawed substances pos- 
sessing less space than they did whilst fro- 
zen. The whole of the crust, thus losing 
its support, sunk partially, at different pe- 
riods, and the external water rushed in to 
fill the cavities which existed, and thus 
caused a considerable diminution of the 
waters which covered the earth; whilst, 
from the overturned fragments, arose the 
irregularities of the earth’s present surface. 
Led by the observation that the Alpine 
Mountains were frequently composed of 
strata obliquely disposed, Saussure ima- 
gined, that the surface of the globe, formed 
by successive depositions and crystalliza- 
tions, was originally covered by the ancient 
ocean ; but that the crust bursting by the 
expansive force of heat, or of elastic fluids, 
the interior, or primitive parts of the crust 
were turned outwards, and supported by 
those of secondary formation. By the ra- 
pid retreat of the waters into the cavities 
thus formed, he accounts for the enormous 
blocks, now being in plains far distant 
from the rocks from which they were sepa- 
rated. After this retreat of the waters, he 
supposes that plants and animals were 
formed ; and that since that period, several 
