jtm 0 ^ 
other, in every plaee the same appearances 
attest the same order in the revolutions, ivliich 
have progressively changed the surface of the 
Globe. 
If we go back to physical causes, we ought 
to be less surprised at finding, that travellers 
have discovered no new rocks in distant re- 
gions. The climate has an influence on the 
form of animals and of plants, because the play 
of affinities, which presides over the unfolding 
of the organs, is modified both by the tempe- 
rature of the atmosphere, and by that which re- 
sults from the different combinations formed by 
chemical action ; but the unequal distribution 
of heat, which is the effect of the obliquity of the 
ecliptic, could have had no sensible influence on 
the formation of the rocks ; this formation, on the 
contrary, must itself have had a powerful influ- 
ence on the temperature of the Globe, and the 
surrounding air. When great masses of matter 
pass from a liquid to a solid state, this pheno- 
menon cannot take place without being accom- 
panied by an enormous evolution of caloric. 
These considerations seem to throw some light 
on the first migrations of animals and of 
plants. I might be tempted to explain by 
this progressive elevation of temperature seve- 
ral important problems, particularly that which 
the existence of the productions of the In- 
