183 
E A R T H. 
parts, by which at lad it is obflruCted. Then a threaten¬ 
ing quiet takes place, during which the melted matter and 
the elajlic fluids are accumulated ; and at lad thefe burft 
open the cone in fome weak part, whence a lava flows, 
follovved fometimes by (bowers of cinders, and broken 
pieces of tlie flrata, from which a new cone is formed on 
the fide of tire main one. Such are the operations by 
which volcanic iflands and mountains are formed : we 
fee thofe operations in the few volcanoes which are (fill 
in aCtion ; but they are very inconfiderable, compara¬ 
tively to fimilar operations, which, having taken place in 
the bottom of the ancient flea, have formed there the vol¬ 
canic mountains now found every where upon our conti¬ 
nents, many of which are partly buried under flrata of 
lime and fand (tones. Some of the cones produced at 
that time have been immenfe, as we may judge from the 
lkirts of their bafes, exifting now under the form of cir¬ 
cular ridges of hills : the cones themfelves have funk into 
caverns over which they were heaped ; and the circular 
ridges of hills, feemingly formed of a feries of cones, are 
only the fe&ions of lavas, which had flowed from and 
around the immenfe funken cotie. Many of thofe circular 
ridges I have called volcanic crowns, (couronnes volca- 
niques -,) and it feems probable that the fame events have 
happened on the furface of the moon. 
Now, fir, if you read the defcriptions given by con¬ 
temporary authors, of the rifing of the Ifola-nuovo, near 
Santorini, in the year 1707, and of the formation of the 
Monte-nuovo, in fight of the inhabitants of Naples, in 
1538, you Will find, that thofe events anfwer perfectly to 
the theory I have (fated above. There was no land raifed, 
but only broken materials thrown up. In the nevs ifland, 
thofe materials came out from many openings 5 in the nevj 
hill there was only one opening, through which came out 
fucli a quantity of broken and melted materials, as to 
form, in a fhort time, a cone of three miles in circumfe¬ 
rence, and of a proportionable height. Thefe examples, 
confequently, indead of fupporting your hypothefis, are 
evident indances in favour of the arguments by which I 
have (hewn its impodibilify. You yourfelf complete the 
proofs againd that hypothefis, in the clofe of that article, 
where you fay, p. 285, “How that land is preferved in 
its elevated fituation, is a fubjedt. on which we have not 
even the means of forming a conjecture but, fir, the ab- 
folute impofiibility of fuch pieces of land as our continents 
remaining in that elevated fituation, after having been 
heaved up, and thereby bioken to pieces, is precifely what 
I oppofe againd that hypothefis; and your acknowledging 
that we have not even the means of forming a conjecture for 
its explanation, is giving it up entirely. 
Since our continents, though notv dry, have evidently 
been covered by the fea, and .fince, as 1 have fhetvn, they 
cannot have been raifed from its bottom, the fea mud 
have funk, and retired to that part of the globe where it 
now is. You admit that dilemma-, but having adopted 
the fird of thofe operations, you object againd the lad ; 
and this is one of your arguments, p. 264: “ If the pre- 
fent land has been difeovered by the fubflding of the wa¬ 
ters, there has not been a former land from whence the 
materials had been produced for the condruftion of the 
prefent, when at the bottom of the fea-, for there is no 
vedige remaining of that land." 1 do not underdand the 
argument. We both admit a former land, from an evi¬ 
dent fymptom, which is, the relics of land animals and 
vegetables found in our flrata. We both alfo acknow-' 
ledge, that there is no veftige remaining of that land, it 
being now covered by the ocean. As for the necefiity of 
a former land, to provide materials for the prefent, it is 
what I am far from admitting, as you have feen above, 
in this rel'peCt, you add in the fame place: “Neither 
could the natural productions of the fea have been accu¬ 
mulated in the Jhape we now find them on the furface of 
the earth ; for how (hould the Alps and Andes have been 
formed within the fea, from the natural production of 
the water ? Confequently this is a fuppofition inconfident 
with every natural appearance." I have explained before, 
how thole ridges have been formed: but what, in that re- 
1 'peCt, is contrary to every natural appearance, is, that in 
any vvay, our mountains can have been formed in thefiape 
in which we nowflnd them. The highed parts of the Alps , 
as well as the lowed hills, are formed of flrata ; but in 
thefe fird huge mafles, and in the parallel ridges that 
follow them, the mod parts of the flrata are broken and 
turned up. This you may have feen clearly defined in M. 
de Saussure’s Voyages dans les Alpes. The fame fituation 
of the flrata is obferved in many parts of every ridge of 
mountains, and even in hills ; and it is evident that they 
are now the highefl parts of the ground, only becaufe the 
other parts ha ve funk round them. 
You fay again, p. 26p, “ The finking the body of the 
former land into the folid globe, fo as to fwallow up the 
greated part of the ocean after it, if not a natural im- 
pofiibiiity, would be at lead a fuperjluous exertion' of the 
power of nature. Such an operation would difeover as lit¬ 
tle wifdom in the end elected, as in the means appropriated 
to that, end." Certainly it would be an odd attempt of 
any power, to fink the body of the former land into the folid 
globe ; and I do not know who has thought of it. That 
land had cavities under it, as I have explained above ; and 
it required very little exertion of power to fink it into them j 
and here, your objection of an unwife exertion of power, 
which does not affect my theory, is again entirely againd 
you ; according to your theory, the revolution by which 
our land, formerly under the fea, is now above its level, 
is only one, in a feries of alternate revolutions, fome al¬ 
ready pad, fome to come, in which the fame parts of the 
globe have been fometimes fea, at other times land. The 
firfl land that rofe from the bottom of the water, dood 
already upon a fird cavity. The materials of that land 
went into the fea, to form there a fecond land ; which rofe, 
and driving the fea over the firfl land, remained dry in 
that manner. Upon the Jirfl land, then become again 
the bottom of the fea, new materials, coming from the fecond 
land, were accumulated ; and, at a proper time, a third 
land rofe, either the firfl land newly docked, or only the 
flrata formed upon it. In the fird cafe, the cavity under 
the Jirfl land was double the fize of what it was before, 
and confequently that land had been again flretched in 
proportion to the cavity under it: in the latter cafe, a 
new vault, of the lize of a continent, was to fwell over 
the fird, and fo to leave a fecond cavity. I cannot go any 
farther ; I am overwhelmed by the weight of thofe broken 
materials, forming,, however, a fucceflion of vaults over 
vaults, in an indefinite feries; and I am fure, that when 
you come to conlider thefe confequences of your theory, 
you will be perfuaded to abandon it. 
I now come to your opinion, “ that our continents are 
wearing away." This is a very material object of enquiry, 
both in its nature, and by its connections with the whole 
of your Theory. It is important by its nature, becaufe 
every quedion relating to it is to be determined by im¬ 
mediate faCts; which renders it fufceptible of an abfo- 
lute decifion : it is fo by its connection with the whole 
of your Theory ; for, if it is demondrated that our conti¬ 
nents are not decaying, other continents cannot have been 
deflroyed by the caufes you afcribe to the pretended decay 
of ours ; nor confequently could thefe have been formed 
from the materials of decayed continents. The whole, 
then, of your Theory will depend on this quedion, to be 
decided by immediate faCts : Are our continents in a flate 
of decay ; fo that it might be forefeen, that, in time, they will, 
be deflroyed, and their materials returned into the fea ? 
The following is the manner in which you introduce 
this new fubject: “ Our land, you fay, p. 296, has two 
extremities ; the. tops of the mountains on one hand, and the 
Jea-Jhores on the other: it is the intermediate fpace be¬ 
tween thefe two, that forms the habitation of plants and 
animals. While there is a fea-fliorc, and a higher ground,- 
there is that which is required in the fydem of the world : r 
take that away, and there would remain an aqueous globe, 1 
