413 
GEOLOGY. 
tlie planet; diTplaced the axis and the equator ; altered 
iikewife the points at which the fpheroid was com- 
prefled or elevated ; and, by thefe means difplacing 
tlie waters, occafioned the fudden immerfion of the firit 
continents. The furface of thefe was already marked 
•by declivities and valleys ; the firft occafioned by the 
general change of level ; the fecond by the fudden re¬ 
treat of the waters. Thefe continents, however, being 
all compoled of calcareous matter, what events caufed 
the formation of the other folfil fubflances which now 
•exifi: ? 
5th Epoch. The firft action of atmofpherical powers, 
'and of the folar rays on the virgin foil, occafioned a 
fudden eruption of all the vital forces, fo long fuf- 
pended and concentered. In this cxplofion of life, 
every particle of native foil was vivified ; and number- 
Icfs races of vegetables and animals were produced, of 
fuch fixes and in fuch numbers, that putrefaitioii and 
fermentation enfued. Some meteoric phenomenon hav¬ 
ing fet fire to this monftrous heap of putrefied bodies, 
the horrid conflagration extended every where, even 
under the fea, and was the caufe- of moft tremendous 
earthquakes; which broke all the ftrata, that till then 
had been horizontal, and lifted them up in every direc¬ 
tion, even perpendicularly : thus giving rife to the 
chains of mountains, and all their different forms. The 
■alhes of this almoft general combuftion, being the moft 
faline of the then exilling fubftances, formed a lixivium ; 
which, filtering through the interftices of the broken 
llrata that were yet of a foft confiftence, produced the 
quartz and other fimilar fubftances which now compofe 
them. Wherever this lixivial and quartzeous flux de- 
pofed large quantities of matter, the granite was formed. 
From the mixture of this flux with loofe afltes, tlie 
gneifs originated ; and, by feveral fuch mixtures, the 
corneous, micaceous, and other, fchifts, were formed. 
The different forts of lixivial fluxes and vitreous falts, 
combined with other falts, and tvith the original calca¬ 
reous fubftances, gave rife to new earths; which, though 
generally reckoned primitive, both by chemifts and mi- 
neralogilts, are neverthelefs, according to M. Bertrand, 
fo many natural amalgams, which defy the prefent pow¬ 
ers of chemiftry ; fuch are magnefia, barytes, argill, &c. 
The refiduum of the putrefied organic bodies, not being 
thoroughly burnt and converted into alhes, experienced 
only different degrees of fire and decompolition, and 
was turned into coals and bitumens. Such, according 
to this author, was the procefs by which nature, from 
this enormous putrefied mafs, formed nea,rlyall thefof- 
fil fubftances, except only the calcareous. 
6th Epocli. The general combuftion, by which in 
the preceding period fo many wonders were effedted, 
prepared alfo the way to another revolution. The fire, 
extending under the fea to an immenfe depth, confum. 
ing and volatilizing the earths, occafioned liollow's and 
caverns of incalculable dimenfions; which, being laid 
open by fome violent fhock, were filled by the waters 
of the ocean ; and, by tins fudden retreat of the watery 
element, vaft portions of our globe were left dry and 
expofed to the atmofphere, w'hile part of the old conti¬ 
nents fell into the hollows, and difappeared. 
M. Bertrand deems it very prpbable that a fecond 
change of the axis of our planet was tlie caufe of tliis 
cataftroplie ; becaufe the foffil organized bodies, found 
in different countries, feem to prove that a change of 
zones and climates has taken place, fince the moment at 
which they were firft inhabited by terreftrial vegetables 
and animals. This, according to M. Bertrand, is the 
epoch in which we now live ; and in which Ntiture, fa¬ 
tigued and haraffed by her firft gigantic efforts, has loft 
much of her former energy. The organized bodies of 
this epoch are all new fpecies, by no means comparable 
either in fize, numbers, or prolific quality, to the firft 
inhabitants of the globe, i'he means of deftruClion are 
iikewife as much weakened as thofe of production. 
Von. VIII. N0.51J. 
Our prefent earthquakes, and our volcanoes, are mi- 
crofcopic objects in comparifon with thoie of the former 
epochs. Thofe firft earthquakes fliook the globe, dif- 
placing and overthrowing every thing; the firft confla¬ 
grations were, in the author’s words, ‘ bottomlefs and 
boundlefs feas of firewhile our aCtual volcanoes he 
compares to chimneys. 
He next alferts, that the aCtiial ftate of the globe has 
already lafted longer than any other of the former ftates; 
and that it is very probable, from the exhaufted condi¬ 
tion ot nature, that it will continue to decay in peace 
till the planet is again cold, lifelefs, and dry : but this 
is a mere probability, becaufe, if partial nature be lia¬ 
ble to decline, univerfai nature is always in full aClivity ; 
and fome new change of the axis of the earth may fink 
part ot the exifting continents, and may expole to tiie 
folar rays, and to the vivifying action of the atmofphere, 
the bottom of the Southern and of the Pacific Oceans. 
If M. Bertrand, like his predeceffors in the lame ca¬ 
reer, has been unl'nccefsful in eftabliftiing a plaulible 
theory of the earth, he has like them furniflied, in 
many inftances, valuable arguments againft the hypo- 
thelis moft in vogue when he compofed his book. 
M. La Metherie’s theory of the earth, which has been 
the moft tathionable, and in many refpeCds deferving the 
reputation that it enjoyed, is attacked by tltis author in 
every point ; and indeed the greateft part of this vo¬ 
lume is avowedly intended as a refii^-ition of that learned 
writer’s fyftem of the general cryrtallization of mineral 
Inbftances in the primitive ocean. The vaft erudition 
difplayed by M. I/a Metherie, and the air of candour 
and icepticifni adopted by him in the difeuftion of many 
important queftious, have perhaps contributed to give 
more popularity to liis fyftem, than a limple expofition 
ot it, divefted from thefe acceflbries, would laave ac¬ 
quired. As far «s his arguments tend to prove ti:e 
Neptunian origin of the greateft part of the known mi¬ 
neral fubftances, and the general ftate of fubmerfion in 
which ihe f'olid part of our globe has extfted in former 
periods, tliey feem to us unanfwerable : but the retreat 
ot the waters, the formation of mountains and valleys, 
and the phenomena which they prefent either in their 
forms or in the pofition of the materials in or about 
them, require, in order to be explained, fome other 
agent than the primitive ocean ; fome other operations 
than ^mere cryflallization and depofition. Tltougli M- 
Bertrand’s hypothefes do not afford any IklisiaCtoi y 
ideas to account for thefe phenomena, ftill fome of tl.e 
arguments which he employs, to fhew the infufliciency 
ot the fyftem ot general cryflallization, appear to de- 
lerve the candid attention of the learned on this veiy 
interefting branch of natural philofophy. 
In this view, the ingenious Mr. R. Kirwan, in his 
Geological Effays, publifhed in 1801, has endeavoured 
to collect'the principal faCls and opinions which relate 
to the ftruclure of tlie globe, from the beft writers. 
He points out the ^iftindtion between primary and fe- 
condary mountains, as one of the moft important events 
in the progref's of geological fcience ; he expofes the 
futility of the theory of Buffon, -which reprefented all 
the primary mountains to have originated out of a ftate 
ot igneous tufton ; names witli deferved approbation 
thole philofophers who have fubftituted luineralogical 
and chemical inveftigation for hafty conjecture in their 
attempts to trace the formation of the eartli, and tlie 
changes which have happened in the arrangement of its 
flrata; and profeffes the object of his work to be, to 
vindicate the divine authority of Revelation, by prov¬ 
ing the account given by Mof'es of the origin of the 
terreftrial globe, to agree, in the moft remarkable man- 
ner,-with the prefent ftate and condition of the earth. 
In hij firft Klfay, he obferves that the earth could 
not have affurned the form of a fpheroid comprelfeifl at 
the poles, it its fiiperficial parts had not originally been, 
to a certain depth, in a loft or liquid ftate ; and that 
S N p.he 
