by heat: or whether they have been produced, (as was maintained by Werner) by chemical precipitation from a fluid, having other powers of solution than those possessed by the waters of the present ocean. It is of little importance to our present purpose, whether the non-appearance of animals and vegetables in these most ancient strata was caused by the high temperature of the waters of the ocean, in which they are mechanically deposited; or by the compound nature and uninhabitable condition of a primeval fluid, holding their materials in solution. All observers admit that the strata were formed beneath the water, and have been subsequently converted into dry land: and whatever may have been the agents that caused the movements of the gross unorganized materials of the globe; we find sufficient evidence of prospective wisdom and design, in the benefits resulting from these obscure and distant revolutions, to future races of terrestrial creatures, and more especially to Man.[1]
- ↑ In describing geological phenomena, it is impossible to avoid the use of theoretical terms, and the provisional adoption of many theoretical opinions as to the manner in which these phenomena have been produced. From among the various and conflicting theories that have been proposed to explain the most difficult and complicated problems of Geology. I select those which appear to carry with them the highest degree of probability; but as results remain the same from whatever cause they have originated, the force of inferences from these results will be unaffected by changes that may arise in our opinions as to the physical causes by which these have been produced. As in estimating the merits of the highest productions of human art it is not requisite to understand perfectly the nature of the machinery by which the work has been effected in order to appreciate the skill and talent of the artist by whom it was contrived; so our minds may be fully impressed with a perception of the magnificent results of creative intelligence, which are visible in the phenomena of nature, although we can but partially comprehend the mechanism that has been instrumental to their production; and although the full development of the workings of the material instruments by which they were effected, has not yet been, and perhaps may never be, vouchsafed to the prying curiosity of man.
