the condensation of the zones which it was obliged to separate from, in receding, that were formed all the planets of our system, as well as their statellites."—(Exposition of the System of the World, Book V. Ch. 9.) Cuvier expresses himself thus on the assertion of La Place: 'The conjecture of M. de la Place, that the materials of which the globe is composed must have been at first elastic, and have, successively in cooling, taken the liquid consistency and afterwards the solid, is much strengthed by the recent experience of Mr. Metterlick who has compounded from parts and caused to chrystalize by the fire of high furnaces, many kinds of minerals which enter into the composition of primitive mountains.—(Discourse upon the Revolutions of the Earth, p. 11.
The more progress the natural sciences make, the more this theory of Swedenborg on the material creation will be found to be scientifically confirmed."But the author guards with the utmost caution against the supposition that in advocating this theory, he is treating the Word of the Lord lightly or irreverently. On this point he says, in connection with the above passage, that:—
But not only was the earth at first created from the sun, but it is still sustained from the same source. From this source it is every moment furnished with heat and light, without which it can scarcely be supposed to exist. For let it be imagined that the solar influence were suddenly withdrawn—that the mighty waves of heat and light were instantly arrested in their downward course, and where would be this earth? Where would be its rolling oceans, its flowing rivers, its fields of blooming flowers and ripening fruits! All
