CHAP. II. effected by BACON and NEWTON in the studies PART 1. of the natural sciences, was not experienced in the "science of geology until very late1;" but that, by employing the method of induction from "obser"vation and sound principles of physics, by the "rules of an exact logic," introduced by that happy revolution, and adhering to the rules taught and practised by those great teachers, it is able to reason from the sensible phænomena of mineral matter, to the mode of its first formation and of its subsequent changes: and that man, "who has weighed the planets, and measured "their distances, may presume to trace the operations by which the surface of the globe "was arranged"." This is the test by which mineral geology desires that its own validity should be tried. Let us, therefore, apply our close attention, while it professes to instruct us upon these two heads by the rules of " an exact logic, and "sound physical principles;" and let us first "L'heureuse révolution, que BACON et NEWTON avaient " opérée dans l'étude des sciences naturelles, ne se fit ressentir 66 que bien tard dans celles de la géologie."— D'AU BUISSON. Disc. Prel. P. 3. "L'observation, les principes d'une saine physique, et les règles d'une exacte logique."-Ib. p. 36. 3 Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology, p. 2, 3. CHAP. II. PART I. hear it upon the first head, viz. the MODE of the first mineral formations of the earth; comparing it with the standard of BACON and NEWTON. The issue of the first comparison, will probably determine the degree of authority which it is entitled to command, with respect to the second head, viz. the MODE of changes, or revolutions. 66 66 CHAPTER III. PART I. "FORMATIONS, (in mineral geology,) are the "different assemblages of particular rocks, or CHAP. III. soils, in which one and the same species eminently prevails. These are the true unities in the mineral constitution of the globe; the determination of which is the great object of geognosy1.-First formations, are those mineral formations which preceded "the existence of organized beings": 66 66 2. "In considering the globe in its entire"ness, and in fixing our attention upon its figure, we shall find, that it is exactly such "as a fluid mass, endowed with similar motion, "would have assumed; and we shall be immediately aware of its primitive fluidity3." 66 3. "That the surface of the globe has been "in a fluid state, is established by very ample "evidence-which extend to the whole sur"face of the earth, and indubitably prove its former fluidity." 4." There is a great class of rocks which 'D'AUBUISSON, tom. i. p. 322, 3. 2 lb. tom. ii. p. 3. PART I. CHAP. III. "lies under every other, but never over any "of them; it is, therefore, the oldest, and, "as far as we know, the first formed. It is denominated the primitive class. The rocks belonging to this class have a crystalline appearance, intimating, that they have been precipitated from a state of chemical solution." 5. 66 Crystallization, is the arrangement of "the particles of a body in a regular deter"minate form; and it necessarily implies a pre"vious state of fluidity, which would allow these particles to arrange themselves in positions necessary to produce these forms 2." 66 66 6. "As we advance towards the lofty sum"mits of mountains, we arrive at strata, whose crystallization shows that they have been formed " in a fluid3." 7. "The superficial parts of the earth, at "least to a certain depth, must have been originally in a soft or fluid state. This fact "is inferred from the shape it at present exhi"bits; which, as astronomers tell us, is that of a spheroid compressed at the poles. This shape it evidently could not assume, unless to a certain depth its superficial parts were in a soft and "liquid state. The liquidity thus proved to PART I. "exist in the more superficial parts of the globe, comprehending those that are now most "solid, must have proceeded, either from igneous fusion, or solution in water 1." 66 66 8." The different masses and strata, which compose the mineral shell of the terrestrial globe, have been fluid: the fact is not contested, it is incontestable 2."- "The spheroidal figure of the earth is a proof of its original fluidity: this important conclusion was never disputed; the only question has been, whether "the fluidity was the effect of fire or water." 9. It is beyond all doubt; 1. that the "mineral masses which compose the crust "of the globe have been fluid. 2. It is not "less certain, that the fluidity of secondary "formations was aqueous;' and that they were "formed in the bosom of the seas by a course "of sediments, which successively deposited ❝ themselves one upon the other. 3. That the "insensible and incontestable transition of the secondary to the primitive formations, indicate "an analogous mode of formation in all-Some CHAP. III. |