Theory of the Earth

ON the one hand, the subsiding of the surface of the ocean would but make the former land appear the higher; and, on the other, the sinking the body of the former land into the solid globe, so as swallow up the greater art of the ocean after it, if not a natural impossibility, would be a least a superfluous exertion of the powers of nature. Such an operation as this would discover as little wisdom in the end elected, as in the means appropriated to that end; for , if the land be not wafted and worn away in the natural operations of the globe, why make such a convulsion in the world in order to renew the land? If, again, the land naturally decays, why employ so extraordinary a power, in order to hide a former continent of land, and puzzle man?

LET us now consider how far the other proposition, of strata being elevated by the power of heat above the level of the sea, may be confirmed from the examination of natural appearances.

THE strata formed at the bottom of the ocean are necessarily horizontal in their position, or nearly so, and continuous in their horizontal direction or extent. They may change, and gradually assume the nature of each other, so far as concerns the materials of which they are formed; but there cannot be any sudden change, fracture or displacement naturally in the body of a stratum. But, if these strata are cemented by the heat of fusion, and erected with an expansive power acting below, we may expect to find every species of fracture, dislocation and contortion, in those bodies, and every degree of departure from a horizontal towards a vertical position.

THE strata of the globe are actually found in every possible position: For from horizontal, they are frequently found vertical; from continuous, they are broken and separated in every possible direction; and, from a plane, they are bent and doubled. It is impossible that they could have originally been formed, by the known laws of nature, in their present state and position;

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