We do not dispute the chymical action and efficacy of water, or any other substance which is found among the materials collected at the bottom of the sea; we only mean to affirm, that every action of this kind is incapable of producing perfect solidity in the body of earth in that situation of things, whatever time should be allowed for that operation, and that whatever may have been the operations of water, aided by fire, and evaporated by heat, the various appearances of mineralization, (every where presented to us in the solid earth, and the most perfect objects of examination), are plainly inexplicable upon the principle of aqueous solution. On the other hand, the operation of heat, melting incoherent bodies, and introducing softness into rigid substances which are to be united, is not only a cause which is proper to explain the effects in question, but also appears, from a multitude of different circumstances, to have been actually exerted among the consolidated bodies of our earth, and in the mineral veins with which the solid bodies of the earth abound.
The doctrine, therefore, of our Theory is briefly this, That, whatever may have been the operation of dissolving water, and the chymical action of it upon the materials accumulated at the bottom of the sea, the general solidity of that mass of earth, and the placing of it in the atmosphere above the surface of the sea, has been the immediate operation of fire or heat melting and expanding bodies. Here is a proposition which may be tried, in applying it to all the phenomena of the mineral region; so far as I have seen, it is perfectly verified in that application.
We have another proposition in our Theory; one which is still more interesting to consider. It is this, That as, in the mineral regions, the loose or incoherent materials of our land had been consolidated by the action of heat; so, upon the surface of this earth exposed to the fluid elements of air and water, there is a necessary principle of dissolution and decay, for that consolidated earth which from the mineral region is exposed to the day. The solid body being thus gradually impaired, there are moving powers continually employed, by which the summits of our land are constantly degraded, and the materials of this decaying surface travelled towards the coast. There are other powers which act upon the shore, by which the coast is necessarily impaired, and our land subjected to the perpetual incroachment of the ocean.
Here is a part of the Theory with which every appearance of the surface may be compared. I am confident that it will stand the test of the most rigid examination; and that nothing but the most inconsiderate judgment may mistake a few appearances, which, when properly understood, instead of forming any subject of objection to the Theory, will be found to afford it every reasonable support or confirmation.
We have now seen, that in every quarter of the globe, and in every climate of the earth, there is formed, by means of the decay of solid rocks, and by the transportation of those moveable materials, that beautiful system of mountains and valleys, of hills and plains, covered with growing plants, and inhabited by animals. We have seen, that, with this system of animal and vegetable economy, which depends on soil and climate, there is also a system of moving water, poured upon the surface of the earth[30], in the most beneficial manner possible for the use of vegetation, and the preservation of our soil; and that this water is gathered together again by running to the lowest place, in order to avoid accumulation of water upon the surface, which would be noxious.
Footnote 30:[ (return) ] See Dissertations upon Subjects of Natural Philosophy, Part I.
It is in this manner that we first have streams or torrents, which only run in times of rain. But the rain-water absorbed into the earth is made to issue out in springs, which run perpetually, and which, gathering together as they run, form rivulets, watering valleys, and delighting the various inhabitants of this earth. The rivulets again are united in their turn, and form those rivers which overflow our plains, and which alternately bring permanent fertility and casual devastation to our land. Those rivers, augmenting in their volume as they unite, pour at last their mighty waters into the ocean; and thus is completed that circulation of wholesome fluids, which the earth requires in order to be a habitable world.
Our Theory farther shows, that in the ocean there is a system of animals which have contributed so materially to the formation of our land. These animals are necessarily maintained by the vegetable provision, which is returned in the rivers to the sea, and which the land alone or principally produces. Thus we may perceive the mutual dependence upon each other of those two habitable worlds,—the fluid ocean and the fertile earth.
The land is formed in the sea, and in great part by inhabitants of that fluid world. But those animals, which form with their exuviae such a portion of the land, are maintained, like those upon the surface of the earth, by the produce of that land to which they formerly had contributed. Thus the vegetable matter, which is produced upon the surface of the earth in such abundance for the use of animals, and which, in such various shapes, is carried by the rivers into the sea, there sustains that living system which is daily employed to make materials for a future land.
Here is a compound system of things, forming together one whole living world; a world maintaining an almost endless diversity of plants and animals, by the disposition of its various parrs, and by the circulation of its different kinds of matter. Now, we are to examine into the necessary consequence of this disposition of things, where the matter of this active world is perpetually moved, in that salutary circulation by which provision is so wisely made for the growth and prosperity of plants, and for the life and comfort of its various animals.