[42] Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. vii. Cap. i.
134. If indeed this theory of the earth is as well founded as we suppose it to be, the lapse of time must necessarily remove all objections to it, and the progress of science will only develope its evidence more fully. As it stands at present, though true, it must be still imperfect; and it cannot be doubted, that the great principles of it, though established on an immoveable basis, must yet undergo many modifications, requiring to be limited, in one place, or to be extended, in another. A work of such variety and extent cannot be carried to perfection by the efforts of an individual. Ages may be required to fill up the bold outline which Dr Hutton has traced with so masterly a hand; to detach the parts more completely from the general mass; to adjust the size and position of the subordinate members; and to give to the whole piece the exact proportion and true colouring of nature.
This, however, in length of time, may be expected from the advancement of science, and from the mutual assistance which parts of knowledge, seemingly the most remote, often afford to one another. Not only may the observations of the mineralogist, in tracts yet unexplored, complete the enumeration of geological facts; and the experiments of the chemist, on substances not yet subjected to his analysis, afford a more intimate acquaintance with the nature of fossils, and a measure of the power of those chemical agents to which this theory ascribes such vast effects: but also, from other sciences, less directly connected with the natural history of the earth, much information may be received. The accurate geographical maps and surveys which are now making; the foundings; the obsevations of currents; the barometrical measurements, may all combine to ascertain the reality, and to fix the quantity of those changes which terrestrial bodies continually undergo. Every new improvement in science affords the means of delineating more accurately the face of nature as it now exists, and of transmitting, to future ages, an account, which may be compared with the face of nature as it shall then exist. If, therefore, the science of the present times is destined to survive the physical revolutions of the globe, the Huttonian Theory may be confirmed by historical record; and the author of it will be remembered among the illustrious few, whose systems have been verified by the observations of succeeding ages, supported by facts unknown to themselves, and established by the decisions of a tribunal, slow, but infallible, in distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
NOTES and ADDITIONS.
Note i. § 2.
Origin of calcareous rocks.
135. I
134. IT has been asserted, that Dr Hutton went farther than is stated at § 2, and maintained all calcareous matter to be originally of animal formation. This position, however, is so far from being laid down by Dr Hutton, that it belongs to an inquiry which he carefully avoided to enter on, as being altogether beyond the limits of philosophical investigation.