[C] And therefore the writer of the article “Earth,” in the Encyclopedia Britannica, is wrong in attempting to overturn this fine fabric of philosophy, by making it appear that metals, minerals, fossils, &c. are continually forming by accretion, &c. on the earth’s surface. Indeed, that writer has laid a heavy hand on all the theories of our modern earthmongers.
[D] I am afraid, after all, this would turn out but a bubble.
[E]Now, if it should happen that the comparative levity of air consists in the repellant powers of its particles, and those bodies which have the greatest cohesion are most prone to gravitate, there “needs some conjuror to tell us,” what should hinder bodies of greater specific gravity from riddling down between those particles of air. No man but Dr Franklin could have caught the fugitive air under the shell of the first earth, and pressed it till it became heavier than gold by a hurly-burly of elements “mixed in confusion.”
[F] The “Monthly Reviewers” of our late edition of Tractoration, would have it that OURSELF was a Scotchman “frae the north,” &c. Now here’s a yankee phrase, merely to convince you that they were out in their conjectures.
[G] See Edinburgh Review of Southey’s Thalaba, October, 1802.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious spelling errors have been silently corrected.
2. Where necessary, original spelling has been retained.
3. Some words have been left as either hyphenated or non-hyphenated as in the original.