Chapter VII: Conclusion: Of the

_THEORY OF THE EARTH_.

By the proofs we have given in Articles VII. and VIII. it appears certain that the whole of the present dry land was formerly covered by the sea. It appears also as certain, from Article XII. that the flux and reflux, and other motions of the ocean, continually detach, from the side and the bottom of the sea, shells and matters of every kind, some part of which are deposited in other places in form of sediments, and which are the origin of the parallel and horizontal strata every where to be met with. We have proved in Article IX. that the inequalities of the globe have been caused by the motion of the sea, and that mountains have been produced by the successive masses and heapings of the sediments we have just described. It is evident by Article XIII. that the currents, which at first followed the direction of these inequalities, afterwards gave to them all the figure which they at present preserve; that is, that alternate correspondence of the saliant angles always opposed to the returning angles. It appears likewise by Articles VIII. and XVIII. that the greatest part of the matters which the sea has detached from its sides and bottom were, when deposited as sediments, in form of a fine impalpable powder, which perfectly filled the cavities of the shells, whether it was of the same nature or only analogous to that with which they were composed. It is certain, from Article XVII. that the horizontal strata which have been produced by the accumulation of sediments, and which at first were in a soft state, acquired hardness in proportion as they became dry, and that this drying has produced perpendicular clefts, which cross the horizontal strata.

It is impossible to doubt, after perusing the facts in the Articles X. XI. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. and XIX. that an infinite number of revolutions, particular changes and alterations, have happened on the surface of the globe, as well from the natural motion of the waters of the sea as by the effects of rain, frost, running waters, winds, subterraneous fires, earthquakes, inundations, &c. and that consequently the sea has alternately changed places with the earth, especially in the earliest times after the creation, when the terrestrial matters were much softer than they are at present. It must nevertheless be acknowledged, that we can but very, imperfectly judge of the succession of natural revolutions; that we can still less judge of the cause of accidents, changes, and alterations; that the defect of historical monuments deprives us of the knowledge of particular facts, and experience and time is deficient to us. We do not pay any consideration that, though the time of our existence is very limited, nature proceeds in her regular course. We would condense into our momentary existence the transactions of ages past and to come, without reflecting that this instant of time, nay even human life itself, is only a single fact in the history of the acts of the Almighty.

HISTORY OF ANIMALS.