CHAP. VI.

PART I. appear to reason; yet his reasoning, like that of the anatomist, would be morally and really false. And why would it be false? For the same reason; because he concluded, from mere sensible phænomena, to the certainty of a fact which could not be established by the evidence of sensible phænomena alone; namely, the mode of the first formation of the substance of created wood.

We thus find a second principle, common to the first formations both of animal and vegetable matter; viz. “That their sensible phænomena "alone cannot determine the mode of their "formations; inasmuch as the real mode was "in direct contradiction to the sensible indications "of those phænomena." said of the solid parts of the vegetable structure, is applicable equally to all its parts, and to every member of the vegetable kingdom, at its first creation.

What has here been

If, therefore, the natures of created bone and created wood had suffered them to subsist, and to be preserved until the present day; we plainly perceive, how easy it would have been to demonstrate to the science of physics, its absolute incompetence to determine any thing at all, by phænomena alone, concerning the mode of the first formations of the first individuals composing either the animal or vegetable kingdoms of matter.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAP. VII.

THERE only now remains to be considered, the PART I. third, or mineral kingdom of this terrestrial system; and it appears probable, to reason and philosophy, by prima facie evidence, that the principle determining the mode of first formations, in two parts of this threefold division of matter, must have equal authority in this third part. And indeed, after the closest investigation of the subject, we can discover no ground whatever for supposing, that this third part is exempted from the authority of that common principle; or that physics are a whit more competent to dogmatize concerning the mode of first formations, from the evidence of phænomena alone, in the mineral kingdom, than they have been found to be in the animal or vegetable; or, to affirm, from the indications of the former, that the mode of its first formations was more gradual and tardy than those of the other two.

Let us try this point, by proceeding with our comparison; and let us consider the first created rock, as we have considered the first created

PART I. bone and wood; and let us ask, what is rock, in its nature and composition?

CHAP. VII.

To this question, Mineralogy replies: By "the word rock, we mean every mineral mass "of such bulk as to be regarded an essential part of the structure of the globe1. We un"derstand by the word mineral, a natural body,

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inorganic, solid, homogeneous, that is, composed of integrant molecules of the same "substance:-We may, perhaps, pronounce "that a mass is essential, when its displace"ment would occasion the downfall of other

masses which are placed upon it3. Such are, "those lofty and ancient mountains, the first " and most solid bones, as it were, of this globe,' "les premiers, les plus solides ossemens-which "have merited the name of primitive, because, "scorning all support and all foreign mixture, they repose always upon bases similar to "themselves, and comprise within their substance no matter but of the same nature. "These are the primordial mountains; which "traverse our continents in various directions,

rising above the clouds, separating the basins "of rivers one from another; serving, by means

3 Ibid. 272.

4

SAUSSURE, Voyages des Alpes, Disc. Prél. p. 6, 7.

of their eternal snows, as reservoirs for feed- PART I. ing the springs, and forming in some measure "the skeleton, or, as it were, the rough frame"work of the earth." These primitive masses

are stamped with the character of a formation altogether crystalline, as if they were really the * product of a tranquil precipitation."

Had the mineral geology contented itself with this simple mineralogical statement, we should have thus argued, concerning the crystalline phænomena of the first mineral formations; conformably to the principles which we have recognized. As the bone of the first man, and the wood of the first tree, whose solidity was essential for " giving shape, firmness, and sup

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port" to their respective systems, were not, and could not have been formed by the gradual processes of ossification, and lignification, of which they nevertheless must have exhibited the sensible phænomena, or apparent indications; so, reason directs us to conclude, that primitive rock, whose solidity was equally essential for giving shape, firmness, and support to the mineral system of this globe, was not, and could not have been formed by the gradual process of

CHAP. VII.

CUVIER, § 7. p. 39. 2 D'AUBUISSON, ii. p. 5,

CHAP. VII..

PART I. precipitation and crystallization, notwithstanding ány sensible phænomena, apparently indicative of those processes, which it may exhibit; but that in the mineral kingdom, as in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the creating agent anticipated in his formations, by an immediate act, effects, whose sensible phænomena could not determine the mode of their formation; because the real mode was in direct contradiction to the apparent indications of the phænomena.

The correspondence and correlation of the three subjects, is pointed out by physical science itself, in the passages which have just been quoted; for, natural history notes the analogy of the wood, in the vegetable structure, and mineralogy notes that of primordial rock, in the mineral structure, with the bone in the animal structure. Solidity and consistency, therefore, are the common properties of all the three. To produce that solidity and consistency, which were as necessary for the surface which was to sustain, as for the bodies which were to be sustained by it, was equally the end of the formation of each; and, therefore, according to Newton's second rule, we are bound by reason to assign the same identical cause for the solidity and consistency of each. And it will then necessarily follow; that primitive immediate crystallization, can furnish no data