SECT. I.--Purpose of this Inquiry.
SECT. II.--Natural History of Coal Strata, and Theory of this
Geological Operation.
SECT. III.--The Mineralogical Operations of the Earth illustrated from
the Theory of Fossil Coal.
PART I.
THEORY OF THE EARTH;
WITH THE
EXAMINATION
OF
DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON THAT SUBJECT.
IN EIGHT CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER I.
THEORY of the EARTH; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the
Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration, of Land upon the Globe.
SECTION I.
Prospect of the Subject to be treated of.
When we trace the parts of which this terrestrial system is composed,
and when we view the general connection of those several parts, the
whole presents a machine of a peculiar construction by which it is
adapted to a certain end. We perceive a fabric, erected in wisdom, to
obtain a purpose worthy of the power that is apparent in the production
of it.
We know little of the earth's internal parts, or of the materials which
compose it at any considerable depth below the surface. But upon the
surface of this globe, the more inert matter is replenished with plants,
and with animal and intellectual beings.
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