We are, therefore, to consider as inevitable the deduction of our land,
so far as effected by those operations which are necessary in the
purpose of the globe, considered as a habitable world; and, so far as
we have not examined any other part of the economy of nature, in which
other operations and a different intention might appear.
We have now considered the globe of this earth as a machine, constructed
upon chemical as well as mechanical principles, by which its different
parts are all adapted, in form, in quality, and in quantity, to a
certain end; an end attained with certainty or success; and an end from
which we may perceive wisdom, in contemplating the means employed.
But is this world to be considered thus merely as a machine, to last no
longer than its parts retain their present position, their proper forms
and qualities? Or may it not be also considered as an organized body?
such as has a constitution in which the necessary decay of the machine
is naturally repaired, in the exertion of those productive powers by
which it had been formed.
This is the view in which we are now to examine the globe; to see if
there be, in the constitution of this world, a reproductive operation,
by which a ruined constitution may be again repaired, and a duration or
stability thus procured to the machine, considered as a world sustaining
plants and animals.
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