These are the siliceous and calcareous strata; and these
are the two prevailing substances of the globe, all the rest being, in
comparison of these, as nothing; for unless it be the bituminous or coal
strata, there is hardly any other which does not necessarily contain
more or less of one or other of these two substances. If, therefore,
it can be shown, that both of those two general strata have been
consolidated by the simple fusion of their substance, no _desideratum_
or doubt will remain, with regard to the nature of that operation which
has been transacted at great depths of the earth, places to which all
access is denied to mortal eyes.
We are now to prove, _first_, That those strata have been consolidated
by simple fusion; and, _2dly_, That this operation is universal, in
relation to the strata of the earth, as having produced the various
degrees of solidity or hardness in these bodies.
I shall first remark, that a fortuitous collection of hard bodies, such
as gravel and sand, can only touch in points, and cannot, while in that
hard state, be made to correspond so precisely to each others shape as
to consolidate the mass.
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