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Hutton, James, 1726-1797

"Theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 4)"

In the other
case, again, the cause is extrinsic in relation to the body in which the
chasm is formed. There has been the most violent fracture and divulsion;
but the cause is still to seek; and it appears not in the vein; for it
is not every fracture and dislocation of the solid body of our earth, in
which minerals, or the proper substances of mineral veins, are found.
We are now examining matter of fact, real effects, from whence we would
investigate the nature of certain events which do not now appear. Of
these, two kinds occur; one which has relation to the hardness and
solidity, or the natural constitution of the body; the other, to its
shape or local situation. The first has been already considered; the
last is now the subject of inquiry.
But, in examining those natural appearances, we find two different kinds
of veins; the one necessarily connected with the consolidating cause;
the other with that cause of which we now particularly inquire. For,
in those great mineral veins, violent fracture and dislocation is the
principle; but there is no other principle upon which strata, or masses
formed at the bottom of the sea, can be placed at a height above its
surface.


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