Now, it must appear,
that, if we had a measure for the one of those corresponding operations,
we would have an equal knowledge of the other.
The formation of a future earth being in the bottom of the ocean, at
depths unfathomable to man, and in regions far beyond the reach of his
observation, here is a part of the process which cannot be taken as a
principle in forming an estimate of the whole. But, in the destruction
of the present earth, we have a process that is performed within the
limits of our observation; therefore, in knowing the measure of this
operation, we shall find the means of calculating what had passed on a
former occasion, as well as what will happen in the composition of a
future earth. Let us, therefore, now attempt to make this estimate of
time and labour.
The highest mountain may be levelled with the plain from whence it
springs, without the loss of real territory in the land; but when the
ocean makes encroachment on the basis of our earth, the mountain,
unsupported, tumbles with its weight; and with the accession of hard
bodies, moveable with the agitation of the waves, gives to the sea the
power of undermining farther and farther into the solid basis of our
land.
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