It is only required, that at all times, there
should be a just proportion of land and water upon the surface of the
globe, for the purpose of a habitable world.
Neither is it required in the actual system of this earth, that every
part of the land should be dissolved in its structure, and worn away by
attrition, so as to be floated in the sea. Parts of the land may often
sink in a body below the level of the sea, and parts again may be
restored, without waiting for the general circulation of land and water,
which proceeds with all the certainty of nature, but which advances with
an imperceptible progression. Many of such apparent irregularities may
appear without the least infringement on the general system. That system
is comprehended in the preparation of future land at the bottom of the
ocean, from those materials which the dissolution and attrition of
the present land may have provided, and from those which the natural
operations of the sea afford.
In thus accomplishing a certain end, we are not to limit nature with the
uniformity of an equable progression, although it be necessary in our
computations to proceed upon equalities.
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