--I have hardly patience to answer such reasoning;--a reasoning
which is not founded upon any principle, which holds up nothing
but chimera to our view, and which ends in nothing that is
intelligible;--but, others, perhaps, may see this dissertation of our
author's in a different light; therefore, it is my duty to analyse the
argument, however insignificant it may seem to me.
I have minutely examined all the stratified bodies which I have been
able, during a lifetime, to procure, both in this country of Britain,
and from all the quarters of the globe; and the result of my inquiry has
been to conclude, that there is nothing among them in an original state,
as the reader will see in the preceding chapter. With regard again to
the masses which are not stratified, I have also given proof that they
are not in their original state, such as granite, porphyry, serpentine,
and basaltes; and I shall give farther satisfaction, I hope, upon that
head, in the course of this work. I have therefore concluded, That there
is nothing to be found in an original state, so far as we see, in the
construction of this earth.
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