Here is the source of their delusion; for, they do
not distinguish properly the case of this solution of a stony substance
concreting by means of the separation of its solvent, and the case of
such a solution being in a place where that necessary condition cannot
be supposed to exist; such as, e.g., the interstices among the particles
of sand, clay, etc. deposited at the bottom of the sea, and accumulated
in immense stratified masses.
No example can better illustrate how pernicious it is to science to have
admitted a false principle, on which a chain of reasoning is to proceed
in forming a theory. Mineral philosophers have founded their theory upon
that deceitful analogy, which they had concluded between the stalactical
concretions of petrifying waters and the marble formed in the mineral
regions; thus, blinded by prejudice, they shut the door against the
clearest evidence; and it is most difficult to make them see the error
of their principle. But this is not to be wondered at, when we consider
how few among philosophising men remount to the first principles of
their theory; and, unless they shall thus remount to that first step,
in which the concreting operation of a dissolved stony substance
is supposed to take place without the necessary conditions for the
petrifying operation, it is impossible to be convinced that their
theory, thus formed with regard to mineral concretion, is merely
supposition, and has no foundation in matter of fact from whence it
should proceed.
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