"
We may now come to this general conclusion, that, in this example of
horizontal and posterior strata placed upon the vertical _schisti_ which
are prior in relation to the former, we obtain a further view into the
natural history of this earth, more than what appears in the simple
succession of one stratum above another. We know, in general, that all
the solid parts of this earth, which come to our view, have either
been formed originally by subsidence at the bottom of the sea, or been
transfused in a melted state from the mineral regions among those solid
bodies; but here we further learn, that the indurated and erected
strata, after being broken and washed by the moving waters, had again
been sunk below the sea, and had served as a bottom or basis on which to
form a new structure of strata; and also, that those new or posterior
strata had been indurated or cemented by the consolidating operations
of the mineral region, and elevated from the bottom of the sea into the
place of land, or considerably above the general surface of the waters.
It is thus that we may investigate particular operations in the general
progress of nature, which has for object to renovate the surface of the
earth necessarily wasted in the operation of a world sustaining plants
and animals.
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