This however is only
an attempt to explain, what we do not understand, by a proposition which
is either evidently contradictory, or plainly inconceivable. It is
true that this eloquent and ingenious author endeavours to correct the
palpable absurdity of the proposition, by representing the constituent
parts of the mineral bodies as "_de lames infiniment minces_;" but who
is it does not see, that these infinitely thin plates are no other than
bodies of three dimensions, contrary to the supposition; for, infinitely
thin, means a certain thickness; but the smallest possible or assignable
thickness differs as much from a perfect superficies as the greatest.
M. de Luc has given us his ideas of petrifaction with sufficient
precision of term and clearness of expression; his opinion, therefore,
deserves to be examined; and, as his theory of petrifaction is equally
applicable to every species of substance, it is necessary again to
examine this subject, notwithstanding of what has been already said,
in the first part of this work, concerning consolidation and mineral
concretion from the fluid state of fusion.
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