This is not explaining nature; it is only
feigning causes[39].
[Note 39: The description of those insulated siliceous bodies,
containing in their closed cavities all the usual concretions of
calcedony and crystals, as well as full of small pyrites floating in the
solid flint, are extremely interesting to a mineral system, or such a
geological theory as should explain the present state of things in those
strata that had been formed by deposits of known materials at the bottom
of the sea; they are indeed such appearances as may be found, more or
less, in all consolidated strata. But it is this author's explanation of
that petrifaction which is our present object to consider; and, as he is
so particular in giving us his theory upon the subject, it is easy to
detect the error of his reasoning. Were those naturalists who explain
things only in general, by saying that water is the agent, and
infiltration the means employed by nature;--were these naturalists, I
say, to give us as particular a description of their process, it would
appear as inconsistent with the nature of things as that which we have
from this author, who examines nature very minutely, and who sees
distinctly that the infiltrating theory is inapplicable for the
explanation of those petrifactions.
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