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A Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology (1802)
A Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology - 1802 Author:John Murray Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: have been ftated, which eftablifh fuch a difinte- gration. The immenfe beds of fand and gravel which are found even in elevated fituajtions, af- 'ford in particu... more »lar a clear proof of this kind, fince fuch fubftances muft evidently have been formed from the wafte of folid rocks, and the attrition of their fragments. Facts have, however, likewife been ftated in oppofition to this principle. Rocks of bafaltes, and of many kinds of granite, it is obferved, fuf- fer fcarcely any decay, as is evident from the fharpnefs of their angles. And from the teftu mony of hiftory, we have it in our power to af- certain, that in many places rocks of this kind occupy the fame fituation which they did two thoufand years back. Thefe, and fimilar facts, however, are to be regarded as exceptions to the general law ; or rather, they ferve to prove, that in fuch rocks the difintegration is extremely flow. It feems fcarcely poffible to deny but that it muft take place to a certain extent; and as the operations fuppofed in the Huttonian fyf- tem are unlimited as to time, it would be in vain to cpnteft the principle aflumed. It has alfo been queftioned, whether the materials worn down, and conveyed by the rivers, are carried into the depths of the fea. It has been alleged, that the greater part of the. matter thus conveyed is thrown by the returning tide upoh the Ihore, and adds to the extent of the land. In many cafes, from local fituation, this is undoubtedly true ; but Profeflbr Playfair has perhaps fuccefsfully fhown that thefe are exceptions, and that from the declivity of the fhore, the folid matter brought by the rivers muft in general be carried forward, and fpread over the bottom of the ocean. Were this not the cafe, . indeed, the increafe of the land, from the accumulation of materials on ...« less