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A Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature (1739)
A Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature - 1739 Author:Richard Bradley 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: Philosophical Account O F T H E WORKS of NATURE. , C H A P. I. Of the moft remarkable Appearances in Earths and Mineral Bodies. Propose, y?, ... more »to treat of Earths and Mineral Bodies, fuppofing them to fubfift much longer without any confiderable Alteration of Parts, than any other of the created Bodies. Vegetables, Animals, and In- J'eSts have refpectively their Modes of Growth very different from one another, each of them undergoing vifible Alterations till they are perfect ; but Earths and Mineral Bodies require Length of Time to perfect themfelves in their refpeftive Stations : Which Time of their Tendency to Perfection I fhall, for the Eafe of B 3 fompfome of my Readers, call the Time of their Growth. What I herb call Earth, is whatever Soil find in the fuperficial and fecond Strata, fuch as may be ufed for the Propagation of Vegetables ; perhaps in fome Cafes we may even ufe the third Stratum for the Profit of Plants; but all the Strata below this I fhall fuppofe are fo many Beds of Mineral Matter, either in a State of Solution, orConfolidation, or elfe hardened as much as ever they will be. It would be tedious to enumerate every Par-r ticular which might be obferved in all the Earths that are ufed for the Production of Vegetables; there are undoubtedly many thou- fand different Mixtures, which have either been made defignedly, or have happened by Accident. It will fuffice for my prefent Pur- pofe to diftinguifh them under three Genera). Heads, as Sand, Loam, and Clay, for all Earths are in fome Degree or other partaking of thefe ; and it is my Opinion that they all originally were made up of .SWy-Particles, but varied only in their Powers, by mixing with Liquids of different Qualities, (/'. e.) fuch as are Aqueous, Vijcous, and Oleaginous. The P...« less