Essay on the theory of the earth / by M. Cuvier ; with mineralogical notes, and an account of Cuvier's geological discoveries by Professor Jameson.

  • Cuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essay on the theory of the earth / by M. Cuvier ; with mineralogical notes, and an account of Cuvier's geological discoveries by Professor Jameson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    On all occasions, even in districts that lie at a distance from the great mountain chains, where the more recent strata have been digged through, and the external covering of the earth penetra- ted to a considerable depth, nearly the same or- der of stratification has been found as that alrea- dy described. The crystallized marbles never cover the shelly strata ; the granite in mass never rests upon the crystallized marble, except in a few places where it seems to have been formed of granites of newer epochs. In one word, the foregoing arrangement appears to be general, and must therefore depend upon general causes, which have on all occasions exerted the same in- fluence from one extremity of the earth to the other.* Hence, it is impossible to deny, that the wa- ters of the sea have formerly, and for a long time, covered those masses of matter which now constitute our highest mountains; and farther, that these waters, during a long time, did not support any living bodies. Thus, it has not been only since the commencement of animal hfe that these numerous changes and revolutions have taken place in the constitution of the external