In this manner, also, will easily be explained those natural appearances which diversify the surface of the earth for the use of plants and animals, and those objects which beautify the face of nature for the contemplation of mankind.  Such are, the distinctions of mountains and valleys, of lakes and rivers, of dry barren deserts and rich watered plains, of rocks which stand apparently unimpaired by the lapse of time, and sands which fluctuate with the winds and tides.  All these are the effects of steady causes; each of these has its proper purpose in the system of the earth; and in that system is contained another, which is that of living growing bodies, and of animated beings.

But, besides this, man, the intellectual being, has, in this subject of the mineral kingdom, the means of gratifying the desire of knowledge, a faculty by which he is distinguished from the animal, and by which he improves his mind in knowing causes.  Man is not satisfied, like the brute, in seeing things which are; he seeks to know how things have been, and what they are to be.  It is with pleasure that he observes order and regularity in the works of nature, instead of being disgusted with disorder and confusion; and he is made happy from the appearance of wisdom and benevolence in the design, instead of being left to suspect in the Author of nature, any of that imperfection which he finds in himself.

Let us now take a view of that system of mineral economy, in which may be perceived every mark of order and design, of provident wisdom and benevolence.

We have been endeavouring to prove, that all the continents and islands of this globe had been raised above the surface of the ocean; we have also aimed at pointing out the cause of this translation of matter, as well as of the general solidity of that which is raised to our view; but however this theory shall be received, no person of observation can entertain a doubt, that all, or almost all we see of this earth, had been originally formed at the bottom of the sea.  We have now another object in our view; this is to investigate the operations of the globe, at the time that the foundation of this land was laying in the waters of the ocean, and to trace the existence and the nature of things, before the present land appeared above the surface of the waters.  We should thus acquire some knowledge of the system according to which this world is ruled, both in its preservation and production; and we might be thus enabled to judge, how far the mineral system of the world shall appear to be contrived with all the wisdom, which is so manifest in what are termed the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

It must not be imagined that this undertaking is a thing unreasonable in its nature; or that it is a work necessarily beset with any unsurmountable difficulty; for, however imperfectly we may fulfill this end proposed, yet, so far as it is to natural causes that are to be ascribed the operations of former time, and so far as, from the present state of things, or knowledge of natural history, we have it in our power to reason from effect to cause, there are, in the constitution of the world, which we now examine, certain means to read the annals of a former earth.