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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    § 5. Proofs that such Revolutions have been numerous. If we institute a more detailed comparison be- tween the various strata and those remains of animals which they contain, we shall soon disco- ver still more numerous differences among them, indicating a proportional number of changes in their condition. The sea has not always depo- sited stony substances of the same kind. It has observed a regular succession as to the nature of its deposits ; the more ancient the strata are, so much the more uniform and extensive are they; and the more recent they are, the more limited are they, and the more variation is observed in them at small distances. Thus the great catas- trophes which have produced revolutions in the basin of ihe sea, were preceded, accompanied, and followed by changes in the nature of the fluid and of the substances which it held in so- lution ; and when the surface of the seas came to be divided by islands and projecting ridges, different changes took place in every separate basin. Amidst these changes of the general fluid, it