Volume Ii Part 19 (1/2)
CHAP. XIV.
_Summary of the Doctrine which has been now Ill.u.s.trated._
The system of this earth appears to comprehend many different operations; and it exhibits various powers co-operating for the production of those effects which we perceive. Of this we are informed by studying natural appearances; and in this manner we are led to understand the nature of things, in knowing causes.
That our land, which is now above the level of the sea, had been formerly under water, is a fact for which there is every where the testimony of a mult.i.tude of observations. This indeed is a fact which is admitted upon all hands; it is a fact upon which the speculations of philosophers have been already much employed; but it is a fact still more important, in my opinion, than it has been ever yet considered.
It is not, however, as a solitary fact that any rational system may be founded upon this truth, That the earth had been formerly at the bottom of the sea; we must also see the nature and const.i.tution of this earth as necessarily subsisting in continual change; and we must see the means employed by nature for constructing a continent of solid land in the fluid bosom of the deep. It is then that we may judge of that design, by finding ends and means contrived in wisdom, that is to say, properly adapted to each other.
We have now given a theory founded upon the actual state of this earth, and the appearances of things, so far as they are changing; and we have, in support of that theory, adduced the observations of scientific men, who have carefully examined nature and described things in a manner that is clear and intelligible. We are now to take a review of the principle points on which this theory hangs; and to endeavour to point out the importance of the subject, and the proper manner of judging with regard to a theory of the earth, how far it is conform to the general system of nature, which has for object a world.
If it should be admitted, that this earth had been formed by the collection of materials deposited within the sea, there will then appear to be certain things which ought to be explained by a theory, before that theory be received as belonging to this earth. These are as follows:
_First_, We ought to show how it came about that this whole earth, or by far the greatest part in all the quarters of the globe, had been formed of transported materials collected together in the sea. It must be here remembered, that the highest of our mountainous countries are equally formed of those travelled materials as are the lowest of our plains; we are not therefore to have recourse to any thing that we see at present for the origin of those materials which actually compose the earth; and we must show from whence had come those travelled materials, manufactured by water, which were employed in composing the highest places of our land.
_Secondly_, We must explain how those loose and incoherent materials had been consolidated, as we find they are at present. We are not here to allow ourselves the liberty, which naturalists have a.s.sumed without the least foundation, of explaining every thing of this sort by _infiltration_, a term in this case expressing nothing but our ignorance.
_Thirdly_, The strata are not always equally consolidated. We often find contiguous strata in very different states with respect to solidity; and sometimes the most solid ma.s.ses are found involved in the most porous substance. Some explanation surely would be expected for this appearance, which is of a nature so conclusive as ought to attract the attention of a theorist.
_Fourthly_, It is not sufficient to show how the earth in general had been consolidated; we must also explain, how it comes to pa.s.s that the consolidated bodies are always broken and intersected by veins and fissures. In this case, the reason commonly given, that the earth exposed to the atmosphere had shrunk like moist clay, or contracted by the operation of drying, can only show that such naturalists have thought but little upon the subject. The effect in no shape or degree corresponds to that cause; and veins and fissures, in the solid bodies, are no less frequent under the level of the sea, than on the summits of our mountains.
_Fifthly_, Having found a cause for the fracture and separation of the solid ma.s.ses, we must also tell from whence the matter with which those chasms are filled, matter which is foreign both to the earth and sea, had been introduced into the veins that intersect the strata. If we fail in this particular, What credit could be given to such hypotheses as are contrived for the explanation of more ambiguous appearances, even when those suppositions should appear most probable?
_Sixthly_, Supposing that hitherto every thing had been explained in the most satisfactory manner, the most important appearances of our earth still remain to be considered. We find those strata that were originally formed continuous in their substance, and horizontal in their position, now broken, bended, and inclined, in every manner and degree; we must give some reason in our theory for such a general changed state and disposition of things; and we must tell by what power this event, whether accidental or intended, had been brought about.
_Lastly_, Whatever powers had been employed in preparing land, while situated under water, or at the bottom of the sea, the most powerful operation yet remains to be explained; this is the means by which the lowest surface of the solid globe was made to be the highest upon the earth. Unless we can show a power of sufficient force, and placed in a proper situation for that purpose, our theory would go for nothing, among people who investigate the nature of things, and who, founding on experience, reason by induction from effect to cause.
Nothing can be admitted as a theory of the earth which does not, in a satisfactory manner, give the efficient causes for all these effects already enumerated. For, as things are universally to be acknowledged in the earth, it is essential in a theory to explain those natural appearances.
But this is not all. We live in a world where order every where prevails; and where final causes are as well known, at least, as those which are efficient. The muscles, for example, by which I move my fingers when I write, are no more the efficient cause of that motion, than this motion is the final cause for which the muscles had been made.
Thus, the circulation of the blood is the efficient cause of life; but, life is the final cause, not only for the circulation of the blood, but for the revolution of the globe: Without a central luminary, and a revolution of the planetary body, there could not have been a living creature upon the face of this earth; and, while we see a living system on this earth, we must acknowledge, that in the solar system we see a final cause.
Now, in a theory which considers this earth as placed in a system of things where ends are at least attained, if not contrived in wisdom, final causes must appear to be an object of consideration, as well as those which are efficient. A living world is evidently an object in the design of things, by whatever Being those things had been designed, and however either wisdom or folly may appear in that design. Therefore the explanation, which is given of the different phenomena of the earth, must be consistent with the actual const.i.tution of this earth as a living world, that is, a world maintaining a system of living animals and plants.
Not only are no powers to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted of except those of which we know the principle, and no extraordinary events to be alledged in order to explain a common appearance, the powers of nature are not to be employed in order to destroy the very object of those powers; we are not to make nature act in violation to that order which we actually observe, and in subversion of that end which is to be perceived in the system of created things. In whatever manner, therefore, we are to employ the great agents, fire and water, for producing those things which appear, it ought to be in such a way as is consistent with the propagation of plants and life of animals upon the surface of the earth. Chaos and confusion are not to be introduced into the order of nature, because certain things appear to our partial views as being in some disorder. Nor are we to proceed in feigning causes, when those seem insufficient which occur in our experience.
Animal life being thus considered as an object in the view of nature, we are to consider this earth as being the means appointed for that end; and then the question is suggested, How far wisdom may appear in the const.i.tution of this earth, as being _means_ properly adapted to the system of animal life, which is evidently the end. This is taking for granted, that there is a known system of the earth which is to be tried--how far properly adapted to the end intended in nature. But, it is this very system of the earth which is here the subject of investigation; and, it is in order to discover the _true system_ that we are to examine, by means of final causes, every theory which pretends to show the nature of that system, or to a.s.sign efficient causes to physical events.
Here then we have a rule to try the propriety of every operation which should be acknowledged as in the system of nature, or as belonging to the theory of this earth. It is not necessary that we should see the propriety of every natural operation; our natural ignorance precludes us from any t.i.tle to form a judgment in things of which we are not properly informed; but, no suppositions of events, or explanations of natural appearances, are to be admitted into our Theory, if the propriety of those alledged operations is not made to appear. We are now to make an application.
This earth, which is now dry land, was under water, and was formed in the sea. Here is a matter of fact, and not of theory, so far as it can be made as evident as any thing of which we have not seen the immediate act or execution. But the propriety of this matter of fact is only to be perceived in making the following acknowledgment, That the origin of this earth is necessarily placed in the bottom of the sea. In supposing any other origin to this habitable earth, we would see the impropriety of having it covered with water, or drowned in the sea. But, being formed originally at the bottom of the sea, if we can explain the phenomena of this earth by natural causes, we will acknowledge the wisdom of those means, by which the earth, thus formed at the bottom of the sea, had been perfected in its nature, and made to fulfil the purpose of its intention, by being placed in the atmosphere.
If the habitable earth does not take its origin in the waters of the sea, the was.h.i.+ng away of the matter of this earth into the sea would put a period to the existence of that system which forms the admirable const.i.tution of this living world. But, if the origin of this earth is founded in the sea, the matter which is washed from our land is only proceeding in the order of the system; and thus no change would be made in the general system of this world, although this particular earth, which we possess at present, should in the course of nature disappear.
It has already been our business to show that the land is actually wasted universally, and carried away into the sea. Now, What is the final cause of this event?--Is it in order to destroy the system of this living world, that the operations of nature are thus disposed upon the surface of this earth? Or, Is it to perpetuate the progress of that system, which, in other respects, appears to be contrived with so much wisdom? Here are questions which a Theory of the Earth must solve; and here indeed, must be found the most material part by far of any Theory of the Earth. For, as we are more immediately concerned with the operations of the surface, it is the revolutions of that surface which forms, for us, the most interesting subject of inquiry.
Thus we are led to inquire into the final cause of things, while we investigate an operation of such magnitude and importance, as is that of forming land of sea, and sea of land, of apparently reversing nature, and of destroying that which is so admirably adapted to its purpose. Was it the work of accident, or effect of an occasional transaction, that by which the sea had covered our land? Or, Was it the intention of that Mind which formed the matter of this globe, which endued that matter with its active and its pa.s.sive powers, and which placed it with so much wisdom among a numberless collection of bodies, all moving in a system?
If we admit the first, the consequence of such a supposition would be to attribute to chance the const.i.tution of this world, in which the systems of life and sense, of reason and intellect, are necessarily maintained.
If again we shall admit, that there is intention in the cause by which the present earth had been removed from the bottom of the sea, we may then inquire into the nature of that system in which a habitable earth, possessed of beauty, arranged in order, and preserved with economy, had been formed by the mixture and combination of the different elements, and made to rise out of the wreck of a former world.