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Theories oe the Earth. 43 tification derived from them completely enjoyed, by an intimate acquaintance with Nature herfelf, not in cabinets alone, but in mines and among mountains. On defcending into mines, we are not only gratified by difplays of human ingenuity and Ikill, but we alfo receive much information re- fpeding the ftru&ure of the earth, and the changes it has experienced during the different periods of ks formation. Our refearches on the furface of the earth, on the other hand, often lead us among the grandeft and moft fublime works of nature ; and amid alpine groups, the geognoft is, as it were, conduced nearer to the fcene of thofe great operations, which it is his bufinefs to explore. In the midfl of fuch fcenes, he feels his mind invigo rated ; the magnitude of the appearances before him extinguifhcs all the little and contraded no tions he may have formed in the clofet ; and he learns, that it is only by vifiting and ftudying thefe ftupendous works, that he can form an ade quate conception of the great relations of the cruft of the globe, and of its mode of formation, 33. Nature appears, in her formations, frequent ly to proceed from the moft fpecial to the moft general; or, we obferve the moft general, including a feries of gradually-diminifhing fubordinate dif ferences. In the Orydtognofy, many inftances of this occur, as in the diftindt concretions, fradure, and external furface. It is even more ftrikingly