inions.

According to De Luc, the first essential distinction to be made between
the various phenomena exhibited on the surface of the earth was, to
determine which were the results of causes still in action, and which
had been produced by causes that had ceased to act. The form and
composition of the mass of our continents, he said, and their existence
above the level of the sea, must be ascribed to causes no longer in
action. These continents emerged, at no very remote period, on the
sudden retreat of the ocean, the waters of which made their way into
subterranean caverns. The formation of the rocks which enter into the
crust of the earth began with the precipitation of granite from a
primordial liquid, after which other strata containing the remains of
organized bodies were deposited, till at last the present sea remained
as the residuum of the primordial liquid, and no longer continued to
produce mineral strata.[118]

_William Smith_, 1790.--While the tenets of the rival schools of
Freyberg and Edinburgh were warmly espoused by devoted partisans, the
labors of an individual, unassisted by the advantages of wealth or
station in society, were almost unheeded. Mr. William Smith, an English
surveyor, published his "Tabular View of the British Strata" in 1790,
wherein he proposed a classification of the secondary formations in the
West of England. Although he had not communicated with Werner, it
appeared by this work that he had arrived at the same views respecting
the laws of superposition of stratified rocks; that he was aware that
the order of succession of different groups was never inverted; and that
they might be identified at very distant points by their peculiar
organized fossils.

From the time of the appearance of the "Tabular View," the author
labored to construct a geological map of the whole of England; and with
the greatest disinterestedness of mind, communicated the results of his
investigations to all who desired information, giving such publicity to
his original views, as to enable his contemporaries almost to compete
with him in the race. The execution of his map was completed in 1815,
and remains a lasting monument of original talent and extraordinary
perseverance; for he had explored the whole country on foot, without the
guidance of previous observers, or the aid of fellow-laborers, and had
succeeded in throwing into natural divisions the whole complicated
series of British rocks. D'Aubuisson, a d