system. That system
is comprehended in the preparation of future land at the bottom of the
ocean, from those materials which the dissolution and attrition of
the present land may have provided, and from those which the natural
operations of the sea afford.

In thus accomplishing a certain end, we are not to limit nature with the
uniformity of an equable progression, although it be necessary in our
computations to proceed upon equalities. Thus also, in the use of means,
we are not to prescribe to nature those alone which we think suitable
for the purpose, in our narrow view. It is our business to learn of
nature (that is by observation) the ways and means, which in her wisdom
are adopted; and we are to imagine these only in order to find means for
further information, and to increase our knowledge from the examination
of things which actually have been. It is in this manner, that intention
may be found in nature; but this intention is not to be supposed, or
vainly imagined, from what we may conceive to be.

We have been now supposing, that the beginning of our present earth had
been laid in the bottom of the ocean, at the completion of the former
land; but this was only for the sake of distinctness. The just view is
this, that when the former land of the globe had been complete, so as
to begin to waste and be impaired by the encroachment of the sea, the
present land began to appear above the surface of the ocean. In this
manner we suppose a due proportion to be always preserved of land and
water upon the surface of the globe, for the purpose of a habitable
world, such as this which we possess. We thus, also, allow time and
opportunity for the translation of animals and plants to occupy the
earth.

But, if the earth on which we live, began to appear in the ocean at
the time when the last began to be resolved, it could not be from the
materials of the continent immediately preceding this which we examine,
that the present earth had been constructed; for the bottom of the ocean
must have been filled with materials before land could be made to appear
above its surface.

Let us suppose that the continent, which is to succeed our land, is at
present beginning to appear above the water in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean, it must be evident, that the materials of this great body, which
is formed and ready to be brought forth, must have been collected from
the destruction of an earth, which does not now appear. Consequently,