But if every stratum, where these are found in any part of it,
is to be concluded as having had its origin at the bottom of the sea;
and, if every concomitant stratum, though not having those objects
visible or sufficiently distinct, must be considered as having had the
same or a similar origin, that pretended contradiction of my theory
comes to no more than this, that every individual stone does not bear
in it the same or equal evidence of that general proposition which
necessarily results from the attentive consideration of the whole,
including every part.

But to see how necessary it is to judge in this manner, not partially,
but upon the whole, we may observe, that there are two ways by which the
visible materials or distinguishable bodies of a former earth, not only
_may_ be rendered invisible in the composition of our present earth,
but _must_ be so upon many occasions. These are, _first_, by mechanical
comminution, which necessarily happens, more or less, in that operation
by which bodies are moved against one another, and thus transported from
the land to the bottom of the deepest seas; _secondly_, by chemical
operations, (whatever these may be, whether the action of water or of
fire, or both), which are also necessarily employed for consolidating
those loose materials, that are to form the rocks and stones of
this earth, and by means of which those materials are to have their
distinguishable shapes affected in all degrees and obliterated.
Therefore, to demand the visible appearance of those materials in every
stratum of the earth, or in every part of a stratum, is no other than to
misunderstand the subject altogether. The geological observations,
which have been thus alleged as contradicting my theory, are stratified
bodies, containing proofs of the general origin which I attribute to the
earth, but proofs which may not always be seen with equal facility as
those which even convince the vulgar.

Our author has surely perplexed himself with what writers of late have
said concerning primitive mountains as they are called, a subject of
deeper search, than is commonly imagined, as I hope to show in the
course of this work. It is an interesting subject of investigation,
as giving us the actual view of those operations of nature which, in
forming my Theory of the Earth, more general principles had led me to
conclude _might be_. But, it is a subject which, I am afraid, will lead
me to give farther offence to our aut