e constant and
unremitting in their operation, which are widely adapted to the end or
absolutely necessary in the system of this world, and which, in the
indefinite course of time, become unlimited in their effect, or powerful
in any conceivable degree.

It is not sufficient for establishing the present theory, to refute that
most unscientific hypothesis, adopted by some eminent philosophers, of
mountains and valleys being the effect of currents in the ocean; it is
necessary to see what is their proper cause, and to show that by no
other cause known could the general effect, which is of such importance
in the system of this world, be actually produced. It is for this reason
that we have endeavoured to show that there is a general, an universal
system of river and valley, which renders the surface of this earth a
sort of organized body destined to a purpose which it perfectly fulfils.

But to see the full force of this argument, taken from that order of
things which is perceived in that system of valley and river all over
the earth, let us examine, first, what would be the effect, in the
constitution of this world, of bodies of land formed upon no such
system; and, secondly, what would be the effect of the natural
constitution of this world and meteorological operations of the
atmosphere, if continued for a sufficient length of time, upon a mass of
land without any systematic form.

For this purpose we shall take for example a portion of this earth,
which is the best known to us, that is the south-western part of Europe,
in order to compare its present state, which so perfectly fulfils the
purpose of this world, with that in which no order of valley and of
rivers should be fund.

Let us begin at the summit, which is the Mont-Blanc. At present the
water, falling from the heavens upon this continent, is gathered into
a system of rivers which run through valleys, and is delivered at last
into the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the German Seas;
all the rest of this continent, except some lakes and marshes, is dry
land, properly calculated, for the sustenance of a variety of plants and
animals, and so fulfils the purpose of a habitable earth. Now, destroy
that system of river and valley, and the whole would become a mixture
of lakes and marshes, except the summits of a few barren rocks and
mountains. No regular channels for conveying the super-abundant water
being made, every thing must be deluged, and n