Let us now suppose that the under strata had been disordered at the bottom of the sea, before the superincumbent bodies were deposited; it is not to be well conceived, that the vertical strata should in that case appear to be cut off abruptly, and present their regular edges immediately under the uniformly deposited substances above. But, in the case now under consideration, there appears the most uniform section of the vertical strata, their ends go up regularly to the horizontal deposited bodies. Now, in whatever state the vertical strata had been in at the time of this event, we can hardly suppose that they could have been so perfectly cut off, without any relict being left to trace that operation. It is much more probable to suppose, that the sea had washed away the relics of the broken and disordered strata, before those that are now superincumbent had been begun to be deposited. But we cannot suppose two such contrary operations in the same place, as that of carrying away the relics of those broken strata, and the depositing of sand and subtile earth in such a regular order. We are therefore led to conclude, that the bottom of the sea, or surface of those erected strata, had been in very different situations at those two periods, when the relics of the disordered strata had been carried away, and when the new materials had been deposited. If this shall be admitted as a just view of the subject, it will be fair to suppose, that the disordered strata had been raised more or less above the surface of the ocean; that, by the effects of either rivers, winds, or tides, the surface of the vertical strata had been washed bare; and that this surface had been afterwards sunk below the influence of those destructive operations, and thus placed in a situation proper for the opposite effect, the accumulation of matter prepared and put in motion by the destroying causes. I will not pretend to say that this has all the evidence that should be required, in order to constitute a physical truth, or principle from whence we were to reason farther in our theory; but, as a simple fact, there is more probability for the thing having happened in that manner than in any other; and perhaps this is all that may be attained, though not all that were to be wished on the occasion. Let us now see how far any confirmation may be obtained from the examination of all the attending circumstances in those operations.