ESSAY

ON THE

Theory of the Earth.

BY M. CUVIER,

PERPETUAL SECRETARY OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE, PROFESSOR AND
ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY,
&c. &c.

WITH

MINERALOGICAL NOTES,

AND

AN ACCOUNT OF CUVIER'S GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES,

BY PROFESSOR JAMESON.

THIRD EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED FOR WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, PRINCE'S STREET; AND BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON.

1817.

ESSAY

ON

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.

§ 1. Preliminary Observations.

IT is my object, in the following work, to travel over ground which has as yet been little explored, and to make my reader acquainted with a species of Remains, which, though absolutely necessary for understanding the history of the globe, have been hitherto almost uniformly neglected.

As an antiquary of a new order, I have been obliged to learn the art of decyphering and restoring these remains, of discovering and bringing together, in their primitive arrangement, the scattered and mutilated fragments of which they

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