A geological essay on the imperfect evidence in support of a theory of the Earth, deducible either from its general structure or from the changes produced on its surface by the operation of existing causes

Front matter

A GEOLOGICAL ESSAY ON THE IMPERFECT EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF A THEORY OF THE EARTH, DEDUCIBLE EITHER FROM ITS GENERAL STRUCTURE OR FROM THE CHANGES PRODUCED ON ITS SURFACE BY THE OPERATION OF EXISTING CAUSES. BY J. KIDD, M.D. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD OXFORD: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE AUTHOR. Sold by J.Parkeh and R. Bliss; and by Messrs. Rivington, London. 1815. TO GEORGE BELLAS GREENOUGH, Esa F. R.S. &c VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. MY DEAR SIR, IF my own sentiments of respect for you had alone prompted me to solicit the honour of inscfribjng this dedi%tii$n with your name, I shodl^ perhaps <4^a^\,qesitated in making the request • t1)ui^~consT:ious that I participate in those sentiments with many in this University, whose friendship you value, and whose kindred labours in Geology you have both encouraged and approved, I felt that in making this declaration I might offer you a tribute not unworthy your acceptance.

With many thanks, then, for the permis sion you have given me to place this dedica- A DEDICATION. IV tion in front of the present Essay ; and with every hope that your connection with Oxford may become stronger each succeeding year, I remain, My dear Sir, Your most obliged and sincere Friend, J. KIDD. Oxford, Feb. 27, 1815.

Preface

X HE general object and the arrangement of the following Essay are so fully shewn by the Title Page and the Table of Contents, that I need not say any thing further in explanation of those points. With respect to the object itself, or the plan which I have adopted in its pursuit, I am so far from wishing to lay any claim to exclusive originality, that I should be gratified by the knowledge that others had been contemplating the same subject with the same views : and it appears from M. Cuvier's late Essay on the Theory of the Earth, a translation of which was published in 1813, that he has in some measure anticipated the attention of the public with respect to that part of the present volume which treats of the operation of existing causes. But I think it due to myself to state, that my own plan was arranged long before I knew that M. Cuvier had written the Essay in question : and with respect to any opinions main tained by M. De Luc in his Letters to the Queen, in which work he examines at considerable length the action of existing causes on the earth's surface, I have it in my power to say with truth, that I not only had not read that work till within the a

PREFACE.

. VI last few months, but was not at all aware that it contained the opinions in question. If any of my readers should think that I have made too frequent use of the works of other Authors, I beg leave to remind them, that the very nature of the present publication required the numerous extracts and references which I have made. In the mean time I can assure them, that in extracting from the writings of others I have neither had it in view to increase the bulk of this volume, or to save my own exertions. The arrangement of those extracts indeed has consti tuted the chief part of my labour, and occupied the greatest share of my attention : for a single illustration has sometimes been composed partly by compressing the original account from whence it has been drawn ; partly by combining from different parts of the same author, and sometimes even from different authors, the particulars of which the illustration consists.

As on such occasions it would have been ostentatious to give all the references, I hope that, if in comparing my statements with the original there should not always be a literal agreement, the reader will not hastily accuse me of negligence. Of the propriety of entering into the discussion of the subject of the first chapter, which treats of the connection between Geological Speculations and the Mosaic history of the Creation and De luge, there will perhaps be a difference of opinion : and those even who approve of its insertion, may

PREFACE.

. VII yet think it would have been better placed at the end of the volume. I trust however that, in my manner of treating the question there discussed, I have preserved that temper which I have ven tured to recommend to others. It was not my intention to have mentioned the name of the au thor from whom I have made such copious ex tracts in the seventh and eighth pages ; and if I now state that they are contained in a work of M. Albert Fortis on the Geology of Italy1, it is at the suggestion of a friend whose judgment I respect : nor should I have introduced the extracts themselves for the mere purpose of exposing their eccentricity, had I not had a different and a better end in view. I beg leave to apologize for the numerous errors in the notes of reference by stating, that it was not in my power to correct them till within three days of the printing of the last sheet.

I have since examined the original passages, (with the ex ception of those in Ramond and Ferrara, whose treatises I have not now in my possession,) and have inserted in the list of errata at the end of the volume all the material corrections. In a few instances however, which are noticed in that list as incorrect references, I was unable to discover the source of error. Variations from the true reference which do not exceed the limits of two pages I have omitted to par ticularize : because, as in consulting any reference the reader would be naturally led to examine more "Tom. i. p. 204, 209, 211. A

PREFACE.

. VIII than the passage immediately referred to, he will, after what I have said, be enabled to obviate the inconvenience of such errors with nearly as little trouble as he could have done by means of a cor rected statement. I do not mean, however, by omit ting the actual correction to hide the number ofthe errors in question ; nor need I be ashamed to say, considering their trivial nature and my own want of leisure during the printing of this Volume, that they amount to as many as nineteen or twenty. In offering this Essay to the public, I take a final leave of the pursuit of Mineralogy ; in doing which, I am naturally prompted to express my obligations to those who materially assisted me in that pursuit, and to whose exertions during the last ten years it is principally owing, that the Museum of this University possesses its present extensive and most valuable geological collection.

To the Rev. Philip Serle of Trinity College, the Rev. William Buckland of Corpus Christi College, (my successor in the professorship of mineralogy,) to Henry Drummond, Esq. and the Rev. John and the Rev. William Conybeare of Christ Church, (to all of whom I am united by the firmest tics of friendship,) I particularly express my obligations: for without their assistance I could not, with satis faction to myself, have continued to deliver those Lectures, which I have now resigned to one, from whom I should have thought it an injustice to the University longer to withhold them. Books referred to in the following Essay, arranged in the order of their reference. MEMOIRES pour servir a l'Histoire Naturelle &c. de Tltalie, &c. par Albert Fortis, &c. &c. A Paris, 1802. 2 tomes, 8vo. Butler's Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed.

Svo. Oxford, 1807. Memoire sur les Basaltes de la Saxe, &c. par J. F. Daubuisson. A Paris, 1803. 8vo. Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, by John Playfair, F. R. S. Edin. and Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. Edin. 1802. 8vo. Voyages dans les Alpes, &c. par Horace-Benedict de Saussure, torn. viii. 8vo. A Geneve, 1786. et a Neuchatel, 1796. Ramond, Voyage au Mont Perdu, et dans la Partie adjacente des Hautes Pyre"n€es. 8vo. Paris, 1801. Essai de Geologic, par B. Faujas-St.-Fond. A Paris, 1809. 12 tomes, 8vo. Guillelmi Leibnitii, &c. Opera omnia. Genev. 1768. vol.vi. 4to. Annales du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. A Paris, 1802, &c. 4to. The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, &c. by John Williams, F. S. S. A. 2 vol. 8vo. Edin. 1810. .Books referred to in the following Essay.

X General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire, by John Farey, Sen. Lond. 1811. 2 vol. Svo. Geological Travels, by J. A. De Luc, F. R. S. Lond. 1810, 1811. 3 vol. Svo. Translated from the French MS. Geological Travels, &c. by J. A. De Luc, F. R. S. Lond. 1813. 2 vol. Svo. Translated from the French MS. N. B. These two works are referred to as consisting of 5 successive volumes. De Luc, Lettres, &c. sur l'Histoire de la Terre. tomes v. 8vo. a la Haye et a Paris, 1779- Essai politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne. par Al. De Humboldt. Paris, 1811. tomes v. 8vo. System of Mineralogy, by Robert Jameson, Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, &c. 3 vol. 8vo. Edin. 1804. Ferrara (Abbate Francesco) Storia generale dell' Etna. Svo. Catania, 1793.

Notice sur l'Histoire Geognostique du Cotentin. Extrait du Journal des Mines, No. 206. Fevrier, 1814. Voyages de P. S. Pallas. 5 torn, in 4to. k Paris, 1788 — 1/93. Travels in China ; by John Barrow, Esq. Lond. 1804. 4to. A Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, by John Macdonald Kinneir. Lond. 1813. 4to. The Voyage of Nearchus, by William Vincent, D. D. Lond. 1797. 4to. Memoir of a Map of Hindostan, &c. by James Rennell. Lond. 1788. 4to. Travels in Hungary, by Robert Townson, LL. D. &c. 4to. Lond. 1797- An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, by Michael Symes, Esq. Lond. 1800. 4to. A Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology. Edinb. 1802. 8vo. Essai sur la Geographic Mineralogique des Environs Books referred to in the following Essay. XI de Paris, par M. M. G. Cuvier, et Alex.

Brongniart. 4to. pp. 278. A Voyage to Abyssinia, &c. by Henry Salt, Esq. F. R. S. &c. Lond. 1814. 4to. The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, Part 1. Lond. 1800. 4to. Part 2. Lond. 1805. 4to. by William Vincent, D.D. Memoire sur les lies Ponces &c. par Deodat de Dolomieu. A Paris, 1788. 8vo. Voyage aux lies de Lipari, par Deodat de Dolomieu. A Paris, 1783. 8vo. An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, in Tibet ; by Captain Samuel Turner. Lond. 1800. 4to. Observations faites dans un Voyage entrepris dans les Gouvernements Meridionaux de l'Empire de Russie. Par P. S. Pallas. Traduit de 1' Allemand. 2 tomes. 4to. Leipzig, 1799—1801. Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, &c. by Vivant Denon, translated by Arthur Aikin. Lond. 1803. 4to. A Voyage to Cochinchina, by John Barrow, Esq. Lond. 1806. 4to.

A Voyage to Terra Australis in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803. in H. M. S. Investigator, &c. by Matthew Flinders, Commander. 2 vol. 4to. Lond. 1814. Observations made during a Voyage round the World; by John Reinold Forster, LL. D. &c. Lond. 1778. 4to. A Voyage towards the South Pole, &c. in 1772, &e. by James Cook. 2 vol. 4to. Lond. 1777- The Journal of Frederick Horneman's Travels in Africa. Lond. 1802. 4to. Essay on the Theory of the Earth, translated from the Books referred to in the following Essay. French of M. Cuvier, &c. by Robert Kerr, &c. Edin. 1813. 8vo. Travels in the Island of Iceland during the Summer of 1810, by Sir G.Mackenzie, Bart. 4to. Edin. 1811. The First Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Nature and Extent of the several Bogs in Ireland, and the Practicability of draining and cultivating them.

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. June 20, 1810. The Second Report, &c. April 1, 1811. The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, M. D. &c. Lond. 1705. sol. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. On the Nature of the Connection between Geological Speculations and the Mosaic History of the Creation and Deluge - - - - "- - - P. 1. CHAP. II. On the general Structure of the Earth - - P. 15. CHAP. III. Chi Mineral Veins - - - - - - P. 49. CHAP. IV. On Werner's Classification ofthe Strata - - P. 59. CHAP. V. On Granite P. 62. CHAP. VI. On Syenite - - - - - - - P. 7L CHAP. VII. On Hornblende Rocks - - - - - P. 73. CHAP. VIII. On Serpentine ------ P. 77- CHAP. IX. On Porphyry ------ P. 78. CONTENTS. XIV CHAP. X. On Slaty Rocks, or Schists - - - - P. 80. CHAP. XI. On metalliferous compact Limestone - - - P. 92.

CHAP. XII. On the Rock Marl of English Geologists - - P. 104. CHAP. XIII. On Rock Salt - - - - - P. 114. CHAP. XIV. On Coal P. 118. CHAP. XV. General Remarks on the Division of tlie Strata adopted in this Volume - - . - - - - P. 129. CHAP. XVI. On the natural Arrangement of Chains or Groups of Mountains - - P. 137. CHAP. XVII On Beds of Gravel - - - - - P. 150. CHAP. XVIII On insulated Masses of Stone, commonly called Boulders ------- p. 167. CHAP. XIX. On the fossile Bones contained in certain calcareous Caverns of Germany ; and also in the Clefts of the Rock of Gibraltar ■»---__ pt 179, CONTENTS. XV CHAP. XX. On the Changes produced on the Surface of the Earth by the Action of Rivers ; including the disintegrating Effects of the Atmosphere and of Mountain Torrents - P. 181. CHAP. XXI. On the Origin and Effects of Glaciers - - P. 209.

CHAP. XXII. On the Action ofthe Sea upon tlie Land - - P. 215. CHAP. XXIII. On Coral Reefs P. 219. CHAP. XXIV. On inland Accumulations of Sand - P. 230. CHAP. XXV. On the earthy Deposition of Carbonate of Lime, called calcareous Tufa - - - - - - P. 237. CHAP. XXVI. On Volcanoes and Earthquakes - - - P. 242. CHAP. XXVII. On the Formation and Character of Turf-banks or Bogs P. 256. Conclusion - - - - - - -P. 267-