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Show 164 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. The marble mountain, an~ the sparry steep, Were built by myriad nations of the deep,- Age after age, who form'd their spiral shells, Their sea-fan gardens and their coral cells; Till central fires with unextinguished sway Raised the primeval islands into day;- CAN TO I V. The sand-fill\1 strata stretch'd from pole to pole ; Unmeasured beds of clay, and marl, and coal, a punishment f~r. evil deeds, though !Yithout consciousness of its pre· vious existence; and from this doctrine he inculcat ed a system of morality and benevolence, as all creatures thus became r elated to each other. The marble mountain, 1. t131. From the increased knowledge in Geology during the present century, owing to the g reater at tention of philosophers to the situations of the different materi als, which compose the strata of the earth, as well as to their chemical propertie ' it seems clearly to appear, that the nucleus of th e glob ueneath the ocean consisted of granite ; and that on this the great beds of limestone were formed from the shells of marine animals during the innumerable primeval ages of the world; and that whatever strata lie on these beds of limestone, or on the granite, where the limestone does not cover it, were formed after the elevation of islands and continents above the surface of the sea by the recremen ts of vegetables and of terrestrial animals; see on this subject Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Additional Note XXIV. CANTO IV. OF GOOD AND EVIL. Black ore of manganese, the zinky stone, And dusky steel on his magnetic throne, In deep morass, or en1inence superb, Rose from ~he wrecks of animal or herb ; These from their elements by Life combined, Form'd by digestion, and in glands refined, Gave by their just excitement of the .sense The Bliss of Being to the vital Ens. 165 440 " Thus the tall mountains, that emboss the lands, Huge isles of rock, and continents of sands, Whose dim extent eludes the inquiring sight, ARE MI G HTY MoNUMENTs oF PAST DELIGHT; 450 Are mighty monuments. 1. 450. The reader is referred ~o a few page3 on this subject in Phytologia, Sect. XIX. 7. 1, where the felicity of organic life is considered more at large; hu t it is prubaule that the most certain way to estimate the happiness and mise ry of organic beings; as it depends on the actions of the organs of sense, whi ch constitute id eas; or of the muscular fibres which perform locomotion ; would be to consider those actions, as they are produced or excited by t he four se n s ~ri al powers oT irritation, sensation, volition, and association. A small volume on this subject uy some ingenious wri te:r, |