Note 20 — Chapter VI · The Stability of the Ocean.

The stability of the axis of rotation about which the earth revolves, has sometimes been adduced as an instance of preservative care. The stability, however, would follow necessarily, if the earth, or its superficial parts, were originally fluid; and that they were so is an opinion widely received, both among astronomers and geologists. The original fluidity of the earth is probably a circumstance depending upon the general scheme of creation; and cannot with propriety be considered with reference to one particular result. We shall therefore omit any further consideration of this argument.