Wherever a geologist directs his attention in the midst of a scene of mountains, traces of ruin and decay always meet his eye; and the lofty prominences of our globe, supposed to be the most permanent of nature's works, every where display unequivocal marks of the lapse and effects of time.
1807, Joseph Wilson, “Preliminary Observations”, in A History of Mountains, Geographical and Mineralogical, volume 1, London: Nicol, White, Faulders & Asperne, pages xlvi–xlvii