that so many Liquors impregnated with all sorts of Salts and Mineral Juices in all proportions having been at one time or other industriously or accidentally exposed to crystallize and let stand long in Vessels there should never have been found in them any such Concretions For if any had happened we should doubtless have heard of them and the Observers would have improved such an Experiment to the Production of the like Bodies at their pleasure So I have finished what I have to alledge in defence of the latter part That these formed Stones were sometimes the real Shells or Bones of Fishes I mean the figured part of them I proceed now to set down what may be objected against this Opinion or offered in assertion of the contrary viz. That these Bodies are primitive Productions of Nature in imitation of the Shells and Bones of Fishes Against the former Opinion we have been pleading for it may be objected That there follow such strange and seemingly absurd Consequences from it as are hardly reconcileable to Scripture or indeed to sober Reason as First That the Waters must have covered the whole Earth even the highest Mountains and that for a long time there being found of these Shells not only in the most mountainous parts of our Countrey but in the highest Mountains in Europe the Appennine and Alps themselves and that not only scattered but amassed in great lumps and lying thick in Beds of Sand as we have before shewn Now this could hardly be the effect of a short Deluge which if it had carried any Shell fish so high would in all likelihood have scattered them very thin These Beds and Lumps of them necessarily inferring that they must have bred there which is a work of time Now the general Deluge lasted in the whole but ten Months and it 's not likely the Tops of the Mountains were covered half that time Neither is it less repugnant to Reason than Scripture for if the Waters stood so high above the Earth for so long a time they must by reason of their Confluence be raised as high above the Sea too But what is now become of this huge Mass of Waters equal to six or seven Oceans May not the Stoicks here set in and help us out at a dead lift The Sun and Moon say they might possibly sup it all up Yea but we cannot allow time enough for that for according to the moderate Draughts they take now a-days one Ocean would suffice to water them many Ages unless perchance when they were young and hot they might need more drink But to be serious I have no way to answer this Objection but by denying that there are any Beds or great Lumps and Masses of these formed Stones to be found near the Tops of the Alps or other high Mountains but yet there might be some particular Shells scattered there by the general Deluge Another thing there is as difficult to give an account off as of the Shells getting up to the Tops of Mountains that is of those several Beds or Floors of Earth and Sand c. one above another which are observed in broken Mountains For one cannot easily imagine whence these Floors oâ— Beds in the manner of Strata super strata as the Chymists speak should come but from the Sediments of great Floods which how or whence they could bring so great a quantity of Earth down when there was but little Land above the Sea I cannot see And one would likewise be apt to think that such a Bed of Sands with plenty of Cockle-shells intermixt as we mentioned before in the Mountain near Bononia in Italy must have been sometimes the Bottom of the Sea But before one can give a right judgment of these things one must view the Mountains where such Layers and Beds of Earth and Shells are found for perchance they may not be elevated so high above the present Surface of the Sea as one would judge by the descriptions of them Secondly It would hence follow that many Species of Shell-fish are lost out of the World which Philosophers hitherto have been unwilling to admit esteeming the destruction of any one Species a dismembring of the Universe and rendring it imperfect whereas they think the Divine Providence is especially concerned to secure and preserve the Works of the Creation and that it is so appears in that it was so careful to lodge all Land-Animals in the Ark at the time of the general Deluge The Consequence is proved in that Among these petrified Shells there are many sorts observed which are not at this day that we know of any where to be found Such are a whole genus of Cornua Ammonis which some have supposed to be Nautili though to me they do not seem so to be but a different Genus by themselves of which there have not any been seen either cast a shore or raked out of the Sea at any time that ever I heard of Nay my very Learned and Honoured Friend Dr. Lister proceeds further and saith That when he particularly examined some of our English Shores for Shells as also the Fresh Waters and the Fields that he did never meet with any one of those Species of Shells found at Adderton in Yorkshire Wansford bridge in Northamptonshire and about Gunthorp and Beauvoir-Castle c. any where else but in their respective Quarries What can we say to this Why it is possible that many sorts of Shell-Fish may be lodged so deep in the Seas or on Rocks so remote from the Shores that they may never come to our sight Thirdly It follows also that there have been Shell fish in these cold Northern Seas of greater bulk and dimensions than any now living I do not say in these but in the most Southernly and Indian viz. Cornua Ammonis of two foot diameter and of thickness answerable To this I answer That there are no petrified Shells that do in bigness much exceed those of the natural Shell fish found in our Seas save the Cornua Ammonis only which I suspect to have never been nor had any relation to any Shells of Fishes or to imitate or resemble them at least some of them As for the Nautili they are much different from them For the Nautili at least all the Species of them known to us are as Dr. Plot well observes extravagantly broad at the mouth and have not more than two other small turns at the most whereas the turns of the Ophiomorphites are proportionable one to another and in number many times four or five and sometimes six if we may believe Aldrovand And there are Nautili lapidei which do as nearly resemble the Nautilus Shells as any other Cochlites do their respective prototypes As Mr. Lloyd assures me he had observed many in Museums And the Learned and Ingenious Mr. Richard Waller then Secretary to the Royal Society in a Letter to me dated Feb. 4. 87. writes That he had been lately at Keinsham in Sommersetshire
Borracio's This may be the cause that the vast Ridge and Chain of Mountains in Peru are continually water'd when the great Plains in that Countrey are all dry'd up and parch't This Hypothesis concerning the Original of Springs from Vapours may hold better in those hot Regions within and near the Tropicks where the Exhalations from the Sea are most plentiful most rarify'd and Rain scarce than in the Temperate and Frigid ones where it rains and snows generally on the Vertices of the Mountains yet even in our European Climates I have often observ'd the Firs Pines and other Vegetables near the Summits of the Alps and Appennines to drop and run with Water when it did not rain above some Trees more than others according to the density and smoothness of their Leaves and Superficies whereby they stop and condense the Vapours more or less The Beams of the Sun having little force on the high parts of Mountains the interrupted Vapours must continually moisten them and as in the head of an Alembick condense and trickle down so that we owe part of our Rain Springs Rivers and conveniencies of Life to the operation of distillation and Circulation by the Sun the Sea and the Hills without even the last of which the Earth would scarce be habitable This present year in Kent they have had no Rain since March last therefore most of their Springs are dry at this very day aâ— I am assur'd from good hands The high spouting of Water even to three Fathoms perpendiculâ— out of innumerable holes on the Lake Zirkniâ— in Carniola after Rains on the adjacent Hills exceeds the spirting Gips or natural Jet d'eaâ— we have in England Novemb. 12. 1691. Tancred Robinson I have read of some Philosophers whâ— imagined the Earth to be a great Animal anâ— that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea wâ— the respiration of it and now methinks iâ— this Doctrine be true we have found onâ— the Circulation of its Blood or somethinâ— like it For the Water must upon this supposition move in proportion to its bulâ— faster through the Veins of this round Anâ—mal than the blood doth through those â— other living Creatures But let us suppose that the Rivers â— daily carry down to the Sea half an Oceaâ— of Water and that the Rain supplies all thaâ— as our Opinion is and see what we can iâ—fer from thence I think it will be granted that ordinarily communibus annis the Rain that falls in a whole year amounts not to above one quarters continual Rain Now if this suffices for a daily effusion of half an Ocean it is clear that if it should rain without any intermission all the year round the Rivers would pour out two Oceans into the Sea daily And so in forty days continual Rain there would distil down upon the Earth eighty Oceans of Water A prodigious quantity indeed and scarce credible which if the Water be carried off as fast as it comes on infers a Circulation of a quantity of Water equal to the whole Ocean twice in twenty four hours Supposing then thar so much Water daily descends upon the Earth I argue thus The Water falling upon the Earth must have some time to run down to the Sea and according to the small declivity of the Continent suppose the Mountains pared off and the Land levelled a considerable one too and we see it actually hath so that the Floods in great Rivers follow some days after the falls of Rain upon the higher grounds And so tho at the time of the general Deluge the Waters hastned down to the Sea as fast as the declivity of the Earth would permit yet they breaking out of the Fountains of the Abyss and falling down from the Clouds abundantly faster than they could run down the gentle declivity of the Earth it deserves to be considered whether by the end of forty days there might not have been water enough amassed to cover the Mountains fifteen Cubits high And yet rhe Scripture doth not in plain terms say that ever the waters of the Flood arose fifteen Câ—bits above the tops of the highest Mountains as Mr. Warren well observes Moreover to me it doth not seem clearly to limit the time of the Rains descent to forty days but it may import that the Rain had continued so long before the Ark was lifted up above the Earth and that it ceased not till one hundred and fifty days were over for so long the Waters are said to have prevailed upon the Earth Gen. 7.24 that is continued and increased whereas had the Rain ceased and the Fountains been stopped at forty dayâ— end the declivity of the Land would in aâ— likelihood have sunk the Waters much by the end of one hundred and fifty days which it was so far from doing that notwithstanding the help of the Wind the topâ— of the Mountains were not seen till the beginning of the tenth Month that is till twâ— hundred and seventy days were past Neither yet did the Mountains help but ratheâ— hinder the descent of the Waters down to the Sea straitning it into Channels obstructing its passage and forcing it to take Circuits till it got above the Ridges and tops of them As to this Argumentation and Inference the case is the same if we hold that the Water circulates through the Veins of the Earth For supposing the Rivers pour forth half an Ocean daily and granting that in times of Floods their Streams are but double of their usual Currents though I verily believe they are more than quadruple and that the effusions of the Fountains be in like measure augmented it will follow that the daily discharge of the Rivers will amount to two Oceans Now at the time of the general Deluge both these Causes concurred For there being a constant Rain of forty eight days there must on that account be a continual Flood and the Fountains of the great Deep being broken up they must in all likelihood afford as much Water as the Rain which whither it would not suffice in forty natural days to produce a Flood as big as that of Noah notwithstanding the continual descent and going off of the Waters I propose to the consideration of the Ingenious Especially if we allow as is not unreasonable to suppose that the Divine Providence might not first cause a contrary Wind to stop and inhibit the descent of the Waters as afterwards he raised an assisting one to carry them off I have but one thing more to add upon this Subject that is that I do not see how their Opinion can be true who hold that some Seas are lower than others as for Example the Red Sea than the Mediterranean For it being true that the Water keeps its level that is holds its superfices every where equidistant from the Center of Gravity or if by accident one part be lower the rest by reason of their fluidity will speedily reduce the superficies again to an equality The waters of all Seas communicating
by an Earthquake that happened in the year 1646. mentioned by Kircher in his Arca Noae from the Letters of the Jesuits You will say If the Mountains be thus heaved up by subterraneous Fires the Earth must needs be hollow all underneath them and there must be vast Dens and Caverns disperst throughout them I answer 'T is true indeed so there are as may undeniably be proved by instances For the new Mountain we mentioned at Puteâ—li that was thus raised being of a Mile steep ascent and four Miles round at the foot a proportionable Cavity must be left in the Earth underneath And the Mountain Aetna at the last Eructation alone having disgorged out of its bowels so great a flood of melted Materials as if spread at the depth and breadth of three foot might reach four times round the whole Circuit of the Terraqueous Globe there must likewise an answerable Vault be left within You will demand How then comes it pass that they stand so firm and do not founder and fall in after so many Ages I answer that they may stand appears by the foresaid new-raised Mountain For notwithstanding the Cavity in and under it it hath stood firm and staunch without the least sinking or subsidency for above an hundred and fifty years neither is there any great sinking or falling in at Aetna it self at least in no degree answerable to it s ejected matter The reason is the strength and firmness of their Vaulture and Pillars sufficient to support the superincumbent weight And yet in some places there are sinkings and fallings in which have afterwards become Valleys or Pools of Water But as for the Cavities that are lower than the Superficies of the Ocean the Water where it could insinuate and make its way hath filled them up to that height I say where it could make its way for that there are many empty Cavities even under the Sea it self appears by the shaking and heating too of the very Water of the Sea in some places in Earthquakes and raising up the borders or skirts of it so as to drive the Water a great way back and the raising up new Islands in the middle of the Sea as Delos of old and Therasia in the Aegean in Seneca's time which was heaved up in the sight of many Mariners then present and looking on Howbeit I cannot positively assert the Mountains thus to have been raised But yet whether without means or by whatsoever means it were a Receptacle for the Waters was prepared and the dry Land and Mountains elevated so as to cast off the Waters on the third day and which is wonderful the Cavities made to receive the Waters and the whole terra firma or dry Land with its Mountains were so proportioned one to the other as that the one was as much depressed below the Shores as the other was elevated above them And as if the one had been taken out of the other The Sea with all its Creeks and Bays and In-lets and other Appendants was made and is very near equal to the whole dry Land with its Promontories and Mountains if not in Superficies yet in bulk or dimensions though some think in both Which equality is still constantly maintained notwithstanding all Inundations of Land and Atterations of Sea because one of these doth always nearly ballance the other according to the Vulgar Proverb we have before mention'd What the Sea loses in one place it gains in another If any shall demand How the Sea comes to be gradually depressed and deepest about the middle part whereas the bottom of it was in all likelihood equal while the Waters covered the whole Earth I answer the same Cause that raised up the Earth whether a subterraneous Fire or flatus raised up also the skirts of the Sea the ascent gradually decreasing to the middle part where by reason of the solidity of the Earth or gravity of the incumbent Water the bottom was not elevated at all For the enclosed Fire in those parts where its first accension or greatest strength was raised up the Earth first and cast off the Waters and thence spreading by degrees still elevated the Land and drove the Waters further and further till at length the weight of them was too great to be raised and then the Fire brake forth at the tops of the Mountains where it found least resistance and disperst it self in the open Air. The Waters also where they found the bottom sandy or yielding made their way into all those Cavities the Fire had made and left filling them up as high as the level of the Ocean Neither let any man imagine that the Earth under the Water was too soft and muddy to be in this manner raised by subterraneous Fire for I have shewn before that the bottom of the Sea is so saddened and hardened by the weight of the incumbent Water that the High-ways beaten continually by Horses and Carriages are not more firm and solid But omitting this which is only a conjecture I shall discourse a little more concerning the Equality of Sea and Land It hath been observed by some That where there are high Cliffs or Downs along the Shore there the Sea adjoining is deep and where there are low and level Grounds it is shallow the depth of the Sea answering to the Elevation of the Earth above it and as the Earth from the Shores is gradually higher and higher to the middle and parts most remote from the Sea as is evident by the descents of the Rivers they requiring a constant declivity to carry them down so the Sea likewise is proportionably deeper and deeper from the Shores to the Middle So that the rising of the Earth from the Shores to the Mid-land is answerable to the descent or declivity of the bottom of the Sea from the same Shores to the Mid-Sea This rising of the Earth from the Shores gradually to the Midland is so considerable that it is very likely the Altitude of the Earth in those Mid land parts above the Superficies of the Sea is greater than that of the Mountains above the level of the adjacent Lands To the height of the Hills above the common Superficies of the Earth do answer in Brerewood's Opinion the extraordinary Depths or Whirl-pools that are found in the Sea descending beneath the ordinary bottom of the Sea as the Hills ascend above the ordinary face of the Land But this is but a conjecture of his and to me it seems not very probable because it is not likely there should be in the Sea extraordinary Depths of that vast length and extension as those huge Ridges of Mountains that run almost quite through the Continents And because I have observed the Waters of Rivers that flow gently but especially of the Sea to level the bottoms of their Channels and Receptacles as may be seen in those parts of the Sea whose bottoms are uncovered at Low-water and in Dry-lands that have been deserted by the Sea as
the Fens in the Isle of Ely and the Craux in Provence in France c. which appear to be a perfect Level as far as one can ken Though possibly the motion of the Sea may not descend down so low as those Depths and so may not level the bottoms of them Again It is consonant to the best Observations of the height of the Earth and its Mountains above the Superficies of the Sea and of the depth of the Sea that the one is answerable to the other So Varenius in his Geogr. p. 152. Caeterùm ex observata hactenus in plerÃsque locis profunditate Oceani manifestum est eam fere aequalem altitudini sive elevationi montium locorum Mediterraneorum supra littora nimirum quantum haec elevantur extant supra littorum horizontem tantum alvei maris infra eum deprimuntur sive quantum assurgit terra à littoribus versùs mediterranea loca tantundem paulatim magis magÃsque deprimitur usque ad medii Oceani loca ubi plerùmque maxima est profunditas That is From the depth of the Ocean as far as hath been hitherto observed in most places it is manifest that that profundity is near equal to the altitude or elevation of the Mediterraneous places above the Shores that is to say as much as these are elevated and stand up above the Horizon of the Shores so much are the Channels of the Seas depressed below it or as much as the Earth riseth from the Shores towards the Mediterraneous places so much is it by little and little more and more depressed to the middle parts of the Ocean where the greatest depth for the most part is And Brerewood in his Enquiries pertinently to our purpose supposeth the depth of the Sea to be a great deal more than the height of the Hills above the common surface of the Earth For that in making estimation of the depth of the Sea we are not to reckon and consider only the height of the Hills above the common Superficies of the Earth but the advantage or height of all the dry Land above the Superficies of the Sea Because the whole Mass of the Earth that now appeareth above the Waters being taken as it were out of the place which the Waters now possess must be equal to the place out of which it was taken and consequently it seemeth that the height or elevation of the one should answer to the depth or descending of the other And therefore as I said in estimating the deepness of the Sea we are not to consider only the erection of the Hills above the ordinary Land but the advantage of all the dry Land above the Sea Which latter I mean the height of the ordinary Main land is in my opinion more in large Continents above the Sea than that of the Hills is above the Land For that the plain and common face of the dry Land is not level or equally distant from the Center but hath great declivity and descent towards the Sea and acclivity or rising toward the Mid-land part although it appear not so to the common view of the Eye is to reason notwitstanding manifest Because as it is found in that part of the Earth which the Sea covereth that it descendeth lower and lower toward the midst of the Sea for the Sea which touching the upper face of it is known to be level by nature and evenly distant from the Center is withal observed to wax deeper and deeper the further one saileth from the Shore towards the Main Even so in that part which is uncovered the coursings and streamings of Rivers on all sides from the Mid-land parts towards the Sea whose property we know is to slide from the higher to the lower evidently declare so much This Author with Damascen supposes that the unevenness and irregularity which is now seen in the Superficies of the Earth was caused either by taking some parts out of the upper face of the Earth in sundry places to make it more hollow laying them in other places to make it more convex or else which in effect is equivalent to that by raising up some and depressing others to make room and receipt for the Sea that Mutation being wrought by the Power of that Word Let the Waters be gathered into one place that the dry land may appear This proportioning of the Cavities appointed to receive the Seas to the protuberancy of the dry Land above the common Superficies of the Ocean is to me a sufficient Argument to prove that the gathering together of the Waters into one place was a work of counsel and design and if not effected by the immediate Finger of God yet at least governed and directed by him So the Scripture affirms the place to receive the Sea to have been prepared by God Psalm 104.8 Now in things of this nature to the giving an account whereof whatever Hypothesis we can possibly invent can be but merely conjectural those are to be most approved that come nearest to the Letter of Scripture and those that clash with it to be rejected how trim or consistent soever with themselves they may seem to be this being as much as when God tells how he did make the World for us to tell him how he should have made it But here it may be objected That the present Earth looks like a heap of Rubbish and Ruines And that there are no greater examples of confusion in Nature than Mountains singly or jointly considered and that there appear not the least footsteps of any Art or Counsel either in the Figure and Shape or Order and Disposition of Mountains and Rocks Wherefore it is not likely they came so out of Gods hands who by the Ancient Philosophers is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to make all things in number weight and measure To which I answer That the present face of the Earth with all its Mountains and Hills its Promontories and Rocks as rude and deformed as they appear seems to me a very beautiful and pleasant object and with all that variety of Hills and Valleys and Inequalities far more grateful to behold than a perfectly level Countrey without any rising or protuberancy to terminate the sight As any one that hath but seen the Isle of Ely or any the like Countrey must needs acknowledge Neither is it only more pleasant to behold but more commodious for habitation which is so plain that I need not spend time to prove it 2. A Land so distinguished into Mountains Valleys and Plains is also most convenient for the entertainment of the various sorts of Animals which God hath created some whereof delight in cold some in hot some moist and watery some in dry and upland places and some of them could neither find nor gather their proper food in different Regions Some Beasts and Birds we find live upon the highest tops of the Alps and that all the Winter too while they are constantly covered with Snow
form after the manner oâ— Salts or Crystal which I shall have occasioâ— further to treat of by and by Then hâ— proves it from that Axiom Natura nihil fâ—cit frustra Nature makes nothing in vaiâ— But these Teeth were they thus formed iâ— the Earth would be in vain for they coulâ— not have any use of Teeth as neither thâ— Bones of supporting any Animal Nature never made Teeth without a Jaw nor Shells without an Animal Inhabitant nor single Bones no not in their own proper Element much less in a strange one Further he argues from the difficulty or impossibility of the Generation of Glossopetrae in such places because among Tophi and Stones in those dry places there could not be found matter fit for to make them of But granting that â—he queries whether they were generated at first all of a sudden or grew by little and â—ittle from small to great as Animals Teeth whose form they imitate do If the first be â—aid He demands Whether the Tophus out of which they were extracted were geneâ—ated before or after the Teeth were perfected If it be said before he asks Whether â—here were a place in it of the figure and magnitude of the Tooth or did the Tooth make it self a place If the Tophus were â—oncrete before and without a cavity the â—egetative power of the Stone now in birth â—ould not by force make it self a place in â—he hard and solid Tophus or if it could and â—id the Tophus must needs be rent If there were a place before ready made in the Toâ—hus then was not that figure excavated in â—he Tophus by the vegetative nature of the Tooth it self but the Tophus by its own nature and precedent cavity gave the form to the Tooth If the latter part be chosen and it be said that the Stone by its vegetative power grew by degrees it may be answered as before that could not be because the hardness of the Tophus could not have yielded to the vegetative force of the Tooth but would rather have been rent or divided by it or rather the Tophus it self must have vegetated containing a cavity or uterus of the shape of the Tooth into which aâ— osseous humor penetrating through the Pores and filling the cavity of the Vterus must there have coagulated and taken the form thereof as is observed in Stones that have their original from a Fluor That both Tooth and Case might vegetate together he denies because in all the Teeth which he had seen the Basis or Root was found broken and that not with an uniform fracture but different in every one Which Argument is not to be slighted for that it shewâ— or proves that there was no vegetation iâ— the case because in all other figured Fossils it is observed that they are never founâ— mutilous broken or imperfect Neitheâ— can it reasonably be said or believed thaâ— these Roots or Teeth were by some chancâ— broken within the Tophi but rather thaâ— when they were casually overwhelmed anâ— buried in that tophous Earth they were broken off from the Jaws of the Animal in those volutations and so in that manner mutilated Another Argument to prove them to be true Teeth and no Stones he brings from their various parts and figures which must else have been so wrought and formed in vain The Tooth being not one homogeneous Body but compounded of parts of a different constitution there must in the formation of it be made a various election of humors one for the Root one for the Inner Part one for the Superficies of it Then for the Figures Magnitude Situation or Posture and fitting of them some are great and broad and almost triangular others narrower and smaller others very small and narrow of a pyramidal figure some streight some crooked bending downwards or toward the nether side some inclining toward the left others toward the right side some serrate with small Teeth others with great Indentures which is observed in the lesser triangular ones some smooth without any Teeth as the narrow pyramidal ones All which things are observed in Shark's Teeth not only by the Learned Naturalists but also by Fisher-men and Mariners The first row of Teeth in these Animals hanging out of the mouth bend forward and downward the second row are streight especially toward the sides of the mouth where they are triangular and broad the other rows bend downward toward the inner part of the mouth Thus far Columna Fourthly If these formed Stones be indeed original Productions of Nature in imitation of Shells and Bones how comes it to pass that there should be none found that resemble any other natural Body but the Shells and Bones of Fishes only Why should not Nature as well imitate the Horns Hoofs Teeth or Bones of Land Animals or the Fruits Nuts and Seed of Plants Now my learned Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd above mentioned who hath been most diligent in collecting and curious in observing these Bodies of any man I know or ever heard of tells me that he never found himself or had seen in any Cabinet or Collection any one Stone that he could compare to any part of a Land Animal As for such that do not resemble any part of a Fish they are either Rock Plants as the Astroites Asteriae trochites c. or do shoot into that form after the manner of Salts and Fluors as the Belemnites and Selenites Fifthly Those that deny these Bodies to have been the Shells and Bones of Fishes have given us no satisfactory account of the manner of their Production For that they do not shoot into that form after the manner of Salts may be proved by many Arguments First All Salts that shoot their Crystals or Concretions are of one uniform substance and their Figures are more simple and may be owing to the Figure of the Principles whereof they are compounded in other Bodies that shoot as the Pyrites and Belemnites one may observe streight Radii or Fibres proceeding from one Center Secondly Did those Bodies shoot into these Figures after the manner of Salts it seems strange to me that two Shells should be so adapted together at the heel as to shoot out to the same extension round and the upper and nether Valve be of different Figure as in natural Shells Thirdly Were these Bodies produced in the manner of saline Concretions it 's strange there should be such varieties of them and their Shapes so regular and exactly circumscribed so great a diversity of Figures arguing a greater variety of Salts or of their modifications and mixtures than are likely to be found in Nature and the Curvilineous Concretions of Salts never that I have yet seen appearing in that regularity of Figure and due Circumscription as in these Bodies which is an Argument of the Government of some Principle superior to Matter figured and moved in their Formations 4ly Were these Bodies nothing but Concretions of Salts or saline mixtures it seems no less strange