Postulate your Theory leans upon Bur. Still we stand both upon the same bottom and if I should assent to your Hypothesis you cannot I think deny but you have as much reason to assent to mine Only this advantage I retain above you that those Conclusions which the Theory infers afterwards from my Hypothesis are so just and apposite and otherwise so perfectly inexplicable as to turn the Scale on my side and strengthen not a little the probability of our Proposition Phil. As for the inexplicableness of those Conclusions I have spoke to it already and need only admonish you to beware of such circular Argumentations The Conclusion is good because the Premises are so and the Premises are good because the Conclusion is so Bur. To whom do you apply that Phil. To no worse a Friend than your self The Flood came to pass by the disruption of that Crust of Earth which inclos'd the Abyss How could that be unless there was such a Crust But there was such a Crust form'd when the Chaos was digested into Order Why do you believe so because the Floud which ensued upon the dis-ruption of this Crust is best accounted for upon such a supposal And yet bating this Argument I do not see but my Scheme deserves to be as fairly receiv'd as that of the Theorist consideratis considerandis But I am ready to quit my own Notion of the Chaos offer'd only to shew the precariousness of the Theorist's and supposing the state of the Tohu bohu to have been such as he describes it I hope in the next place to convince you that the ditribution of its parts could not be such as he would have it not that Incrustation upon which he builds so confidently be effected after such a manner as he imagines Bur. Heroically threatned make but your words good at last Et eris mihi magnus Apollo Phil. You may remember the Theorist having delineated his Chaos presently after takes notice that from such a Chaos 't is impossible should arise a mountainous uneven Earth for that no Concretion or consistent State which this Mass could flow into immediately or first settle in could be of such a form or figure as our present Earth neither without nor within not within because there the Earth is full of Cavities and empty Places of Dens and broken Holes whereof some are open to the Air and others cover'd and enclos'd wholly within the ground Bur. And pray are not both of these unimitable in any liquid Substance whose parts will necessarily flow together into one continued Mass and cannot be divided into Apartments and separate Rooms nor have Vaults or Caverns made within it Phil. Not at all unimitable if I may be a Judge for let us but conceive the agitation of the Parts of this liquid Chaos to be pretty quick and violent which why it should not I know of no better reasons you can give than I can why it should I say suppose their agitation somewhat of the quickest and your Theorist's Axiom will appear a plain mistake unless he will please to exempt some of the main constituent Principles of this sublunary World out of his Chaos Bur. I cannot apprehend what you would drive at no more than why you should doubt of the comprehensiveness of our Chaos I know no reason why we ought to exclude either Fire or Air or Earth or Water I mean the constituent parts of them and if you will consult the Theorist's own description of his Chaos Book 1. Chap. 5. you will see he is much of the same mind Phil. I am glad to hear it I was almost afraid the two former Elements would get no House-room at least that commodious Utensil Fire and the more because in that same Description of his which you cite he has forgot to reckon it amongst his principles of all Terrestrial I suppose by that word he means sublunary Bodies Bur. But do not you know the Theorist is so liberal of that Element as to furnish out of the Centre with it even to profuseness Phil. With just as good a pretence as Mr. Hobbs himself has sometimes acknowledged such a thing as a Law of Nature but yet by the constant Tenour of his Argumentations would abolish the very meaning of it Thus the Theorist tolerates a Central Fire and at the same time forgets how upon the secretion of his Chaos he tumbles down all the course miry rubbish directly thither But this only by the by so long as he is reconcil'd to any mixture of Igneous and Aethereal Particles I am content seeing the consequence runs thus That these Igneous and Aethereal Particles being driven and put into motion in common with the rest may not unlikely occasion rarefactions at least in concurrence with the sulphureous Particles This I presume may pass with you for a Result natural enough Bur. Not so very natural neither 'till you can make out the necessity of your quick and violent motion Did you never see Water and Ashes mixt in a Kettle before 't was hung over the Fire if you ever did I much question whether you could find a motion so brisk among the parts of that Liquid as to cause rarefactions Phil. Pardon me Sir if I think the case quite different in the Chaos not only because its parts are suppos'd to be ten Thousand degrees more minute and mobile with respect to each other than the gross ones of common Water and Ashes but also because in such a composition before 't is hung over the Fire there are no such ingredients as igneous Particles nor yet any sulphureous at least at liberty But upon the insinuations of the igneous Particles you may behold how the more subtle parts of the mixture are easily rarefy'd and the gross ones crowded one upon another In like manner I cannot but believe the grosser and earthy parts of the Chaos by the rarefaction of the Igneous and Aethereal would gather into Cakes and Masses around the Spheres of rarefaction which if practicable then might the interior parts of the Chaos be divided into Apartments and separate Rooms and have Vaults and Caverns made within it for the Masses so form'd being unequal irregular and disjointed either of themselves or by Explosions when the rarefaction is violent and restrain'd encounter and tumble upon one another by that means falling into greater Masses and those greater Masses being craggy and cliffy and settling among one another no less irregularly must necessarily leave within them those Vaults and Caverns so little expected by the Theorist Bur. Very good Then it seems you fancy the Chaos boyling up like a Mess of Frumenty Phil. Not so fast my Friend But this I imagine that what an overproportion'd degree of heat to use again your own Similitude prevents in a Mess of Frumenty viz. The clotting or coalition of the grosser parts that would a degree of heat proportionably less very naturally effect in the Chaos Nor do I think it can be doubted but
closely immur'd than Gems in the foundation of a Rock and nothing less than a total dissolution of their subject can bring 'em to light This I speak with respect to you Mortals for I am not to tell you what advantages the casting my Carcass has brought me least you should follow old Empedocles's steps and caper out of the world the better to come acquainted with it The Experiment indeed look'd brave but Central Fire is no such lambent Flame that a wise man should like to wallow in 't Elementary or not Elementary gray Beards will singe by 't And therefore of the many Vertuoso's who have exercis'd their Wits upon this subject none have been since so frolick some as to make such a desperate proof of those Flames Instead of sensible Demonstration all rest satisfied with their own rational Inferences Plato for his part troubles himself with no more than the confession of its Being Aristotle persues the matter further and tells you in his second Book of Meteorologicks the eighth Chapter the cause of this fire which he takes to be the accension of Spirits upon violently encountring one another in Air very much attenuated Lucretius in his account of Aetna speaks much to the same purpose and counting from even Thales that trusty Friend of the element of Water down to Father Kircher and Burnet you will find the number of those who deny Central Fire to be very inconsiderable Some 't is true have plac'd Water in the room on 't and others Adamant but upon no other account than to support an Hypothesis for which your peremptory Systematist boldly distorts Nature and stuffs her inside with any thing that may best serve his turn Thus when a great Ox is made to bear up the World a Tortoise must be added to sustain the Ox. Not that I advise you to lay too great a stress upon Authority especially in cases which admit of a better proof as does the present The System of things when we behold it at first view suggests as much and that very remarkably Vesuvius Aetna Hecla the Philippine Molucca Canary Islands and a thousand other places besides in the several quarters of the World are evident and unexceptionable Arguments Those inexhaustible Sources of Fire cannot but have a deeper root than is ordinarily imagin'd even Borellu's Arguments notwithstanding Add to this how necessary such a common Stove must be for the propagation and preservation of all Beings animate and inanimate The Sun 't is true is a great Cherisher but he plays only above-board and seems rather to consummate and polish than primarily generate So cold a Birth-place as the Surface of the Earth especially for Plants and Trees of a tender Constitution would be apt to chill the Embryo unless a moderate warmth rose from beneath as well as descended from above And the Fruits those Sweet-meats of nature as a certain Bard very elegantly sings must be utterly spoil'd in the confection should the Dame be too sparing of her Fewel which yet why she should seems very unaccountable seeing she is so plentifully furnish'd with it as I could shew at large by an Induction of particulars but choose rather to refer you at your leisure to Dr. Burnet's second Part of his Theory Though Father Kircher's remark being short I shall here give you because he was eminently acquanted with the lower Labyrinths of the Earth and had in a great measure anticipated Purgatory e'er he left the upper How is' t possible says he such an abundance of Sulphur Bitumen Naptha and all sorts of Minerals should be found so commonly and that in the cold confines of Horror and Darkness quite beyond the reach of the Sun's Influence unless the Womb of Nature supply'd a secret invigorating Warmth The observation 's good and as we cannot conceive for what end she should lay in such a vast stock unless for the sustenance of this mighty Flame so the readiest and most likely course of preparing and concocting these large portions of matter seems to be by the action of Central Fire Not to mention the gradual increase of heat which the illustrious Mr. Boyle in his Treatise of the temperature of the Subterranean Regions has taken notice of Nor need I send you further for proof than to the common News-papers which have been daily full of terrible relations about Aetna and Vesuvius how violent their late Irruptions have been and what vast quantities they have discharg'd of Stones and Ashes laying utterly wast all the adjacent Parts and frighting the Neighbourhood out of their Houses and Wits The poor unkennell'd Fryars thereabouts I dare say are ready to bear me out in my Assertion and convinc'd to their cost of the reality of Central Fire Which being by this time made good I have yet farther to explain how this Fire not only lasts but encreases How it should be continually fed is a question somewhat difficult in appearance It must have continued so long and consumed in that time so great a portion of Aliment that you will be apt to wonder with your self which way the stock should last out till this time a Riddle as perplexing as that of many a beggarly Beau's living up to the condition of a Peer of the Realm And indeed if that matter which sustains the Central Fire were as suddenly to be consum'd as such a ones fortunes the Central Fire of necessity had been extinct long ago for it cannot live upon tick and no sooner misses its usual Food but vanishes Hence it is easie for some to infer that the Aliment already dissipated by the Flame must according to the Laws and Order of Nature's Revolutions be converted again into matter suitable to maintain the Fire as it did before yet what may be done without these Transmutations I shall presently discover but before I attempt this Discovery must desire to hear your Scruples about any thing already offer'd that I may as 't is but just endeavour to remove ' em I made answer that what he had said carry'd in it a great deal of probability that I was sufficiently satisfied of the Central Fire and did not at all doubt of his being able to state the measures of its Conservation Yet notwithstanding that I had these two Queries to propose first Why the Centre of the Earth might not be solid and of Stone next Why if not solid it might not however be a Pool of Water about which two points I thought his Lordship had discours'd more sparingly than he needed The Arguments said he which I have already brought to confirm your belief of a Central Fire suffice without any other to answer both your Queries no more being requisite to prove the Centre of the Earth neither Water nor Stone than evincing it to be Fire but because you may be more fairly satisfied I shall not decline to bring some further evidence of the Supposition And I am sorry it is my misfortune that the Argument I shall now urge is
of that kind against which I my self have so strenuously inveigh'd However now I am become sensible of my error and declare that I think the Tendencies and Ends of things contribute mainly to the knowledge of their natures Accordingly I would gladly know to what purpose the Centre should have been either a Rock or a Puddle If indeed this mighty Globe could have been fashion'd no otherwise than a Snow-ball or had been destin'd to the office of a Water-bottle something like it might be presum'd For as for any further use of one or t'other I can by no means understand what it should be Those inmost Regions ought muâ—h rather to be the seat of the first Springs of Motion and Vertue than a mere dead pondâ—rous Quarry Perhaps you 'll tell me 't is sixt there for Ballast But how it should serve for such is to me as unintelligible as if you should say it 's there for a rowling-stone Instead of poizing I look upon such a Mass as rather fitted to unpoize and break those Mystick Chains upon which the body of the Earth hangs I grant indeed that of whatever matter we constitute the Centre we shall be equally puzled to find out a stay That fine Ethereal Gulph in which the Earth swims is of so yielding a temper that Waters far more capable of supporting Gold than that its Treasure However if any one Species of Matter be more convenient than another Fire being the lightest and the most active should certainly be it You have I presume been often an eye-witness of its power to carry heavy Bodies through the Air. Your Bombs which have been invented since my Halcyon days are a singular Specimen of this And that Element which forces such pond'rous Matter so rapidly through the air cannot but most suit with its hanging in it Then as for the use of Water that 's acknowledg'd to concern more immediately the provisions of Life and a Pool situate so low could neither furnish us with Fish if it entertain'd wholesome nor serve for the Sun to exhale Vapours from or us to sail upon To those who would make it a Cistern for the supply of Ocean and Rivers I need only hint that natural property of all Water never to transgress the level of its own Superficies unless when Violence is offer'd it Thus your two Questions are I hope satisfactorily answer'd and if you have any other doubts remaining propose 'em or expect me to proceed I thank'd his Lordship for his fair dealing and acquainted him I had no more Objections to enter for as for what some surmiz'd that there is nothing but a large Cavern at the Centre fill'd with Mists and Exhalations the grounds of their belief appear'd to me so slight that I would not trouble his Lordship to discuss them Then his Lordship thus again put forward According to that which I lately offer'd I shall next instruct you in what manner the Aliment of this Fire is perpetually provided and this I cannot better do than by beginning at the Operation of the Fire it self which penetrating the Pores of the matter lodg'd next to it and severing the various Particles of it devours as many of 'em as are light and manageable but sends up the moist and phlegmatick through Chinks and Passages of its own creating into Regions nearer the Earth's Superficies or where it can obtain a vent quite out of it The order of which Analysis exactly corresponds with that of the Chymists for first of all rise their two Mercuries and Phlegm and then their Sulphur and Salt The only difference is that the Chimist's Fire being much less vehement than the Central and the inclosures of the Central confining the sulphureous implicated and heavier parts that they cannot rise as in an Alembick such sulphureous and heavier parts are by the power of the flame so broken and intermixt as to become constant nourishment for it And thus as is evident it does not merely sustain it self but propagates too and diffuses upon the ruins of its Neighbours By what stated degrees it prevails is hard to guess there being no mover in the world more undisciplin'd and inconstant besides that the Aliment it self is variously and unequally digested Sometimes a large Vein of nothing but pure Sulphur occurs and then the Fire becomes most furious on that side Afterwards perhaps succeeds a more Phlegmatick sort of Earth and then again it slackens and languishes at the same time perhaps gaining ground on another more unctuous part in consideration of which we may now very reasonably expect after so tedious an Extreme of Wet and Windy Weather the contrary Extreme of Calm and Dry at least for some time and in some of the Northern Climates and in a word as it encounters matter more or less obnoxious to its force it becomes more or less violent Thus it is likely that within these Twelve or Fourteen Years past it has met with larger Magazines of the more combustible kind under the Northern Regions of the Earth by the accension and advantage of which it is nearer arriv'd and with much greater vehemence to the superficial part of the Northern World where causing those moist and phlegmatick Particles which it has from the beginning drove up before it together with what others were properly and of course allotted to those superficial Regions themselves and also a large quantity out of the Ocean and Rivers to exhale it easily produces those Events of which I shall now give you a particular Account And first the perpetual and amazing Showers of Rain which of late have for instance water'd our Island arose primarily we may presume from this cause in as much as by its situation it is peculiarly liable to the inconveniencies of Vapours discharg'd from the Ocean as well as of others from it self Hence it comes to pass that the Markets every where abound with Complaints and Sighs no less than the Hospitals that a Vine leaf is as rare a thing as once the Grapes that Green passes for the most fashionable Complexion amongst so many Ladies that Physicians of all people gather most Money next to the Collectors of the Taxes and that the Apothecaries get more by the Fruiterers than of old by the Wine-Coopers For it is hardly conceivable what a flight of Vapours daily issues from under and about Great Britain which either being collected into Clouds immediately and directly fall in Showers or else by the Sun at the short intervals of his appearance and action are rarified and deflected to the Pole whence when once gathered to a preponderous Body they return and become the material cause of our extraordinary Showers of Rain and Storms of Wind. Nor does it follow hence that no other Wind could blow besides the North for the Collection of Vapours in revolving is broken and parted into a great many lesser Clouds which as they variously actuate one another and are actuated by the heat of the Sun impel and move