bulky and Corpulent Parts of the Globe the next place in course is due unto Metalls and Minerals which are the only remaining part of the Terrestrial Matter of it not yet treated of And accordingly I should now pass on to these but the present Oeconomy and Disposal of some of them being wholly owing to the Motion and Passage of Water in the interiour parts of the Earth I have for that reason chosen rather that I may be as brief as possible and avoid all needless Repetitions to wave them for a while till I have first offered what I have to say about that The Water therefore of the Globe as well that resident in it as that which floats upon it is the Subject which I purpose here to prosecute In order whereunto I shall sub-divide this third Part into two Sections the former whereof will comprehend what relates to the present and natural State of the Fluids in and upon the Earth the other what concerns that extraordinary Change of this State which happened at the Deluge and how that Change was wrought At the Head of the first of these Sections I prefix a new set of Observations touching the Fluids of the Terraqueous Globe the Sea Rivers and Springs the Water of Mines of Cole-pits of Caves Grotts and the like Recesses as also concerning Vapours Rain Hail and Snow And because this is a Subject of that vast Latitude that the Strength of one single Man will scarcely be reckoned sufficient effectually to cultivate and carry it on I have taken in the joint Assistance of other Hands and superadded to my own all such Relations as I could procure from Persons whose Judgment and Fidelity might safely be relyed upon about the Sea Lakes Rivers Springs and Rain not only of this Island but many other Parts of the World besides Nor do I neglect those which are already extant in the Published Discourses of diligent and inquisitive Men. From all which Observations joyned with those made by my self I prove That there is a mighty Collection of Water inclosed in the Bowels of the Earth constituting an huge Orb in the interiour or central Parts of it upon the Surface of which Orb of Water the terrestrial Strata are expanded That this is the same which Moses calls the Great Deep or Abyss the ancient Gentile Writers Erebus and Tartarus That the Water of this Orb communicates with that of the Ocean by means of certain Hiatus's or Chasmes passing betwixt it and the bottom of the Ocean That they have the same common Center around which the Water of both of them is compiled and arranged but in such manner that the ordinary Surface of this Orb is not level with that of the Ocean nor at so great a distance from the Center as that is it being for the most part restrained and depressed by the Strata of Earth lying upon it but wherever those Strata are broken or so lax and porose that Water can pervade them there the Water of the said Orb does ascend fills up all the Fissures whereinto it can get Admission or Entrance and saturates all the Interstices and Pores of the Earth Stone or other Matter all round the Globe quite up to the level of the Surface of the Ocean That there is a perpetual and incessant Circulation of Water in the Atmosphere it arising from the Globe in form of Vapour and falling down again in Rain Dew Hail and Snow That the quantity of Water thus rising and falling is equal as much returning back in Rain c. to the whole terraqueous Globe as was exhaled from it in Vapours and reciprocally as much mounting up again in Vapour as was discharged down in Rain That tho' the quantity of Water thus rising and falling be nearly certain and constant as to the whole yet it varies in the several Parts of the Globe by reason that the Vapours float in the Atmosphere sailing in Clouds from place to place and are not restored down again in a Perpendicular upon the same precise Tract of Land or Sea or both together from which Originally they arose but any other indifferently so that some Regions receive back more in Rain than they send up in Vapour as on the contrary others send up more in Vapour than they receive in Rain nay the very same Region at one Season sends up more in Vapours than it receives in Rain and at another receives more in Rain than it sends up in Vapour but the Excesses of one Region and Season compensating the Defects of the others the quantity rising and falling upon the whole Globe is equal however different it may be in the several Parts of it That the Rain which falls upon the Surface of the Earth partly runs off into Rivers and thence into the Sea and partly sinks down into the Earth insinuating it self into the Interstices of the Sand Gravel or other Matter of the exteriour or uppermost Strata whence some of it passes on into Wells and into Grotts and stagnates there till 't is by degrees again exhaled some of it glides into the perpendicular Intervalls of the solid Strata where if there be no Outlet or Passage to the Surface it stagnates as the other but if there be such Outlets 't is by them refunded forth together with the ordinary Water of Springs and Rivers and the rest which by reason of the compactness of the terrestrial Matter underneath cannot make its way to Wells the perpendicular Fissures or the like Exits only saturates the uppermost Strata and in time remounts up again in Vapour into the Atmosphere That although Rains do thus fall into and augment Springs and Rivers yet neither the one nor the other do derive the Water which they ordinaririly refund from Rains notwithstanding what very many Learned Men have believed That Springs and Rivers do not proceed from Vapours raised out of the Sea by the Sun borne thence by Winds unto Mountains and there condensed as a modern ingenious Writer is of Opinion That the abovementioned great subterranean Magazine the Abyss with its Partner the Ocean is the Standing Fund and Promptuary which supplies Water to the Surface of the Earth as well Springs and Rivers as Vapours and Rain That there is a nearly uniform and constant Fire or Heat disseminated throughout the Body of the Earth and especially the interiour Parts of it the bottoms of the deeper Mines being very sultry and the Stone and Ores there very sensibly hot even in Winter and the colder Seasons That 't is this Heat which evaporates and elevates the Water of the Abyss buoying it up indifferently on every side and towards all parts of the Surface of the Globe pervading not only the Fissures and Intervals of the Strata but the very Bodies of the Strata themselves permeating the Interstices of the Sand Earth or other Matter whereof they consist yea even the most firm and dense Marble and Sand-stone for these give Admission to it though in
making Cracks or Chasmes in it some Miles in length which open at the instants of the Shocks and close again in the Intervalls betwixt them nay 't is sometimes so extremely violent that it plainly forces the superincumbent Strata breaks them all throughout and thereby perfectly undermines and ruins the Foundations of them so that these failing the whole Tract assoon as ever the Shock is over sinks down to rights into the Abyss underneath and is swallowed up by it the Water thereof immediately rising up and forming a Lake in the place where the said Tract before was That several considerable Tracts of Land and some with Cities and Towns standing upon them as also whole Mountains many of them very large and of a great height have been thus totally swallowed up That this Effort being made in ad Directions indifferently upwards downwards and on every side the Fire dilating and expanding on all hands and endeavouring proportionably to the quantity and strength of it to get room and make its way through all Obstacles falls as foul upon the Water of the Abyss beneath as upon the Earth above forcing it forth which way soever it can find vent or passage as well through its ordinary Exits Wells Springs and the Outlets of Rivers as through the Chasmes then newly opened through the Camini or Spiracles of AEtna or other near Vulcanoes and those Hiatus's at the bottom of the Sea whereby the Abyss below opens into it and communicates with it That as the Water resident in the Abyss is in all Parts of it stored with a considerable quantity of Heat and more especially in those where these extraordinary Aggregations of this Fire happen so likewise is the Water which is thus forced out of it insomuch that when thrown forth and mix'd with the Waters of Wells of Springs of Rivers and the Sea it renders them very sensibly hot That it is usually expelled forth in vast quantities and with great Impetuosity insomuch that it hath been seen to spout up out of deep Wells and fly forth at the tops of them upon the face of the ground With like rapidity comes it out of the Sources of Rivers filling them so of a sudden as to make them run over their Banks and overflow the neighbouring Territories without so much as one drop of Rain falling into them or any other concurrent Water to raise and augment them That it spues out of the Chasmes opened by the Earthquake in great abundance mounting up in mighty Streams to an incredible height in the Air and this oftentimes at many Miles distance from any Sea That it likewise flies forth of the Volcanoes in vast floods and with wonderful violence That 't is forced through the Hiatus's at the bottom of the Sea with such vehemence that it puts the Sea immediately into the most horrible Disorder and Perturbation imaginable even when there is not the least breath of Wind stirring but all till then calm and still making it rage and roar with a most hideous and amazing Noise raising its Surface into prodigious Waves and tossing and rowling them about in a very strange and furious manner over-setting Ships in the Harbours and sinking them to the bottom with many other like Outrages That 't is refunded out of these Hiatus's in such quantity also that it makes a vast Addition to the Water of the Sea raising it many Fathoms higher than ever it flows in the highest Tides so as to pour it forth far beyond its usual Bounds and make it overwhelm the adjacent Country by this means ruining and destroying Towns and Cities drowning both Men and Cattel breaking the Cables of Ships driving them from their Anchors bearing them along with the Inundation several Miles up into the Country and there running them a-ground stranding Whales likewise and other great Fishes and leaving them at its Return upon dry Land That these Phoenomena are not new or peculiar to the Earthquakes which have happened in our times but have been observed in all Ages and particularly these exorbitant Commotions of the Water of the Globe This we may learn abundantly from the Histories of former Times and 't was for this Reason that many of the Ancients concluded rightly enough that they were caused by the Impulses and Fluctuation of Water in the Bowels of the Earth and therefore they very frequently called Neptune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by all which Epithets they denoted his Power of Shaking the Earth They supposed that he presided over all Water whatever as well that within the Earth as the Sea and the rest upon it and that the Earth was supported by Water its Foundations being laid thereon on which account it was that they bestowed upon him the Cognomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Supporter of the Earth and that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Sustainer of its Foundations They likewise believed that he having a full Sway and Command over the Water had Power to still and compose it as well as to move and disturb it and the Earth by means of it and therefore they also gave him the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Establisher under which Name several Temples were consecrated to him and Sacrifices offered whenever an Earthquake happened to pacifie and to appease him requesting that he would allay the Commotions of the Water secure the Foundations of the Earth and put an end to the Earthquake That the Fire it self which being thus assembled and pent up is the Cause of all these Perturbations makes its own way also forth by what Passages soever it can get vent through the Spiracles of the next Vulcano through the Cracks and Openings of the Earth above-mentioned through the Apertures of Springs especially those of the Thermae or any other way that it can either find or make and being thus discharged the Earthquake ceaseth till the Cause returns again and a fresh Collection of this Fire commits the same Outrages as before That there is sometimes in Commotion a Portion of the Abyss of that vast Extent as to shake the Earth incumbent upon it for so very large a part of the Globe together that the Shock is felt the same Minute precisely in Countries that are many hundreds of Miles distant from each other and this even though they happen to be parted by the Sea lying betwixt them nay there want not Instances of such an universal Concussion of the whole Globe as must needs imply an Agitation of the whole Abyss That though the Abyss be liable to these Commotions in all parts of it and therefore no Country can be wholly exempted from the Effects of them yet these Effects are no where very remarkable nor are there usually any great damages done by Earthquakes except only in those Countries which are mountainous and consequently stoney and cavernous underneath and especially where the Disposition of the
known parts of the Vniverse to find Water sufficient for this effect as it is generally explained and understood is he thinks impossible that is sufficient to cause a Deluge to use his own Words overflowing the whole Earth the whole Circuit and whole Extent of it burying all in Water even the greatest Mountains which is in plain terms such a one as was explained and understood by Moses and the Generality of Writers since Having therefore thus over-hastily concluded that such a Deluge was impossible and that all Nature could not afford Water enough to drown the whole Globe if of the Circuit and Extent that now it is he flies to a new Expedient to solve the Matter and supposes an Earth of a Make and Frame much like that imaginary one of the Famous Monsieur Des Cartes which he makes to fall all to pieces at the Deluge and to contract it self into a lesser room that the Water might the better surround and encompass it The sober and better sort of the Standers-by and those who were Well-wishers to Moses began to be under some Concern and Uneasiness to see him thus set aside only to make way for a new Hypothesis and so serious and weighty a Matter as is this Tradition of the Universal Deluge plac'd after all upon so very unsteady a Bottom But that Concern encreas'd when they further heard him so zealously decrying all former Notions of a Deluge refusing to grant one upon any Terms but his own and so peremptorily declaring That all other ways assigned for the Explication of Noah's Flood are false or impossible This was to reduce the Thing to a very great Streight and surely an exposing and venturing of it a little too far For if all the other Ways be false and impossible should this the only one left prove at last so likewise the Opinion of a Deluge would be left very precarious and defenceless and we might either believe or disbelieve it at pleasure nay the negative part would of the two have much the Advantage there being no reasonable Foundation to believe that the Deluge did come to pass this way Some Men there are who have made a very untoward use of this and such a one that I am willing to persuade my self he never intended they should yet it were to have been wish'd that he had been somewhat more wary These cryed up this Computation of the Water as indisputable and infallible and then boldly gave out that such a Deluge as that described by Moses was altogether incredible and that there never was nor could be any such Thing Nothing was talk'd of amongst them under Mathematical Demonstrations of the Falshood of it which they vented with all imaginable Triumph and would needs have it that they had here sprung a fresh and unanswerable Argument against the Authentickness of the Mosaick Writings which indeed is what they drive at and a Point they very fain would gain For my part my Subject does not necessarily oblige me to look after this Water or to point forth the place whereinto 't is now retreated For when from the Sea-shells and other Remains of the Deluge I shall have given undeniable Evidence that it did actually cover all Parts of the Earth it must needs follow that there was then Water enough to do it wherever it may be now hid or whether it be still in being or not Yet the more effectually to put a stop to the Insults and Detractions of these vain Men I resolved to enter a little farther into the Examination of this Matter and that produced the former Section of this 3d Part wherein I enquire what proportion the Water of the Globe bears to the Earthy Matter of it and upon a moderate Estimate and Calculation of the Quantity of Water now actually contained in the Abyss I found that this alone was full enough if brought out upon the Surface of the Earth to cover the whole Globe to the height assigned by Moses which is fifteen Cubits above the Tops of the highest Mountains the Particulars of which Calculation shall be laid before the Reader at length in the Larger Work for any one will easily see that there is so great an Apparatus of Things only Previous which must needs be adjusted before I can come to the Calculation it self that to descend to Particulars here further than I have already done would not only carry this Discourse out beyond all reasonable Bounds and make the Parts of it disproportionate to each other but which is not less to be thought of would be an Anticipation of the Other Work This done I again set aside the Observations about the Fluids of the Globe introduced upon this Occasion in the other Section as now of no further use and reassume the Thread of the other Observations which I propose at the Beginning of this Work and from them I shew That the Delâ—ge was Universal and laid the whole Earth under Water covering all even the highest Mountains quite round the Globe That at the time of the Deluge the Water of the Ocean was first born forth upon the Earth That it was immediately succeeded by that of the Abyss which likewise was brought out upon the Surface of the Globe That upon the Disruption of the Strata and the Elevation of some and Depression of others of them which followed after that Disruption towards the latter end of the Deluge this Mass of Water fell back again into the deprest and lower parts of the Earth into Lakes and other Cavities into the Alveus of the Ocean and through the Fissures whereby this communicates with the Ocean into the Abyss which it filled till it came to an AEquilibrium with the Ocean That there must have pass'd a considerable number of Years betwixt the Creation and the Deluge and most probably about so many as Moses hath assigned That the Deluge commenc'd in the Spring-season the Water coming forth upon the Earth in the Month which we call May That not only Men Quadrupeds Birds Serpents and Insects the Inhabitants of the Earth and Air but the far greatest part of all kinds of Fish likewise the Inhabitants of the Sea of Lakes and of Rivers suffered under the Fury of the Deluge and were killed and destroyed by it That the Deluge did not happen from an accidental Concourse of Natural Causes as the Author above-cited is of Opinion That very many Things were then certainly done which never possibly could have been done without the Assistance of a Supernatural Power That the said Power acted in this Matter with Design and with the highest Wisdom And that as the System of Nature was then and is still supported and established a Deluge neither could then nor can now happen naturally I close up this Section with two additional Discourses The first concerning the Migration of Nations with the several Steps whereby the World was re-peopled after the Deluge by the Posterity of Noah and
Observations which I make use of in the former Parts of this Work give an Account of the said Productions thus preserved I proceed upon those Observations as hitherto and by Inferences which easily clearly and naturally flow from them shew what was the Condition and State of that Earth and wherein it differ'd from this we now inhabit And in regard that from a Theory which how much soever it may relish of Wit and Invention hath no real Foundation either in Nature or History the Author so often mentioned already hath set forth an imaginary and fictitious Earth whose Posture to the Sun he supposes to have been much different from that which the Earth at present obtains and such that there could be no Alteration of Heat and Cold Summer and Winter as now there is but a constant Uniformity of Weather and Equality of Seasons An Earth without any Sea without Mountains or other Inequalities and without either Metalls or Minerals in few words one perfectly unlike what the Antediluvian Earth was in truth and reality and perfectly unlike that which Moses hath represented I shall therefore interpose some Consectaries which would have been otherwise needless and superfluous which are directly levelled against these Mistakes and evince that where-ever he hath receded from the Mosaick Account of that Earth he hath at the same time also receded from Nature and Matter of Fact and this purely from the aforesaid Observations from which I shall prove That the Face of the Earth before the Deluge was not smooth eaven and uniform but unequal and distinguish'd with Mountains Valleys and Plains also with Sea Lakes and Rivers That the Quantity of Water upon the Surface of the Globe was nearly the same as now the Ocean of the same Extent and possest an equal share of the Globe intermixing with the Land so as to checquer it into Earth and Water and to make much the same Diversities of Sea and Land that we behold at present That the Water of the Sea was saturated with Salt in like manner as now it is that it was agitated with Tides or a Flux and Reflux with Storms and other Commotions That the Sea was very abundantly replenished with Fish of all kinds as well of the cartilaginous and squammose as of the testaceous and crustaceous kinds and that the Lakes and Rivers were as plentifully furnish'd with Lake and River-Fish of all sorts That the Earth was very exuberantly beset with Trees Shrubs and Herbs and stock'd with Animals of all sorts Quadrupeds Insects and Fowls and this on all sides and in all parts of it quite round the Globe That the Animal and Vegetable Productions of the Antediluvian Earth did not in any wise differ from those of the present Earth That there were then the very same kinds of Animals and Vegetables and the same subordinate Species under each kind that now there is That they were of the same stature and size as well as of the same shape their Parts of the same Fabrick Texture Constitution and Colour as are those of the Animals and Vegetables at this day in being That there were both Metalls and Minerals in the Antediluvian Earth That the Terraqueous Globe had the same Site and Position in respect of the Sun that it now hath That its Axis was not parallel to that of the Ecliptick but inclined in like manner as it is at present and that there were the same Successions of Heat and Cold Wet and Dry the same Vicissitudes of Seasons Spring Summer Autumn and Winter that now there is It hath been already noted that these Propositions are founded on Observations made upon the Animal and Vegetable Remains of the Antediluvian Earth From those Remains we may judge what sort of Earth that was and see that it was not much different from this we now inhabit Now though 't is not to be expected that I here formally lay down those Observations that being not the Business of this Tract yet untill I have Opportunity both of doing so and of shewing in what manner the foregoing Propositions flow from them it may be very convenient that I give some short Directions how the Reader for his present Satisfaction may of himself and without my Assistance make out the principal Articles of these Propositions from the Observations already delivered in the several Parts of this Discourse and from one or two more that I shall add upon this Occasion And that he may at one View discover how consonant the Account which Moses hath left us of the Primitive Earth is to this which we have from Nature and how much the late Theory of the Earth differs from both I will set down that Writer's Sense of the Matter under each Head as we pass along To begin therefore with the Sea That there was one before the Deluge there needs not I think any other Proof than the Productions of it yet in being the Shells the Teeth and Bones of Sea-Fishes And for Moses he is not at all averse hereto but as expresly asserts that there was then a Sea as the Theory does that there was none Take it in his own words And God said Let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the Dry-land appear and it was so And God called the Dry-land Earth and the gathering together of the Waters called he SEAS and God saw that it was good And though the Theorist flatly denies that there was then any such thing yet he does not go about to dispute the Translation of this Passage but readily owns that Moses hath here used a word that was common and known to signifie the Sea According to him therefore we see the Sea was formed at the beginning of the World and after its Formation approved of as goodâ— that is very necessary and serviceable to the Ends of Providence in the Kingdom of Nature and this indeed it is so many ways that it must needs be granted that that would have been a very wild World had it been without any Sea The separating of the Sea and Land and determining the set Bounds of each is here reckoned part of the Work of the third Day as the stocking of the Sea with Whales and other Fishes is of the fifth And God created great Whales c. and blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the Waters in the SEAS And when on the sixth Day the finishing Hand was set to the Work and Man created God gives him Dominion over the Fish of the SEA 'T would have been but a scanty and narrow Dominion and Adam a very mean Prince had there then been neither any Fish existent nor Sea to contain them Nay this had been little better than a downright illusion and abusing of him and what is more that World had been so far from excelling â—â—rs in the Abundance of its Productions which is what the Theorist contends for on another Occasion
the trouble of accounting for their Conveyance from Sea which was what had so severely exercised all the former though in reality this only heightened and enhansed it and render'd it still more intricate as will appear more at large when I shall have published the preliminary Dissertation whereof I have already given some Account above And this was the most received and prevalent Opinion when I first brought my Collection of these Things up to London There have been besides these recited some other Conjectures proposed about the removal of these Bodies to Land which I choose rather than trouble the Reader with a detail of them here to deferr to their proper place that I may proceed directly onwards in my Design Now the more effectually to smooth my way and that this very great diversity of Opinions may not be any longer an Amusement to the World 't will be very convenient that I look into the Reasons and Pretensions of each and shew upon what ground 't is that I embrace that of the Deluge and set aside all the rest Why I adhere to them who suppose these Marine Productions brought out by the Universal Deluge will be best learn'd from the succeeding part of this Essay which is wholly dedicated to that purpose and whereunto I shall prefix An Historical Account of the Labours of Fab. Columna Nic Steno P. Boccone Iac. Grandius Mr. Iohn Ray and other Learned Men on this Subject shewing what they have already done in it wherein they failed and what remains still to be done Why I reject all the other Conjectures falls under our present Consideration and to make as short of the Matter as possible 't is because they will none of them abide the Test because they have not due warrant from Observation but are clearly repugnant thereunto in a word because the present Circumstances of these Marine Bodies do not square with those Opinions but exhibit Phaenomena that thwart them and that give plain Indications that they could never have been put into the Condition we now find them by any such short and partial Agents as those they propose Now in regard that the said Circumstances are impartially related in my Observations we need only have recourse to them to put an end to this Business For as Mathematicians say of a streight Line that 't is as well an Index of its own Rectitude as of the Obliquity of a crooked one so these may serve indifferently to detect the erroneous ways and to point forth the true and it is from these Observations from the Number Order Variety Situation Depth Distance from the Sea and other Accidents of these Bodies that I shall shew That they were not brought from Sea to the Parts where they are now found by Men the ancient Inhabitants of those Parts as some Authors have been of Opinion they presuming that these Shells were at first only slung out upon the Surface of the Earth and that those which we now find buried in it were in tract of time covered either by that Terrestrial Matter which falls down along with rain or by the Earth which is wash'd from off the Hills by Land floods That they were not carry'd together with the Water which some suppose to pass continually from the bottom of the Sea to the Heads of Springs and Rivers through certain subterranean Conduits or Chanels untill they were by some Glut Stop or other means arrested in their Passage and so detained in the Bowels of the Earth as others have rather inclined to believe That they were not born forth of the Sea and laid upon the Land by particular Inundations such as were the Ogygean the Deucalionâ—an and others of fresher date such as are those which usually attend Earthquakes or those which are sometimes occasioned by very high Tides by impetuous Winds and the like as other Writers have thought That they were not left behind at the beginning of the World when the Sea overspread the whole Globe till its Retreat into its assigned Chanel and that the Waters were gathered together unto one place the third day from the Commencement of the Creation which others believed That they were not left by the Seas being constrained to withdraw from off certain tracts of Land which lay till then at the bottom of it but being raised to an higher pitch so as to surmount the Level of the Seas surface they by that means became Islands and habitable the said tracts being thus elevated by Earthquakes or the like subterraneous Explosions in such manner as Rhodes Thera Therasia and many other Islands were supposed to have been raised which is the Conjecture of others That they were not left by the Seas changing its place receding from the Parts it anciently possest and betaking it self to new Quarters this change being occasion'd by some accidental Emotion or Transposition of the common Center of Gravity in the Terraqueous Globe and thereupon the Fluids of it the Sea and the rest immediately shifting likewise as being the more easily moveable parts of the Mass and coming to another AEquilibrium that they might thereby the better accommodate themselves to their new Center As others That they were not left upon the Seas being protruded forwards and constrained to fall off from certain Coasts which it formerly possessed by the Mud or Earth which is discharged into it by Rivers the said Mud being reposed along the Shores near the Ostia of those Rivers and by that means making continual Additions to the Land thereby excluding the Sea daily invading and gaining upon it and preserving these Shells as Trophies and Signs of its new Acquests and Encroachments which others have imagined they concluding that the Islands Echinades the Lower Egypt Thessaly and many other Countries were thus raised out of the Mud brought down by Achelous the Nile Peneus and other Rivers Lastly That they were not left by the Seas continual flitting and shifting its Chanel this Progression being occasioned by the Seas wearing and gaining upon one Shore and flinging up Mud and together with it these Shells upon the other or opposite Coasts thereby making perpetual Additions unto them which is the Opinion of other Authors These Propositions which are no other than so many Consectaries drawn from the Observations are we see all Negative as being directed against the Mistakes of some who have formerly engaged in this research The ways they have taken to account for the Conveyance of these Marine Bodies to Land are very many as well as different from each other For so eager and sollicitous hath the inquisitive and better part of Mankind been to bring this Matter to a fair issue and determination that no Stone hath been left unturned no way whereby these things could ever possibly have been brought forth of the Sea but one or other of them hath pitch'd upon it So that by this Refutation of all these I might prove my own which is the only one remaining by Induction but this kind
of proof is not needful where more cogent and positive Arguments are not wanting And thus much of this Part I get over by the sole guidance of my Senses A View of the present state of these Bodies alone convinced me sufficiently that the means proposed by these Authors were not the true ones that they were both levelled wide and fell all short of the Mark. Now though this was enough for my present purpose and when I had evinced that although such Alterations as those which these Gentlemen suppose Transitions and Migrations of the Center of Gravity Elevations of new Islands whole Countries gained from the Sea and other like Changes had actually happened yet these Shells could never possibly have been reposed thereby in the manner we now find them I say when I had proved this I was not immediately concerned to enquire whether such Alterations had really ever happened or not yet partly for a fuller and more effectual Disproof of the recited Opinions and partly because I am more especially obliged by my general design to look into all Pretences of Changes in the Globe we inhabit and I saw very well that scarce any of all these alledged had the least countenance either from the present face of the Earth or any credible and authentick Records of the ancient state of it I resolved to pursue this Matter somewhat farther and to shew that although there do indeed happen some Alterations in the Globe yet they are very slight and almost imperceptible and such as tend rather to the benefit and conservation of the Earth and its Productions than to the disorder and destruction both of the one and the other as all these supposititious ones most manifestly would do were there really any such but from clear and incontestible Monuments of Antiquity from History and Geography and from attentive Consideration of the present state of those Countries where these Changes were supposed to have been wrought I prove that they are imaginary and groundless and that such in earnest never happened but that the bounds of Sea and Land have been more fix'd and permanent and in short that the terraqueous Globe is to this day nearly in the same condition that the Universal Deluge left it being also like to continue so till the time of its final ruin and dissolution preserved to the same end for which 't was first formed and by the same Power which hath secured it hitherto But with respect to my present Design I more particularly make out That although Rain-water be indeed as these Writers suppose very plentifully saturated with terrestrial Matter and as I shall make appear that peculiar Matter out of which the Bodies of Vegetables and consequently of Animals are formed nourished and augmented Water being the common Vehicle and Distributer of it to the Parts of those Bodies and all Water especially that of Rain being more or less stored with this it being light in comparison of the common Mineral earthy Matter and therefore easily assumed into Water and moved along with it yet that this Matter being all originally derived from the surface of the Earth either by the Vapour that continually issues out and ascends from all parts of it or wash'd off by Land-floods and conveyed into Rivers and the Sea and thence elevated up together with the Vapour which as the former constitutes the Rain that falls I say it being thus originally all rais'd from the Earth when restored back again thereunto 't is but where it was before and does not enlarge the Dimensions of the Globe or augment the surface of the Earth and only lye idly and unserviceably there but part of it is introduced into the Plants which grow thereon for their Nutrition and Increment and the rest which is superfluous either remounts again with the ascending Vapour as before or is wash'd down into Rivers and transmitted into the Sea and does not make any sensible Addition to the Earth as some have believed That the terrestrial Matter which is thus carried by Rivers down into the Sea is sustained therein partly by the greater Crassâ—tude and Gravity of the Sea-water and partly by its constant Agitation occasioned by the Tides and by its other Motions and is not permitted to sink to the bottom or if any of it do 't is raised up again by the next Storm and being supported in the Mass of Water together with the rest 't is by degrees exhaled mounted up with the Rain that rises thence and returned back again to the Earth in fruitful Showers That by this perpetual Circulation a vast many things in the System of Nature are transacted and two main Intentions of Providence constantly promoted the one a Dispensation of Water promiscuously and indifferently to all parts of the Earth this being the immediate Agent that both bears the constituent Matter to all formed Bodies and when brought to them insinuates it in and distributes it unto the several parts of those Bodies for their Preservation and Growth the other the keeping a just AEquilibrium if I may so say betwixt the Sea and Land the Water that was raised out of the Sea for a Vehicle to this Matter being by this means refunded back again into it and the Matter it self restored to its original Fund and Promptuary the Earth whereby each is restrained and kept to due Bounds so that the Sea may not encroach upon the Earth nor the Earth gain ground of the Sea That there never were any Islands or other considerable parcels of Land amassed or heap'd up nor any enlargement or addition of Earth made to the Continent by the Mud that is carried down into the Sea by Rivers That although the Ancients were almost unanimously of Opinion that those Parts where Egypt now is were formerly Sea and that a very considerable portion of that Country was recent and formed out of the Mud discharged into the neighbouring Sea by the Nile that yet this tract of Land had no such Rise out is as old and of as long a standing as any upon all the whole Continent of Africa and hath been in much the same Natural Condition that it is at this day ever since the time of the Deluge its Shores being neither advanced one jot further into the Sea for this three or four thousand Years nor its Surface raised by additional Mud deposed upon it by the yearly Inundations of the Nile That neither the Palus Maeotis nor the Euxine nor any other Seas fill up or by degrees grow shallower That Salmydessus Themiscyra Sidene and the adjacent Countries upon the Coasts of the Euxine Sea were not formed out of the Mud brought down by the Ister Thermodon Iris and the other Rivers which discharge themselves into that Sea That Thessaly was not raised out of the Mud born down by the River Peneus the Islands Echinades or Curzolari out of that brought by the River Achelous Cilicia by the River Pyramus Mysia Lydia Ionia and other Countries
by this means collected they are kept in store for the use of Mankind That though there had been both solid Strata to have condens'd the ascending Vapour and those so broken too as to have given free Vent and Issue to the Water so condensed yet had not the said Strata been dislocated likewise some of them elevated and others depress'd there would have been no Cavity or Chanel to give Reception to the Water of the Sea no Rocks Mountains or other Inequalities in the Globe and without these the Water which now arises out of it must have all stagnated at the Surface and could never possibly have been refunded forth upon the Earth nor would there have been any Rivers or running Streams upon the face of the whole Globe had not the Strata been thus raised up and the Hills exalted above the neighbouring Valleys and Plains whereby the Heads and Sources of Rivers which are in those Hills were also borne up above the ordinary Level of the Earth so as that they may flow upon a Descent or an inclining Plane without which they could not flow at all That this Affair was not transacted unadvisedly casually or at random but with due Conduct and just Measures That the quantity of Matter consolidated the Number Capacity and Distances of the Fissures the Situation Magnitude and Number of the Hills for the condensing and discharging forth the Water and in a word all other things were so ordered as that they might best conduce to the End whereunto they were designed and ordained and such provision made that a Country should not want so many Springs and Rivers as were convenient and requisite for it nor on the other hand be over-run with them and afford little or nothing else but a Supply every where ready suitable to the Necessities and Expences of each Climate and Region of the Globe For example those Countries which lye in the Torrid Zone and under or near the Line where the Heat is very great are furnished with Mountains answerable Mountains which both for Bigness and Number surpass those of colder Countries as much as the Heat there surpasses that of those Countries Witness the Andeâ— that prodigious Chain of Mountains in South America Atlas in Africa Taurus in Asia the Alpes and Pyrenees of Europe to mention no more By these is collected and dispensed forth a quantity of Water proportionable to the Heat of those Parts so that although by reason of the Excess of this Heat there the Evaporations from the Springs and Rivers are very great yet they being by these larger Supplies continually stock'd with an Excess of Water as great yeild a Mass of it for the use of Mankind the Inhabitants of those Parts of the other Animals and of Vegetables not much if at all inferiour to the Springs and Rivers of colder Climates That besides this the Waters thus evaporated and mounted up into the Air thicken and cool it and by their Interposition betwixt the Earth and the Sun skreen and fence off the ardent Heat of it which would be otherwise unsupportable and are at last returned down again in copious and fruitful Showers to the scorched Earth which were it not for this remarkably Providential Contrivance of Things would have been there perfectly uninhabitable laboured under an eternal Drought and have been continually parched and burnt To this former Section I shall add by way of Appendix A Dissertation concerning the Flux and Reflux of the Sea and it s other Natural Motions with an Account of the Gause of those Motions as also of the End and Vse of them and an Enquiry touching the Cause of the Ebbing and Flowing and some other uncommon Phaenomena of certain Springs A Discourse concerning the Saltness of the Sea A Discourse concerning Wind the Origin and Use of it in the Natural World PART III. SECT II. Of the Universality of the Deluge Of the Water which effected it Together with some further Particulars concerning it IN the precedent Section I consider the present and natural State of the Fluids of the Globe I ransack the several Caverns of the Earth and search into the Storehouses of Water and this principally in order to find out where that mighty Mass of Water which overflowed the whole Earth in the days of Noah is now bestowed and concealed as also which way 't is at this time useful to the Earth and its Productions and serviceable to the present Purposes of Almighty Providence Such a Deluge as that which Moses represents whereby All the high Hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered would require a portentous quantity of Water and Men of Curiosity in all Ages have been very much to seek what was become of it or where iâ— could ever find a Reservatory capable of containing it 'T is true there have been several who have gone about to inform them and set them to rights in this Matter but for want of that Knowledge of the present System of Nature and that insight into the Structure and Constitution of the Terraqueous Globe which was necessary for such an Undertaking they have not given the Satisfaction that was expected So far from it that the greatest part of these seeing no where Waâ—er â—nough to effect a General Deluge were forced at last to mince the Matter and make only a Partial one of it restraining it to one single Country to Asia or some lesser portion of Land than which nothing can be more contrary to the Mosaick Narrative For the rest they had recourse to Shifts which were not much better and rather evaded than solved the Difficulty some of them imagining that a quantity of Water sufficient to make such a Deluge was created upon that Occasion and when the business was done all disbanded again and annihilated Others supposed a Conversion of the Air and Atmosphere into Water to serve the turn Many of them were for fetching down I know not what supercoelestial Waters for the purpose Others concluded that the Deluge rose only fifteen Cubits above the Level of the Earth's ordinary Surface covering the Valleys and Plains but not the Mountains all equally wide of Truth and of the Mind of the Sacred Writer One of the last Undertakers of all seeing this began to think the Cause desperate and therefore in effect gives it up For considering how unsuccessful the Attempts of those who were gone before him had proved and having himself also employed his lâ—st and utmost endeavours to find out Waters for the Vulgar Deluge having mustered up all the Forces he could think of and all too little The Clouds above and the Deeps below and in the bowels of the Earth and these says he are all the Stores we have for Water and Moses directs us to no other for the Causes of the Deluge he prepares for a Surrender asserting from a mistaken and defective Computation that all these will not come up to near the quantity requisite and that in any
grow therein incrusting them over in like manner as does the above-mentioned Water of Rivers That when the Heat at and upon the Surface of the Earth is great it not only mounts up the Water sent from beneath and along with it the lighter Terrestrial Vegetative Matter but likewise the very mineral Matter it self Sulphur Nitre Vitriol and the like the Atoms or single Corpuscles whereof being detach'd from their respective Beds in the Earth it bears quite to the Surface of it and the light and more active sorts of them up into the Atmosphere together with the Vapour which when condensed falls down again in Rain in greater or lesser plenty and to a greater or lesser height answerably to the greater or lesser quantity or Intenseness of the Heat That wherever there happen to be any extraordinary Discharges of the Subterranean Heat either Vulcano's or lesser Spiracles such as those about Naples Pozzuolo and in other Parts of the World Thermae or Hot-springs or fiery Eructations such as burst forth of the Earth during Earthquakes I say wherever there are such or the like Discharges of this Subterranean Fire there likewise is mineral Matter more or less hurried up along with it That even the Heat of the Sun and indeed any other though but an accidental Heat hath the same Effect and contributes to the raising of mineral Matter out of the Earth That AEtna Vesuvius and the other Vulcano's discharge forth together with the Fire not only metallick and mineral Matter in great quantity but Sand likewise and huge Stones tossing them up sometimes to a very great height in the Air. That the Heat which arises out of the lesser Spiracles also brings forth along with it mineral Matter and particularly Nitre and Sulphur some of which it affixes to the tops and sides of the Grotto's as it passes which Grotto's are usually so hot as to serve for natural Stoves or Sweating-Vaults some it deposes near unto and even upon the Surface of the Earth insomuch that in some places the Flores Sulphuris are gathered in considerable plenty near these Spiracles some it bears in Steams up into the Air and this in such quantity too as to be manifest to the Smell especially the Sulphur that Mineral so particularly affecting this Sense That the Heat which is continually passing up towards the Thermae brings thither along with it Particles of Spar Alum Sulphur Nitre and other Minerals in such quantity that these ordinarily as much exceed the common Acidulae in plenty of this mineral Matter as they do in Heat That this Heat ascending out of the Thermae bears up with it not only Water in form of Vapour but likewise mineral Matter some whereof it affixes to the Sides and Arches of the Grotto's where these Thermae arise in such or if they be covered with Buildings to the Walls and Roofs of those Buildings to the Pipes through which the Water is conveyed or the like That Sulphur is in some places collected very plentifully adhering to the Stone of these Grotts and Buildings yea sometimes Spar and other crasser Minerals are thus mounted up and affix to the Walls and Roofs incrust them over and being stop'd and reverberated thereby form Stalactitae or Sparry Iceycles hanging down from the Arches of the Grotto's from the Capitals of the Pillars and Roofs of the Buildings That where these Thermae are not thus covered and vaulted over so that the mineral Matter is not stop'd and hinder'd in its Ascent a great part of it advances directly up into the Atmosphere That the Heat which is discharged out of the Earth at the time of Earthquakes brings forth Nirre Sulphur and other mineral Matter along with it That the Water also which is at the same time spued out through the Cracks or Chasmes opened by the Earthquake and through the Apertures of Springs and Rivers is turbid and stinking as being highly saturated with mineral Matter That the Acidulae or Medical Springs emit then likewise a greater quantity of their Minerals than usual and even the ordinary Springs which were before clear fresh and limpid become thick and turbid and are impregnated with Sulphur and other Minerals as long as the Earthquake lasts That these Minerals do not issue out only at these larger Exits but steam forth likewise through the Pores of the Earth occasioning those sulphureous and other offensive Stenches which usually attend Earthquakes and are the Cause of the Fevers and other malignant Disâ—empers which commonly succeed them bringing on oftentimes great Mortalities not only amongst Men but even the very Beasts and Fishes That these mineral Eructations arise in such quantity up into the Atmosphere as to thicken discolour and darken it sometimes to a very great degree That any Heat whatsoever even an accidental one such as is that which proceeds from the Bodies of Animals and from their Excrements promotes the Ascent of mineral Matter but more especially of that which is subtile light and active and is consequently moveable more easily and with a lesser Power That by this means Nitre wherever there happens to be any in the Earth underneath is raised in Stables Pigeon-Houses and other like Receptacles of Animals and in those places where their Dung lyes heap'd up That 't was this which occasioned in some an Opinion that Nitre proceeds forth of those Animals and their Excrements whereas it is found raised up and convened or collected indifferently and as well in Buildings where Animals rarely or never come as in those they ordinarily frequent not to mention that which is found sometimes in considerable plenty at great depths in the Earth in the Water of Springs of Rivers of Lakes and in some Parts even of the Sea it self whereof more largely hereafter That in such places where the Earth contains Nitre within it though there be no such adventitious Heat if that Heat which is almost continually steaming out of the Earth be but preserved its Dissipation prevented and the Cold kept off by some Building or other like Coverture this alone is ordinarily sufficient to raise up the Nitre and bear it out at the Surface of the Earth unless its Egress be impeded by Pavements or the like Obstructions and mount it up into the Air as far as those Buildings will permit For the Cielings and Walls stopping it in its Ascent it usually affixes unto them and settles there And accordingly 't is frequently found thus affix'd to the Walls and Cielings of Ground-Rooms Cellars and Vaults and this sometimes in such quantities as to form nitrose Stalactitae hanging down from them in form of Iceycles especially from the Tops and Arches of Cellars and Vaults That the Heat of the Sun in the hotter Seasons being very intense and penetrating the exteriour or superficial parts of the Earth it thereby-excites and stirs up those mineral Exhalations in subterraneous Caverns in Mines and in Cole-pits which are commonly called Damps That it is for this
passes through them 3. Relations obtained from several Hands concerning the State of Metalls and Minerals in Foreign Countries in divers Parts of Asia Africa and America as well as in Hungary Germany Sweden and other Parts of Europe and particularly of those which are not found in England shewing that the Condition of these Bodies in those remoter Regions is exactly conformable to that of ours here and that they were all put into this Condition by the very same means 4. Observations concerning English Amber and Relations from abroad about the Amber of Prussia and other distant Places with a Discourse founded upon them proving that Amber is not a gummons or resinous Substance drawn out of Trees by the Sun's Heat and coagulated and hardened by falling down into Rivers or the Sea as the Ancients generally believed but is a Natural Fossil as Pebles Flints Pyritae and the like are formed at the same time and by the same means that they were and all of it originally reposed in the Strata of Earth Sand c. together with them That it is indeed found in some places lying upon the Shores of the Sea and of Rivers but 't is also found at Land and dug up sometimes at very great depths in the Earth and this as well in Places very remote from any Sea or River as in those which are nearer unto them That 't is digged out of even the highest Mountains and indeed all other Parts of the Earth contingently and indifferently as the Pyritae Agates Jaspers Pebles and the rest are That wherever 't is found upon the Sea-Shores there also is it as certainly found at Land up in the neighbouring Country and particularly in Prussia upon whose Shores so great a quantity of Amber is yearly collected 't is dug up almost all over the Country That even that which now lyes loose upon the Sea-Shores was all of it originally lodged in the Earth in the Strata of Sand Marle Clay and the like whereof the neighbouring Land and the Cliffs adjacent to those Shores do consist and wherever 't is so found scattered upon the Shores there is it as constantly found lodged in the Cliffs thereabouts That when the Sea at high-High-water comes up unto and bears hard upon the said Cliffs and is agitated by Winds and Storms it frequently beats down huge pieces of Earth from them which Earth falling into the Water is by its continued Agitation and Motion dissolved and borne by degrees down into the Sea being loose and light and so easily reduced into lesser Parcels dissolved and wash'd away but the Pebles Pyritae Amber or other like Nodules which happened to be reposed in those Cliffs amongst the Earth so beaten down being hard and not so dissoluble and likewise more bulky and ponderous are left behind upon the Shores being impeded and secured by that their bulk and weight from being born along with the Terrestrial Matter into the Sea That therefore the Sea is no ways concerned in the Formation of these Bodies no more in the Formation of Amber than of the Pyritae Flints and other mineral Masses that are found together with it but only dislodges and discovers them bears away the Earth wherein they were buried washes off the Soil and Sordes wherein they were involved and concealed and thereby renders them more conspicuous apparent and easie to be found That this is so known and experienced amongst the People who are employed to gather the Amber that they always run down to the Sea-side after a Storm for that purpose and if it hath been so great as to beat down part of the Cliffs there they assuredly find Amber more or less upon the Seas Ebb and Retirement and after every Retreat of the Sea for some Tides after the Sea not bearing down the Earth immediately and all at once but washing it off by little and little and so discovering the Amber by degrees some after one Tide and some after another That particularly the Amber Vitriolick Pyritae and other like Bodies that are found upon the Shores of Kent Essex Hampshire and elsewhere all came first from the bordering Cliffs and were dislodged by this means and are found in the Earth as well as upon the Shores whenever 't is laid open as in sinking Wells Pits and the like That not only the Sea but Rivers and Rains also are instrumental to the Detection of Amber and other Fossils by washing away the Earth and Dirt that before covered and concealed them Thus the Golden Pyritae or as they are commonly called Gold-grains Amethystine Pebles Amber and other Stones of Worth are uncovered by such Rivers as chance to run through the Grounds which contain those Bodies in them Thus likewise Rains by their washing the Earth down from off the Hills clear and disclose such Pyritae Selenitae or other Bodies that happen to be lodged near the Surface of the Earth in those Hills and 't is by this means chiefly that the Grain-Gold upon all the Golden Coast as 't is called in Guinea is displayed the Rains falling there in great Abundance and with incredible Force thereby the more powerfully beating off the Earth This the Negrues Natives of those Parts know full well and therefore do not expect to find much of it unless after the Season of their Rains when they never fail to find of it no more than the Amber-Gatherers fail of finding that upon the Sea-Coasts after a Storm And if those Persons who are curious in collecting either Minerals or the Shells Teeth or other Parts of Animal Bodies that have been buried in the Earth do but search the Hills after Rains and the Sea-Shores after Storms I dare undertake they will not lose their Labour But to return That Amber is not only lodged in the Strata of Earth and of Sand together with the other mineral Nodules but is sometimes found actually growing unto and combined into the same Mass with the Pyrites and others of them That it likewise sometimes contains in it pieces of Straws Flies Shells and other heterogeneous Bodies in like manner as the Pyritae Flints and all other analogous Fossils do That although Amber be most commonly of a yellowish Colour and therefore not unlike some kinds of Gums yet there is found of it also of several other Colours as black white brown green blue and purple to name no more Yea the very same Lump is frequently of different Colours That these Colours are all accidental even the yellow it self and owing to the Intermixture of foreign Matter which concreted into the same Mass with the proper Matter of this Stone and with the heterogeneous Bodies which are included in it at the time of its Coalition That this is the Case of Agates of Cornelians of Topazes and many other coloured Stones the Colours of several whereof and even that of Amber it self may by a very easie process be in great measure if not wholly extracted
by the ascending Vapour or carried along with the rain-Rain-water into Rivers and by them into the Sea whence 't is returned back again to the Earth dispersedly by Rain and serves for the Nutriment and Formation of the Plants which grow thereon and the rest of it being more crass and ponderous does not move far but lodges in the Clefts Craggs and sides of the Rocks or Mountains and at or near the Roots or Bottoms of them That the Stone of Rocks and Mountains being by degrees in this manner dissolved and the Sand born off the Shells and other Marine Bodies which were originally included therein are by that means let loose turned out and exposed upon the Surface of the Earth That 't is for this reason that these Marine Bodies are now most commonly found upon Hills and the higher Grounds those few which are found below and at the bottoms of them being for the most part only such as have fallen down from above and from the tops of them those which were at the time of the Deluge reposed upon the Surface of the Earth being most of them perish'd and gone and indeed these which are yet existent only accidentally preserved by their being at first enclosed in the Strata of Stone and so secured by it as long as it was it self secure I mean untill it was thus dissolved and so could not any longer contribute any thing to their Preservation That these Shells and other Bodies being thus turned out of the Stone and exposed loose upon the Surface of the Earth to the Injuries of Weather and of the Plough to be trod upon by Horses and other Cattel and to many other external Accidents are in tract of time worn fretted and broken to pieces That the Shells being so broken struck off and gone the Stone included in them is thereby disclosed and set at liberty which Stone consists of the Sand wherewith the Cavities of those Shells were filled when they were sustained together with it in the Water at the Deluge and which at length subsided in them and was lodged with them in the Strata of Sand-stone the Sand contained within the Shell becoming solid and consistent at the same time that the ambient or that of the Stratum without it did That therefore the Shells served as Plasms or Moulds to this Sand which when consolidated and afterwards in tract of time by this means freed from its investient Shell is of the same shape and size as is the Cavity of the Shell of what kind soever that Shell happened to be That this is the true Origin of those Stones consisting of Sand which are called by Authors Cochlitae Conchitae Mâ—itâ— Ostracitae Ctenitae c. and which are of constant regular and specifick Figures as are the Cochleae Conchae and the other Shells in which they were moulded and from which by reason of their so near resemblance of the insides of them they borrow their several Denominations That these formed Stones being by this means despoiled of their Shells and exposed naked upon the Surface of the ground to the Injuries before recited do also themselves in time decay wear and moulder away and are frequently found defaced and broken to pieces in like manner as the Strata of Stone wherein they were originally lodged first did and afterwards the Shells wherein these Stones were enclosed and formed This Deterration as 't is called or Devolution of Earth and Sand from the Mountains and higher grounds is not in equal quantity and alike in all places but varies according to the different height of those Mountains and to the extent of the Plane at top of them to the different consistence and durableness of the Strata whereof they consist and according as they are more or less disturbed by Showers Ploughing or other Accidents Nay this Deterration varies in different parts of even the same Mountain those which lye nearer to the Brink or Margin of it suffering a quicker and greater Decrement than those which are more remote therefrom and towards the middle of it But though this Devolution be thus different 't is noâ— any where even where greatest very considerable and therefore does not make any great Alteration in the Face of the Earth This I have learn'd from Observations purposely made in several Parts of England and when I shall in the larger Work propose the Standard whereby I give Judgment of it any one may presently and easily inform himself of the quantity and measure of it either here or in any other part of the World There are indeed some other Casualties that the Globe is obnoxious unto such as Earthquakes and the burning Mountains or Vulcanoes But of these I thank God and the good Constitution of this happy Island I have not had any opportunity of Observation Yet something I have to offer concerning these and the Causes of them from the Observations of others Not that the Thing is so very material or that they make such havock of and Alterations in the Globe as some Men fancy We have assurance from History that AEtna and Vesuvius have sent forth Flames by fits for this two or three thousand years and no doubt but they have done so much longer and yet we see both Sicily and Campania the Countries wherein those two Mountains stand are still where they were nay the very Mountains themselves are yet in Being and have not suffered any considerable Diminution or Consumption but are at this day the two highest Mountains in those Countries What they have really suffered by what means both these and Earthquakes are occasioned and what are their Effects upon the Globe shall be fully and carefully considered in due place from which Considerations it will appear that even these have their uses and that although they do make some lesser Alterations in some few Parts of the Earth and sometimes molest and incommode the Inhabitants of those Parts yet the Agent whereby both the one and the other is effected is of that indispensible Necessity and Vse both to the Earth it self to Mankind and to all other the Productions of it that they could not subsist without it I have already given some brief Intimations that Winds and Hurricanes at Land Tempests and Storms at Sea things that have always been look'd upon with as evil an eye as Earthquakes and pointed at as only disastrous and mischievous to the World are yet not without a very necessary and excellent Use the same have I also done concerning Vulcano's but I must not dwell upon these things too long wherefore I shall only now dispatch what is further necessary to be hinted here about this Decrement of Mountains and then conclude this Part. And this as it does not make any great Alteration so neither doth that which it really does make any ways endâ—mage or disorder the Globe nor is it any the least Detriment or Disadvantage to the Productions
to insist upon those which are long ago rotted and gone Nor need we much wonder at this their abundant Fruitfulness when we know from what Source it proceeded which our Historian hath opened to us in very significant words And God said let the Waters bring forth abundantly the moving Creature that hath life c. And God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the Waters in the Seas and let Fowl multiply in the Earth c. Here was we see a Blessing handed out with the first Pairs of Animals at the moment of their Creation very liberal and extensive and it had effect with a Witness A Man that does but behold the mighty Sholes of Shells to take them for an Instance that are still remaining and that lye bedded and cumulated in many places heap upon heap amongst the ordinary Matter of the Earth will scarcely be able to believe his Eyes or conceive which way these could ever live or subsist one by another But yet subsist they did and as they themselves testifie well too an Argument that that Earth did not deal out their Nourishment with an over-sparing or illiberal Hand That these Productions of the Original Earth differ not from those of the Present either in Figure in Magnitude in Texture or any other respect is easily learn'd by comparing of them The exact Agreement betwixt the Marine Bodies I have shewn already and shall in due place shew the same of the Terrestrial ones And as there were such great Numbers of Animals and Vegetables in the Primitive Earth so that there were also Metalls and Minerals and these in no less plenty than in ours is very clear from what hath been delivered in the Fourth Part of this Essay which need not be repeated here Nor is Moses defective in this Point And Zillah she also bare Tubal-Cain an Instructer of every Artificer in Brass and Iron The Theorist quite contrary says As for Subterraneous Things Metalls and Minerals I believe they had none in the first Earth and the happier they no Gold nor Silver nor coarser Metalls Amongst these coarser Metalls are Copper or Brass and Iron Now if there were none of these 't is a great Mystery to me I confess how Tubal-Cain who certainly died either before or at the Deluge could ever have taught the Workmanship and Use of them And yet if this Theory be true there neither was nor could be any within their reach or that they could ever possibly come at For the truth of the Theory I am in no wise concerned the Composer of it must look to that but that there were really both Metalls and Minerals before the Deluge is most certain For besides the Testimony that we have of the Thing from Nature and the Passage already alledged out of Moses there is another for which we are also obliged to the same Author that acquaints us there were both even in Paradise it self 'T is in his second Chapter The name of the first River is Pison that is it which compasseth the whole Land of Havilah where there is Gold And the Gold of that Land is good there is Bdellium and the Onyx-stone He speaks here I grant only in the Present Tense there is Gold but must mean not only that there was Gold and Gemms there in his time but that there was so likewise from the beginning of the World of which he is giving an Account in these two Chapters or with Submission I conceive 't would not be any thing to his purpose He is here speaking of Paradise which he represents as a most charming and delightful Place besett with every Tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food watered with refreshing Streams and excellent Rivers and abounding with Things not only useful and convenient but even the most rare and valuable the most costly and desirable particularly Gold Precious Stones and Perfumes which were all much esteemed and admired by the Jews to whom he wrote this Nor is it any Paradox notwithstanding that Dissolution of the Earth which happened at the Deluge to suppose there was this or that Metall or Mineral in the same Part of the Globe afterwards where it was before that happened The Water of the Abyss indeed changed its Place during the time So did the Sea and bore the Bodies it contained many of them out along with it But for the Terrestrial Parts of the Globe Metalls Minerals Marble Stone and the rest they though dissolved and assumed up into the Water did not flitt or move far but at the general Subsidence settled down again in or near the same Place from which they were before taken up For the Water was all out upon the Face of the Earth before ever these stirr'd or were fetch'd up out of their native Beds and they were all sunk down into the same Beds again before the Water began to shift away back to its old Quarters so that it could not contribute any thing to the Removal of them Even the very Vegetables and their Seeds which were many of them naturally lighter than the Water assisted by the heavier Terrestrial Matter that had in this Jumble and Confusion fasten'd and stuck to them fell all to the bottom and the Water was in great measure clear and disengaged from the Earthy Mass before it went off And 't was well it was so for had the Mineral Matter of the Globe not been held to its former Station but hurried about and transposed from place to place 't is scarcely to be conceived how many and great Inconveniences it would have occasioned The same likewise for Vegetables Had the Seeds of the Pepper Plant the Nutmeg the Clove or the Cinnamon Trees been born from Iava Banda the Moluccoes and Ceylon to these Northern Countries they must all have starved for want of Sun or had the Seeds of our colder Plants shifted thither they wou'd have been burnt up and spoil'd by it But Things generally kept to their proper Places to their old natural Soil and Climate which had they not done all would have been confounded and destroyed 'T is true the Vegetables being comparatively lighter than the ordinary Terrestrial Matter of the Globe subsided last and consequently lying many of them upon the Surface of the Earth those which were of considerable Bulk as the bigger sorts of Trees which had large and spreading Heads would lye with their Branches stretch'd up to a great height in the Water and when that was withdrawn in the Air and so being very much in the Waters way when it began to depart and retire back again would be apt to be removed and driven forward along with it especially those which lay in such places where the Current happened to run strong Accordingly we now find of these Trees in Islands and the other bleaker and colder Parts of the Earth where none now do or perhaps ever did grow And there they are
the Fidelity and Exactness of the Mosaick Narrative of the Creation and of the Deluge Which 't is not improbable but some may be apt to stumble at and think strange that in a Physical Discourse as this is I should intermeddle with Matters of that kind But I may very safely say that as to the former I have not entered farther into it than meerly I was lead by the necessity of my Subject nor could I have done less than I have without the most apparent Injury and Injustice to Truth And for Moses he having given an Account of some Things which I here treat of I was bound to allow him the same Plea that I do other Writers and to consider what he hath delivered In order to this I set aside every thing that might byass my Mind over-awe or mislead me in the Scrutiny and therefore have regard to him here only as an Historian I freely bring what he hath related to the Test comparing it with Things as now they stand and finding his Account to be pâ—nctually true I fairly declare what I find wherein I do him but simply Right and only the same that I would to a common Historian to Berosus or Manetho to Herodotus or Livy on like occasion The CONTENTS AN Account of the Observations upon which this Discourse is founded P. 1. A Dissertation concerning Shells and other Marine Bodies found at Land proving that they were originally generated and formed at Sea that they are the real Spoils of once living Animals and not Stones or natural Fossils as some Learned Men have thought p. 15. PART I. An Examination of the Opinions of former Writers on this Subject The Means whereby they thought these Marine Bodies brought out upon the Earth Of certain Changes of Sea and Land and other Alterations in the Terraqueons Globe which they suppose to have happened p. 34. PART II. Concerning the Universal Deluge That these Marine Bodies were then left at Land The Effects it had upon the Earth p. 71. PART III. Concerning the Fluids of the Globe Sect. I. Of the great Abyss Of the Ocean Concerning the Origin of Springs and Rivers Of Vapours and of Rain p. 115. Sect. II. Of the Vniversality of the Deluge Of the Water which effected it Together with some further Particulars concerning it p. 157. PART IV. Of the Origin and Formation of Metalls and Minerals p. 170. PART V. Of the Alterations which the Terraqueous Globe hath undergone since the time of the Deluge p. 226 PART VI. Concerning the State of the Earth and the Productions of it before the Deluge p. 242 ERRATA PAge 19. Line 6 after Buccinâ— add p. 32. l. 3. for Crustaneous read Crustaceous p. 61. l. 23. after firm add p. 75. l. 14. after precipitated add p. 94. l. 6. after been add given p. 168. l. 25. f. Alargatis â— Aâ—argâ—tis p. 173. l. 10. in the Margin f. it r. the said Stone p. 184. l. 13. f. Câ—chitae r. Conchitae p. 243 l. â— r. f. the r. that p. 270. l. â— f. frigitive r. fugitive p. 275. l. 12. in the Margin f. the r. that AN ACCOUNT OF THE OBSERVATIONS Upon which this DISCOURSE Is Founded FROM a long train of Experience the World is at length convinc'd that Observations are the only sure Grounds whereon to build a lasting and substantial Philosophy All Parties are so far agreed upon this matter that it seems to be now the common sense of Mankind For which reason I shall in the Work before me give my self up to be guided wholly by Matter of Fact as intending to steer that course which is thus agreed of all hands to be the best and surest and not to offer any thing but what hath due warrant from Observations and those both carefully made and faithfully related And that each Reader may the better inform himself not only of what sort my present Observations are but see in what manner also and with what kind of Accuracy they were made 't will be convenient to give some light into that matter and to begin with an Account of them whereby he may be enabled to judge how far they may be relyed upon and what measure of Assent the Propositions which I draw from them may claim But before I go any farther I ought to put in a Caution that an ample and prolix Relation either of the Observations themselves or of the Deductions from them is not to be expected here I design this but for a Sample of what I hope in good time more fully to discuss and make out proposing no more in this Treatise than only in a few plain words to deliver my Sentiments on certain Heads of Natural History with some of the Reasons and Grounds of them in order to give somewhat of present Satisfaction to the Curiosity and Demands of some of my Friends The Observations I speak of were all made in England the far greatest part whereof I travelled over on purpose to make them professedly searching all places as I pass'd along and taking a careful and exact view of Things on all hands as they presented in order to inform my self of the present condition of the Earth and all Bodies contained in it as far as either Grotto's or other Natural Caverns or Mines Quarries Colepits and the like let me into it and displayed to sight the interiour Parts of it not neglecting in the mean time the exteriour or surface and such Productions of it as any where occurred Plants Insects Sea River and Land Shells and in a word whatever either the Vegetable or Animal World afforded Nor did I confine these Observations to Land or the Terrestrial Parts of the Globe only but extended them to the Fluids of it likewise as well those within it the Water of Mines of Grotto's and other such like Recesses as those upon the surface of it the Sea Rivers and Springs My principal Intention indeed was to get as compleat and satisfactory information of the whole Mineral Kingdom as I could possibly obtain To which end I made strict enquiry wherever I came and laid out for intelligence of all Places where the Entrails of the Earth were laid open either by Nature if I may so say or by Art and humane Industry And wheresoever I had notice of any considerable natural Spelunca or Grotto any digging for Wells of Water or for Earths Clays Marle Sand Gravel Chalk Cole Stone Marble Ores of Metals or the like I forthwith had recourse thereunto and taking a just account of every observable Circumstance of the Earth Stone Metal or other Matter from the Surface quite down to the bottom of the Pit I entered it carefully into a Journal which I carry'd along with me for that purpose And so passing on from Place to Place I noted whatever I found memorable in each particular Pit Quarry or Mine and 't is out of these Notes that my Observations are compiled After I had finish'd these Observations and was returned back to
and Ruin from those very means whereby both that and this is most effectually prevented and avoided One imagines that the terrestrial Matter which is showered down along with Rain enlarges the Bulk of the Earth and that it will in time bury and lay all things under ground Another on the contrary fancies that the Earth will ere long all be wash'd away by Rains and borne down into the Sea by Rivers and its Chanel being thereby quite filled up the Waters of the Ocean turned forth to overwhelm the dry Land Whereas by this Distribution of Matter continual Provision is every where made for the supply of Bodies the just state of Sea and Land preserved and the Bounds of each secured quite contrary to the preposterous Reasonings of those Men who expected so different a Result of these things And should this Circulation from which they dreaded those dismal Consequences once cease the Formation of Bodies would be immediately at an end and Nature at a perfect stand But I am aware that I transgress and that this is a Prolixity not allowable in a Treatise of this nature wherefore I shall conclude after I have performed my Promise of discovering what it was which led the ancient Historians Geographers and others so generally into a belief of these frequent Changes betwixt Sea and Land and 't was this They observed almost wherever they cast their eyes vast multitudes of Sea-shells at Land in their Fields and even at very great distance from any Sea This Eratasthenes Herodotus Xanthus Lydus Strabo Pausanias Pomponius Mela Theophrastus Strato the Philosopher Plutarch and others of them assure us They found them upon the Hills as well as in the Valleys and Plains they observed that they were immersed in the Mass of the Stone of their Rocks Quarries and Mines in the same manner as they are at this day found in all known Parts of the World Nay in those Elder Times and which were so much nearer to the Deluge than ours are they found these Marine Bodies more frequently and in much greater plenty than we now do and most if not all of them fresh entire and firm The whole crustaceous kind and the lighter ones of the testaceous which together would be a vast number subsiding last fell upon the Surface of the Earth whilst the heavier which settled down before were entombed in the bowels of it Those therefore must then lye every-where strewed upon the ground whereas now very few if any of them appear the Shells which we find at present upon the face of the Earth being principally of the heavier sorts which were at first lodged within it and since disclosed and turned out by what means we shall see hereaâ—â—er And indeed 't is not conceivable how the generality of them could endure â—o many Hundreds of Years as have since paâ—t how they could lye so long exposed to the Air Weather and other Injuries without vast numbers of them and especially the siner and tenderer Species being long e're this perish'd and rotten some of them quite dissolved and vanish'd and the rest so damaged many of them and altered by time as not to appear the things they then were and so create a doubt amongst some of us whether they are really Shells or not This was a Scruple that never entered into their Heads The Shells being then fair sound and free from decay were so exactly like those they saw lying upon their Shores that they never made any question but that they were the Exuviae of Shell-fish and that they once belonged all to the Sea But the Difficulty was how they came thither and by what means they could ever arrive to places oftentimes so remote from the Ocean The Ages that went before knew well enough how these Marine Bodies were brought thither But such were the Anxieties and Distresses of the then again infant World so incessant their Occupations about Provision for Food Rayment and the like that even after Letters were discovered there was little leisure to commit any thing to Writing and for want thereof the memory of this extraordinary Accident was in great measure worn out and lost 'T is true there was a general and loud Rumour amongst them of a mighty Deluge of Water that had drowned all Mankind except only a very few Persons But there had also happened very terrible Inundations of later date and which were nearer to the Times when these Authors lived Such was that which overflowed Attica in the days of Ogyges and that which drowned Thessaly in Deucalion's time These made cruel Havock and Devastation amongst them their own native Country Greece was the Theatre whereon these Tragedies were acted and their Progenitors had seen and felt their Fury And these happening nearer home and their Effects being fresh and in all Mens mouths they made so sensible and lasting Impressions upon their Minds that the old great Deluge was eclipsed by that means its Tradition mightily obscured and the Circumstances of it so interwoven and confounded with those of these later Deluges that 't was e'en dwindled into nothing and almost buried in the Relations of those Inundations In their Enquiries therefore into this Matter scarcely a Man of them thought or so much as dream'd of the Universal Deluge They concluded indeed unanimously that the Sea had been there wherever they met with any of these Shells and that it had left them behind And so far they were in the right this was an Inference rational and natural enough But when they began to reason about the means how the Sea got thither and a way back again there they were perfectly in the dark and both Tradition and Philosophy failing them they had recourse to Shifts and to the best Conjectures they could think of concluding that it was either forced forth as in particular Inundations such as those lately mentioned or that those Parts where they found the Shells had been formerly in the Possession of the Sea and the place of its natural Residence which it had since quitted and deserted Upon this they began to seek out by what means most probably the Sea might have been dispossest of those Parts and constrained to move into other Quarters And if 't was an Island where they found the Shells they straitways concluded that the whole Island lay originally at the bottom of the Sea and that 't was either hoisted up by some Vapour from beneath or that the Water of the Sea which formerly cover'd it was in time exhaled and dryed up by the Sun the Land thereby laid bare and these Shells brought to light But if 't was in any part of the Continent where they found the Shells they concluded that the Sea had been extruded and driven off by the Mud that was continually brought down by the Rivers of those parts That I may not be over-tedious here I will only add that I shall clearly shew from plain Passages of their own Writings yet extant that 't was
that 't would have fallen far short of it have wanted a very noble and large share of the Creation which we enjoy been deprived of a most excellent and wholsome Fare and very many delicious Dishes that we have the use and benefit of But the Case was really much otherwise and we have as good proof as could be wish'd that there were not any of all these wanting The things many of them yet extant speak aloud for themselves and are back'd with an early and general Tradition For Moses is so far from being singular in thus relating that the Sea is of as old a Date and Standing as the Earth it self is that he hath all even the first and remotest Antiquity of his side the Gentil Account of the Creation making the Ocean to arise out of the Chaos almost as soon as any thing besides But we have in store a yet further Testimony that will be granted to be beyond all Exception 'T is from the mouth of God himself being part of the Law promulgated by him in a most solemn and extraordinary manner Exod. 20.11 In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the SEA and all that in them is 'T is very hard to think the Theorist should not know this and as hard that knowing it he should so openly dissent from it Then for the Dimensions of the Sea that it was as large and of as great extent as now it is may be inferr'd from the vast Multitudes of those Marine Bodies which are still found in all Parts of the known World Had these been found in only one or two places or did we meet with but some few Species of them and such as are the Products of one Climate or Country it might have been suspected that the Sea was then what the Caspian is only a great Pond or Lake and confined to one part of the Globe But seeing they are dug up at Land almost every where 〈◊〉 at least as great variety and plenty as they are observed at Sea since likewise the fossil Shells are many of them of the same kinds with those that now appear upon the neighbouring Shores and the rest such as may well be presumed to be living at the bottom or in the interiour and deeper Parts of the adjacent Seas but never any that are peculiar to remoter Seas or to the Shores of distant Countries we may reasonably conclude not only that the Sea was of the same bigness and capacity before the Deluge but that it was of much the same form also and interwoven with the Earth in like manner as at this time that there was Sea in or near the very same places or Parts of the Globe that each Sea had its peculiar Shells and those of the same Kinds that now it hath that there was the same diversity of Climates here warmer and more agreeable to the Southern Shells there colder and better suited to the Northern ones the same variation of Soils this Tract affording such a Terrestrial Matter as is proper for the Formation and Nourishment of one sort of Shell-fish that of another in few words much the same Appearance of Nature and Face of Things that we behold in the present Earth But of this more by and by That the Water of the Sea was salt as now it is may be made out likewise from those Shells and other the Productions of it they being of the same constitution and consisting of the same sort of Matter that do the Shells at this day found upon our Shores Now the Salt wherewith the sea-Sea-water is saturated is part of the Food of the Shell-fish residing therein and a main Ingredient in the Make of their Bodies they living upon this and upon the Mud and other Earthy Matter there And that the Sea Ebbed and Flowed before the Deluge may be inferr'd not so moch from the Necessity of that Motion and the many and great Uses of it in the Natural World as from certain Effects that it had upon the Shells and other like Bodies yet preserved 'T is known that the Sea by this Access and Recess shuffling the empty Shells or whatever else lies exposed upon the Shores and bearing them along with it backward and forward upon the Sand there frets and wears them away by little and little in tract of time reducing those that are concave and gibbose to a flat and at length grinding them away almost to nothing And there are not uncommonly found Shells so worn enclosed amongst others in Stone As the Sea-shells afford us a sure Argument of a Sea so do the River-ones of Rivers in the Antediluvian Earth And if there were Rivers there must needs also have been Mountains for they will not flow unless upon a Declivity and their Sources be raised above the Earth's ordinary Surface so that they may run upon a Descent the Swiftness of their Current and the Quantity of Water refunded by them being proportioned generally to the height of their Sources and the Bigness of the Mountains out of which they arise Mountains being proved nothing need be said concerning Valleys they necessarily following from that Proof as being nothing but the Intervalls betwixt the Mountains But let us see what Moses hath on this Subject And the Waters he is treating of the Deluge prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth and all the HIGH HILLS that were under the whole Heaven were covered Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail and the MOVNTAINS were covered And all flesh dyed all in whose Nostrils was the breath of Life The Theorist averrs that there were no Mountains in the first Earth I am not willing to suppose that he charges a Falshood or Mistake upon the Passage but rather that he would have this to be understood of those Mountains which were raised afterwards Which yet cannot be for the Historian here plainly makes these Mountains the Standards and Measures of the Rise of the Water which they could never have been had they not been standing when it did so rise and overpour the Earth His Intention in the whole is to acquaint us that all Land-Creatures whatever both Men Quadrupeds Birds and Insects perish'd and were destroyed by the Water Noah only excepted and they that were with him in the Ark. And at the same time to let us see the Truth and Probability of the Thing to convince us that there was no way for any to escape and particularly that none could save themselves by climbing up to the tops of the Mountains that then were he assures us that they even the highest of them were all covered and buried under Water Now to say that there were then no Mountains and that this is meant of Mountains that were not formed till afterwards makes it not intelligible and indeed hardly common Sense The extreme Fertility of both Sea and Land before the Deluge appears sufficiently from the vast and almost incredible Numbers of their Productions yet extant not
c. †Viâ— pag. 55. seq ut pag. 95. †Part 1. pag. 68. †The Crystallized Bodies found in the perpendicular Intervalls are easily known from those which are lodged in the Strata even by one who did not take them thence or observe them there The former have always their Root as the Iewellers call it which 〈◊〉 only the Abruptness at that end of the Body whereby it adhered to the Stone or sides of the Intervalls which Abruptnâ—ss is caused by its being broke off from it Those which are found in the Strata of Earth Sand or the like having lain loose therein are intire â—â—d want that Mark of Adhesion but those which are inclosed in Stone Marble or such other solid Matter being difficulty separable from it because of its Adhesion to all sides of them have commonly some of that Matter still adhering to them or at least Marks of its Abruption from them on all their sides wherein these differ from those found in the perpendicular Intervalls they adhering 〈◊〉 we have noted by only one end Vid. Cons. 6 c. infra * Vid. Cons. 2. infra ‖ Vid. Consect 3. infra ‖ Vulgarly call'd Fungites * Or rather Stagonitae * Vid. Part 2. * Vid. Cons. 4. and 5. infra †Part 2. Consect 2. * Vid. Part 5. Cons. 1. ‖ Part 2. Cons. 2. * Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 11. ‖ Conf. Part 5. Cons. 5. †Conf. Part 2. Cons. 3. †Vid. Pag. 174 supra ‖ Vid. Pag. 174. supra * Conf. Part 2. Cons. 3. 6. and Part 3. Sect. 2. Cons. 3. uti Part 4. Cons. 3. †Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. ‖ Ibid. * Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 4. †Conf. Cons. 12. 13. infra ‖ Vid. Pag. 178. supra * Vid. Pag. 178. supra * Confer Consect 3. Pag. 188. supra * Vid. Cons. 12. infra †Vid. Cons. 14. Infra * Part 3. Cons. 8. †Ibid. ‖ Conf. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. and Part 4. Cons. 5. * Part 1. Pag. 47. and Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. * Vid. Cons. 12. supra ‖ Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 12. pag. 139. 141. supra * Ib. pag. 135. †Confer Pag. 202. supra †Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. ‖ Vid. Pag. 126. supra †Vid. pag. 141. supra * Vid. pag. 203. supra ‖ Vid. pag. 206. supra * Conf. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. †Part 2. Cons. 3. Part 4. Cons. 3. ‖ Cons. 5. c. supra †Conf. Cons. 1. supra * Part 5. Cons. 2. * Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. Pag. 126. ‖ Vid. Cons. 2. supra †Ibid. †Ibid. †Conf. Pag. 172. Pag. 174. * Part 4. Cons. 4. †Ibid. Cons. 9. * Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. †Confer Pag. 47. seq uâ—i Pag. 128. seq †Confer Pag. 47. seq uâ—i Pag. 128. seq * Part 2. Cons. 3. ‖ Vid. Pag. 65. 66. supra ‖ Part 2. Cons. 2. 3. †Part 2. Cons. 4. * Those which consist of Spar Flint c. I have considered above Part 4. Cons. 2. ‖ Vulgarly Pectinitae †Which are much more violent in some Countries than in others Vid. Part 3. Cons. 8. * Part 4. Cons. 14. pag. 215. †Part 1. Pag. 49. ‖ Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 13. * Part 2. pag. 89 90. ‖ Vid. Consect 5. supra * Confer Cons. 1. supra * Part 2. Cons. 2. †Theory of the Earth l. 1. c. 6. l. 2. c. 3. ‖ L. 1. c. 5. * Ibid. l. 2. c. 6. * Conf. Pag. 84. seq ‖ Conf. Part 2. †Gen. 1.9 10. * L. 1. c. 7. †Vers. 13. ‖ Vers. 21 22. * Vers. 28. †Conf. Pag. 6. Part 2. †Conf. Pag. 26. supra * Vid. pag. 22. 23. supra †Conf. pag. 48. 156. ‖ Part 3. Sect. 1. Pag. 153. 154. The Theorist I know supposes both the Antediluvian and the present Earth to be of an Oval Figure and protended towards the Poles as thinking that such a Figure would afford him a Plane so much inclined towards the AEquator that the Rivers might flow upon it though there were no Mountains But 't is plain they could not Nor are there any the least Grounds to believe that the first Earth was of that Figure If he had had any thing that had look'd like a Proof of it he had done well to have produced it But 't is manifest though we imagine the Earth formed that way he proposes it would not have fallen into any such Figure And for the present Earth 't is of a Figure as different from that which he assigns as it well could be it being a Sphaeroides Prolatus as appears from the late Discoveries concerning it * Gen. vii 19. seq * Vid. Part 2. †Conf. Pag. 32.66.77 Part 3. Sect. 2. Cons. 11. ‖ Gen. i. 20. seq * Pag. 22 23. Conf. Gen. i. 11 12 21 24 25. vi 20. †Gen. iv 22. ‖ Conâ—er Gen. vii 23. 1 Pet. iii. 20. * Gen. ii 11 12. ‖ Vers. 9. * Part 2. †Confer Pâ—râ— 2. Câ—nsâ—ct 3. ‖ In which Posture 't is probable the Olive-Tree lay from which the Dove pluck'd off the Leaf that she brought unto Noah Gen. viii 11. * Conf. pag. 113. supra ‖ Vid. pag. 97. supra * Vid. Parâ— 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. Pag. 125. †Gen. vii 11. In the second Month the seventeenth day of the Month were all the Fountains of the great Deep broken up and the windows of Heaven were opened Moses writing to the Jews his Country-men makes use of the Form of the Year then received amongst them which was indeed the first and most ancient but had been disused during the time of their Abode in Egypt and but newly re-establish'd when this was wrote Exod. xii 2. In this Nisan or as 't was also call'd Adib was the first Month and Ijar the second upon the 17th day whereof thé waters of the Deluge came forth according to this Relation And truly the time which is not d little remarkable falls within the Compass here chalk'd out by Nature so very punctually that one can scarcely forbear concluding that thâ—se Strokes and Lines of Nature and those of that Relation came both from the same Hand but this only by the by The Particulars of the Computation I here use shall be given at fall elsewhere they being too bulky for this place ‖ Conf. Part 3. Sect. 2. Conf. 5.