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
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
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
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-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
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
meerly the finding these Sea-shells at Land that occasioned this Stir and raised all this Dust amongst the Ancients and upon which principally they grounded their Belief of the Vicissitudes and Changes of Sea and Land wherewith their Writings are so filled But how little reason they had for it and how far those have been over-seen who have followed them herein hath been intimated already and will appear farther from the following part of this Essay to the Account of which I now hasten PART II. Concerning the Universal Deluge That these Marine Bodies were then left at Land The Effects it had upon the Earth THE Consectaries of the former part of this Discourse are all negative that being only introductory and serving but to clear the way to this second part to free the Enquiry from the Perplexities that some Undertakers have encumber'd it withall and to set aside the false Lights they used in quest of the Agent which transposed these Sea-shells to Land Having therefore discharged my hands of that Task and from Observation of the present state of the Earth and of the site and condition of the Marine Bodies which are lodged within and upon it shewn that they could not possibly be reposed in that manner by particular Inundations by the Seas receding and shifting from place to place nor by any of the other means there proposed I pass next on to search out the true means and to discover the Agent that did actually bring them forth and disposed them into the Method and Order wherein we now find them To which purpose I have recourse again to the Observations for by their Assistance this Matter may be rightly and fully adjusted So that I shall only proceed as hitherto to make Inferences from them which Inferences in this Part are all Affirmative Of these the first is That these Marine Bodies were born forth of the Sea by the Universal Deluge and that upon the retâ—â—n of the Water back again from off the Earth they were left behind at Land This is a Proposition of some weight and consequence upon which Account I shall be somewhat prolix and particular in the Establishment of it careful and exact in conferring every Circumstance of these Marine Bodies to see how they square with it and shall not dismiss it till I have evinced that those which I prest in the precedent Part as Objections against the several ways there propounded all fall in here and are the clearest and most convincing Arguments of the truth hereof that this and this alone does naturally and easily account for all those Circumstances and fairly takes off all Difficulties Which Difficulties I propose at large and particularly those which have of late been urged by some Learned Men as proofs that these Bodies were not left behind by the Deluge shewing of how little Validity they are Which being dispatch'd I return back to my Observations and proceed upon them to represent the Effects that the Deluge had upon the Earth and the Alterations that it wrought in the Globe some whereof were indeed very extraordinary These I distribute into two Classes the first of which will contain those that are only probable and of which we have some reasonable Intimations but not an absolute and demonstrative Certainty the Proofs whereon they depend being more remote And these I shall wholly wave at present and not crowd this shorter Treatise with the Relation of them reserving that room for those of the second Class which are those whereof we have a plain and undeniable Certainty those which flow directly and immediately from the Observations and which are so evident that 't is impossible these Marine Bodies could have been any ways lodged in such manner and to so great depths in the Beds of Stone Marble Chalk and the rest had not these Alterations all happened Namely That during the time of the Deluge whilst the Water was out upon and covered the Terrestrial Globe All the Stone and Marble of the Antediluvian Earth all the Metalls of it all Mineral Concretions and in a word all Fossils whatever that had beforâ— obtained any Solidity were totally dissolved and their constituent Corpuscles all disjoyned their Cohaesion perfectly ceasing That the said Corpuscles of these solid Fossils together with the Corpuscles of those which were not before solid such as Sand Earth and the like as also all Animal Bodies and parts of Animals Bones Teeth Shells Vegetables and parts of Vegetables Trees Shrubs Herbs and to be short all Bodies whatsoever that were either upon the Earth or that constituted the Mass of it if not quite down to the Abyss yet at least to the greatest depth we ever dig I say all these were assumed up promiscuously into the Water and sustained in it in such manner that the Water and Bodies in it together made up one common confused Mass. That at length all the Mass that was thus borne up in the Water was again precipitated and subsided towards the bottom That this Subsidence happened generally and as near as possibly could be expected in so great a Confusion according to the Laws of Gravity that Matter Body or Bodies which had the greatest quantity or degree of Gravity subsiding first in order and falling lowest that which had the next or a still lesser degree of Gravity subsiding next after and â—ettling upon the precedent and so on in their several Courses that which had the least Gravity sinking not down till last of all settling at the Surface of the Sediment and covering all the rest That the Matter subsiding thus formed the Strata of Stone of Marble of Cole of Earth and the rest of which Strata lying one upon another the Terrestrial Globe or at least as much of it as is ever displayed to view doth mainly consist That the Strata being arranged in this order meerly by the disparity of the Matter of which each consisted as to Gravity that Matter which was heaviest descending first and all that had the same degree of Gravity subsiding at the same time and ihere being Bodies of quite different Kinds Natures and Constitutions that are nearly of the same specifick Gravity it thence happened that Bodies of quite different kinds subsided at the same instant fell together into and composed the same Stratum That for this reason the Shells of those Cockles Escalops Perewinkles and the rest which have a greater degree of Gravity were enclosed and lodged in the Strata of Stone Marble and the heavier kinds of Terrestrial Matter the lighter Shells not sinking down till afterwards and so falling amongst the lighter Matter such as Chalk and the like in all such parts of the Mass where there happened to be any considerable quantity of Chalk or other Matter lighter than Stone but where there was none the said Shells fell upon or near unto the Surface and that accordingly we now find the lighter kinds of Shells such as those of the Echini and the like very plentifully
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
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
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
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
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-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
Imprimatur Ian. 3. 1694 5. Iohn Hoskyns V.P.R.S. An ESSAY toward a Natural history OF THE EARTH AND Terrestrial Bodies Especially MINERALS As also of the Sea Rivers and Springs With an Account of the UNIVERSAL DELUGE And of the Effects that it had upon the EARTH By Iohn Woodward M.D. Professor of Physick in Gresham-College and Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for Ric. Wilkin at the Kings-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1695. To the Honourable Sir Robert Southwell Knight President of the Royal Society SIR THE Subject of these following Papers being Philosophical and so not foreign to the Conversations you frequent I could not direct them better than to the Person whom the Royal Society have so often made choice of to fill their Chair For tho' your Business hath been much in the open World yet am I well assured that Things of this Nature have always been your Recreation and Delight The Truth is your Attention to hear me discourse of my Travels under Ground and the Uses I proposed of what there I found gave me no small Encouragement to expose my Observations to the publick View And 't is my Hope that those Things may find Pardon from others which have had Approbation with you I am very truly SIR Your most humble Servant I. WOODWARD PREFACE HAving in the Essay it self given some Intimation both of the Design of it and the Reasons which induced me to make it publick I shall not here keep the Reader in suspense much longer than only while I acquaint him that proposing to draw a considerable number of Materials into so narrow a Compass that they might all be contained in this small Volume I was obliged to be very brief and concise And therefore as Pieces of Miniature Sculpture or other Workmanship in little must be allowed a closer Inspection so this â—reatise will require some Care and Application in the Perusal Not but that I have endeavoured as far as was practicable in so little room so to dispose and order things by interweaving with the Assertions some of the Proofs whereon they depend and occasionally scattering several of the more important Observations throughout the Work that it will be no very hard Task for any one to discover the main Grounds whereon all that I here advance is founded That this may be the more clearly apprehended I shall beg leave to illustrate it by one or two Instances It will perhaps at first sight seem very strange and almost shock an ordinary Reader to find me asserting as I do that the whole Terrestrial Globe was taken all to pieces and dissolved at the Deluge the Particles of Stone Marble and all other solid Fossils dissevered taken up into the Water and there sustained together with Sea-shells and other Animal and Vegetable Bodies and that the present Earth consists and was formed out of that promiscuous Mass of Sand Earth Shells and the rest falling down again and subsiding from the Water But whoever shall duely attend to what I elsewhere lay down viz. that there are vast Multitudes of Shells and other Marine Bodies found at this day incorporated with and lodged in all sorts of Stone in Marble in Chalk and to be short in all the other ordinary Matter of the Globe which is close and compact enough to preserve them that these are found thus reposited amongst this Terrestrial Matter from near the Surface of the Earth downwards to the greatest Depth we ever dig or lay it open and this in all Parts of it quite round the Globe that the said terrestrial Matter is disposed into Strata or Layers placed one upon another in like manner as any earthy Sediment setling down from a Fluid in great quantity will naturally be that these Marine Bodies are now found lodged in those Strata according to the Order of their Gravity those which are heaviest lying deepest in the Earth and the lighter sorts when there are any such in the same place shallower or nearer to the Surface and both those and these amongst terrestrial Matter which is of the same specifick Gravity that they are the heavier Shells in Stone the lighter in Chalk and so of the rest I say whoever shall but rightly weigh all this he 'll have no need to go further for Proof that the Earth was actually so dissolved and afterwards framed a-new in such manner as I have set forth And if to this he shall think fit to add the other Arguments of the same Thing which he will meet with in their Place they also will I hope not fail of doing their Part in convincing him still more of the Truth and Certainty of this Matter The other Instance I make choice of shall be of the Universality of the Deluge which is another Proposition that I insist upon And for this let but the Reader please to consider what I deliver from authentick Relations that the marine Bodies aforesaid are found in all Parts of the known World as well in Europe Africa and America as in Asia and this even to the very tops of the highest Mountains and then I think he cannot reasonably doubt of the Proposition but more especially if hereunto he shall joyn what I offer concerning the Great Abyss and thence learns that there is at this day resident in that huge Conceptacle Water enough to effect such a Deluge to drown the whole Globe and lay all even the highest Mountains under Water But if he should be at a loss to know how I got such Notice of that subterranean Reservatory as to enable me to make a Computation of the Quantity of Water now conceal'd therein if he carefully peruse the Propositions concerning Earthquakes and some others in the Third Part he cannot but discover at least some of the ways whereby I got light thereinto and at the same time find why it is that I am so particular in relating the Phaenomena of Earthquakes and dwell so long upon that Subject in this shorter Work These I intend for Example and Direction to the Reader how he may satisfie himself in any of the other Heads 'T is impossible for me to foresee the Difficulties and Haesitations of every one they will be more or fewer according to the Capacity of each Peruser and as his Penetration and Insight into Nature is greater or less They who have Attention enough to take in the intire Platform as here laid down who see the Chain which runs through the whole and can pick up and bear in mind the Observations and Proofs here and there as they lie and then confer them with the Propositions will discern in great measure how these Propositions flow from them but they who cannot so easily do this must be intreated to have a little patience untill the Thing be further unfolded and more amply and plainly made out A few Advances there are in the following Papers tending to assert the Superintendence and Agency of Providence in the Natural World as also to evince
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
a relation to some now extant upon the Shores as the different Species of those themselves do to one another that they are of the very same specifick Gravity with those to which they are so generically allied and of the same Texture and Constitution of parts the substance of these being as plaintly testaceous as that of those is insomuch that any Man that compares them can no more doubt of the reality of the one than of the other whence it must needs follow that there were such Shell-fish once in being which is enough for my purpose I being no ways concerned to make out that there are of the same kinds still actually living in the Ocean Though if I was 't would be no very hard task it being evident from the Relations of Dyvers and Fishers for Pearls that there are many kinds of Shell-fish which lye perpetually concealed in the Deep skreen'd from our Eyes by that vast world of Water and which have their continual abode at the bottom of the Ocean without ever approaching near the Shores it being as unnatural for these to desert this their native station as 't is for those that are the inhabitants of the Shores to quit theirs and retire into the deep that for this reason these are called by Naturalists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Pelagiae as the others that reside nearer to the Shores are by them called Littorales Now the Shells which we find exposed upon our Shores are only those which are cast up and stranded by tides and by storms and consequently are all of them Exuviâ— of those kinds that live near the Shores and not of those that inhabit the Main or the deeper and remoter parts of the Ocean it being certain from the Relations also of Dyvers that the Tides and Storms even the most tempestuous and turbulent affect only the superficial parts of the Ocean the Shallows and Shores but never reach the greater Depths or disturb the bottom of the Main these are as quiet and free from Commotion in the midst of storms as in the greatest calm so that the Shell-fish which are resident in these places live and dye there and are never dislodged or removed by storms nor cast upon the Shores which the Littorales usually are When therefore I shall have proved more at large that those which we find at Land that are not matchable with any upon our Shores are many of them of those very kinds which the forecited Relations particularly assure us are found no where but in the deeper parts of the Sea and that as well those which we can match as those we cannot are all Remains of the universal Deluge when the Water of the Ocean being boisterously turned out upon the Earth bore along with it Fishes of all sorts Shells and the like moveable Bodies which it left behind at its return back again to its Chanel it will not I presume be thought strange that amongst the rest it left some of the Pelagiae or those kinds of Shells which naturally have their abode at main-sea and which therefore are now never flung up upon the Shores and it may very reasonably be concluded that all these strange Shells which we cannot so match are of these Pelagiae that the several kinds of them are at this day living in the huge bosom of the Ocean and that there is not any one intire species of Shell-fish formerly in being now perish'd and lost That it is also very true that there are some Shells such as those of the larger Buccinae and Conchae Veneris of Lobsters Crabs and others of the crustaceous kind that are very rarely found at Land so rarely that some of these Gentlemen have asserted that they are never found but that I shall shew to be a mistake all the Shells in their whole List having been found in the Earth in one place or other But that these are very seldom found any where I most readily grant and this is so far from being an Argument against what I am going to advance that 't is as full and substantial a Proof of the truth of it as I could possibly wish For the Shells in this List are all lighter than Stone Marble and the other ordinary Terrestrial Matter Now both these and all other sorts of Shells that are so light occur very seldom at Land or in the Earth in comparison of the Shells of Cockles Perewinkles and the rest which are more ponderous so as to equal the Stone and the other Terrestrial Matter in Gravity The Reason of which will be very plain when I shall have shewn that at the time of the Deluge when these Shells were brought out upon the Earth and reposed therein in the manner we now find them Stone and all other solid Minerals lost their solidity and that the sever'd Particles thereof together with those of the Earth Chalk and the rest as also Shells and all other Animal and Vegetable Bodies were taken up into and sustained in the Water that at length all these subsided again promiscuously and without any other order than that of the different specifick Gravity of the several Bodies in this confused Mass those which had the greatest degree of Gravity sinking down first and so setling lowest then those Bodies which had a lesser degree of Gravity fell next and settled so as to make a Stratum upon the former and so on in their several turns to the lightest of all which subsiding last settled at the Surface and covered all the râ—st that this very various Miscellany of Bodies being determined to subsidence in this Order meerly by their different specifick Gravities all those which had the same degree of Gravity subsided at the same time fell into and composed the same Stratum so that those Shells and other Bodies that were of the same specifick Gravity with Sand sunk down together with it and so became inclosed in the Strata of Stone which that Sand formed or constituted those which were lighter and of but the same specifick Gravity with Chalk in such places of the Mass where any Chalk was fell to the bottom at the same time that the Chalky Particles did and so were entombed in the Strata of Chalk and in like manner all the rest that accordingly we now find in the Sand-stone of all Countries the specifick Gravity of the several sorts whereof is very little different being generally to water as 2½ or 2 9 16 to 1 only those Coâ—shae Pectines Cochleâ— and other Shells that are nearly of the same Gravity viz. 2 ½ or 2 â… to 1 but these are ordinarily found enclosed in it in prodigious numbers whereas of Oyster-shells which are in Gravity but as about 2 â…“ to 1 of Echini which are but as 2 or 2â…› to 1 or the other lighter kinds of Shells scarce one ever appears therein but on the contrary in Chalk which is lighter than Stone being but as about 2 1 10 to 1 there are only found Echini
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
in Chalk but of the heavier kinds scarcely one ever appears these subsiding sooner and so settling deeper and beneath the Strata of Chalk That Humane Bodies the Bodies of Quadrupeds and other Land-Animals of Birds of Fishes both of the Cartilaginous Squamose and Crustaceous kinds the Bones Teeth Horns and other parts of Beasts and of Fishes the Shells of Land-Snails and the Shells of those River and Sea Shell-Fish that were lighter than Chalk c. Trees Shrubs and all other Vegetables and the Seeds of them and that peculiar Terrestrial Matter whereof these consist and out of which they are all formed I say all these except some Mineral or Metallick Matter happened to have been affix'd to any of them whilst they were sustained together in the Water so as to augment the weight of them being bulk for bulk lighter than Sand Marl Chalk or the other ordinary Matter of the Globe were not precipitated till the last and so lay above all the former constituting the supreme or outmost Stratum of the Globe That â—hese being thus lodged upon the rest and consequently more nearly exposed to the Air Weather and other Injuries the Bodies of the Animals would suddenly corrupt and rot the Bones Teeth and Shells would likewise all rot in time except those which were secured by the extraordinary Strength and Firmness of their Parts or which happened to be lodged in such places where there was great plenty of bituminous or other like Matter to preserve and as it were embalm them that the Trees would in time also decay and rot unless such as chanced to be reposed in and secured by the same kind of Matter that the other more tender Vegetables Shrubs and Herbs would rot likewise and decay But the Seeds of all kinds of Vegetables being by this means reposed and as it were planted near the Surface of the Earth in a convenient and natural Soil amongst Matter proper for the Formation of Vegetables would germinate grow up and replenish the face of the Earth And that vegetative terrestrial Matter that fell along with these into this uppermost Stratum and of which principally it consists hath been ever since and will continue to be the standing fund and promptuary out of which is derived the Matter of all Animal and Vegetable Bodies and whereinto at the Dissolution of those Bodies that Matter is restored back again successively for the Constitution and Formation of others That the Strata of Marble of Stone and of all other solid Matter attained their Solidity as soon as the Sand or other Matter whereof they consist was arrived at the bottom and well settled there And that all those Strata which are solid at this day have been so ever since that time That the said Strata whether of Stone of Chalk of Cole of Earth or whatever other Matter they consisted of lying thus each upon other were all originally parallel that they were plain eaven and regular and the Surface of the Earth likewise eaven and spherical that they were continuous and not interrupted or broken and that the whole Mass of the Water lay then above them all and constituted a fluid Sphere environing the Globe That after some time the Strata were broken on all sides of the Globe that they were dislocated and their Situation varied being elevated in some places and depressed in others That the Agent or force which effected this Disruption and Dislocation of the Strata was seated within the Earth That all the Irregularities and Inequalities of the Terrestrial Globe were caused by this means date their Original from this Disruption and are all entirely owing unto it That the natural Grotto's in Rocks and those Intervals of the Strata which in my Observations I call the Perpendicular Fissures are nothing but these Interruptions or Breaches of the Strata That the more eminent Parts of the Earth Mountains and Rocks are only the Elevations of the Strata these wherever they were solid rearing against and supporting each other in the posture whereinto they were put by the bursting or breaking up of the Sphere of Earth and not falling down again nor returning to their former and more level site as did the Strata of Earth and other Matter that was not solid and had no Strata of Stone or other consistent Matter interposed amongst their Strata underneath to uphold them in the posture they were then raised into For which reason'tis that Countries which abound with Stone Marble or other solid Matter are uneaven and mountainous and that those which afford none of these but consist of Clay Gravel and the like without any Stone c. interposed are more champaign plain and level That the lower parts of the Earth Vallies the Chanel of the Sea and the rest are nothing but Depressions of the Strata That Islands were formed and distinguished by the Depression or sinking down of the Strata lying betwixt each of them and betwixt them and the Continent In one word that the whole terraqueous Globe was by this means at the time of the Deluge put into the Condition that we now behold Here was we see a mighty Revolution and that attended with Accidents very strange and amazing the most horrible and portentous Catastrophe that Nature ever yet saw an elegant orderly and habitable Earth quite unhinged shattered all to pieces and turned into an heap of ruins Convulsions so exorbitant and unruly a Change so exceeding great and violent that the very Representation alone is enough to startle and shock a Man In truth the thing at first appeared so wonderful and surprizing to me that I must confess I was for some time at a stand nor could I bring over my Reason to assent untill by a deliberate and careful Examination of all Circumstances of these Marine Bodies I was abundantly convinced that they could not have come into those Circumstances by any other means than such a Dissolution of the Earth and Confusion of things And were it not that the Observations made in so many and those so distant places and repeated so often with the most scrupulous and diffident Circumspection did so establish and ascertain the thing as not to leave any room for Contest or Doubt I could scarcely ever have credited it And though the whole Series of this extraordinary Turn may seem at first view to exhibit nothing but Tumult and Disorder nothing but hurry jarring and distraction of things though it may carry along with it some slight shew that 't was managed blindly and at random yet if we draw somewhat nearer and take a closer prospect of it if we look into its retired Movements and more secret and latent Springs we may there trace out a steady Hand producing good out of evil the most consummate and absolute Order and Beauty out of the highest Confusion and Deformity acting with the most exquisite Contrivance and Wisdom attending vigilantly throughout the whole Course of this grand Affair and directing all the several Steps
and Periods of it to an End and that a most noble and excellent one no less than the Happiness of the whole race of Mankind the Benefit and universal Good of all the many Generations of Men which were to come after which were to inhabit this Earth thus moduled anew thus suited to their present Condition and Necessities But the Presidence of that mighty Power in this Revolution its particular Agency and Concern therein and its Purpose and Design in the several Accidents of it will more evidently appear when I shall have proved That altho' one Intention of the Deluge was to inflict a deserved Punishment upon that Race of Men yet it was not solely levelled against Mankind but principally against the Earth that then was with design to destroy and alter that Constitution of it which was apparently calculated and contrived for a state of Innocence to fashion it afresh and give it a Constitution more nearly accommodated to the present Frailties of its Inhabitants That the said Earth though not indifferently and alike fertil in all parts of it was yet generally much more fertil than ours is That the exteriour Stratum or Surface of it consisted entirely of a kind of terrestrial Matter proper for the Nourishment and Formation of Plants and this in great Plenty and Purity being little or not at all entangled with an Intermixture of meer Mineral Matter that was unfit for Vegetation That its Soil was more luxuriant and teemed forth its Productions in far greater plenty and abundance than the present Earth does That the Plough was then of no use and not invented till after the Deluge that Earth requiring little or no Care or Culture but yeilding its encrease freely and without any considerable Labour and Toil or assistance of Humane Industry by this means allowing Mankind that time which must otherwise have been spent in Agriculture Plowing Sowing and the like to far more divine and noble Uses to Purposes more agreeable to the Design of their Creation there being no hazard whilst they continued in that state of Perfection of their abusing this Plenty or perverting it to any other end than the sustenance of Nature and the necessary support of Life That when Man was fallen and had abandoned his primitive Innocence the Cafe was much altered and a far different Scene of Things presented that generous Vertue masculine Bravery and prudent Circumspection which he was before Master of now deserted him together with that Innocence which was the Basis and Support of all and a strange imbecility immediately seized and laid hold of him he became pusillanimous and was easily ruffled with every little Passion within supine and as openly exposed to any Temptation or Assault from without And now these exuberant Productions of the Earth became a continual Decoy and Snare unto him they only excited and fomented his Lusts and ministred plentiful Fewel to his Vices and Luxury and the Earth requiring little or no Tillage there was little occasion for Labour so that almost his whole time lay upon his hands and gave him leisure to contrive and full swing to pursue his Follies by which means he was laid open to all manner of Pravity Corruption and Enormity and we need not be much surprized to hear That the wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually noâ— more that that Generation of Men was more particularly addicted to Intemperance Sensuality and Unchastity that they spent their time in Gluttony in Eating and Drinking in Lust and Wantonness or as the sacred Writer cleanly and modestly expresses it in marrying and giving in marriage and this without Discretion or Decency without regard to Age or Affinity but promiscuously and with no better a Guide than the Impulses of a brutal Appetite They took them Wives of all which they chose Plenty and Abundance Idleness and Ease so naturally cherishing and promoting those particular Vices nor lastly that the Apostacy was so great the Infection so universal that the Earth was filled with violence and that all flesh had corrupted his way the Cause of this Corruption the Fertility of that Earth being so universal so diffusive and epidemical And indeed 't would be very hard to assign any other single Cause besides this that could ever possibly have had so spreading and general an Effect as this had The Pravity of humane Nature is not I fear less than it was then The Passions of Men are yet as exorbitant and their Inclinations as vicious Men have been wicked since the Deluge they are so still and will be so but not universally there are now bounds set to the Contagion and 't is restrained by removing the main cause of it but there the Venom manifested it self on all hands spread far and near and scarcely stop'd till 't was insinuated into the whole mass of Mankind and the World was little better than a common fold of Phrenticks and Bedlams That to reclaim and retrieve the World out of this wretched and forlorn state the common Father and Benefactor of Mankind seasonably interposed his hand and rescued miserable Man out of the gross Stupidity and Sensuality whereinto he was thus unfortunately plunged And this he did partly by tying up his hands and shortning the power of sinning checking him in the Career of his Follies by Diseases and Pains and setting Death the King of Terrors which before stood aloof off and at the long distance of eight or nine hundred Years now much nearer to his view ordaining that his days shall be but an hundred and twenty years and partly by removing the Temptation and cause of the Sin by destroying that Earth which had furnish'd forth Maintenance in such store unto it by changing that Constitution of it and rendring it more agreeable to the laps'd and frail state of Mankind That this Change was not wrought by altering either the form of the Earth or its Position in respect of the Sun as was not long ago surmised by a very Learned Man but by dissolving it by reducing all the Matter of it to its first constituent Principles by mingling and confounding them the Vegetative with mineral Matter and the different kinds of mineral Matter with each other and by retrenching a considerable quantity of the vegetable Matter which lay in such plenty and purity at the Surface of the Antediluvian Earth and rendred it so exuberantly fruitful and precipitating it at the time of the subsidence of the general Mass of Earth and other Bodies which were before raised up into the Water to such a depth as to bury it leaving only so much of it near the Surface as might just sufficiently satisfie the Wants of humane Nature but little or no more and even that not pure not free from the inter-mixture of meer steril mineral Matter and such as is in no wise fit for the
he tells us that after the Deluge was over and Noah and his Family come forth of the Ark He builded an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt-offerings on the Altar and the â—ord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again Curse the Ground any more neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done Wherein he plainly refers to the Curse denounc'd above at the Apostacy of Adam implying that it was not fulfilled till the Deluge And a little after he as plainly intimates that the fulfilling of it lay in the Destruction of the Earth then wrought For speaking again of the same thing instead of the Expression Curse the Ground here used he makes use of Destroy the Earth The whole Passage runs thus And I will establish my Covenant with you neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood neither shall there any more be a Flood to destroy the Earth Nor is it indeed in any wise strange that this Curse had not it's Effect sooner especially since 't was not limited to any time There are so many Presidents on Record in Holy Writ of this way of proceeding that no one can be well ignorant of them so that I shall not need to charge this place with more than one and that shall be the Case of Ham for which we are likewise beholden to the same Author Moses This Person by his indiscreet and unnatural Irrision and exposing of his Father incurrs his Indignation and Curse But which is very remarkable Noah does not lay the Curse upon Ham who was actually guilty of the Crime whether out of greater Tenderness he being of the two nearer allied unto him or for what other reason I shall not here enquire but transferrs it to Canaan Cursed be Canaan a Servant of Servants shall he be to his Brethren to Shem and to Iaphet Nay which is still more this was never inflicted upon Canaan in person but upon his Posterity and that not till many Generations afterwards at such time as the Israelites returning out of Egypt possest themselves of the Country of the Canaanites and made them their Servants The Story is so well known that I shall not need to point it out to the Reader who may peruse it at his leisure 'T was well onwards of a thousand Years before ever this Curse began to take effect before the Canaanites were brought under Servitude by the Israelites who were descended from Shem and a great many more before 't was finally accomplished and they subjected unto the Posterity of Iaphet To conclude 't was really a longer time before this than it was before the other the Curse upon the Earth was fully brought about To proceed therefore to the other Point the Tillage of the Earth before the Deluge That there was Tillage bestowed upon it Moses does indeed intimate in general and at large but whether it was bestowed on all or only upon some parts of that Earth as also what sort of Tillage that was and what Labour it cost is not exprest so that for all this we are at liberty and may use our Discretion For the present I must pass by the Enquiry but in due place I hope to give some Satisfaction in it and to shew that their Agriculture was nothing near so laborious and troublesome nor did it take up so much time as ours doth That 's a Consequence of the Proof of the greater Fertility of that Earth it being plain that the more it exerted that Fertility the less need there was of Manure of Culture or Humane Industry to excite and promote it Nor can any Man reasonably suspect because of this mention of Tillage that the Curse upon the Ground was come on or that the primitive Exuberance of the Earth was lessened and abridged before the Deluge for Moses makes mention of Tillage before ever Adam was created There was not says he a man to till the ground and consequently there would have been requisite such a Tillage as this which he speaks of in these three Chapters tho' the Curse had never been denounc'd or Man had not fallen But 't is highly probable that upon Adam's Disobedience Almighty God chased him out of Paradise the fairest and most delicious part of that Earth into some other the most barren and unpleasant of all the whole Globe the more effectually to signifie his Displeasure and to convince that unhappy Man how great a Misfortune and Forfeiture he had incurred by his late Offence And here above all other Parts of the Earth there would be Work and Employ for him and for his Son Cain And thus much may serve for the present to shew that my Account of the Antediluvian Earth is so far from interfereing with that which Moses hath given us that it holds forth a natural and unforc'd Interpretation of his Sense on this Subject There are a few other Passages in the same Author which may require some Explication but they are none of them such that a Reader of moderate Understanding may not easily clear them without my Assistance so that I shall not crowd this Piece with them for I fear 't will be thought that I have already taken too great a liberty The Compass that I am confined unto by the Rules of this kind of Writing is so narrow that I am forced to pass over many things in silence and can but just touch upon others To lay down every thing at length and in its full light so as to obviate all Exceptions and remove every Difficulty would carry me out too far beyond the Measures allowed to a Tract of this Nature That 's the Business of the Larger Work of which this is only the Module or Platform In that Work I hope to make amends for these Omissions and particularly shall consider What was the immediate Instrument or Means whereby the Stone and other solid Matter of the Antediluvian Earth was dissolved and reduced to the Condition mentioned Consect 2. of this Part. Why the Shells Teeth Bones and other parts of Animal Bodies as also the Trunks Roots and other parts of Vegetables were not dissolved as well as the Stone and other Mineral Solids of that Earth Of this I shall assign a plain and Physical Reason taken meerly from the Cause of the Solidity of these Mineral Bodies which I shew to be quite different from that whereunto Vegetables and Animals owe the Cohaesion of their parts and that this was suspended and ceased at the time that the Water of the Deluge came forth which the other I mean the Cause of the Cohaesion of the Parts of Animals and Vegetables did not with the reason of this What was the Reason that in case the Terrestrial Globe was entirely dissolved and there be now and was then a Space or Cavity in the Central parts of it so large as to give reception to that mighty Mass of
lesser quantity and are always found saturated with it which is the reason that they are softer and cut much more easily when first taken out of their Beds and Quarries than afterwards when they have lain some time exposed to the Air and that Humidity is evaporated That this Vapour proceeds up directly towards the Surface of the Globe on all sides and as near as possible in right Lines unless impeded and diverted by the Interposition of Strata of Marble the denser sorts of Stone or other like Matter which is so close and compact that it can admit it only in smaller quantity and this very slowly and leisurely too That when it is thus intercepted in its passage the Vapour which cannot penetrate the Stratum diametrically some of it glides along the lower Surface of it permeating the horizontal Interval which is betwixt the said dense Stratum and that which lies underneath it the rest passing the Interstices of the Mass of the subjacent Strata whether they be of laxer Stone of Sand of Marle or the like with a Direction parallel to the Site of those Strata till it arrives at their perpendicular Intervalls That the Water being thus approach'd to these Intervalls in case the Strata whereby the ascending Vapour was collected and condensed into Water as we usually speak in like manner as by an Alembick happen to be raised above the level of the Earth's ordinary Surface as those Strata are whereof Mountains consist then the Water being likewise got above the said level flows forth of those Intervalls or Apertures and if there be no Obstacle without forms Brooks and Rivers but where the Strata which so condense it are not higher than the mean Surface of the Earth it stagnates at the Apertures and only forms Standing Springs That though the Supply from this great Receptacle below be continual and nearly the same at all Seasons and alike to all parts of the Globe yet when it arrives at or near the Surface of the Earth where the Heat the Agent which evaporates and bears it up is not so constant and uniform as is that resident within the Globe but is subject to Vicissitudes and Alterations being at certain Seasons greater than at others being also greater in some Climates and Parts of the Earth than in others it thence happens that the quantity of Water at the Surface of the Earth though sent up from the Abyss with an almost constant Equality is various and uncertain as is the Heat there at some Seasons and in some Countries the Surface abounding and being even drowned with the plenty of it the Springs full and the Rivers high at other Seasons and in other Countries both Springs and Rivers exceeding low yea sometimes totally failing That when the Heat in the exteriour Parts of the Earth and in the ambient Air is as intense as that in the interiour Parts of it all that Water which passes the Strata directly mounting up in separate Parcels or in form of Vapour does not stop at the Surface because the Heat there is equal both in quantity and power to that underneath which brought it out of the Abyss This Heat therefore takes it here and bears it up part of it immediately out at the Surface of the Earth the rest through the Tubes and Vessels of the Vegetables which grow thereon Herbs Shrubs and Trees and along with it a sort of vegetative terrestrial Matter which it detaches from out the uppermost Stratum wherein these are planted this it deposes in them for their Nutriment as it passes through them and issuing out at the tops and extremities of them it marches still on and is elevated up into the Atmosphere to such height that the Heat being there less it becomes condensed unites and combines into small Masses or Drops and at length falls down again in Rain Dew Hail or Snow And for the other part of the Water which was condensed at the Surface of the Earth and sent forth collectively into Standing-Springs and Rivers this also sustains a Diminution from the Heat above being evaporated more or less in proportion to the greater or lesser Intenseness of the Heat and the greater or lesser Extent of the Surface of the Water so sent forth That as these Evaporations are at some times greater according to the greater heat of the Sun fo wherever they alight again in Rain 't is as much superiour in quantity to the Rain of colder Seasons as the Suns power is then superiour to its power in those Seasons This is apparent even in these Northern Climes where the Suns power is never very great our Rains in Iune Iuly and August being much greater than those of the colder Months the Drops larger and consequently heavier falling thicker faster and with greater force striking the ground at their fall with violence and making a mighty noise beating down the fruit from the Trees prostrating and laying Corn growing in the Fields and sometimes so filling the Rivers as to make them out-swell their Banks and lay the neighbouring Grounds under Water But much more apparent is it in the more Southern Regions in Abassinia Nigritia Guinea in the East-Indies in Brasil Paraguay and other Countries of South America to instance in no more In these the Sun shews a much greater force and their Rains which are periodical happening always much about the same time and lasting several Months fall in such quantities as to be more like Rivers descending than Showers and by these are caused those mighty periodical Inundations of the Nile the Niger the Rio da Volta the Ganges the Rio de las Amazonas the Rio de la Plata and other Rivers of those Countries to which Inundations Egypt through which the Nile flows the Indies and the rest owe their extraordinary Fertility and those mighty Crops they produce after these Waters are withdrawn from off their Fields Rain-water as we have already noted carrying along with it a sort of terrestrial Matter that fertilizes the Land as being proper for the Formation of Vegetables That when the Heat in the exteriour Parts of the Earth and in the ambient Air is less than that in the interiour the Evaporations are likewise less and the Springs and Rivers thereupon do not only cease to be diminished proportionably to the Relaxation of the Heat but are much augmented a great part of the Water which ascends to the Surface of the Earth in Vapour stopping there for want of Heat to â—ount it thence up into the Atmosphere and saturating the superficial or uppermost Strata with Water which by degrees drains down into Wells Springs and Rivers and so makes an Addition unto them And this is the reason that these abound with Water in the colder Season so much more than they do in the hotter That the Water which is thus dispens'd to the Earth and Atmosphere by the Great Abyss being carried down by Rains and by Rivers into the Ocean which as we have said
communicates and stands at an AEquilibrium with that subterranean Conservatory is by that means restored back to the Abyss whence it returns again in a continual Circulation to the Surface of the Earth in Vapours and Springs That the final Cause of this Distribution of Water in such quantity to all parts of the Earth indifferently in Springs Rivers and Rain and of this perpetual Circulation and Motion of it is the Propagation of Bodies Animals Vegetables and Minerals in a continued Succession That for Animals they either feed upon Vegetables immediately or which comes to the same at last upon other Animals which have fed upon them so that Vegetables are the first and main Fund and fit Matter being supplied unto these Provision is thereby made for the Nourishment of Animals these Vegetables being no other than so many Machines serving to derive that Matter from the Earth to digest and prepare it for their food leisurely and by little and little as they can admit and dispose of it and as it is brought to them by the Ministration of this Fluid That Vegetables being naturally fix'd and tyed alâ—ays to the same place and so not able as Animals are to shift and seek out after Matter proper for their Increment 't was indispensably necessary that it should be brought to them and that there should be some Agent thus ready and at hand in all places to do them that Office and so carry on this great and important Work For this Matter being impotent sluggish and inactive hath no more power to stir or move it self to these Bodies than they themselves have to move unto it and therefore it must have lain eternally confined to its Beds of Earth and then none of these Bodies could ever have been formed were there not this or the like Agent to educe it thence and bear it unto them Nor does the Water thus hurried about from place to place serve only to carry the Matter unto these Bodies but the parts of it being very voluble and lubricous as well as fine and small it easily insinuates it self into and placidly distends the Tubes and Vessels of Vegetables and by that means introduces into them the Matter it bears along with it conveying it to the several Parts of them where each Part by a particular Mechanism in the Structure of it detaches and assumes those Particles of the Mass so conveyed which are proper for the Nutrition and Augmentation of that Part incorporating these with it and letting all the rest pass on with the Fluid those Particles which are either superfluous and more than the parts of the Plant can admit and manage at one time or that are not suitable and proper for the Nourishment of any of the parts of a Plant of that kind passing out at the Extremities of it along with the Water And this latter Office it does likewise to Animals Water and other Fluids serving to convey the Matter whereby they are nourished from their Stomachs and Guts through the Lacteals and other finer Vessels to the several parts of their Bodies But the Formation of Animals and Vegetables being a thing somewhat foreign to my present purpose I shall adjourn the fuller Consideration of it to another Occasion How far Water is concerned in the Formation of Minerals will appear more at large in the succeeding Part of this Work That 't is this Vapour or subtile Fluid that ascending thus incessantly out of the Abyss and pervading the Strata of Gravel Sand Earth Stone and the rest by degrees rots and decays the Bones Shells Teeth and other parts of Animals as also the Trees and other Vegetables which were lodged in those Strata at the Deluge this Fluid by its continual Attrition as it passes successively by them fretting the said Bodies by little and little wearing off and dissipating their constituent Corpuscles and at length quite dissolving and destroying their Texture That yet it hath not this Effect indifferently upon all of them those which happened to be reposed in the firmer and compacter Strata e.g. of Marble the closer kinds of Sand-stone Chalk and the like being thereby protected in great measure from its Attacks it passing through these only in lesser quantity and that slowly and with difficulty so that its Motion here being more feeble and languid the Shells and other Bodies enclosed in these are usually found very firm and entire many of them retaining even their natural Colours to this day though they have lain thus above four thousand years and may doubtless endure much longer even as long as those Strata to which they owe their Preservation shall themselves endure and continue entire and undisturbed whilst those which were lodged in Marle Sand Gravel and the like more loose and pervious Matter are so rotted and decayed that they are now not at all or very difficultly distinguishable from the Marle or other Matter in which they lye Not but that there are sometimes found even in these laxer Strata Shells Teeth and other Bodies that are still tolerably firm and that have escaped pretty safe but these are only such as are of a more than ordinary robust and durable Constitution whereby they were enabled the better to withstand the repeated Assaults of the permeating Fluid and to maintain their Integrity whilst the other tenderer kinds perish'd and were destroyed That this same subtile Fluid exerts the same power upon the Surface of the Earth that it does in the Bowels of it and as it is instrumental to the Formation of Bodies here so is it likewise by a different Operation which I have not room to describe in this place of the Destruction of them and that Corrosion and Dissolution of Bodies even the most solid and durable which is vulgarly ascrib'd to the Air is caused meerly by the Action of this Matter upon them the Air being so far from injuring and preying upon the Bodies it environs that it contributes to their Security and Preservation by impeding and obstructing the Action of this Matter and were it not for the Interposition of the Air they could never be able to make so long and vigorous Resistance as now they do That this Subterranean Heat or Fire which thus elevates the Water out of the Abyss being in any part of the Earth stop'd and so diverted from its ordinary course by some accidental Glut or Obstruction in the Pores or Passages through which it used to ascend to the Surface and being by that means preternaturally assembled in greater quantity than usual into one place it causes a great Rarifaction and Intumescence of the Water of the Abyss putting it into very great Commotions and Disorders and at the same time making the like Effort upon the Earth which is expanded upon the face of the Abyss it occasions that Agitation and Concussion of it which we call an Earthquake That this Effort is in some Earthquakes so vehement that it splits and tears the Earth
Strata is such that those Caverns open into the Abyss and so freely admit and entertain the Fire which assembling therein is the Cause of the Shock it naturally steering its course that way where it finds the readiest Reception which is towards these Caverns this being indeed much the case of Damps in Mines whereof more by and by Besides that those Parts of the Earth which abound with Strata of Stone or Marble making the strongest Opposition to this Effort are the most furiously shattered and suffer much more by it than those which consist of Gravel Sand and the like laxer Matter which more easily give way and make not so great resistance an Event observable not only in this but all other Explosions whatever But above all those Countries which yeild great store of Sulphur and Nitre are by far the most injured and incommoded by Earthquakes these Minerals constituting in the Earth a kind of Natural Gunpowder which taking fire upon this assembly and approach of it occasions that murmuring noise that subterranean Thunder if I may so speak which is heard rumbling in the bowels of the Earth during Earthquakes and by the assistance of its explosive Power renders the Shock much greater so as sometimes to make miserable Havock and Destruction And 't is for this reason that Italy Sicily Anatolia and some parts of Greece have been so long and so often alarmed and harassed by Earthquakes these Countries being all Mountainous and Cavernous abounding with Stone and Marble and affording Sulphur and Nitre in great Plenty But for a more particular History of the several Phaenomena which precede which accompany and which follow after Earthquakes for the Causes of those Phaenomena and for a more exact Account of the Origine and the Oeconomy of this subterranean Fire I must beg the Reader 's Patience till the larger Work be made publick That AEtna Vesavius Hecla and the other Volcanoes are only so many Spiracles serving for the discharge of this subterranean Fire when 't is thus preternaturally assembled That where there happens to be such a Structure and Conformation of the interiour Parts of the Earth as that the Fire may pass freely and without impediment from the Caverns wherein it assembles unto these Spiracles it then readily and easily gets out from time to time without shaking or disturbing the Earth but where such Communication is wanting or the Passages not sufficiently large and open so that it cannot come at the said Spiracles without first forcing and removing all Obstacles it heaves up and shocks the Earth with greater or lesser Impetuosity according as the quantity of the Fire thus assembled is greater or less till it hath made its way to the Mouth of the Vulcano where it rusheth forth sometimes in mighty Flames with great Velocity and a terrible bellowing noise That therefore there are scarcely any Countries that are much annoyed with Earthquakes that have not one of these Fiery Vents and these are constantly all in Flames whenever any Earthquake happens they disgorging that Fire which whilst underneath was the cause of the Disaster and were it not for these Diverticula whereby it thus gains an Exit 't would rage in the Bowels of the Earth much more furiously and make greater havock than now it doth So that though those Countries where there are such Vulcano's are usually more or less troubled with Earthquakes yet were these Vulcano's wanting they would be much more troubled with them than now they are yea in all probability to that degree as to render the Earth for a vast space around them perfectly uninhabitable In one word so beneficial are these to the Territories where they are that there do not want Instances of some which have been rescued and wholly delivered from Earthquakes by the breaking forth of a new Vulcano there this continually discharging that Matter which being till then barricaded up and imprisoned in the Bowels of the Earth was the occasion of very great and frequent Calamities That most of these Spiracles perpetually and at all Seasons send forth Fire more or less and though it be sometimes so little that the Eye cannot discern it yet even then by a nearer Approach of the Body may be discovered a copious and very sensible Heat continually issuing out That the Thermae Natural Baths or Hot Springs do not owe their Heat to any Colluctation or Effervescence of the Minerals in them as some Naturalists have believed but to the before-mention'd Subterranean Heat or Fire That these Baths continually emit a manifest and very sensible Heat nâ—y some of them have been observed at some times to send forth an actual and visible Flame That not only these but all other Springs whatever have in them some degree of Heat none of them ever Freezing no not in the longest and severest Frosts but more especially those which arise where there is such a Site and Disposition of the Strata within the Earth as gives free and easie Admission to this Heat and favours its Ascent to the Surface where perspiring forth at the same Outlets with the Water of the Spring it by that means heats it more or less as it chanceth to be dispensed forth in greater or lesser quantity That as the Heat of all Springs is owing to this subterraneous Fire so wherever there are any extraordinary Discharges of this Fire there also are the neighbouring Springs hotter than ordinary witness the many Hot-Springs near AEtna Vesuvius Hecla and all other Vulcanoes That the Heat of the Thermae is not constant and always alike the same Spring suffering at some times a very manifest Failure and Remission of its Heat at others as manifest an Addition and Encrease of it yea sometimes to that Excess as to make it boil and bubble with extream Heat like Water when boyling over a common Fire That particularly during Earthquakes and Eruptions of Vulcano's when there is a more copious Accession of this subterraneous Fire the Thermae all thereabouts become much hotter than before yeilding also a far greater supply of Water than they were wont to do and a murmuring Noise is usually heard below them in the Bowels of the Earth all which is occasioned meerly by the then rapid Motion and Ascent of the Fire in greater plenty than before to the Apertures of these Springs I have now finish'd the Account of this Section and was just going to take off my hand here but recollecting that in the foregoing Part of this Work I promised some further Proofs of Contrivance in the Structure of the Globe we dwell upon and such too as may satisfie any fair and unbyass'd Spectator that the framing and Composition of it out of the Materials of the former Earth was a work of Counsel and Sagacity a Work apparently above the highest reaches of Chance or the Powers of Nature and this being a proper place wherein to produce those Proofs I shall give such Hints of them as the Brevity I am
tyed up to will permit me and then conclude I am indeed well aware that the Author of the Theory of the Earth differs very much from me in Opinion as to this matter He will not allow that there are any such Signs of Art and Skill in the Make of the Present Globe as are here mentioned or that there was so great Care and such exact Measures taken in the re-sitting of it up again at the Delâ—uge He reckons it no other than an huge disorderly Pile of Raines and Rubbisb and is very unwilling to believe that it was the Product of any Reasoning or Designing Agent The Chanel of the Ocean appears to him the most ghastly thing in Nature and he cannot at all admire its beauty or elegancy for 't is in his judgment as deformed and irregular as it is great And for the Caverns of the Earth the Fissures and Breaches of the Strata he cannot fancy that they were formed by any work of Nature nor by any immediate Action of God seeing there is neither use that he can discover nor beauty in this kind of Construction Then for the Mountains these he says are placed in no order one with another that can either respect Vse or Beauty and do not consist of any proportion of Parts that is referable to any Design or that hath the least footsteps of Art or Counsel In fine he thinks there are several things in the Terraqueous Globe that are rude and unseemly and many that are superfluous He looks upon it as incommodious and as a broken and confused heap of Bodies placed in no order to one another nor with any correspondency or regularity of Parts and it seems to him nothing better than a rude Lump and a little dirty Planet I have given his Opinion in his own Words though I have upon all like Occasions taken a shorter Course and contented my self with giving only the sense of others but this I have done here least any Man should suspect that I mistake the Author's Sentiments or do not represent them fairly Now though it were really so that there were some such Eye-sores in our Earth as are here suggested and that we could not presently find out all the Gayeities and Embelishments that we might seek for in it the matter would not be great and we might very well be contented to take it as we find it But after all the thing is in truth quite otherwise and there are none of all these wanting nor any such Deformities as are here imagined but on the contrary so very many real Graces and Beauties that 't is no easie thing to overlook them all Even this very variety of Sea and Land of Hill and Dale which is here reputed so inelegant and unbecoming is indeed extreamly charming and agreeable Nor do I offer this as any private Fancy of my own but as the common Sense of Mankind who are the true and proper Judges in the Case both the Ancients and Moderns giving their Suffrages unanimously herein and even the Heathens themselves have esteemed this variety not only ornamental to the Earth but a Proof of the Wisdom of the Creator of it and alledged it as such whereof more in due place And as I cannot admit that there is any thing unhandsome or irregular so much less can I grant that there is any thing incommodious and Artless or useless and Superfluous in the Globe Were I at full Liberty to do it here 't would be no hard thing to make appear that there are no real Grounds for any such Charge For how easie were it by taking a minute and distinct Survey of the Globe and of the very many and various Limbs and Parts of it to shew that all these are ordered and digested with infinite Exactness and Artifice each in such manner as may best serve to its own proper End and to the use of the whole How easie were it to shew that the Rocks the Mountains and the Caverns against which these Exceptions are made are of indispensible Use and Necessity as well to the Earth as to Man and other Animals and even to all the rest of its Productions That there are no such Blemishes no Defects nothing that might have been altered for the better nothing superfluous nothing useless in all the whole Composition and so finally trace out the numerous Footsteps and Marks of the Presence and Interposition of a most wise and intelligent Architect throughout all this stupendous Fabrick But I must reserve this for the larger Work and content my self for the present with only giving some brief Hints of it in the following Propositions Namely That 't was absolutely necessary for the well-being both of the Earth it self and of all terrestrial Bodies that some of the Strata should consolidate as they did immediately after the Subsidence of their Matter at the Deluge that these should afterwards be broken in certain places and lastly that they should be dislocated some of them elevated and others depressed That had not the Strata of Stone and Marble become solid but the Sand or other Matter whereof they consist continued lax and incoherent and they consequently been as previous as those of Marle Gravel and the like the Water which rises out of the Abyss for the Supply of Springs and Rivers would not have stop'd at the Surface of the Earth but march'd directly and without impediment up into the Atmosphere in all parts of the Globe wherever there was Heat enough in the Air to continue its Ascent and buoy it up so that there then must needs have been an universal failure and want of Springs and Rivers all the Summer-Season in the colder Climes and all the Year round in the hotter and those that are near the AEquator where there is much the greatest need of both the one and the other and this meerly for want of the Interposition of such dense and solid Strata to arrest the ascending Vapour to stop it at the Surface of the Earth and to collect and condense it there That though the Strata had become solid so as to have condensed the rising Vapour yet if they had not been broken also the Water must have lain eternally underneath those Strata without ever coming forth so that there then could have been neither Springs nor Rivers for a very considerable part or indeed almost the whole Earth the Water which supplies these proceeding out at those Breaches This Water therefore would have been wholly intercepted all lock'd up within the Earth and its Egress utterly debarr'd had the Strata of Stone and Marble remained continuous and without such Fissures and Interruptions That these Fissures have a still further use and serve for Receptacles of Metalls and of several sorts of Minerals which are arrested by the Water in its passage thither through the Strata wherein the single Corpuscles of those Metalls and Minerals were lodged and borne along with it into these Fissures where being
part of them I mean all those which we now find lodged in those Strata amongst the Sand Earth c. being actually reposed therein during the time that the Water covered the Earth and the Earth it self then put into such a condition that the rest I mean those we now find in the perpendicular Intervalls should be collected thither by degrees and be formed almost of course meerly by the ordinary Motion of the Water and its Passage to and fro in the Earth That whilst the Corpuscles of Metalls and Minerals together with those of Stone Marble Cole Chalk and the like courser Matter as also the Shells Teeth and other parts of Animals and Vegetables were sustained in the Water at the Deluge after some time that the violence of the Hurry and Commotion was over and the Water come to a state somewhat more calm and sedate such of those Corpuscles as happened to occurr or meet together affix'd to each other and many of them convening uniting and combining into one Mass formed the Metallick and Mineral Balls or Nodules which we now find That all Metallick and Mineral Nodules whatever as well those which are in rude Lumps such as the common Pyritae Flints Agates Onyxes Pebles Jaspers Cornelions and the like as those which are of a more regular and observable Shape such as the Selenites Belemnites Stelechites Mineral Coral and in one word all others whatsoever were formed at this time and by this means That in such parts of the Water where the Corpuscles so sustained chanced to be all of the same kind or at least where there were fewer kinds or varieties of them the Nodules which were thus formed out of them were more simple pure and homogeneous as are the Selenites and some kinds of Pebles and Flints to name no more But where as indeed it generally fell out there happened to be a greater variety of Corpuscles as suppose of Sulphur of Vitriol of Alum of Iron of Copper or whatever else sustained promiscuously together there the Nodules formed out of them were mixt and consisted of a greater variety of Matter confusedly associated into the same Lump Of this the Pyritâ— may serve for an Example whereof some yield Iron Sulphur and Vitriol others Copper and Alum yea some of them contain all these and several more in the same Nodule That the Bones Teeth Shells and other like Bodies being sustained in the Water together with these Metallick and Mineral Corpuscles and the said Corpuscles meeting with and hitting upon those Bodies they affix'd unto them and became conjoyned with them some of them though this very rarely passing into their Pores and Interstices others adhering in Lumps or Masses to their Out-sides and indeed oftentimes combining in such numbers upon the exteriour Surface of the Shell Tooth c. as wholly to cover and involve it in the Mass they together constituted and others of them entering into the Cavities of the Echini Cochleae Conchae and other Shells till they had quite filled them up those Shells by that means serving as Proplasmes oâ— Moulds to the Matter which so filled them limiting and determining both the Dimensions and Figure of it That accordingly we at this day find some few of these fossil Shells and other Animal Substanâ—es with Iron-ore Spar Vitriol Sulphur and the like intruded into their Pores but far greater numbers of them with Lumps of Flint Ores of Metalls and Minerals growing firmly to the Out-sides of them and oftentimes in such quantity as that the Shell or Tooth is wholly covered by those Minerals being immers'd or included in the Mass they constitute insomuch that 't is very usual upon breaking Flints Pyritâ— c to find Pectines Conchae and the like enclosed even in the very middle of them As common is it to find Echini Cochleae Conchae and other Shells having their Cavities fill'd up with Ores of Metalls Flint Spar Native Vitriol Sulphur and other Minerals Not but that these Minerals many times survive the Shells which gave them their Forms and are found even after they are rotted and disappeared for though when lodged in Chalk or the like close Matter which preserves and secures them against external Injuries these Shells are constantly found upon and actually investing the Flint Spar or other Mineral and are commonly as fair and entire as any of their fellow Shells at Sea yet when they happened to be lodged amongst Sand Gravel or the like laxer Matter the Shells are usually perish'd and gone and so the Flint Spar c. left uncover'd In which case the said Flint Spar or other Mineral is of a constant regular and specifick Shape as is the Shell whence it borrows both that Shape and indeed its Name these being the Bodies which are called by Naturalists Echinitae Cochlitae and Cochitae as resembliâ—g the Shells of those names and truly many of them very nearly they having taken the Impresses of the Insides of these Shells with that exquisite Niceness as to express even the smallest and finest Lineaments of them insomuch that no Metall when melted and cast in a Mould can ever possibly represent the Concavity of that Mould with greater Exactness than these Flints and other Minerals do the Concavities of the Shells wherein they were thus moulded That at length all this Metallick and Mineral Matter both that which continued asunder and in single Corpuseles and that which was amass'd and concreted into Nodules subsided down to the bottom at the same time that did the Shells Teeth and other like Bodies as also the Sand Cole Marle and other Matter whereof the Sâ—rata of Sand-stone Cole Marle and the rest are for the most part composed and so were included in and lodged amongst that matter That in regard that both the ordinary Terrestrial Matter and the Mineral and Metallick Matter which was assumed up into the Fluid was different in different parts of it being in some places all chiefly of one kind suppose Sand in others of a different kind e.g. Chalk and in others of several kinds together as Sand Chalk and many more and there being no other Place or Apartment in the Globe assigned to any of this Matter than that whereinto it s own natural Gravity bore it which was only directly downwards whereby it obtained that place in the Globe which was just underneath that part of the Fluid where it was sustained when the Subsidence began it thence happened that the Strata which were afterwards constituted by this Matter thus subsiding are also different in different places in some all or most of them of Sand-stone in others of Chalk and in others of both Sand-stone and Chalk and perhaps many more lying each upon other And the Case of Metalls and Minerals being the same 't is for that reason that in some places we now get Iron or Vitriol but no Copper or Alum in others we find these but not those and in others both these and
those and perhaps many more That the Place both of the several sorts of Terrestrial Matter and of Metalls and Minerals whilst sustained in the Fluid being thus contingent and uncertain their Intermixtures with each other and with the Terrestrial Matter in the Sediment or Strata which subsiding they together composed must consequently be uncertain likewise that Metall or Mineral of whatever kind it chanced to be which was sustained in any part of the Fluid setling only directly downwards was lodged amongst the Terrestrial Matter which chanced to be sustained together with it in the same part of what kind soever that Matter was And accordingly we now find them uncertainly mixt the same Metall or Mineral lodged in some places in Stone in others in Cole and in others in Clay Marle or any other Matter indifferently And as we find the same Metall or Mineral lodged amongst different sorts of the common Terrestrial Matter so do we for still the same reason also find different kinds of Metalls and Minerals Copper Iron and Sulphur Tin Lead and Vitriol with several more lodged all confusedly together in the very same fort of Terrestrial Matter That the quantity of the Metallick or Mineral Matter taken up into the Fluid was various and uncertain there being in some parts little or perhaps none of it in others a very great abundance And so we at this day find it in some places little or none in others in such plenty as to exceed even the ordinary Terrestrial Matter and of it self to compose whole Strata without any considerable Admixture of Sand Clay or other common Matter Thus we sometimes see whole Strata compiled of Metallick and Mineral Pyrite others of Pebles and of Flints without the Interposition of any other Matter that finer Matter commonly found amongst these and vulgarly called Sand being really no other than very small Pebles as may appear to any one who shall carefully examine and observe it especially with a good Microscope Thus likewise we find Strata consisting almost entirely of Common Salt others of Ochre and others of several Metalls and Minerals Tin Lead Vitriol Nitre and Sulphur promiscuously without any considerable Intermixture of coarser Terrestrial Matter That the metallick and mineral Matter which is now found in the perpendicular Intervalls of the Strata was all of it originally and at the time of the Deluge lodged in the Bodies of those Strata being interspersed or scattered in single Corpuscles amongst the Sand or other Matter whereof the said Strata mainly consist That it was educed thence and transmitted into these Intervalls since that time the Intervalls themselves not existing till the Strata were formed and the metallick and mineral Matter actually lodged in them they being only Breaches of the Strata and not made till the very conclusion of the Catastrophe the Water thereupon immediately withdrawing again from off the Earth That the Water which ascends up out of the Abyss on all sides of the Globe towards the Surface of the Earth incessantly pervading the Pores of the Strata I mean the Interstices of the Sand or other Matter whereof they consist detaches and bears along with it all such metallick mineral and other Corpuscles which lye loose in its way and are withal so small as to be able to pass those Interstices forcing them along with it into the perpendicular Intervalls to which it naturally directs its course as finding there a ready Exit and Discharge being partly exhaled thence up into the Atmosphere and partly flowing forth upon the Surface of the Earth and forming Springs and Rivers That the Water which falls upon the Surface of the Earth in Rain bears also some though a lesser share in this Action this soaking into the Strata which lye near the Surface straining through the Pores of them and advancing on towards their perpendicular Intervalls bears thither along with it all such moveable Matter as occurrs in those Pores in much the same manner as does the Water which arises out of the Abyss with this only difference that this passes and pervades none but the superficial and uppermost Strata whereas the other permeates also those which lye lower and deeper That the metallick and mineral Corpuscles being thus conveyed into these Intervalls and the Water there having more room and freer passage than before whilst it only penetrated the Pores of the Stone it deserts the said Corpuscles leaving them in these Intervalls unless it flow forth with a very rapid and precipitate Motion for then it hurries them out along with it till its Motion becomes more languid and remiss when it quits and abandons them That by the Water thus passing through the Stone to its perpendicular Intervalls was brought thither all the metallick and mineral Matter which is now lodged therein as well that which lyes only in an indigested and confused Pile in which manner the far greatest part of it is found and particularly the common Ores of Metalls Iron Tin Lead and the rest as also Spar Alum Vitriol Sulphur and other Minerals â—punc as that which is disposed and formed into some observable Figure such as the metallick and mineral Stalactita the angulated or Crystallized Metalls and Minerals and to be short all others whatever That there is not whatever some Men may have fancied any thing very strange or extraordinary in the Production of the said formed Metalls and Minerals which are found in these Intervalls nor other plastick Vertue concerned in shaping them into those Figures than meerly the Configurations of the Particles whereof they consist and the simple Motion of the Water to bring those Particles together That particularly the common Stalactites Lapis Stillatitius or Dropstone which consists principally of Spar and is frequently found in form of an Icycle hanging down from the tops and sides of Grotto's and of the lesser perpendicular Intervalls was formed by the Water which continually is passing through the Strata into these their Intervâ—lls this taking the Sparry Particles as they lay dispersedly mingled with the Sand or other Matter whereof those Strata consist and bearing them on with it to the said Intervalls where issuing leisurely out of the Strata and having now free passage it deserts these Particles falling down from the tops and sides of the Grotto's to which the Particles affixing by little and little incrust them over with a Sparry Cover and also from these Stalactitae from which the Water is continually falling and distilling drop by drop which gave occasion to that Mistake of those who suppose these Bodies to be only Water petrified as they speak or converted into these Sparry or Stony Iceycles in the same manner as it is by Frost congealed into the Icy ones which hang down from the Eaves of Houses from Pipes or other conveyances of Water That the Iron and other metallick Stalactitae the Aluminous and the Vitriolick Stalactitae the Saline ones or those which consist of
common Salt and all others are found suspended in the same manner and their Matter conducted out of the Strata to their Fissures by the same means That the Iron-Rhombs Tin-Grains and other Ores of Metalls which are found in these Intervalls naturally formed into Cubick Pyramidal or other Figures as likewise the Minerals which are there shot into the like Figures such as the Mundick-Grains crystallized native Salt Alum Vitriol and Sulphur the Gemms also which are thus figured e. g. Crystal the Pseud-Adamantes the Amethyst Emerauld and the rest I say these and all other natural metallick and mineral Crystallizations were effected by the Water which first brought the Particles whereof each consists out from amongst the Matter of the Strata into these their Intervalls in much the same manner that the common or artificial Crystallizations of Alum Vitriol and the like are now effected in the Water wherein they were before dissolved and as are the Chymical Crystallizations of other Minerals and Metalls in their several Menstrua whereof more in its place That the Corpuscles of Metalls and of Minerals being smaller than those of Sand and of the other common Terrestrial Matter and consequently the Pores of the Strata which consist mainly or at least contain in them a considerable quantity of these being lesser and narrower than those of the Strata of Sand-stone and the like common and crasser Matter the Water which ascends from beneath towards the Surface of the Earth is admitted into them if at all only in lesser quantity passes them slowly and difficultly and therefore hath not Scope and Power sufficient to dislodge the Corpuscles and bear them off with it into the perpendicular Intervalls as it does in those Strata which consist chiefly of Stone and the like grosser Matter where the metallick and mineral Corpuscles lye thinner and so the Pores are more wide and open That for this reason in the Intervalls of those Strata which abound plentifully with Iron Tin Spar common Salt Alum or the like we ordinarily find a lesser quantity of these Metalls and Minerals resident than we do in the Intervalls of some other Strata which now shew little or perhaps nothing in the Bodies of them besides Sand and such like coarser Matter there being so admirable a Contrivance in this Affair that the Water does not disturb and remove that metallick or mineral Matter which lves in the Strata in great plenty and so is there ready collected to the hand of Man but only that which needs such an Agent to collect it that which is so sparingly and dispersedly intermix'd with the common Terrestrial Matter as not to be discoverable by humane Industry or if discoverable so diffused and scattered amongst the crasser and more unprofitable Matter that 't would never be possible to separate and extract it or if 't was it would not defray the Charge and Labour of the Extraction and therefore must needs have been all irretrievably lost and useless to Mankind was it not here by this means collected and brought into one Mass. That therefore the Metalls and Minerals which are lodged in the perpendicular Intervalls of the Strata do still grow to speak in the Mineralists phrase or receive additional Encrease from the Corpuscles which are yet daily born along with the Water into them and have grown so ever since the time of the Deluge in all such places where those Intervalls are not already so filled that they cannot receive any more or where the Stock of metallick and mineral Corpuscles originally lodged in the Strata is not quite exhausted and all borne thither already That yet this Encrease is not now any where very great the Corpuscles which were capable of being stirred and removed being by the continual Passage of the Water for so many Ages in most places exhausted educed forth of the Strata and transmitted into these their Fissures That the metallick and mineral Matter which lyes in the Bodies of the Strata does not now grow nor hath it ever received any Addition since 't was first reposed in those Strata at the time of the Universal Deluge but on the contrary hath been diminished and lessened by so much as hath been conveyed into their perpendicular Intervalls and as hath been brought forth upon the Surface of the Earth by Springs Rivers and Exhalations from the Abyss ever since that time That notwithstanding there have and do still happen Transitions and Removes of it in the solid Strata from one part of the same Stratum to another part of it occasioned by the Motion of the Vapour towards the perpendicular Intervalls of these and in the laxer Strata such as those of Sand Clay and the like from the lower ones to those which lye above them and even to the very Surface of the Earth occasioned by the Motion of the Vapour directly towards the Surface it pervading these looser Strata diametrically But of this I have not room to enlarge more particularly in this place That the Bitumen which is found in Lumps or coagulated Masses in some Springs and which is in others found floating in form of an Oyl upon the Surface of the Water when 't is called by Naturalists Naphtha and Petroleum the Salt wherewith the Salinae or Salt-Springs abound the Vitriol Alum Nitre Sulphur Spar and other Minerals wherewith the Acidulae or Medicinal-Springs are saturated I say all these Minerals were originally lodged in the Strata of Stone Cole Earth or the like that they were educed thence and conveyed into these Springs by the Water pervading those Strata in its passage from the Abyss towards the said Springs That when the Water of Rivers issues out of the Apertures of them with more than ordinary Agitation and Rapidity it usually bears forth along with it such Particles of Spar Argilla or other loose and moveable Matter as it met with in its Passage through the Stone Marble or other solid Strata that it sustains these Particles and carries them on together with it'till such time as its Motion begins to remit and be less rapid than it was at and near its Source when by degrees it lowers them and lets them fall deposing and affixing them upon any thing which occurrs in the way as Stones Shells Sticks or other like Bodies especially those which lye in the Sinus's or Creeks of those Rivers where the Motion of the Water is more sluggish and languid than in the Stream or middle of the Chanel That some Rivers do thus bring forth Spar and other mineral Matter in great quantity so as to cover and incrust the Stones Sticks and other Bodies lying therein to a very considerable Thickness That sometimes the Water of Standing-Springs does the same precipitating the mineral Matter which it brought forth of the Strata upon the Stones at the bottoms and sides of the said Springs and affixing it upon Sticks Straws and other Bodies and upon the Moss or other Plants which happen to
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
height and so farther out of the way And this is indeed much the Case of Foggs particularly of those which we frequently observe after Sun-setting even in our hottest Months These being nothing but a Vapour consisting of Water and of such mineral Matter as this met with in its passage and could well bring up along with it Which Vapour was sent up in greater quantity all the foregoing Day than now in the Evening but the Sun then being above the Horizon taking it at the Surface of the Earth and rapidly mounting it up into the Atmosphere it was not discernible as now it is because the Sun being now gone off the Vapour stagnates at and near the Earth and saturates the Air till 't is so thick as to be easily visible therein And when at length the Heat there is somewhat further spent which is usually about the middle of the Night it falls down again in a Dew alighting upon Herbs and other Vegetables which iâ— cherishes cools and refreshes after the scorching Heat of the foregoing Day But if it happens as sometimes it does that this Vapour bears up along with it any noxious mineral Steams it then blasts Vegetables especially those which are more young and tender blights Corn and Fruits and is sometimes injurious even to Men who chance to be then abroad in the Fields 'T is also the Case of Water at the Surface of the Earth where the Springs and Rivers are very low yea some of them cease to yield any Water at all in the Summer Months because the Sun's Power is then so great as easily and speedily to bear up into the Atmosphere in small and invisible parcels and in form of an extremely fine and thin Vapour a very great part of the Water which is sent up out of the Abyss whereas in the Winter-time the Sun is withdrawn farther off and its power lessened so that it cannot then buoy it up as before for which reason 't is that so much more of it then stands at the Surface of the Earth and stagnates there So likewise for Rain we learn from Experiment that there commonly falls in England in France and some other Countries more Rain in Iune and Iuly than in December and Ianuary but it makes a much greater Shew upon the Earth in these Months than in those because it lyes longer upon it the Sun now wanting power to exhale and bear it up so quickly and plentifully as then it did 'T is also the Case of the Halitus emitted forth of the Lungs of Men and other Animals In a Physiological Treatise which I have by me concerning the Structure and Vse of the Parts of Animals discoursing of the Lungs I shew that they are the grand Emunctory of the Body that the main End of Respiration is continually to discharge and expell an excrementitious Fluid out of the Mass of Blood and prove from several Experiments that there passes out of the Body a greater quantity of Fluid Matter this way I mean upwards and through the Lungs than there does of Urine by the Kidneys downwards Now the Fluid which is thus secreted and expired forth along with the Air goes off with it in insensible parcels in the Summer Season when the ambient Air contains Heat enough to bear it quickly away and so disperse it But in the Winter when the Heat without is less it oftentimes becomes so far condensed as to be visible flowing out of the Mouth in form of a Fume or crasser Vapour and may by proper Vessels set in a strong freezing Mixture the better to condense this Vapour be collected in considerable quantity But to return That 't is not without a very extraordinary Providence that there so constantly happens in the Month of September the time when chiefly these mineral Steams stagnate thus at and near the Surface of the Earth a very nipping and severe Season of Cold far beyond what might from the Sun's height and power be then expected beyond that of October and November and sometimes equal to that of Ianuary and the coldest Months as also that there then so constantly happens very blustering and turbulent Winds the Cold serving to check and put a stop to the Ascent of this mineral Matter and the Wind to dissipate and convey away that which was before raised out of the Earth which was it not thus carried off would be infinitely more fatal and pernicious to Man and other Animals than now it is But I must be contented here to give only short Hints of these as of other Things and to write but obscurely and reservedly untill I have opportunity to express my Sentiments of them with greater Copiousness Freedom and Perspicuity Thus much of the Scheme of my Design in this Part have I run over and lead my Reader a long and tedious Jaunt in tracing out these metallick and mineral Bodies in pursuing them through their several Mazes and Retreats through the Earth the Water and the Air. And yet long as it is we are not got much further than the Borders of the Mineral Kingdom and have done little more yet than settled and adjusted Preliminaries so very ample is this Kingdom so various and manifold its Productions For the foregoing Conclusions relate only to the Origin and Growth of these Bodies the Natural History of each particular Metall and Mineral with the Observations whereon that History is grounded being still to come But I must be forced wholly to wave and supersede the Detail of these for I perceive do what I can this Abstract will swell much beyond the bounds which I at first designed This Fourth Part will be followed by several Treatises serving to confirm and to illustrate some Passages in it whereof I shall at present only mention the four following 1. Rules and Directions for the Discovery of Metalls and Minerals laâ—ent in the Earth with an Enquiry why these lye sometimes so near the Surface and did not because of their greater Gravity at the General Subsidence in the Deluge fall to a much greater depth than we now find them even to such a depth as to have lain quite out of humane reach and so have been all buried and irrecoverably lost 2. An Examination of the Common Doctrine about the Generation of Metalls and Minerals and particularly that of the Chymists with an Appendix relating to the Transmutation of Metalls detecting the Impostures and Elusions of those who have pretended to it and evincing the Impossibility of it from the most plain simple and Physical Reasons proving likewise that there are no such natural Gradations and Conversions of one Metall and Mineral into another in the Earth as many have fancied As also an Account of the Mineral Iuyces in the Earth which some Writers have imagined to be I know not what Seeds of Minerals shewing that they are for the far greatest part nothing but Water strongly impregnated with Mineral Matter which it derives from the Strata as it
such a Natural Form of the Year as is that which is at present establish'd he could scarcely ever do it in so few Words again that were so fit and proper so full and express especially if by Signs in this place Months are intended for then we have here first the Year and that subdivided into its usual Parts the four Quarters or Seasons the twelve Signs or Months and Days nay at the same time from the 19th Verse we learn that this Establishment is within four days as old as the World But further Gen. viii 21 22. And the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground neither will I again smite any more every thing living as I have done While the Earth remaineth Seed-time and Harvest and Cold and Heat and Summer and Winter and Day and Night shall not cease This was pronounc'd upon Noah's Sacrificing at his coming forth of the Ark after the Deluge was over and implies that there had indeed then lately been a mighty Confusion of Things for the time an Interruption and Perturbation of the ordinary Course of them and a Cessation and Suspension of the Laws of Nature but withall gives Security and Assurance that there should never be the like any more to the End of the World that for the future they should all run again in their old Chanel and that particularly there should be the same Vicissitudes of Seasons and Alternations of Heat and Cold that were before the Delâ—ge FINIS Books Printed for Richard Wilkin at the King's-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard LEtters concerning the Love of God between the Author of the Proposal to the Ladies and Mr. Iohn Norris wherein his late Discourse shewing that it ought to be entire and exclusive of all other Loves is farther clear'd and justified Octavo A Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their true and greatest Interest By a Lover of her Sex Twelves The Second Edition A Vindication of the Truth of Christian Religion against the Objections of all Modern Opposers By Iames Abbadie D. D. Octavo A second Part of the Enquiry into several remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a probable Resolution of them The second Edition Octavo A Discourse concerning the Authority Style and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament with a continued Illustration of several difficult Texts of Scripture throughout the whole work Both by Iohn Edwards B. D. sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge Octavo The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love to it The Second Edition Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books with Directions to them therein A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the daily Publick Prayers All three by the Reverend Sim. Patrick D. D. The Old Religion demonstrated in the Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof By I. Goodman D. D. The Second Edition Twelves ‖ I call those Fissures which distinguish the Stâ—ne into Strata Horizontal ones and those which intersect these Perpendicular not so much with respect to the present site of the Strata which as I shall shew is altered in many places as to its original situation concerning which see Part 2. Consect 5. †Part 4. Consect 2. * Concerning these Conchitae Cochlitae c. see Part 4. Cons. 2. and Part 5. Cons. 5. †Part 4. Conf. 2. * Vid. Part 2. Cons. 2. †Vid. Part 2. Cons. 3. * Part 5. Cons. 1. c. †Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 8. * Part 2. and Part 5. * Part 2. * Part 2. Cons. 2. c. * Pag. 29 c. supra and Part 2. Cons. 3. †Cons. pag. 28. and Part 2. Cons. 3. ‖ Part 5. Cons. 4. * Confer Part 3. Sect. 2. Cons. 2 3. * Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Consect 1. †Confer p. 29 c. * Part 4. Consâ—ct 2. ‖ Conf. Conf. 5. supra Gâ—n vi 5. ‖ Matth. xxiv 38. * Gen. vi 2. †Gen. vi 11 12. * Confer Part 6. Dis. 3. †Gen. 6.3 * Gen. vi 13 And behold I will DESTROY them with THE EARTH And again at the Covenant made with Noah after the Deluge more distinctly Gen. ix 11 Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood neither shall there any more be A FLOOD TO DESTROY THE EARTH the latter part whereof is render'd somewhat more expresly by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. And there shall not be any more a-Deluge of Water to destroy the WHOLE EARTH And the vulg Lat. Neque erit deinceps Diluvium dissipans terram i. e. Neither shall there be hereafter a Deluge to dissipate or dissolve the Earth And of this Dissolution of the Earth there was a Tradition amongst the Ancients both Iews and Gentiles †Dr. Burnet Theory of the Earth ‖ Vid. Cons. 2. supra ** Part 4. Cons. 3. ‖ Vid. Cons. 3. supra * Confen p. 55. seq * Conf. Part 6. †Conf. Part 3. Sect. 2. Conâ— 7. Gen. iii. Gen. iv * Conf. Rom. v. 12. and 1 Cor. xv 21 22. ‖ Gen. ii 17. †Gen. v. 5. * Gen. viii 20 21. * Gen. ix 11. ‖ Gen ix 25 26 27. †Gen. ii 5 * Vid. Part 3. Sect. 1. Consect 1. and Sect. 2. Cons. 2 3 †Confer Part 3. Sect. 1. Cons. 12. * Moss is the Name used all over the North of England instead of Fen. †Conf. Cons. 3. supâ—a * Confer Part 5. Consect 2. †Heat and Fire differ but in degree and Heat is Fire only in lesser quantity Fire I shall shew to be a fluid consisting of Parts extremely small and light and consequently very subtile active and susceptive of Motion An Aggregate of these Parts in such number as to be visible to the Eye is what we call Flame and Fire a lesser thinner and more dispers'd Collection Heat and Warmth †Vid. Cons. 10. infra * Pag. 47. †Conf. pag. 12â— * Confer pag. 125. †Part 2 Cons. 3. * Vid. Cons. 8. Supra * Conser Cons. 10. supra †Vid. Cons. 2. supra ‖ Conf. Consect 13. infra †Vid. Cons. 14. infra * Vid. Part 2. Cons. 8. * It is indâ—eâ— by this very heat that their Water is borne unto them from our the Abyss Vid. Cens. 8. supra †Vid. Cons. 12. and 13. supra ‖ Pag. 96. * Lib. 1. c. 9. to 12. * AsPart 2. Cons. 4. ‖ As Part 2. Cons. 6. * Cons. 8. supra †Part 4. Cons. 5. ‖ Part 2. Cons. 6 7 8. †Conf. Cons. 8. supra †Gen. 7. 19. ‖ Theory of Earth l. 1. c. 2. ‖ Princ. Pbilos 1. 4. * Gen. vii 20. ‖ Conf. Sect. 1. Cons. 12. †Part 2. Cons. 6. * Sect. 1. supra Cons. 2. †Confer Part 6. Sub finem ‖ Theory of the Earth l. 1.c.6.8