STUDY IV. 165 



It is not, then, to an irruption of the Ocean that 

 we are to afcribe the Mediterranean, but to an ex« 

 cavation of the Globe, more than twelve hundred 

 leagues long, and above eight hundred broad, 

 which has been executed with difpofitions fo happy, 

 and fo favourable to the circulation of fo many la- 

 teral rivers, that if time permitted me to trace 

 the courfe of any lingle one, it would be evident 

 how deftitute of all foundation the fuppofition is 

 which I am combating. Earthquakes, indeed, 

 produce excavations, but of fmall extent; and 

 which, far from forming channels for rivers, fome- 

 times abforb the courfe of rivulets, and change 

 them into pools, or marfhes.' Thefe hypothefes 

 may be applied to all gulfs, bays, great lakes, and 

 mediterranean feas ,• and we fliall be convinced, 

 that if thefe interior waters did not exift, not a 

 fountain would remain in the greateft part of the 

 habitable Globe. 



If we would form a juft idea of the order of 

 Nature, we mult give up our circumfcribed ideas 

 of human order. We mufl renounce the plans of 

 our Architedture, which frequently employs flraight 

 lines, that the weaknefs of our fight may be en- 

 abled to take in the whole extent of our domain at 

 a fingle glance ; which fymmetrizes all our diftrl- 

 butions, and which, in conftrutfling our houfes, 

 places wings to the right, and wings to the left, 



M 3 that 



