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ir. An Ilhtjlration and Confirmation of fome FaSls mentiorrfd 

 in an E,[fay on the primitive State of the Globt'. By 

 Richard'Kirwais', Ef'^. LL.D. F.R.S. and P.R.I.A. 



X HERE is a remarkable fafl: ftated in this eflliy, with 

 refpeft to which the Mofaic account is fully at iflue with the. 

 mod plauliblc of the lately deviled philofophic theories of the 

 primitive flaie of the olobe, namely, tlie emerfion of fome 

 portion of land from the primaeval ocean previous to the crea- 

 tion of fifli : Mofes cxprefbly affirming, BufFon, the anony- 

 mous author oi L' H^Jioire dii Monde primitif, and many 

 others, exprefsly denying it.- In proof of the Mofaic ac- 

 count, I alleged that no pctrifa6lions were found imbedded 

 and incorporated in mallcs of (lone in fuch countries as were 

 elevated 8500 or 9000 feet above the aftual level of the fea — 

 for inftance, in the great Tartarian platform and the elevated 

 regions of Siberia — though in all inicrior regions of the fame 

 extent fuch pctrifaftions were abundantly found, at leait in 

 iimeftone.-i ; but even in t-hefe none were found in thofe ele- 

 vated trails, as I proved by the teilimonies of all the philo- 

 fophic travellers who have traverfcd and examined them. 



Bouguer and Don Ulloa* attell the fame fa6l with refpeft 

 to Quito and the lofty regions of South America, having 

 met with none in ninety leagues from a little north of the 

 equator to Cuenca, between 2° and 3' fouth of it, Quito 

 being elevated 9374 feet above the level of the fea. I evea 

 doubted whether tlie petrilacllons found by Mr. De Luc on 

 mount Grenier, at the height of 7800 feet, were incorporated 

 in the body of any ilony mafs; but he has fince aflurcd me 

 that they were ; now the fliells he found being cormia am- 

 monis, a fpecic> of thofe calle<l pelugicts, it would thence 

 appear that the fea had rifen fllU higher, though not above 

 jooo feet. 



To repel this proof of the Mofaic account, it has been 

 replied by the laborious, learned, and eloquent writer of 

 IJ Hijioire du blonde primitif, and others, that the keen air 

 exifiing in thefe elevated regions had long ago decompofed 

 and confumed the fliells that might have been there depo-r 

 filed; but, as the {tones ftill remain, it is evident that the 

 ihclls iiicorporatcd in their Hiterior mull alfo have remained, 

 if any fuch were ever contained in them. 



However, it is inlilted that petrified fliells have been found 

 at a far fuperior height to that which I flated as the higiicll 



* Bouguer, Figure dc la Terre, p. 65. Doa Ulloa, Mem. Pliiiofoph. 

 vol- i. p. 363- 



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