hi the Axis and Poles of the Earth. 315 



fidered how trifling fiich changes are in regard to the whole 

 earth, and vvheiher its centre of gravity could by theic means 

 iuffer any alteration. 



A curforv view of geology will fhow how little v.'e know of 

 the interior parts of the earth, and how fmall a portion of it 

 is fiibjeft to our dominion and refearch. Of the 21,951,022 

 fquare leagues, which is the extent of the earth's furface, the 

 lands that rife above the ocean comprehend only about one- 

 third, or feven millions. Now if we fuppofe, which perhaps 

 ought to be taken into account, that the height of the land 

 above the ocean is 6000 feet, or i [ mile, (though few lands 

 arc fo high;) and that the depth of the ocean is the fame; 

 this in a globe of one inch diameter would fcarcely amount 

 to the fiftieth part of a line, or the fifth part of a moderate 

 fized grain of fand ; and this whole external cruft, of 6000 

 feet in thicknefs, contains only the iiocth part of the whole 

 number of cubic miles, which form the lolid content of tlie 

 earth. 



Now all thofe traces of revolutions in the earth which 

 geologilis have been able to oblerve, have been found eithea: 

 in the above-mentioned cruft, into which no one has ever 

 penetrated above a fourth part of that depth, (for the greatcft 

 depth to which mines have been dug is not more tlian 1500 

 feet;) or in the bowels or at the top of moderate fized moun^ 

 tains, the height of which on a globe a foot in diameter 

 would not amount to a grain of fand. 



Can it be fuppofcd that revolutions have taken place in 

 this thin cruft of the earth capable of altering its centre of 

 gravity, and at the iame time the place of its poles and its 

 axis, fo much as fome have fuppofed, in order to account for 

 various pht-enomena, fuch as that of the bones of the ele- 

 phant, &c. being dug up in Germany, and even in Siberia ; 

 or if, by fome violent attion of the powers of nature in the 

 univerfe, mountains have been feveral times overturned, and 

 fea and land changed their filuation; would thcfecataftrophcs, 

 which muft have occafioned great devallation among the 

 human race at the periods when they took place, have been 

 able in anv manner to change the pofitioii of the earth's axis 

 and ot its poles ? Bv no means : they muit have been of much 

 Icfs confequence, in that refpeft, than the devaftalion which 

 an inleft would occafiun in a dobe a foot in diameter bv 

 gnawmg the paper with which it, is covered : and who will 

 alfert that the centre of gravity of fuch a globe would by 

 theie means be deranged ? 



A change in the ])olition of the cartli'saxis, or of its poles, 

 can be fuppofcd to lake place only when the whole mafs of 



which 



