1 66 New Piiblicat'ions, 



refidence of the fpccics of animals. The matter of the fc- 

 condary rocks was, by the known laws of gravitation and re- 

 fiftance, rather fixed in ftrata upon the primary rocks than 

 precipitated to the bottom of the great abyfs. The retreat 

 of the fca from the furface to the interior caverns of the 

 globe, however, ftill continued ; and the dimenfions of the 

 habitable earth were thus continually enlarged. — Such is the 

 fubftance of the firft of thefe Effiiys, which contains the au- 

 thor's theory of the formation of the earth. He compares 

 this account with that of Mofes, and fancies that they per- 

 fectly coincide. 



The Deluge is the fub)e<St of the fecond EfTay. From the 

 flieHs found on the heights of the primitive mountains; from 

 the remains of animals natives of hot climates difcovered in 

 cold ones, which thofe animals cannot be fuppofed to have 

 ever volnntarily inhabited; from the difpcrfion of marine 

 exuvise on (liores far remote from the fcas where wc now 

 meet with the fpecics of living animals to which they mufl 

 have belonged ; Mr. Kinvan infers, that the general deluge 

 •commemorated in the Holy Scriptures nnift certainly have 

 taken place as Mofes relates. That the axis of the earth was 

 original!',' parallel to the ecliptic, producing in every latitude 

 perpetual fpring, is a pofition of which adronomv has fuffi- 

 cienlly demonCtrated the falfehood. The nutation of the 

 poles is, every nine vcars, relrogreffivc, and never exceeds 

 ten degrees ; fo that the equator can never have been, bv 

 this caufe, where the poles arc now. The whole ftrata oY 

 this earth are of fuch nature that they cannot have originally 

 been, as M. De Buffon fappofes, in a ftate of igneous fufion, 

 the heat from which might have long kept up a cenial warm 

 temperature even in the regions the ncarcft to the poles. 

 The phenomena fufficiently evince that the fcas and conti- 

 nents of the earth cannot have mutually changed places, as 

 has been fuppofed by Mr. PIdward King and M, De Luc. 

 Mr. Kirwan, therefore, fiippofes the fouthern ocean to have 

 hecn in the general deluge driven, bv fome unknown means, 

 with mighty force towards the poles. The charaftcr of the 

 exotic remains found in the northern regions; the immenfity 

 of waters colloclcd in the fouthern ocean; the traces which 



