372 Anayses of Books. [Nov. 



or sandy plains. I think it unnecessary to follow him in this 

 disquisition, upon which he lays little stress, and which appears 

 rather fanciful than real. 



He agrees with Deluc, Dolomieu, andCuvier, in thinking that 

 not above 5000 or 6000 years have elapsed since the period of 

 the deluge. 



Before the deluge, he is of opinion that the order of things 

 ■was nearly the same as at present ; for the following reasons : 



1. The earth must have moved round its axis. Hence the 





sun and planets must have existed as they do at present. 



2. In the diluvian detritus, occur hones of the horse, ox, stag, 

 See. Hence these animals must have existed before the deluge. 

 Of course the atmosphere, the climate, and the face of the globe, 

 must have been nearly the same as at present. 



3. The other planets are spheroidal, like the earth, and, there- 

 fore, must have had a similar origin. 



The earth must have been divided into land and water before 

 the deluge just as at present ; for the remains of sea and land 

 productions are universally diffused through the secondary rocks; 

 but the situation of sea and land was probably different from 

 what it is at present. Our author is of opinion that the antedi- 

 luvian earth is now covered with sea, and that our continents 

 before the delude were immersed under the ocean. In this 

 notion, he agrees with Deluc and with the Huttonians. The 

 occurrence of bowlderstones, &c. proves, he conceives, the non- 

 existence of the Mediterranean, German, and Baltic Seas, at the 

 time that these bowlders were deposited. I must acknowledge 

 myself unable to perceive the force of this reasoning. 



The newest formations are intersected by valleys, and covered 

 by alluvial deposits. Hence the deluge was posterior to the birth 

 of these formations. Of course it was posterior to the interment 

 of the fossil organic bodies which these rocks contain. Hence 

 these fossils belonged to a former world. The deluge was pos- 

 terior to the formation of mineral veins. We have no positive 

 evidence whether the deluge happened before or after the birth 

 of man. 



We are unable to explain the way in which the deluge hap- 

 pened. Our author does not think that it can be ascribed to the 

 increase of water, or to the subsidence of continents. The water 

 must have been in violent agitation. Probably the quantity of 

 "water at present existing, if violently agitated, would have been 

 sufficient to produce a deluge. He is of opinion that the cause 

 was external, and seems inclined to ascribe it to the blow of a 

 comet. Were we to enter into any speculations respecting so 

 wild and hopeless a subject, a much simpler cause might be 

 assigned ; namely, the alteration of the axis of the earth from, 

 the equator to the poles. This would have covered all the old 

 continents, and set new continents above the level of the sea. 



