a ae Se 
Analysis of the Protogea of Letbnitz. 59 
condition of the globe and the deluge; the next sixteen treat prin- 
cipally of mineral veins and the causes by which they have been 
- produced ; thirteen relate to organic remains, especially shells; and 
the last thirteen to the caverns of the Hartz, amber, alluvium, turf 
and other miscellaneous matters. A more particular account of the 
different sections is subjoined. 
1. Some reasons are assigned for the composition of the ensuing 
treatise, as (a.) The importance of the subject, giving value to even 
a moderate acquaintance with it. (b.) The enterprise in which he 
was about to engage, of writing the early history of the House of 
Brunswick, to which he seems to consider the Protogwa as an ap- 
propriate introduction;* so that the merry author of the history of 
ew York, from the creation of the world to the end of the Dutch 
dynasty, is not without a precedent in the case of this illustrious au- 
thor. (¢.) The opportunities afforded by his peculiar situation, for 
acquiring information upon these subjects. 
2. The form of the earth in the beginning was regular and its 
surface smooth, the mountains being of more recent date; because 
od makes nothing imperfect and because it was fluid. Its fluidity, 
which was the effect of heat, is proved by the existence of veins, 
crystals, and the remains of plants and animals, (‘solida intra soli- 
dum clausa,”) in the rocks. 
8. The present aspect of the earth has been produced by confla- 
grations, succeeded by deluges. It was first a star or body ejected 
from the sun, lucid by itself, upon whose surface scorie were form- 
ed; it cooled and ceased to be luminous. This is rendered proba- 
ble by the circumstance that the rocks and scori from a furnace, 
are alike convertible by heat into glass, especially if certain salts be 
added; by which they are proved to have a common basis. 
4. The moisture that had hovered in vapor around the hot globe, 
Was condensed as its temperature sank, and being attracted by the 
ashes or remains of the recent conflagration, formed a lixivium or 
lye and thus created the salt sea. As the crust of the earth cooled, 
large cavities were formed in it, by the breaking up of which and 
the subsidence of the rocky masses, it was diversified with moun- 
tains and vallies. The inundations produced by these changes 
formed the more recent strata. 
——— 
TE erate nha 
*“Ttaque ab antiquissimo nostri tractus statu orsuro dicendum est aliquid de pri- 
facie terrarum.” 
t “Seente iny ndationes que cum deinde rursus sedimenta per intervalla —_ 
Tent atque his indurescentibus redeunte mox simili causa strata subinde diversa alia 
