18 HISTORY OF 



level, * and hills sinking into valleys ; whole re- 

 gions swallowed by the sea, and others again 

 rising out of its bosom : all these they suppose to 

 be but a few of the changes that have been 

 wrought in our globe j and they send out ima- 

 gination, to describe it in its primeval state of 

 beauty. 



Of those who have written theories describing 

 the manner of the original formation of the earth, 

 or accounting for its present appearances, the 

 most celebrated are Burnet, Whiston, Woodward, 

 and Buffon. As speculation is endless, so it is 

 not to be wondered that all these differ from 

 each other, and give opposite accounts of the 

 several changes which they suppose our earth to 

 have undergone. As the systems of each have 

 had their admirers, it is, in some measure, incum- 

 bent upon the natural historian to be acquainted, 

 at least, with their outlines j and, indeed, to know 

 what others have even dreamed, in matters of 

 science, is very useful, as it may often prevent us 

 from indulging similar delusions ourselves, which 

 we should never have adopted, but because we 

 take them to be wholly our own. However, as 

 entering into a detail of these theories is rather 

 furnishing a history of opinions than things, I 

 will endeavour to be as concise as I can. 



The first who formed this amusement of earth- 

 making into system, was the celebrated Thomas 

 Burnet, a man of polite learning and rapid ima- 

 gination. His Sacred Theory, as he calls it, 



* Senec. Quasi, lib. vi. cap. 21. 



