THE EARTH. 21 



violence of the shock, they at length left between 

 them large cavities filled with nothing but air. 

 These cavities naturally offered a bed to receive 

 the influent waters ; and in proportion as they 

 filled, the face of the earth became once more 

 visible. The higher parts of its broken surface, 

 now become the tops of mountains, were the first 

 that appeared ; the plains soon after came forward, 

 and, at length, the whole globe was delivered 

 from the waters, except the places in the lowest 

 situations ; so that the ocean and the seas are still 

 a part of the ancient abyss that have not had a 

 place to return. Islands and rocks are fragments 

 of the earth's former crust ; kingdoms and con- 

 tinents are larger masses of its broken substance ; 

 and all the inequalities that are to be found on the 

 surface of the present earth, are owing to the 

 accidental confusion into which both earth and 

 waters were then thrown." 



The next theorist was Woodward, who, in his 

 Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth, 

 which was only designed to precede a greater 

 work, has endeavoured to give a more rational 

 account of its appearances ; and he was, in fact, 

 much better furnished for such an undertaking 

 than any of his predecessors, being one of the 

 most assiduous naturalists of his time. His little 

 book, therefore, contains many important facts 

 relative to natural history, although his system 

 may be weak and groundless. 



He begins by asserting, that all terrene sub- 

 stances are disposed in beds of various natures, 

 lying horizontally one over the other, somewhat 



