36 HISTORY OF 



world would perish. But, in the natural opera- 

 tions of the world, the land is perishing continu- 

 ally j and it is necessary that the present land 

 should be worn away and wasted, exactly in pro- 

 portion as new land shall appear ; or, conversely, 

 that an equal portion of new land should always 

 be produced as the old is made to disappear. 

 In this manner we suppose a due proportion of 

 land and water to be always preserved upon the 

 surface of the globe, for the purpose of an habi- 

 table world, such as we possess." 



* Mr Whitehurst, in the theory laid down by 

 him, assumes, " that the globe we now inhabit 

 was originally in a state of fluidity ; and that 

 not owing to any dissolvent principle or subse- 

 quent solution, but to the first assemblage of its 

 component parts. Whence it is presumed, that 

 the earth had a beginning, and has not existed 

 from eternity, as some have imagined ; though 

 the precise number of ages it has existed, have 

 not yet been actually determined. 



" The proof given by our author of this origi- 

 nal fluidity of the earth rests entirely upon its 

 oblate spheroidal form ; which a fluid globe may 

 easily be supposed to assume, though we cannot 

 conceive how a solid one should do so. 



" The fluidity of the earth, and the infinite di- 

 visibility of matter, evidently show, that the com- 

 ponent parts of air, earth, water, &c. were uni- 

 formly blended together, none being heavier or 

 lighter than another ; whereby they composed an 

 uniform mass or pulp, of equal consistence in 



* Encycl. Britan. EARTH. 



