10 



A HISTORY OF 



vegetation and animal increase were carried 

 on with more vigour ; and all nature seemed 

 teeming with the seeds of life. But these phy- 

 sical advantages were only productive of mo- 

 ral evil; the warmth which invigorated the 

 body increased the passions and appetites of 

 the mind ; and, as man became more power- 

 ful, he grew less innocent. It was found 

 necessary to punish this depravity ; and all 

 living creatures were overwhelmed by the 

 deluge in universal destruction. 



This deluge, which simple believers are 

 willing to ascribe to a miracle, philosophers 

 have long been desirous to account for by na- 

 tural causes ; they have proved that the earth 

 could never supply from any reservoir towards 

 its centre, nor the atmosphere by any dis- 

 charge from above, such a quantity of water 

 as would cover the surface of the globe to a 

 certain depth over the tops of our highest 

 mountains. Where, therefore, was all this wa- 

 ter to be found ? Whiston has found enough, 

 and more than a sufficiency, in the tail of a 

 comet ; for he seems to allot comets a very 

 active part in the great operations of nature. 



He calculates, with great seeming preci- 

 sion, the year, the month, and the day of the 

 week, on which this comet (which has paid 

 the earth some visits since, though at a kind- 

 er distance) involved our globe in its tail. 

 The tail he supposed to be a vaporous fluid 

 substance, exhaled from the body of the comet 

 by the extreme heat of the sun, and increasing 

 in proportion at it approached that great lu- 

 minary. It was in this that our globe was in- 

 volved at the time of the deluge ; and, as the 

 earth still acted by its natural attraction, it 

 drew to itself all the watery vapours which 

 were in the comet's tail; and the internal wa- 

 ters being also at the same time let loose, in 

 a very short space the tops of the highest 

 mountains were laid under the deep. 



The punishment of the deluge being thus 

 completed, and all the guilty destroyed, the 

 earth, which had been broken by the eruption 

 of the internal waters, was also enlarged by 

 it ; so that, upon the comet's recess, there was 

 found room sufficient in the internal abyss for 

 the recess of the superfluous waters ; whither 

 they all retired, and left the earth uncovered, 

 but in some respects changed, particularly in 

 its figure, which, from being round, was now 



become oblate. In this universal wreck of na- 

 ture, Noah survived, by a variety of happy 

 causes, to re-people the earth, and to give 

 birth to a race of men slow in believing ill- 

 imagined theories of the earth. 



After so many theories of th-i earth which 

 have been published, applauded, answered, 

 and forgotten, Mr. Buffbn ventured to add one 

 more to the number. This philosopher was, 

 in every respect, better qualified than any of 

 his predecessors for such an attempt, being 

 furnished with more materials, having abright- 

 er imagination to find new proofs, and a=better 

 style to clothe them in. However, if one so 

 ill qualified as I am may judge, this seems the 

 weakest part of his admirable work ; and I 

 could wish that he had been content with 

 giving us facts instead of systems; that, in- 

 stead of being a reasoner, he had contented 

 himself with being merely an historian 



He begins his system by making a distinc- 

 tion between the first part of it and the last ; 

 the one being founded only on conjecture, the 

 other depending entirely upon actual obser- 

 vation. The latter part of his theory may, 

 therefore, be true, though the former should 

 be found erroneous. 



" The planets," says he, " and the earth 

 among the number, might have been formerly 

 (he only offers this as conjecture) a part of 

 the body of the sun, and adherent to its sub- 

 stance. In this situation, a comet falling in 

 upon that great body, might have given it 

 such a shock, and so shaken its whole frame, 

 that some of its particles might have been 

 driven off like streaming sparkles from red- 

 hot iron ; and each of these streams of fire, 

 small as they were in comparison of the sun, 

 might have been large enough to have made 

 an earth as great, nay, many times greater, 

 than ours. So that in this manner the planets, 

 together with the globe which we inhabit, 

 might have been driven off from the body of 

 the sun by an impulsive force : in this man- 

 ner also they would continue to recede from 

 it for ever, were they not drawn back by its 

 superior power of attraction ; and thus, by the 

 combination of the two motions, they are 

 wheeled round in circles. 



" Being in this manner detached at a dis- 

 tance from the body of the sun, the planets, 

 from having been at first globes of liquid fire, 



