THE EARTH. 



gradually became cool. The earth also, hav- 

 ing been impelled obliquely forward, received 

 a rotatory motion upon its axis at the very in- 

 stant of its formation ; and this motion being 

 greatest at the equator, the parts there acting 

 against the force of gravity, they must have 

 swollen out, and given the earth an oblate or 

 flatted figure. 



" As to its internal substance, our globe, 

 having once belonged to the sun, it continues 

 to be an uniform mass of melted matter, very 

 probably vitrified in its primeval fusion. But 

 its surface is very differently composed. Hav- 

 ing been in the beginning heated to a degree 

 equal to, if not greater, than what comets are 

 found to sustain ; like them it had an atmos- 

 phere of vapours floating round it, and which, 

 cooling by degrees, condensed and subsided 

 upon its surface. These vapours formed, ac- 

 cording to their different densities, the earth, 

 the water, and the air ; the heavier parts fall- 

 ing first, and the lighter remaining still sus- 

 pended." 



Thus far our philosopher is, at least, as 

 much a system-maker as Whiston or Burnet ; 

 and, indeed, he fights his way with great per- 

 severance and ingenuity, through a thousand 

 objections that naturally arise. Having, at 

 last, got upon the earth, he supposes himself 

 on firmer ground, and goes forward with great- 

 er security. Turning his attention to the pre- 

 sent appearance of things upon this globe, he 

 pronounces from the view, that the whole 

 earth was at first under water. This water 

 he supposes to have been the lighter parts 

 of its former evaporation, which, while the 

 earthy particles sunk downwards by their na- 

 tural gravity, floated on the surface, and co- 

 vered it for a considerable space of time. 



" The surface of the earth," says he," "must 

 have been in the beginning much less solid 

 than it is at present ; and, consequently, the 

 same causes which at this day produce but 

 very slight changes, must then, upon so com- 

 plying a substance, have had very considera- 

 ble effects. We have no reason to doubt but 

 that it was then covered with the waters of 

 the sea; and that those waters were above the 

 tops of our highest mountains: since, even in 

 such elevated situations, we find shells and 



Theorie de la Terre, vol. i. p. 111. 



other marine productions in very great abun- 

 dance. It appears also that the sea continued 

 for a considerable time upon the face of the 

 earth : for as these layers of shells are found 

 so very frequent at such great depths, and in 

 such prodigious quantities, it seems impossible 

 for such numbers to have been supported all 

 alive at one time; so that they must have 

 been brought there by successive depositions. 

 These shells also are found in the bodies of 

 the hardest rocks, where they could not have 

 been deposited, all at once, at the time of the 

 deluge, or at any such instant revolution ; 

 since that would be to suppose, that all the 

 rocks in which they are found, were, at that 

 instant, in a state of dissolution, which would 

 be absurd to assert. The sea, therefore, de- 

 posited them wheresoever they are now to be 

 found, and that by slow and successive de- 

 grees. 



" It will appear also, that the sea covered 

 the whole earth, from the appearance of its 

 layers, which lying regularly one above the 

 other, seem all to resemble the sediment form- 

 ed at different times by the ocean. Hence, 

 by the irregular force of its waves, and its 

 currents driving the bottom into sand- 

 banks, mountains must have been gradually 

 formed within this universal covering of 

 waters; and these successively raising their 

 heads above its surface, must, in time, have 

 formed the highest ridges of mountains upon 

 land, together with continents, islands, and 

 low grounds, all in their turns. This opinion 

 will receive additional weight by considering, 

 that in those parts of the earth where the pow- 

 er of the ocean is greatest, the inequalities on 

 the surface of the earth are highest. The 

 ocean's power is greatest at the equator, 

 where its winds and tides are most constant ; 

 and, in fact, the mountains at the equator are 

 found to be higher than in any other part of the 

 world. The sea, therefore, has produced the 

 principal changes in our earth : rivers, volca- 

 noes, earthquakes, storms, and rain, having 

 made but slight alterations, and only such as 

 have affected the globe to very inconsidera- 

 ble depths." 



This is but a very slight sketch of Mr. 



Buffon's theory of the earth ; a theory which 



he has much more powerfully supported, than 



happily invented ; and it would be needless to 



E 



