13 



rated and ordered to their respective places, the earth 

 would have been of one even surface. The several 

 'component parts thereof must have subsided aocor-. . 

 to their specific gravities, and at Ia>t have formed' a 

 large even spherical surface, eveiy \.l '^-^ equidistant 

 from the centre of t lie globe. Ikit thr.i instead of this 

 form it should jet out every where into hills and dales, 

 is a manifest sign of the special providence of a wise 'Cre- 

 ator. Another sign of this is, that, throughout the whole 

 f aril i, the parts farthest fi\>m the sea an the highest : 

 ai admirable contrivance both for supphing all places 

 with water, and for carrying oil' the superfluity of it. 



And as the mountains themselves are naturally dis- 

 posed to be drier than the low grounds, so nature has 

 provided for them a more plentiful supply of moistures, 

 unless for that very small part of them which ascends 

 above the clouds and vapours. For beside the fountains, 

 which water them continually, they have more rains and 

 dews than the va!ie>s. They are much more frequently 

 covered by fogs ; and by stepping and compressing the 

 clouds, as well as condensing them by their greater 

 cold, they procure all the rain they want. 



" But how were the mountains formed after the flood 

 had dissolved the terraqueous globe T* Probably thus: - 

 The smaller hills might easily be aggregated by the 

 mere force of the water. But the mountains, being of a 

 denser substance, seem to have been elevated from be- 

 neath, in a convex form, by the violent force of subter- 

 raneous wind, water, and fire, heaving them up, and scat- 

 tering them abroad iu so many protuberances. And if 

 this was done before the substance of the stones became 

 fixed and indurated, then it is no wonder that the exter- 

 nal wind likewise should leave so manifest tokens of its 

 vehement impetuosity, in the extent and o-ulv. ard figure 

 of them. This gives an easy, natural account, for the 

 innumerable fissures, chasms, and disruptions, whereby 

 so many mountains arc, as it were, sawn asunder, either 

 across or length-ways. And hence main such apertures 

 in the mountains are filled with- a slimy matter which 

 was afterwards indurated. In some of the mountains of 



