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fossils, of stones, metals, and minerals? these being 

 only a thin exterior crust. Whereof consist the inner 

 parts of the globe ? Of a Nucleus, (as an eminent 

 man supposes, in order to account for the variation 

 of the needle,) and a luminous medium interposed, 

 between that and the outer shell ? Or is there a 

 central jire, a grand reservoir, which supplies all the 

 burning mountains ; as well as ministers to the ripen- 

 ing of gems and metals, if not of vegetables also 1 

 Or is the great deep still contained in the bowels of 

 th-e earth, a central abyss of waters? Who hath 

 seen? Who can tell? Who can give any solid sa- 

 tisfaction to a rational enquirer ? 



But what wonder if we are ignorant of its internal 

 nature ? For how many parts are there on the sur- 

 face of the &lobe, which, after all the discoveries of 

 later ages, are still utterly unknown to us? How 

 very little do we know of the polar regions, either in 

 Europe, or Asia ? In Asia, particularly, where all 

 but the sea-coast is mere terra incognita ? How 

 little do we know of the inland parts, either of 

 Africa or America ? either of the soil, the climate, 

 the fruits, the animals, or the human inhabitants. 

 So far are we from having any proper knowledge of 

 these, that we can scarce form any rational conjeo 

 ture about them. 



And who knows what is contained in the broad 

 sea, in the abyss that covers so large a part of the 



