10 NATURAL HISTORY. 



With regard to the history of the earth, therefore, 

 we shall begin with such facts as have been universal- 

 ly acknowledged in al! ages, not omitting those addition- 

 al truths that have fallen within our own observation. 



The surface of this globe presents us with heights, 

 depths, plains, seas, marshes, rivers, caverns, gulf's, 

 volcanoes, in the disposition of which, upon a slight 

 view, we observe neither regularity nor order. If we 

 penetrate into the bowels of the earth, we discover 

 metals, minerals, stones, bitumens, and, in short mat- 

 ter of every kind as it were without any apparent de- 

 sign. Upon a more accurate inspection we perceive 

 matter in every form, blended in a chaos of confu- 

 sion, which can be compared to nothing but the ruins 

 of a world. 



Amid these ruins, however, the different generations 

 of animals, and of vegetables, succeed each other in a 

 beautiful and regular order. With respect to us, the 

 earth, formerly a chaos, is now become a delightful 

 habitation, where every object aifords amazing displays 

 of the power, of the intelligence, and of the bene- 

 ficence of its great Creator. 



Astronomers tell us, that this earth which we inha- 

 bit forms but a very minute part in that great assem- 

 blage of bodies of which the world is composed. It is 

 a million of times less than the sun, by which it is en- 

 lightened. The planets also, which, like it, are sub- 

 ordinate to the sun's influence, exceed the earth one 

 thousand times in magnitude. These have been dis- 

 covered as forming, with our earth, a system of bodies 

 circulating round the sun, all obedient to one law, and 

 impelled by one common influence. 



Modern philosophy has taught us to believe, that, 

 when the great Author of Nature began the work of 



