84. NATURAL HISTORY. 



It is evident, that considerable changes have taken 

 place on the surface of the globe, not only by the 

 action of fire, but also by water. The sea, from 

 various circumstances, has repeatedly changed its bed. 

 Authors have suspected, that the island of Great 

 Britain was formerly united to the continent of France. 

 On the coast of France, England, Holland, and Ger- 

 many, the sea has retreated in many parts. In Italy, 

 a considerable tract of territory has been gained by 

 the retreating of the ocean ; and Ravenna, which was 

 formerly a sea-port of the Exarques, is no longer a 

 maritime town. 



On the mountain of Stella, in Portugal, is a lake 

 in which the wrecks of ships have been found, not- 

 withstanding this mountain is more than twelve leagues 

 distant from any sea. Sabinus, in his commentaries 

 on Ovid's Metamorphoses, says, that from the monu- 

 ments of history it appears, that in the year 14GO, a 

 whole ship, with its anchors, was found in a mine 

 of the Alps. 



CHAP. V. 



ANALOGIES BETWEEN ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES- 

 ON THE NATURE OF MAN OF INFANCY MAN- 

 HOOD EXTENT OF HUMAN LIFE OF THE 



SENSES ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OP 

 THIS SUBJECT, 



j*\MONG the vast variety of objects in which the 

 surface of this globe abounds, animals hold the first 

 rank, both on account of the relation which they bear 

 to man, and of thoir superiority over vegetable and 



