292 GEOLOGIES AND DELUGES 



the lightest and most active particles of all, and these 

 " flying ever on the wing, play in the open spaces " about 

 the earth, and constitute the atmosphere of air. 



Such was the earth (Fig. 90) when first it formed the 





FIG. 89. The Fall of the Finest Particles, as represented 

 in the fourth figure of Burnett's " Theory of the 

 Earth," on page 57, where he says : " The lesser and 

 lighter particles would sink too, but more slowly, . . . 

 so that in their descent they would meet with that 

 oily liquor upon the face of the Deep . . . which 

 would entangle and stop them from passing any 

 further; so as mixing there with that unctious sub- 

 stance they composed a certain slime, or fat, soft, and 

 light Earth, spread out upon the face of the Waters : 

 as 'tis represented in the fourth figure." 



abode of unfallen man perfect in form and beauty, for it 

 was a true sphere, smooth as an egg ; undisfigured by 

 mountains, and unwasted by the sea. It was, unfor- 

 tunately, but too like an egg, since its fragile shell rested 

 on the treacherous waters of the interior abyss, " the 



