THE EARTH. 21 



that our globe was involved at the time of the deluge ; and, as the 

 earth still acted by its natural attraction, it drew to itself all the wa- 

 tery vapours which w?3re in the comet's tail ; and the internal waters 

 being also at the same time let loose, in a very short space the tops 

 of the highest mountains were laid under the deep. 



The punishment of the deluge being thus completed, and all the 

 guilty destroyed, the earth, which had been broken by the eruption 

 of the internal waters, was also enlarged by it ; so that, upon the 

 comet's recess, there was found room sufficient in the internal abyss 

 for the recess of the superfluous waters ; whither they all retired, and 

 left the earth uncovered, but in some respects changed, particularly 

 in its figure, which, from being round, was now become oblate. In 

 this universal wreck of nature, Noah survived, by a variety of happy 

 causes, to re-people the earth, and to give birth to a race of men slow 

 in believing ill-imagined theories of the earth. 



After so many theories of the earth, which had been published, ap- 

 plauded, answered, and forgotten, Mr. Euffon ventured to add one 

 more to the number. This philosopher was, in every respect, better 

 qualified than any of his predecessors for such an attempt, being fur- 

 nished with more materials, having a brighter imagination to find new 

 proofs, and a better style to clothe them in. However, if one so ill 

 qualified as I am may judge, this seems the weakest part of his admi- 

 rable work ; and I could wish that he had been content with giving us 

 f acts instead of systems ; that, instead of being a reasoner, he had 

 contented himself with being merely a historian. 



He begins his system by making a distinction between the first part 

 of it and the last ; the one being founded only on conjecture, the other 

 depending entirely upon actual observation. The latter part of his 

 theory may, therefore, be true, though the former should be found 

 erroneous. 



" The planets," says he, " and the earth among the number, might 

 have been formerly (he only offers this as conjecture) apart of the body 

 of the sun, and adherent to its substance. In this situation, a comet 

 falling in upon that great body, might have given it such a shock, and 

 so shaken its whole frame, that some of its particles might have been 

 driven off like streaming sparkles from red-hot iron ; and each of these 

 streams of fire, small as they were in comparison of the sun, might have 

 been large enough to have made an earth as great, nay, many times great- 

 er than ours. So that in this manner the planets, together with the globe 

 which we inhabit, might have been driven off from the body of the 

 sun by an impulsive force : in this manner also they would continue 

 to recede from it for ever, were they not drawn back by its superior 

 power of attraction ; and thus, by the combination of the two motions, 

 they are wheeled round in circles. 



" Being in this manner detached at a distance from the body of the 

 sun, the planets, from having been at first globes of liquid fire, gradu- 

 ally became cool. The earth also having been impelled obliquely 

 forward, received a rotatory motion upon its axis at the very instant 

 vf its formation ; and this motion being greatest at the equator, the 

 jarts there acting against the force of gravity, they must have vollen 

 >ut, and given the eaj th an oblate or flatted figure. 



