Natural History, 167 



the globe, on or near its surface. M. Buffon 

 supposes, further, that since the period when the 

 primitive waters encircled the earth, there have 

 been repeated partial inundations, in different 

 places, and in others instances of land, formerly- 

 covered wuth the ocean, being elevated above it, 

 and becoming inhabitable; and similar events, he 

 seems to suppose, may in future occur. Accord- 

 ing to him, also, the earth, for many ages, too in- 

 tensely heated to admit the existence of animal 

 life on its surface, first acquired at the poles a more 

 genial temperature. There, consequently, must 

 WG look for the first abodes of man. To Green- 

 land or Iceland, to Spitzenhergen or Nova-%embla, 

 we must have recourse for the verdant bowers of 

 Eden. And, finally, he contends,, that all the other 

 planets belonging to our system were stricken off 

 from the sun in the same manner with that which 

 we inhabit, and have probably undergone similar 

 changes, so far as their respective circumstances 

 admitted. 



Such are the outlines of a theory bold and plau- 

 sible, as might have been expected from the mind 

 of its author, but unsubstantial and deceptive. It^ 

 manifest object is to exclude the agency of a Di- 

 vine Architect, and to represent a world begun 

 and perfected merely by the operation of natural, 

 undesigning causes. That it cannot be reconciled 

 w^ith the sacred history, will appear evident on 

 the slightest inspection; and that it involves the 

 grossest philosophical absurdities has been clearly 

 shown by succeeding geologists. It was em- 

 braced, however, by M. Bailly, of France, by 

 the celebrated Hollman, of Goettingen, and 

 others; and continues to be respected and adopted 

 by many to the present time. 



M. De Buffon's theory was warmly opposed, 

 soon after its publiq^ition, by Raste, a geologist of 



