163 Natural History, 



Germany.* He also opposed the theory of Moro^ 

 before mentioned, though he considered it as ap-- 

 proaching much nearer the truth than the inge- 

 nious fable of the French naturalist. He insisted, 

 that the opinion of continents and mountains hav- 

 ing been thrown up from the bottom of the ocean, 

 solely by submarine conflagrations and volcanoes, 

 was abundantly refuted by close observation. He 

 contended, likewise, that in veins of sand, marble, 

 chalk, and slate, there are found no indications of 

 a burning soil, but rather of a sediment disposed 

 by the agitation of the sea. Accordingly, he 

 maintained, that the strata of wdiich the shell or 

 surface of the earth is composed, were originally- 

 formed at the bottom of the sea, by the constant 

 agitation of the Avaters, and the continual produc- 

 tion of plants and shells; that the subterraneous 

 explosions and earthquakes, breaking through the 

 bottom of the sea, not only formed banks, hills, 

 and submarine mountains, of its broken parts, but 

 also frequently raised up such large portions of the 

 bed of the ocean, wdth its incumbent strata, as to 

 form islands and dry mountains. At some times, 

 as he supposed, the presence of so large a body 

 of w^ater caused it to break through the cavities 

 made by previous eruptions, and, at other times 

 the violence of the subterraneous explosions w^as 

 so great as to remove mountains from one place to 

 another; while the heat of the internal fires caus- 

 ing these explosions was so intense as to melt, cal- 

 cine, or vitrify all adjacent substances. 



In 1773 Dr. William Worthington, of Great- 

 Britain, published a theory,' in which great learn- 

 ing and piety, and a considerable share of inge- 

 nuitv are combined. He maintained that the 



b Specimen Histcrla: NaturaUs Globt TerracfuajL—Auiorc RuDOLPHO EriCO 

 Raspe, 8vo. Leipsic, 1763. 



( Scripture "Theory of the Earth t 8vo. 1773. 



