Kalural His tori/. 171 



Two or three years after the appearance of Mr. 

 "AVhitehurst's publication, M. De Luc, of Ge- 

 neva, dissatisfied with all the numerous theories 

 which had been proposed, offered another, which 

 has occupied considerable attention in the scien- 

 tific world.' He supposes that the ocean once 

 covered our continents; that the bottom of the old 

 ocean was full of mountains, which neither the 

 waters, nor any other cause known to us, formed, 

 and which he therefore calls primordial. These 

 mountains rose abov^e the surface of the waters, 

 and formed islands. These islands, and the an- 

 cient continents, were fruitful and well peopled, 

 and the ancient sea had tides, currents, and tem- 

 pests, as the present ocean. These powers acting 

 upon the soft matters which are known to have 

 formed the bottom of the ancient ocean, produced 

 accumulations of calcareous substances, which, in 

 process of time, became more or less mixed with 

 marine bodies. The rivers, in the mean while. 

 Carried from the land into the sea scattered re- 

 mains of animal and vegetable productions; the 

 sea itself w^ashed them from its coasts into its bo- 

 som; and these materials, transported by currents, 

 became a secondary soil upon its primordial bot- 

 tom. Fires and elastic fluids, formed by fermen- 

 tations, made various openings in the bottom of 

 the ocean, whence proceeded torrents of liquid 

 substances and lava, which gave rise to the vol- 

 canic mountains observable on the surface of our 

 continents. The continents which existed in a 

 state of population and fertility, while the sea co- 

 vered those which we now inhabit, though tliey 

 did not form a solid mass, but were, })ro])crly 



e Lfttrcs Physiques^ et Morales, sur V Histoire de la Terrc, el de VHo?v7}:e^ 

 &:c. by J. A. De Luc, 8vo. 5 torn. 1780. This tlicory, as to its principal 

 cutlines, was first suggested by IVIr. Edward King; but was aftexwarde 

 much extended and ipiprovcd by M, De Luc. 



