Natural History. in 



the globe, which were at first filled with clastic 

 fluids^ but the water afterwards finding its way 

 into them, became lodged there; that some ca- 

 verns have been formed by subterraneous fires; 

 but that the most powerful cause of them has been 

 the refrigeration of our globe; and that, though 

 the surface of the earth has been brought to its 

 present state by the action of water, it may, at 

 the first moment of its formation, have undergone 

 a very great degree of heat, as happens to a comet 

 passing near the sun. 



In the formation of this theory, M. DELAiME- 

 THERiE discovered considerable ingenuity^ and 

 great learning. He can scarcely, however, be 

 called an original writer. Voight had held the 

 doctrine of the aqueous crystallization of strata 

 before him; and, indeed, the greater part of his 

 system is made up of parts collected from different 

 theorists. This is generally considered as one o£ 

 those theories which are hostile to revelation. 



Of a very different character is the theory of Mr. 

 How^ARD, a British geologist, who, about the same 

 time, published his opinions on this subject/ This 

 gentleman is a firm beHever in revelation, and his 

 theory is intended to be perfectly consistent with 

 the sacred history. 



He supposes that the elements of all material 

 substances were originally in a confused mass, 

 called the abyss, without motion or animation; 

 and that the present order of things was gradually, 

 and at different intervals, drawn trom it by means 

 of laws impressed by the power of the Creator. 

 The earth, of which we now behold the ruins, was 

 originally constructed with its poles perpendicular 

 to the equator; the centre of gravity was the cen- 



l Thoughts on the Structure of the Gloie, ami the Scriptural History of ths 

 Earth, and of Mankind^ &c, by Philip Howard, H;q. 4to. Lonjon, 

 1797. 



