206 Natural History. [Chap. IlL 



This " elegant romance" of Burnet was succeed- 

 ed by the work of his countryman, Mr. Woodward, 

 who, in \Qd5i published Essays towards a Natural 

 Historij of the Earthy and terrestrial bodies. 

 Though he possessed much more knowledge of 

 minerals than his predecessor, and on this account 

 had greatly the advantage of him, he produced a 

 work far less ingenious and interesting. He also 

 proceeded on the supposition of the Mosaic history 

 being true, and ascribed the present aspect of our 

 globe to the influence of the general deluge. He 

 supposed that all the substances of which the earth 

 is composed were once in a state of solution; that 

 this solution took place at the flood ; that on th6 

 gradual retiring of the waters the various sub^ 

 stances held in solution, or suspended in them, 

 subsided in distinct strata, according to their spe- 

 cific gravities ; and that these are arranged hori^ 

 zontally, one over the other, like the coats of an 

 onion. As this theory was soon found to contra- 

 dict some of the plainest and most unquestionable 

 facts which geologists observed, it has had few ad- 

 mirers, and its refutation has been usually consi- 

 dered as obvious and easy. 



In 1696 Mr, William Whiston, a man of uncom- 

 mon acuteness, and of still greater learning, pub- 

 lished a New Theory of the Earth, from its original 

 to the consummation of all things. He supposed 

 the earth, in the beginning, to be an uninhabita- 

 ble Comet, subject to such alternate extremes of 

 heat and cold, that its matter, being sometimes 

 liquefied, and sometimes frozen, was in the form 

 of a chaos, or an abyss surrounded with utter dark- 

 ness. This chaos was the atmosphere of the comet. 



