210 Natural HisLorij. [C^ap. III. 



of f^-ross dark air; that within the sphere of earth 

 and water M^as an immense cavity, called by Moses 

 the deep ; that this internal cavity was filled with 

 air of a kind similar to that on the outside; that 

 on the creation of light the internal air received 

 elasticity sufficient to force its way through the ex- 

 ternal covering; that immediately on this, the wa- 

 ter descended, filled up the void, and left the earth 

 in a form similar to that which it bears at present; 

 that when it pleased God to destroy mankind by 

 a flood, he caused, by his own miraculous agency, 

 such a pressure of the atmosphere on the surface of 

 the earth, that a large portion of it was forced into 

 the internal cavity which it had formerly occu- 

 pied, and expelled the waters from it with great 

 violence, spreading them over the surface; that 

 the shell of the earth was by this means utterly 

 dissolved, and reduced to its original state of flu- 

 idity ; and that, after the divine purposes were an- 

 swered b}^ the deluge, the globe^ by a process si- 

 milar to that which at first took place, was restored 

 io the form >\ hich it now bears. 



In the year 1740 the abbe Moro, of Italy, pub- 

 lished a theory of the earth, whicli he chiefly de- 

 riv(^d from the works of Ray, of the preceding 

 ceutnry. He supposed that the surface of the earth, 

 as we now behold it, and especially the mountain- 

 ous parts, arose originally from the bottom of th« 

 ocean. At first, according to him, ^hese mountains 

 contained neither strata of shells, nor any orga- 

 . nised fossils; but by means of subterranean con- 

 flagrations, earthquakes, and volcanoes, these sub- 

 stances were thrown up in confused heaps, after 

 which they successively subsided according tQ their 



