JO Egypt is gradually augmented 



and there is no Accejfwn of Matter, It niuft indeed be ac- 

 knowledged, that every Plant, pluckt up by the Root, and 

 every Tree, dug out of the Ground, will leave feme Cavities 

 and Traces behind them ; but we muft deny, at the fameTime, 

 the Confequence that is drawn, by this Author, from thefe Ap- 

 pearances. For thefe Holes and Cavities, whether they be 

 fmall or great, are not made by a proportionable Quantity of 

 Earth or Soil, or Vegetative Matter, (if that will make more 

 for the Purpofe, ) which may have been gradually taken up 

 and confumed by thefe Plants. They are made by the gradual 

 Accretion and Expanlion of their Roots ; which, likefo many 

 Wedges, force themfelves into the adjacent Soil, Loam or 

 Gravel ; obliging it thereby to quit it's native Situation ; and, 

 from lying, naturally, in a more loofe and open Texture, to 

 become more clofe and comprelTed. No Earth confequently 

 can be loft or confumed by this Expanfion of their Roots ; it 

 becomes only, as I have obferved, more crouded and compadb 

 by thefe Means. 

 It is gene- Nay, fo far will it be, from being a Matter of Fa£t, as is 

 or eife upon herc aflcrtcd, that the Ground "vifihly Sinks, where Vegetables 



Q Level 



grow, without an AcceJJion of Matter ; that, the contrary, I 

 prefume, will be found by Obfervation ; and, for one Inftance 

 where it takes Place, (which if there Ihould, may perhaps be 

 ealily accounted for fome other way,) there are Numbers of 

 others, where the Ground is either higher, or at leaft upon a 

 Level with what lyes contiguous to it. 

 The Soil is In the Produce of the lefler Kind of Vegetables, fuch as 



of the fame *-• 



Height or Grafs and Corn ; no lefs than of the greater, fuch as Shrubs 



higher than ' . 



itwasimme-and Trccs 1 the Ground has probably continued, much in the 



diately after ' _ . 



the Deluge, fame Height, wherein it was left a little after the Deluge. Or 

 rather, from the rotting and corrupting of the Roots, Stalks, 

 Leaves &c. it may, in fome Places, be a little raifed and aug- 

 mented. Infomuch that the very curious and learned Olaus 

 Rudhechius \ from the Confideration of thefe and fuch like 

 occafional AcceiTions of Soil, has attempted to eftimate the 

 Age and Antiquity of this Terraqueous Globe. Where the 

 Ground is manured, there it muft ftill rife higher, than by 



I OI. Rudbeckii ^r/<j«rif*i Hvs Manhelm Lib.i. c.<J. Nouvelles de la Rcpub. des Lettres, 

 Moisde Janv.KSSf. 



this 



