13 HISTORY OP 



uregularly lying upon each other ; mountains rising from places 

 that oiice were level ;' and hills sinking into valleys ; whole re- 

 gions swallowed by the sea, and others again rising out of its 

 bosom. All these they suppose to be but a few of the changes 

 that have been wrought in our globe ; and they send out the 

 imagination to describe its primeval state of beauty. 



Of those who have written theories describing the manner of 

 the original formation of the earth, or accounting for its present 

 appearances, the most celebrated are Burnet, Whiston, Wood- 

 ward, and Buffon. As speculation is endless, so it is not to be 

 wondered that all these differ from each other, and give opposite 

 accounts of the several changes, which they suppose our earth 

 to have undergone. As the systems of each have had their ad- 

 mirers, it is, in some measure, incumbent upon the natural his- 

 torian to be acquainted, at least, with their outlines : and, indeed, 

 to know w^hat others have even dreamed in matters of science, i.s 

 very useful, as it may often prevent us from indulging similar 

 delusions ourselves, which we should never have adopted, but be- 

 cause we take them to be wholly our own. However, as enter- 

 ing into a detail of these theories is rather furnishing a history of 

 opinions than things, I will endeavour to be as concise as I can. 



The first who formed this amusement of earth-making into 

 system, was the celebrated Thomas Burnet, a man of polite 

 learning and rapid imagination. His Sacred Theory, as he calls 

 it, describing the changes which the earth has undergone, or 

 shall hereafter undergo, is well known for the warmth with 

 which it is imagined, and the weakness with which it is reason- 

 ed ; for the elegance of its style, and the meanness of its philo- 

 sophy. " The earth," says he, " before the deluge, was very 

 differently formed from what it is at present : it was at first a 

 fluid mass; a chaos composed of various substances, differing 

 both in density and figure : those which were most heavy, sunk 

 to the centre, and formed in the middle of our globe a hard solid 

 body ; those of a lighter nature remained next ; and the waters, 

 which were lighter still, swam upon its surface, and covered the 

 earth on every side. The air, and all those fluids which were 

 iighter than water, floated upon this also ; and in the same man- 

 ner encompassed the globe ; so that between the surrounding 



1 Sencc. Qiisest. lib. vi. cap. 2i, 



