THE EAH.H. 2 J 



ann all these a>1vantages arose from the superior beat of the 

 central globe, which ever since has been cooling. As its heat 

 was then in full power, the genial principle was also much 

 greater than at present; vegetation and animal increase were 

 carried on with more vigour; and all nature seemed teeming 

 with the seeds of life. But these physical advantages were only 

 Droductive of moral evil ; the warmth which invigorated the 

 body increased the passions and appetites of the mind ; and, as 

 man became more powerful, he grew less innocent. It was 

 found necessary to punish this depravity ; and all living creatures 

 were overwhelmed by the deluge in universal destruction. 



This deluge, which simple believers are willing to ascribe to 

 a miracle, philosophers have long been desirous to account for 

 by natural causes ; they have proved that the earth could never 

 supply from any reservoir towards its centre, nor the atmosphere 

 by any discharge from above, such a quantity of water as would 

 cover the surface of the globe to a certain depth over the tops 

 of our highest mountains. Where, therefore, was all this water 

 to be found ? Whiston has found enough, and more than a 

 sufficiency, in the tail of a comet ; for he seems to allot comets 

 a very active part in the great operations of nature. 



He calculates, with great seeming precision, the year, the 

 month, and the day of the week, on which this comet (which 

 has paid the earth some visits since, though at a kinder distance,^ 

 involved our globe in its tail. The tail he supposed to be a 

 vaporous fluid substance, exhaled from the body of the comet 

 by the extreme heat of the sun, and increasing in proportion as 

 it approached that great luminary. It was in this that our globe 

 was involved at the time of the deluge ; and, as the earth still 

 acted by its natural attraction, it drew to itself all the watery 

 vapours which were in the comet's tail ; and the internal waters 

 being also at the same time let loose, in a very short space the 

 tops of the highest mountains were laid under the deep. 



The punishment of the deluge being thus completed, and all 

 the guilty destroyed, the earth, which had been broken by the 

 eruption of the internal waters, was also enlarged by it ; so that, 

 upon the comet's recess, there was found room sufficient in the 

 internal abyss for the recess of the superfluous waters ; whither 

 they all retired, and left the earth uncovered, but in some re- 

 spects changed, particularly in its figure, which, from being round, 



