24 HISTOllY OF 



was now become oblate. In this universal wreck of nature, 

 Noah survived, by a variety of happy causes, to re-people the 

 earth, and to give birth to a race of men slow in believing ill., 

 imagined theories of the earth. 



After so many theories of the earth which have been publish- 

 ed, applauded, answered, and forgotten, Mr Buifon ventured to 

 add one more to the number. This philosopher was, in every 

 respect, better qualified than any of his predecessors for such aii 

 attempt, being furnished with more materials, having a brightet 

 imagination to find new proofs, and a better style to clothe them 

 in. However, if one so ill qualified as I am may judge, this seems 

 the weakest part of his admirable work ; and I could wish that 

 he had been content with giving us facts instead of systems ; 

 that, instead of being a reasoner, he had contented himself with 

 being merely an historian. 



He begins his system by making a distinction between the first 

 part of it and the last ; the one being founded only on conjecture, 

 the other depending entirely upon actual observation. The lat- 

 ter part of his theory may, therefore, be true, though the former 

 should be found erroneous. 



" The planets," says he, " and the earth among the number, 

 might have been formerly (he only offers this as conjecture) a part 

 of the body of the sun, and adherent to its substance. In this 

 situation, a comet falling in upon that great body, might have 

 given it such a shock, and so shaken its whole frame, that some 

 of its particles might have been driven off like streaming sparkles 

 from red-hot iron ; and each of these streams of fire, small as 

 they were in comparison of the sun, might have been large 

 enough to have made an earth as great, nay, many times greater, 

 than our?. So that in this manner the planets, together with 

 the globe which we inhabit, might have been diiven off from 

 the body of the sun by an impulsive force : in this manner also 

 they would continue to recede from it for ever, were they not 

 drav.'n back by its superior power of attraction ; and thus, by 

 the combination of the two motions, they are wheeled round in 

 circles. 



*' Being in this manner detached at a distance from the body 

 of the sun, the planets, from having been at first globes of liquid 

 fire, gradually became cool. The earth also, having been im- 

 pelled obliquely forward, received a rotatory motion upon its 



