VOL. XLIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRABTSACTIONS. Ill 



the bottom of the part that lay within the gum are several cavities for the inser- 

 tion of the nerves. The whole tooth is almost entire, and seems very little, if at 

 all, petrified; but, since its being exposed to the air, several little cracks appear. 

 Other monstrous bones were found with it ; and particularly thigh bones, 6 feet 

 long, and as thick as the thigh of a man; all which belonged probably to the 

 same animal, and may be considered as farther proofs of the creature's enormous 

 size. 



The place where, and the manner how, these bones were discovered, are curi- 

 ous particulars. A little town, called Munsley, is situated close to the sea-shore, 

 on the north-east coast of the county of Norfolk, where the sea is bounded by 

 exceedingly high rocky cliffs: some of these being gradually undermined by the 

 continual dashing of the waves when the tide comes in, great pieces frequently 

 tumble down on the shore : and by the tumbling down of one of these the above- 

 mentioned bones and grinder were discovered. 



This discovery seems a convincing demonstration, that the earth has under- 

 gone some very extraordinary alterations: for the remains of animals, of quite 

 different climates and regions, and of kinds which, in the present situation of the 

 world, could never possibly come over hither, must either imply their having been 

 placed here by Providence originally, or that this island must heretofore have been 

 contiguous to the continent : but since we find these creatures in very hot coun- 

 tries only, it is highly probable they were never placed here by Providence. 



What changes have happened to our earth, and how they have been produced, 

 no human wisdom can possibly find out with any certainty. But suppose only 

 the polar points, or the axis, to have been shifted at any time but a few degrees, 

 and its centre of gravity to have been altered, which some great men have 

 imagined not improbable, what convulsions in nature, what a universal change 

 in the face of things, must thus have been occasioned ! what inundations, or 

 deluges of water, bearing every thing before them ! what breaches in the earth, 

 what hurricanes and tempests, must have attended such an event ! for the waters 

 must have been rolled along, till, by them, an equipoise was produced. In short, 

 all parts of the world would thereby acquire degrees of heat and cold different fronj 

 what they had before. Seas would be formed where continents had been : con- 

 tinents would be torn in sunder, or perhaps split into islands. The ancient bed 

 of the sea would be changed into dry land, and appear covered at first with shells, 

 and other marine bodies; of which the action and nitrous salts of the air would 

 in a few years moulder away, and turn to dust those on the surface; but such as 

 were buried deep would be preserved and remain for many ages. 



Such would probably have been the fate of inanimate things : and as to living 

 creatures, they must have been almost universally destroyed and buried in the 

 ruins of the world, as perhaps this elephant may have been. Some few however 



