THEORY 01 THE EARTH. 145 



year at their lower edges, while the mosses are not 

 stopped by any thing whatever in their regular in- 

 crease. By sounding their depth down to the solid 

 ground, we may form some estimate of their anti- 

 quity ; and it may be asserted respecting these 

 mosses, as well as respecting the downs, that they 

 do not derive their origin from an indefinitely an- 

 cient epoch. 



The same observations may be made in regard 

 to the slips, or fallings, which sometimes take 

 place at the bottom of all steep slopes in moun- 

 tainous regions, and which are still very far from 

 having covered these over. But as no precise 

 measures of their progress have hitherto been ap- 

 plied, we shall not insist upon them at any greater 

 length. 



< 



32. Proofs, from Traditions, of a great Catastrophe^ 

 and subsequent Renewal of Human Society. 



From all that has been said, it may be seen that 

 nature everywhere distinctly informs us that the 

 commencement of the present order of things can<- 

 not be dated at a very remote period ; and it is 

 very remarkable, that mankind everywhere speak 

 the same language with nature, whether we consult 

 their natural traditions on this subject, or consider 

 their moral and political state, and the intellectual 

 attainments which they had made at the time when 

 they began to have authentic historical monu- 



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