32 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PAL/EONTOLOGY. 



enumerates the known cases of fluctuations of level, and men- 

 tions changes going on at Pozzuoli. He gives also a detailed 

 account of the island of Mea Kaumen that appeared off Santorin 

 in the year 1707. 



The learned abbot T Antonio Lazzaro Moro (1687-1740), 

 warmly contested the views of Burnet, Woodward, and Leib- 

 , nitz. Moro's own theory of the earth was based upon the 

 \ upheaval of the new volcanic island at Santorin. The emer- 

 gence of the island was marked by earthquake and volcanic 

 disturbances, which went on intermittently for several months. 

 Moro attaches great importance to the fact that the rocks, as 

 they began to rise from the JEgea.ii Sea, were covered with 

 oysters, and that these were afterwards buried by the ejected 

 volcanic material. He then describes the origin of Monte 

 Nuovo, near Naples ; and, following Paragallos for the most 

 part, he gives a complete account of the eruptions of Vesuvius 

 from the year 79 AD., and of the eruptions of Etna. His doc- 

 trine was that the fossils found in the mountains had originated 

 where they were found, and that the mountains themselves had 

 been upheaved from the sea by volcanic action. All continents 

 and islands had also been upheaved in this way. The stratified 

 material composing some mountains represented the original 

 volcanic ejections, which in consolidating had assumed a 

 certain stratification of a secondary character, such as is 

 presented at Monte Nuovo, Vesuvius, and Etna. 



It is unnecessary to enter into the details of the sequence 

 of events drawn up by Moro in the part of his work devoted 

 to the earth's history. With the exception that he follows 

 Vallisnieri in discarding the Flood, the chain of events is 

 designed in harmony with Scriptural authority; and an official 

 affidavit is given in the preface that the book contains nothing 

 which is inimical to the Catholic faith. Moro was highly 

 esteemed in his time, and was very successful in spreading 

 his teaching. But he contributed little that was new to 

 science. Even his doctrine of convulsive upheavals had 

 been largely anticipated by Strabo ; while his own con- 

 temporary, Robert Hooke, had worked along similar lines, 

 although his writings were unknown to Moro. 



A striking contrast to the work of Moro is presented by the 

 Telliamed (anagram of the author) of De Maillet. _ Whereas 

 Moro attributed all continents, mountains, and islands to 

 volcanic agency, De Maillet regards all the rocks of the earth 



