52 



LAZZAEO MOEO. 



[Ch. in. 



examined, it was found to be a white rock, bearing on its 

 surface living oysters and Crustacea. In order to ridicule 

 the various theories then in vogue, Moro ingeniously supposes 

 the arrival on this new island of a party of naturalists igno- 

 rant of its recent origin. One immediately points to the 

 marine shells, as proofs of the universal deluge; anothe 



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mer 



affirms 



them as mere sports of 



rished within the rock in ancient caverns, into which salt 

 water had been raised in the shape of vapour by the action of 

 subterranean heat. 



Moro pointed with great judgment to the faults and dis- 

 locations of the strata described by Vallisneri, in the Alps 

 and other chains, in confirmation of his doctrine, that the 

 continents had been heaved up by subterranean movements. 

 He objected, on solid grounds, to the hypothesis of Burnet 

 and of Woodward ; yet he ventured so far to disregard the 

 protest of Vallisneri, as to undertake the adaptation of every 

 part of his own system to the Mosaic account of the creation. 

 On the third day, he said, the globe was everywhere covered 

 to the same depth by fresh water ; and when it pleased the 

 Supreme Being that the dry land should appear, volcanic 

 explosions broke up the smooth and regular surface of the 

 earth composed of primary rocks. These rose in mountain 

 masses above the waves, and allowed melted metals and 



The sea gradually acquired 

 its saltness from volcanic exhalations, and, while it became 

 more circumscribed in area, increased in depth. Sand and 

 ashes ejected by volcanos were regularly disposed along the 

 bottom of the ocean, and formed the secondary strata, which 

 in their turn were lifted up by earthquakes. We need not 

 follow this author in tracing the progress of the creation of 

 vegetables and animals on the other days of creation ; but, 

 upon the whole, it may be remarked, that few of the old 

 cosmological theories had been conceived with so little 

 violation of known analogies. 



salts to ascend through fissures. 



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Mor 



Hutton 



