58 



BUFFON. 



[Ch. III. 



was 



that those which contained organic remains had never been 

 disturbed since the era of their formation. He was conscious 

 of the great power annually exerted by rivers and marine 

 currents in transporting earthy materials to lower levels, and 

 he even contemplated the period when they would destroy 

 all the present continents. Although in geology he 

 not an original observer, his genius enabled him to render 

 his hypothesis attractive ; and by the eloquence of his style, 

 and the boldness of his speculations, he awakened curiosity, 

 and provoked a spirit of enquiry among his countrymen. 

 Soon after the publication of his ' Natural History/ in 



i 



which was included his ' Theory of the Earth/ he received 

 an official letter (dated January, 1751) from the Sorbonne, or 

 Faculty of Theology in Paris, informing him that fourteen pro- 

 positions in his works ' were reprehensible, and contrary to the 

 creed of the church/ The first of these obnoxious passages, 

 and the only one relating to geology, was as follows : — ' The 

 waters of the sea have produced the mountains and valleys 

 of the land — the waters of the heavens, reducing all to a 

 level, will at last deliver the whole land over to the sea, and 

 the sea successively prevailing over the land, will leave dry 

 new continents like those which we inhabit/ Buifon was 

 invited by the College, in very courteous terms, to send in 

 an explanation, or rather a recantation of his unorthodox 



To this he submitted ; and a general assembly of 

 the Faculty having approved of his ' Declaration/ he was 

 required to publish it in his next work, 

 begins with these words : — 





opinions. 



>-& 



The document 

 I declare that I had no intention 

 to contradict the text of Scripture; that I believe most 

 firmly all therein related about the creation, both as to order 

 of time and matter of fact ; and I abandon everything in my 

 booh respecting the formation of the earth, and, ge 

 which may be contrary to the narration of Moses. 



The grand principle which Buifon was called upon to re- 

 nounce was simply this, — ' that the present mountains and 

 valleys of the earth are due to secondary causes, and that 

 the same causes will in time destroy all the continents, 

 hills, and valleys, and reproduce others like them.' Now, 



* Hist. Nat. torn. y. ed. cle limp. Boyale, Taris, 1769. 



