80 



VOLTAIRE. 



[Ch. IV. 



aware of the abundance of fossil shells in the interior of 

 continents, were still persuaded that they were proofs of the 

 universal deluge ; and as the readiest way of shaking this 

 article of faith, he endeavoured to inculcate scepticism as to 

 the real nature of such shells, and to recall from contempt 



ma 



Yet 



sports of nature. He also pretended t 

 sions were not those of real plants.* 

 convinced that the shells had really belonged to living tes- 

 tacea, as may be seen in his essay ' On the Formation of 

 Mountains.' t He would sometimes, in defiance of all con- 

 sistency, shift his ground when addressing the vulgar; and, 

 admitting the true nature of the shells collected in the Alps 

 and other places, pretend that they were Eastern species, 



which had fallen from 

 Syria. The 



hats of pilgrims coming from 

 s written bv him on ^eolc 



subjects were all calculated to strengthen prejudices, partly 

 because he was ignorant of the real state of the science, and 

 partly from his bad faith. J On the other hand, they who 

 knew that his attacks were directed by a desire to invalidate 

 Scripture, and who were unacquainted with the true merits 

 of the question, might well deem the old diluvian hypothesis 

 incontrovertible, if Voltaire could adduce no better argument 

 against it than to deny the true nature of organic remains. 



mi 



sun 



First, we 



in extrinsic causes, that we can explain the slow and reluct- 

 ant adoption of the 

 find many able naturalists adducing the fossil remains of 



bis as proofs of an event related in Scripture. 

 is deemed conclusive by the multitude for a 



marine anim 



* See the chapter on ' Des Pierres 

 figures. ' 



f In that essay he lays it down, ' that 

 all naturalists are now agreed that de- 

 posits of shells in the midst of the con- 

 tinents are monuments of the continued 

 occupation of these districts by the 

 ocean.' In another place also, when 



{ As an instance of his desire to throw 

 doubt indiscriminately on all geological 

 data, we may recall the passage where 

 he says, that ' the bones of a reindeer 

 and hippopotamus discovered near 

 Etampes did not prove, as some would 

 have it, that Lapland and the Nile were 

 once on a tour from Paris to Orleans, 



speaking of the fossil shells of Touraine, but merely that a lover of eunositie 



he admits their true origin. 



once preserved them in his cabinet. 







Br 



£ 



