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YWM ago, he deduces from tViis circumllance a correfpond- 

 inT acia for the formation of tlic mouniaiii. Mr. Diydone, 

 (See his Tour through Sicily and Malta, vol. i. p. IIJ, 

 132) inforir.s us, that Rccupcro. was much cmbarralTed by 

 this d!fco^•cry and the iiiftienctf it afforded, becaufc they 

 contradicted the hiftory of Mofes. lor the relief of the 

 canou and the fatisfaaioii of the traveller, we might allidge, 

 that the Mofuic hillor>' contains nothing that is repugnant 

 to the notions here fupgelled concerning the antiquity of 

 the earth. Although man has not cxillcd .ongcr on the 

 earth than the period alllgned in tin; hiilory, the earth 

 itfelf might have exilled, and probably did exiil, in fome 

 other form and for other purpofes, for ages before this 

 period. IJcfides, we might alk, is the lava to which the 

 canon direds our attention, the lame which flowed from 

 ^tna in the fecond Carthaginian war ; and is not the time 

 required for converting lavas into fertile fields ver)' diflerent, 

 according to the different conliik-ney of the lavas and their 

 different fituations with refpeft to elevation or deprefTion, 

 and to their being expofed to wind, rain, 5:c. jiifl as the 

 time, in which heaps of iron (lag which vcfembles Inva, are 

 covered with verdure, is ver)- diferent at different furnaces, 

 according to the nature of the flag, and the fituation of the 

 furnace ? But there is an argument deducible from faft, 

 which invalidates and totally overthrows the canon's objec- 

 tion. iEtna and Vesuvius refemble each other with regard 

 to the various circumflances 'that pertain to this fubjecl ; 

 but the eruption of Vefuvius, which deltroyed Herculaneum, 

 happened A.D. 79, or about 1700 years ago. The mat- 

 ter which overwhelmed this ancient tov/n, is covered by the 

 roduce of fix other fubfequent eruptions : and thefe 

 everal llrata of lava are feparatcd by veins of good foil. 

 See Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixi. p. 7. and Bifliop Watfon's Apo- 

 logy for Chrillianity, in fermons and tratts, p. 383, &c. 



Further, Dolomieu (Ponces, 472.) informs us, that vege- 

 table earth does not exift between beds of lava ; and he 

 obfervcs, that if this were the cafe, no conclufion relative 

 to their age could faiilv be deduced from this clrcumllance, 

 as fome lavas become fertile much fooner than others. To 

 this purpofe. Chevalier Giocni, in 1787, found lavas, that 

 were projefted in 1766, in a ilate of vegetation, while other 

 lavas, much more ancient, remained barren. It is alio well 

 known, that beds of volcanic allies and pumice vegetate 

 fooner than any other. Mr. Dolomieu adds, that canon 

 Rccupcro denied his ever having expreffed any doubt with 

 regard to the Mofaic hiilory ; and could not conceive why 

 a late celebrated traveller (hould endeavour to render fuf- 

 pieious the orthodoxy of his belief. So far from having 

 been perfecuted on that account, he had a peniion from the 

 c-ourt of Naples to his death, with many teitimonies of 

 «fteem. The abbe Spallanzani (See Travels into the two 

 Sicilies, vol. i. p. 205, &c.) has ftated and examined the ar- 

 gument of Count Borch, deduced from the decompofition 

 and vegetation of different i1:rata of lava, in proof of the 

 Entiquity of the world. A lava, fays the Count, that was 

 produced by an eruption in 1 157, had a coating of earth in 

 Uecember, 1776, that was 12 inches thick ; another which 

 had flowed in 13-9, had one of 8 inches ; on that of 1669, 

 was found more than one inch ; vvhilil the-mofl recent, that 

 «f 1766, was entirely dcllitute of fuch earth. The abbe 

 allows that lavas, after a feries of years, are invefted with a 

 fti-atum of earth proper for vegetation ; and that the earth 

 is originally produced by the decompofition of the lava and 

 that of the plants wliich have taken root upon it. But 

 lavas are vtrj' different in their confiftenCy and other quali- 

 ties ; and thefe differences mull render the argument of 



I 



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Count Borch and fuch reafoners very inconclufive. The 

 lava, which flowed in 1329, and which was examined by 

 the Count 447 years after its eruption, was covered vsitli 

 eight inches of carlh ; and yet the lava of the Arfo in 

 Ilehia, which rulhed into the tea in 1302, appeared in 1788 

 to have preferved its hardnefs and iterility. Another cur- 

 rent of lava, near Catania, which has been employed for 

 2000 years for the purpofe of building, retains fuch a degree 

 of hardnefs, that where t'lc art and labour of cultivation 

 have not been applied to it, it iliU continues aliogetlicr 

 itcrile. He concludes upon the wh')le, that all cileulation* 

 on the greater or lefs quantity of earth which may cover 

 lavas arc very uncertain and lullacious. 



But to return from this digreilion, with regard to the anti- 

 quity of j^tna, we obfervc, that nnturalilfs have generally- 

 maintained, that ^tna, like other infulated mountains, is 

 the gradual produftion of volcanic eruptions. It is certain, 

 that every great eruption produces a new mountain; and that 

 iEtna confiils of a number of hills and declivities, more 

 nearly or more remotely connefted, which have been occa- 

 fioiied by the commotions and changes, to which it has 

 been fubjeft in the eourfe of many pall centuries. jEtna 

 may therefore be regarded, not as a fingle volcano, but as 

 an affemblage of volcanos, many of which are extinguilhed 

 or burn with a gentle fire, and of which fome few are lliU 

 aflmg imperceptibly or viiibly, with violence. 



M. Houcl, one of the latell and moft accurate infpeftors 

 of tliis mountain, obferves, (in his Voyage P'lttorefqui^, that 

 yEtna is entirely conipofcd of fubftances that have been 

 difcharged from the volcano in its various eruptions. From 

 the quantities of marine bodies that are depofited over its 

 lower part, he infers, as others have done, that it muil 

 have been once covered by the fea, to at leaft one half of 

 its prefent height : and he fuppofes that, in this ilate, the 

 currents of the ocean would gradually accumulate upon it 

 large malTes, not only of its own produftions, fuch as Ibells 

 and bones of fifhes, but of feveial other lubilanees inter- 

 mixed with the matters difcharged from the focus of the 

 burning mountain. Thele maffes, he conceives, would, in 

 procefs of time, fo increafe as to form thofe various moun- 

 tains which now furround the volcano. The currents of 

 the ocean would likewife convey fome part of the difcharged 

 matter of the volcano to a greater dillance ; and thus form 

 thofe mountains that are feparatcd from it, and that are 

 found farther removed. The bafe of this mountain, ac- 

 cording to this ingenious author's obfervations, confiils of 

 alternate layers of lava and marine fubftances, fucceflively 

 depofited upon one another, and reaching to a confiderable, 

 but unknown depth. Thefe inu-l defcend to the level of 

 the flratum of lava, which was difcharged by the volcano at 

 its firil origin. The lad layer, depofited by the fea, is a 

 range of calcareous eminences of confiderable height, placed 

 on a bafis of lava. Beneath this, there is another ftratum 

 of fea-pebbles, rounded by their mutual attrition in the con- 

 flift of the waves. This, again, lies upon a yellowiih rock, 

 confining of a fpecies of indurated fand. The river Sinieto 

 flows over this rock ; and the bafe of the river is much 

 higher than that of ^Lna, which is on a level with the fea : 

 but the primary bafe of the volcano is unknown. 



From the mountains of calcareous matter that are fcattered 

 over the lower part of jEtna, the iuha.bitaiit3 provide them- 

 felves with limeflone, and they apply fragments of lava, 

 inftcad of flones, of which they liave none, to the purpofes 

 of building. The mountains tiiat furround ^-Etna, and that 

 are obfervcd to great advantage from its fummit, evidently 

 indicate, by tlieir conical figm-e and the cavity at their top^ 



their 



