Epitome of the Progress of Natural Science, 251 



deposition. Burnet, towards the close of the seventeenth century, 

 produced a romance under the title of " The Sacred Theory of 

 the Earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already 

 undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things." 

 This work, which was so highly praised by some of his cotempo- 

 raries, is a mere extravagant and theoretical fallacy ; but such 

 was the prejudice of the theologians of that day, that those who 

 in geological matters did not acknowledge the agency of the 

 Noachic deluge in every thing, were exposed to the imputation 

 of infidelity. Whiston followed Burnet in his adherence to the 

 general interpretation of the scripture account of the deluge, 

 which he supposed to have been occasioned by the near approach 

 of a comet. Even the great Newton did not escape these fana- 

 tics; for Hutchinson, in 1724, published his "Moses's Principia," in 

 which he insisted that the Scriptures contained a perfect system 

 of natural philosophy, and for which reason he and his followers 

 objected to the theory of gravitation. Leibnitz, who claimed to 

 be the inventor of the differential calculus, ten years after Newton 

 had discovered the method of fluxions, so important to the preci- 

 sion necessary in carrying on astronomical calculations, published 

 his Protogaea, in 1680. He supposed the planet to have originally 

 been a burning mass, and that it had been cooling ever since the 

 creation, and that the oceans were formed by the vapours which 

 had condensed during that cooling. This hypothesis of this great 

 mathematician was partially adopted by BufFon, De Luc, and 

 others. Buffon's Natural History appeared in 1740. The hy- 

 pothetical reasonings of this eloquent writer gave offence, and at 

 the instance of the faculty of the Sorbonne, he retracted all his 

 opinions which were deemed to be in opposition to the^Mosaic ac- 

 count. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, Italy pro- 

 duced many writers who speculated on fossils, Vallisneri, Moro, 

 and Targioni. A Carmelite friar named Generelli, is distin- 

 guished for his judicious opinions at this time. For a spirited 

 sketch of the progress of geological inquiry, in Italy, at this pe- 

 riod, we refer our readers to Mr. Lyell's " Principles of Geology," 

 an eloquent modern work, in the possession of every naturalist. 

 The Italians were greatly excited to this study, by the fossils in 

 the sub-appenine formations, which lie on the flanks of the older 

 rocks, and by the vast quantities of remains of extinct quad- 

 rupeds found in the plains of their country, and which some wri- 



