GEOLOGY. 
remaining part of this article to that pur- 
pose. 
Omittimr to notice any further the scrip- 
tural account of the creation of the world, 
merely on account of the brevity of the 
narration preventing the disposal of the 
events, there related, in a systematic ar- 
rangement; we shall only here generally 
remark, that the occurrence of the most 
prominent circumstances related in that ac- 
count, has been repeatedly inferred by the 
most learned writers, who have endeavour- 
ed, from a view of the present state of the 
world, and of the various changes which it 
has undergone, to form some conjectures 
with respect to its original formation. 
From the very imperfect accounts which 
have reached us, of the doctrines of the 
Egyptian philosophers on this subject, we 
can only learn, that they were of opinion, 
that at the beginning the water had cover- 
ed the whole surface of the world ; and that 
this was proved by the remains of organ- 
ized beings, which were so frequently seen 
in the substance of the earth. These wa- 
ters, it was supposed, had retired to the in- 
terior cavities of the globe, remaining in 
this great abyss, ready to issue out and pro- 
duce the most extensive inundations; to 
one of which it was supposed that some of 
their records referred. The axis of the 
globe, they believed to have been originally 
parallel with that of the plane of its orbit ; 
and whilst it remained thus, they supposed 
that a perpetual spring existed; but that, 
on its inclining, an alteration of seasons 
took place. 
The Chaldaeans, like the Egyptians, are 
supposed, by Diodorus Siculus, to have be- 
lieved the earth to be hollow ; and that, in 
the early ages of its formation, a perpetual 
spring had existed. The Indians also be- 
lieved in the existence of a vast abyss in 
the centre of the earth, for the reception of 
the water, which remained after the conso- 
lidation of the crust of the earth : they also 
believed in a general deluge of the earth, 
and in a subsequent retiring of the waters. 
The opinions of the Epicureans, as deli- 
vered to us by Lucretius, appear to have 
been, that by the separation and appro- 
priate re-union of accordant atoms, the dif- 
ferent elements were formed, which, by 
the regulating influence of gravity, were se- 
parated from each other, and disposed in 
their allotted regions. One of the pro- 
cesses which was thus performed, was the 
formation of the earth itself ; which, being 
then variously acted upon, underwent those 
alterations of its surface, from which pro- 
ceeded the vast cavities for the reception 
of the ocean, and those irregularities which 
divide its surface into hills and vallies. 
Since several of the hypotheses of the 
formation of the world, and the changes 
which have brought it to its present state, 
deserve rather to be regarded as inge- 
niously devised allegories, than systems re- 
gularly deduced, it is not intended to do 
much more than specify those, the consi- 
deration of which will yield but little infor- 
mation. In agreement with this rule, we 
shall only state, respecting the. hypothesis 
of Des Cartes, that he conceived, that this 
globe might originally have been composed, 
like the sun, of the pure element (fire); but 
that, by degrees, its less subtle parts had 
gradually collected together, and formed 
thick and obscure masses at its surface, si- 
milar to those accumulations which occa- 
sion the spots which we see on the sun. 
From the gradual, but, at length, complete 
incrustation thus formed, he supposed, that 
the whdle planet, at length, became cover- 
ed and obfuscated ; that, in this manner, 
different crusts were formed, and that, from 
the falling in of parts of the exterior crust 
into the cavity beneath, the irregularities 
of the earth’s surface were produced. 
To this hypothesis of Des Cartes, that of 
Leibnitz very nearly approaches, he sup- 
posed the crust, of which we have just 
spoken, to have been of a vitreous nature, 
the minute fragments of which are the sand 
that is every where so abundant. The 
affinity of our earth to the sun, has been 
more strictly asserted by Buffon, who in- 
forms us, that the eartli was originally sepa- 
rated Yrom the sun, by the stroke which the 
sun received from the falling in of a comet, 
that this fragment, during its cooling, ac- 
quired, from its rotation, a spheroidal form, 
cavities being, at the same time, formed in 
its interior part, whilst its vapours con- 
densed, and formed the waters of the ocean. 
Bicher entertained the opinion, that there 
existed in the centre of the globe a cavity, 
which contained an accumulation of sul- 
phurous, bituminous, and other mineral 
principles, which, raised in the state of va- 
pours, by the internal heat, formed the va- 
rious mineral substances which are contain- 
ed in the substance of the earth. This hy- 
pothesis, so little supported by probability, 
has been nearly adopted in modern times, 
by Gensaune, in his “ History of Langue- 
doc who imagines the existence of a cen- 
tral fire, by the influence of which nume- 
