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covered the whole face of the earth. His Lordship was of opinion, 
that some parts of the then habitable world, which by the force of 
the deluge were separated into islands, and were divided from the 
continent whereon the ark landed, were in some sort exempted 
from the common calamity, brought on the rest of the world by the 
deluge ; inasmuch, his Lordship says, as the continent of America, 
and many islands in the East Indies, are at present partly inhabited 
by wild beasts and noxious animals, which it is not reasonable to 
imagine, that any body could or would, have imported thither since 
that time*. 
To account for this particular circumstance, may not, perhaps, 
be very easy; but, however, it is not necessary to be done, in 
proving the prevalence of the deluge over every part of the known 
world ; since testimonies sufficient to this fact, are yielded by those 
wonderfully preserved remains of former ages, which form the 
general subject of these inquiries, and which have been discovered 
in almost every part of the known world. Even the very spots 
which were thus pointed out, by his Lordship, as having been 
exempted from the fate of the rest of the world, contain the most 
astonishing and interesting remains of organized beings ; at once 
proving that the waters of the deluge did cover the whole earth, 
and leading us to regard the globe we inhabit as one vast tomb 
of a former world. 
Assuming it then as proved that the deluge did overwhelm the 
whole of this globe, it next becomes necessary, to inquire what 
changes were probably thus effected. Very different opinions have 
been maintained respecting the degree of change which took place 
on the earth, in consequence of the deluge. Some have supposed 
that the change was but slight and superficial, affecting the upper 
surface only of the earth; but others, considering the declaration 
* Vindication of the Histories of the Old and New Testament, p. 171. 
