E A R T H. 20.3 
by the inclination of tlie {Irata different ways, and be 
widefl at the top ; and that, as the whole folid matter 
would dimiriilh in bulk as it became dry, high tides would 
ifil 1 overflow it, and pour extraneous flony matter into 
the fi(lures'. On thefe principles, he explains all the de¬ 
clivities, ruptured,' interruptions, and irregularities, of 
the,ftrata, which we now behold. 
From a minute examination of the larger grains and 
Fragments found in the compofition of our rocks, viz. 
the talc and mica, quartz, feltfpatand fliirl, whole texture 
is evidently of the very fine ({ratified or tabulated kind, 
Mr. Williams concludes that all thefe bodies, and thofe, 
in general, which are of a fimilar ftruiture and not cry¬ 
stallized, were once in a diftinit flrata, though not now 
to be found in that ftate. On this circunillance he infills, 
as one of the many evidences of the univerfal deluge; 
the effefts of which, local and general, he confiders at 
great length, adding fome obfervations refpeiting its ef¬ 
ficient caufes, and the differences of the ptefent from the 
antediluvian ftate of the earth. By the high tides and 
violent agitation of the diluvian waters, the primitive 
flrata, which had never before felt any rain, were loof- 
erted and torn afunder, and ground down by attrition 
againft one another; and all the fuperficial parts of tlie 
earth were reduced again into a chaos. When the waters 
began to abate, the larger flony particles and fragments 
would fubfide fit'll, and form the compound rocks and 
beds of fand ; and the finer and lighter fediment would 
be fpread into flrata by the tides, as already mentioned ; 
tlie difference from the primitive operation feeming to 
confift only in this, that the waters now carried vegetable 
and animal bodies, and fragments cf. fiones and metals al¬ 
ready confolidated. In this enquiry, the flrata of coals 
are particularly examined, and attributed chiefly t’o di¬ 
luvian wood ; in fome inftances, to peat moffes. In re- 
fpe£t to thefe lafl, as they now exift, he proves that they 
are univerfally of pofldiluvian formation, fome of them 
very recent, all from vegetables, moflly from heath. 
With regard to the rejling-places imagined by this author 
in his theory of the tides, we cannot conceive any reafon 
whatever, why, in the liquid globe, with the two oppofite 
fvvellings of the water going inceffantly round it, there 
Ihould be two oppolite fixed points of reft of thofe fvvel¬ 
lings, where, by a calm, the material of our continents 
ihould have fublided in both hemifpheres. Admitting, 
however, for a moment, that this has been the cafe : as 
foon as the materials of thofe fuppofed growing maffes 
had arrived at fuch a level as to divide the liquid into the 
Pacific and Atlantic oceans, even by mere llioals of tlie 
fame extent as thofe continents, the imaginary great tides, 
fuch as he fuppofed to rife eight miles above the common 
level, would have been flopped, and the motion of the 
fea have been reduced to what it is now : for, fuppofirig 
that all the mafs of both continents, down to the level of 
the lhore, were now fubtrailed, not the fmalleft change 
would happen in the tides : therefore, that viafs cannot 
have been accumulated by tides. 
The next writer on this interefling fubjeil, is the late 
celebrated Dr. Franklin, in his Conjectures concerning 
the Formation of the Earth, &c. publifhed in the Tranl- 
attions of the American Philofophical Society for 1793. 
The doftor fuppofes the central mafs of -the earth to be 
a fluid, probably air, in a (late fo extremely condenfed as 
to float the heavieft fubflances ; and that the waves raifed 
and propagated on this internal ocean, by fubterraneous 
fires or the fudden converfion of Water into fleam, fhake 
the incumbent fit ell, produce earthquakes, and occafion 
thofe diflant rumbling founds which announce their ap¬ 
proach. He thinks that the remains of animals and plants 
now peculiar to the torrid zone, found in the mod north¬ 
ern climates, afford a proof that the earth has changed 
its poles ; which hypothefis, in his opinion, accounts the 
moll readily for the deluge, and for the various changes 
which have happened on the face of our globe. The 
doClor feerris to confound the poles of the earth’s axis 
% 
with thofe of the terreftrial magnet; for he conjectures 
that the approximation of fome large comet might, by 
its fuperior magnetic power, have deranged the poles of 
our globe, and thereby have produced thofe linking re¬ 
volutions on the furface. Dr. Franklin farther fup¬ 
pofes that the iron ore in our globe is the gradual pro¬ 
duction of time; that it derived its inagnetifm from 
fome external caufe, and that the magnetic power is per¬ 
haps diffufed through the univerfal fyitem. It is enough 
to mention thefe conjectures, for tlie notice of thofe who 
engage in fuch {peculations. That the matter of the 
earth is not homogeneous, but increafes in deniity towards 
the center, is inferred by M. de la Place, from a compa- 
rifon of the obfervations made in different places to de¬ 
termine a degree of the meridian. Whether this nucleus 
be fluid, it is more difficult to decide. It cannot be air 
in its elaftic form ; fince, under the enormous compreliion, 
the particles would be fo approximated as moll probably 
to alfume a new conftitution. 
In 1796, a new Theory of the Earth was publifhed in 
Paris, by J. C. Delametherie; who alfo endeavours to 
refute that of Dr. Hutton. The fentiments efpoufed by 
this writer are nearly the following: The exterior cruit 
of the globe, according to him, was formed in the bofoih 
of the waters ; from which it emerged in a (late not very 
different from its pflefent appearance. The cruft, after 
its formation, underwent petty alterations, from a variety 
of local cattles. The waters furpalfed tlie higheft moun¬ 
tains : that is, they were at deaft three thoufand t.oifes 
above their prefent level.' All mountains, all valleys, 
and all plains, were formed by cryftallization amid the 
waters. The materials that compofe them were truly 
diffolved :—but how have they been diffolved ? every 
one of thefe fubflances requires much water of folution. 
The filial 1 quantity of exifting water would be absolutely 
inadequate; fince, if it were fpread over the whole fur- 
face of the globe, it would only make a ftratum of feven 
or eight hundred feet in thicknefs—a new proof that mod 
of the waters of the primitive feas has difappeared. If 
there may have exifted an exterior ftratum of water of 
three thoufand toifes, or eighteen thoufand feet, and there 
remains now but feven hundred feet, or about one twenty- 
fifth part, what is become of the twenty-four* parts that 
have difappeared ? The folution of this great queftion is 
attended with many difficulties. The different changes 
of the axis of the globe, which have been fuppofed in 
order to account for this phenomenon, are contrary to the 
known laws of ftatics, and to the aftronomical theories at 
prefent prevailing. There remain but two hypothefis. 
Either the waters have paffed totally or in part to other 
fpheres ; or they have been buried in interior caverns of 
the earth. 
M. Delametherie does not confider the paffage of 
tlie waters to other fpheres as impoflible. The cold of 
the fuperior regions of tlie atmofphere Would not prevent 
it : evaporation takes place in the molt intenfe cold; nor 
would the fmall denfiiy of thefe upper regions be an ob- 
ftacle ; for evaporation takes place even in the vacuum 
of the air-pump.' Moreover, the folar atmofphere, which 
envelopes the terreftrial, would favour fuch evaporation. 
Neverthelefs, this caufe ought not, according to analogy, 
to produce any great diminution of waters on the fur- 
face of the globe. It remains, then, that they mult have 
taken refuge in its interior :—but how did this happen ? 
In all fyftems, internal cavities are fuppofed. Their ex- 
iftence is not hypothetical. It refts on fails. They muft 
be under all volcanoes. From the great extent to which 
earthquakes are felt, there are evidently filfures and ca¬ 
verns, that reach to immenfe diftances. They nnift pafs 
under the fea ; and the water of the fea finds its-way into 
them. There are inftances of this water having pene¬ 
trated into the interior of volcanoes. They will therefore 
precipitate themfelves into the deep abyffes, and be buried 
there. Now, this author thinks that thefe cavities are 
large enough to abforb the mafs of water that has difap¬ 
peared 
