414 GEO 
the lower flrafa of primitive calcareous rocks being, in 
proportion to tlieir depth, continually thinner than thofe 
which reft upon them, equally evince the whole to have 
been formerly in a foft ftate, and to have yielded to 
coraprelTion while they were dried and hardened. He 
therelore fuppoles th.e fuperficies of the globe to have 
been univerfally fluid, its interior compofition folid and 
cavernous, at the time when the prefent laws began to 
operate upon it. The fiiperficial fluid he conceives to 
have been heated at Icaft to 33° Fahr. Diflblved or 
fufpended in it were portions of the eight generic 
earths, of ail th.e known ir.ettillic fubftances, of all the 
fiiuple falls, and of all inflammable matters folid and 
liqiiid. Siliceous earth and iron were of all the folid 
materials in the mixture the moft copious. Calcareous 
earth muft even then have exifted ; for it is a compo¬ 
nent part in many primitive rocks. As the fluid mafs 
was moved ; as its heat palled into new combinations ; 
as the elective atti'adlions of its various materials began 
reciprocally to operate; the folidifiable materials were 
precipitated in the order of their affinities, fomewhat 
difturbed by the mechanical agency, which at the fame 
time neceflarily affedlcd them. In their precipitation 
they were univerlally cryftallized. Where ftliceous 
and argillaceous earths chiefly abounded, quartz, feld- 
fpar, and mica, were confufedly depofued in ftrata of 
gTanite and gneifs. One depofition fucceeded another 
till va.ft uniform blocks were formed. Carbon, iron, 
and others of the folidifiable materials of the chaotic 
flood, were unavoidably involved with tlie fubliding 
ftony particles. Where the materials were intermingled 
in different proportions, other forts of primitive rock, 
Inch a.s filiceous fchiftus, filiceous porphyries, jafpers, 
&f.. were produced. In the confufed agitation of all 
parts of the flood, fulphur and metallic fublkuices en¬ 
countering, formed pyrites; while pit-coal was alfo 
compofed by the afibciation of petrol with carbon. 
After the formation of combuftible comjKiunds fo ea- 
fily decompofable, heat fufficient for their combuftion 
was loon afforded from the inceflant folidification of 
matters which had been hitherto fluid. A decompofi- 
tion of water, by means of heated iron, was one of the 
firft effedfs from the riling intenfity of the general heat. 
The combuftible matters were generally inflamed, and 
many volcanic fires built out from the bofom of the 
abyl's. Gas-azot, gas-oxygen, and afterwards carbonic 
acid gas, were, in great quantities, evolved from the 
conflagration, and diff'ufed into an atmofphere furround¬ 
ing the earth and waters. The eruptions of the fires 
naturally difordered the depolitions of the rocky ftrata, 
and pullied up many vertical or inclined elevations 
through the layers wliich might otherwife have been, 
in general, nearly liorizontal. Such was tlie origin of 
the loftieft primitive mountains, tlie Alps, the Andes, 
and thofe elevated ranges which occupy fo extenfive a 
fpace in the north of Aua. Plains were formed by the 
depofition of ftony particles from the diaotic flood in 
the intervals between the mountains,* and witJi a diffu- 
iion too loofe to admit of tlieir being-united in cryftals 
as they were depofited. The v.olcanic eruptions, by 
which the firft mountains were elevated, could not but 
fcoop out excavatioms to receive the fubfiding watets of 
the lea. The caverns of the primitive nucleus of the 
globe were even laid open by thofe fires; and into them 
the fuperficial waters Ihruiik, till a confidcrable extent 
of dry and folid furface was left bare under the atmo¬ 
fphere. At a level of between 8500 and 9000 leet 
above that at which it now Hands, the ocean became lor 
a while ftatioiiary. It was foon after furniftied with 
fifties. The difintegration of the primary rocks, the 
depofition of animal exuvise, and the continued preci¬ 
pitation of tlie folid matters fufpended in the waters of 
the fea, then compofed thofe ftrata of rocks whicii, 
from theii containing animal remains, are denominated 
Secondary. Tlie ciuftti ■WJv& about the ^uie time clothed 
LOGY. 
with vegetation, and made the refidence of the fpecies 
ol animals. The matter of the fecondary rocks was,- 
by the known laws of gravitation and refiftance, rather 
fixed in ftrata upon the primary rocks, tlian precipitated 
to the bottom of the great abyfs. The retreat of the 
fea from the furface to the interior caverns of the globe, 
however, ftill continued ; and the dimenfions of the ha¬ 
bitable earth were thus continually enlarged.—Such is 
the fubftance of the firft of thefe Eflays, which contains 
the author’s theory of the formation of the earth. He 
compares this account with that of Mofes, and Ihews 
that they perfectly coincide. 
The Deluge is the fubject of the fecond Eflay. From 
the Ihells found on the heights of the primitive moun¬ 
tains ; from the remains of animals natives of hot cli¬ 
mates difeovered in cold ones, which thofe animals can¬ 
not be luppofed to have ever voluntarily inhabited ; 
from the difperfion of marine exuvite on Ihores far re¬ 
mote from tlie feas wheie we now meet with tiie fpecies 
ot living animals to which they muft have belonged; 
Mr. lyirwan infers, that the general deluge cominemo- 
rated in the Holy Scriptures muft certainly have takerf 
place as Mofes relates. That tlie axis of the eartli was 
originally parallel to the ecliptic, producing in every 
latitude perpetual fpring, is a pofition of which aftro- 
nomy has fufficiently denionftrated the falfehood. The 
nutation of the poles is, every nine years, retrogreffive, 
and never exceeds ten degrees ; fo tliat the equator can 
never have been, by this caufe, wliere the poles are now. 
The whole ftrata of this eartli are of fucli nature that 
they cannot have originally been, asM. de Biitfoii fup- 
pofes, in a ftate of igneous fulion, the lieat from which 
might liave long kept up a genial warm temperature 
even in the regions the neareft to tlie poles. The phe¬ 
nomena fufficiently evince that the feas and continents 
ol the earth cannot have mutually clianged places, as 
has been luppofed by Mr. Edward King. Mr. Kir- 
wan, therefore, fuppofes the foutlierii ocean to have 
been in the general deluge driven, by fome unknown 
means, with mighty force towards the poles. The cha- 
raCfter of the exotic remains found in the northern re¬ 
gions ; the iinmenlity of waters collected in the fouthern 
ocean ; the traces wliich fo many countries bear of hav¬ 
ing fufiered fome miglity fliock from the fouth; and 
the very figures of the great coiitiiicnts, iharpened to¬ 
wards tlie I'onth, where they are walhed by the fouthern 
ocean, are fo many grand facts concurring to give pro¬ 
bability to that I'lippolition. The waters from the cen¬ 
tral abyiles of tlie globe might burlt forth to complete 
the cataltrophe. In their progrefs northward, and in 
their retrocefiion, the waters of the deluge muft have, 
greatly broken, ravaged, and tranfpofed, tiie fuperficial 
ftrata of the earth : many pf the mountains were broken 
down to powder, and other inconfiderable fragments : 
the beds of the Euxineaiid Cafpian leas might be then 
fcooped out: bafaltic rocks and beds of coal might 
be formed : a confulion in the arrangement of the exte¬ 
rior ftrata of fecondary and primary rocks would be 
here and there produced : all terreftrial animals, fave 
fuch as were preferved by fupcrnatural means, mull- 
have neceflarily perillied. Every rational inference, 
tJierefore, from prefent appearances, entirely coincides 
with the Mofaic iiiftoiy of the deluge. 
In the third Elfay Mr, Kirwaii ftates, that, belides 
effeCIing fo many important and immediate changes on 
the exterior ftrata of the globe, the deluge, likewil’e,. 
becaine the remote caufe of various great conviillions,, 
which were at fublequeat limes to enliie upon its parts 
at different places of the furface : that the total repara¬ 
tion of Alia from America, the coarilation of the Baltic, 
the opening of the Thracian Bofphorus, and the dilrup- 
tioii of the ifthmus which once divided "the Atlantic 
Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea, tlie entire fepara- 
tioii of Great Britain from the continent, and various 
otlter fimilar iilterationsj are to be numbered among 
i thole 
