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which might, on this occasion, so far controul (no greater a miracle than that of continuing) the usual course of nature, as to effect its purpose. And, indeed, the event was so extraordinary, and the consequences thereof so considerable, that it is very reasonable to believe God did, in an especial manner, interpose therein. The Stoics, who supposed alternate destructions of the earth by fire and water, made no doubt of the possibility of a general deluge. "There are vast lakes," says Seneca," which we do not see; great part of the sea lies hidden and concealed, and many rivers glide in secret; so that there may be causes of a deluge on all sides, when some waters flow in under the earth, others flow round about it, and being long peut up overwhelm it; and as our bodies sometimes dissolve into sweat, so the earth shall melt, and without the help of other causes, shall find in itself what shall drown it; there being in all places, both openly and secretly, both from above, and from be neath, an eruption of waters, ready to overflow and destroy it." [Ancient Universal History, Vol. I.]

CHAP. III.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, WITH THE THEORY OF EDWARD KING, ESQ. F. R. S.

AFTER so many conjectures, as have been already formed con. cerning the cause of the universal deluge, it may perhaps appear both impertinent to attempt a new solution, and also useless, as theories formed on mere hypothesis are always uncertain, and little to be depended upon. But if we give them no more weight than they deserve, and, considering them only as small steps towards the investigation of truth, do not desire any further assent to our con. clusions than the probability on which they are founded demands, even such kind of enquiries may be of service, and open a door to new discoveries.

Where we cannot arrive at demonstration, we must be content with probability. Our despair of attaining the one ought not to

make us neglect the other. And with regard to this remarkable event, the universal deluge, every degree of probability, even the smallest, that appears in an attempt to account for it philosophi cally, has its use; as it tends to remove those objections that are made to the truth of the fact, by persons who may not think the mere relation of it in the Mosaic writings a sufficient proof of the reality of it; or who may be led, from the difficulty there appears in accounting for such an event, to doubt of the authority of those sacred books.

Many ingenious hypotheses have been already formed on this subject; but they all seem liable to most insuperable objections; and therefore I make no scruple to venture another into the world, which appears to me free from such difficulties as they are involved in, and more simple. I am willing, however, it should fall to the ground, as soon as there appear any reasonable and weighty objections to it. I only wish that the hints contained in this paper may be a means of leading some person of greater abilities to a more perfect discovery; and that it may always be remembered, that the fossil shells found in all parts of the earth, are a sufficient proof of the truth of its having been at some time or other entirely covered with water, however fallible any attempt to account for the deluge may be.

Dr. Burnet, in his theory, has given such an account of the deluge, as Dr. Keill has shown to be very improbable and unphilosophical. He has first described the primeval earth so as to divest it of all beauty and elegance, and then has ascribed the deluge to such causes, as are not only somewhat inconsistent with that part of his theory, where he supposes the earth to be well watered and moistened with dew; but are also insufficient to account for the waters flowing over the tops of the mountains; since on the breaking of his imaginary shell, it is impossible to suppose that the waters of the abyss, even on such a concussion, should flow up high enough upon those parts that were left elevated, so as to cover the mountains that now subsist.

Mr. Whiston has called in the assistance of another planetary body; and has supposed the tail of a comet to be so greatly condensed as to afford a quantity of water sufficient for this purpose. But, besides the inconsistency of this theory with that of gravitation, it is no less difficult, according to his hypothesis, to get rid of

the water with which the earth was covered than it is, according to others, to find a sufficient quantity.

Mr. Ray has accounted for this amazing event, by supposing a change to have happened in the centre of gravity of the earth. But how to find a cause for such a change in the centre of gravity, and for a restoration of it to the same place again, is more difficult, and the supposition of it more inconsistent with our philosophical ideas, than any other hypothesis whatever.

Such have been some of the principal theories hitherto advanced, and far be it from me to presume that mine may not in the end be found equally fallible; but it appears to me at present to be more plain and consistent, and at the same time is free from that great difficulty which has perplexed all the rest, and is indeed the most important difficulty in the enquiry, that is, the accounting for a suf, ficient quantity of water.

We find in the Mosaic history of the creation, that God at the first created sea as well as land; and therefore have grounds to be lieve both from thence, and from the reason of things, that there was as great a quantity of sea on the antediluvian earth, as there is now upon the earth in its present state.

We find also the whole surface of the earth to be undermined by subterraneous fires, which make their appearance in various places, in very formidable volcanoes. This has been the case in Italy, and amongst the Azores, in Tartary, in Kamtschatca, in South America, in Ireland, in the islands of the East Indies, and in other parts; and we have reason to believe that these subterraneous fires have made eruptions, not unfrequently, even in the bottom of the sea; as Mr. Mitchell has made appear in his excellent paper concerning the causes of earthquakes.*

We have also, in the Philosophical Transactions, an account of entire islands being raised in the Archipelago, and likewise amongst the Azores, by such subterraneous fires+; and Mr. Ray, in his Tra vels, mentions a mountain one hundred feet high, raised by the earthquake in 1538, which also threw up so much earth, stones, and ashes, as quite filled up the Lacus Lucrinus .

Philos. Trans. Vol. LI. Part II. p. 566.

+ Philos. Trans. No. 372, or Eames's Abr. Vol. VI, Part II. p. 203, and Jones's Abr. Vol. V. Part II. p. 196.

Ray's Travels, old edition, p. 273.

To which may be added, that fossil shells and other marine bodies are so universally found in all parts of the present continents and islands, as to amount almost to a demonstration, that all the now dry land was once covered with sea, and that for a considerable space of time, probably much longer than the continuance of the deluge is related to have been. For though such a violent flux of waters might have thrown up some shells and marine bodies upon the hills and mountains, yet it could not have flung up such vast quantities, nor so universally. The prodigious beds of shells which we now find in all parts cannot well be accounted for, but by supposing the waters, in which those shell-fish lived, to have covered the countries where they are now found, for a long time, and even for ages.

The supposition, therefore, which I am about to advance, founded on these facts, is this: that originally Almighty God created this earth with sea and land nearly in the same proportion as they now remain, and that it continued in that state for many ages, during which the bottom of the sea became covered with shells, and various heterogeneous bodies; that from the first of its creation there were also many subterraneous fires found within the bowels of the earth; and that, at the appointed time, these fires bursting forth at once with great violence, under the sea*, raised up the bottom of the ocean, so as to pour out the waters over the face of what was before dry land, which by that means became sea, and has perhaps continued so ever since, as that which was before the flood the bottom of the sea, probably from that time has continued to be continent and dry land †.

* Mr. Mitchell has shewn, in his paper on the causes of earthquakes, that such subterraneous fires are at all times very liable to make eruptions under the sea, and that when they do so, the earthquakes consequent upon such eruptions are more extensive than any whatever.

+I do not mean by this to insinuate that all that part of the globe which is now sea was dry land before the flood; or that the antediluvian ocean was merely of the extent of our present continent. I apprehend, on the contrary, that there was always a greater proportion of water on the face of the earth than of continent; and I would only be understood to mean, that all that which was dry land before the flood is now buried under the sea, whilst that which was a part of the bottom of the antediluvian ocean forms our present land ; and that consequently some part of the ocean was sea both in the antediluvian earth and in the present state of it, and common to both.

This hypothesis may perhaps be liable to great objections; but it is at least consistent with what Moses relates of the fountains of the great deep being broken up; and, without any perplexity or difficulty, accounts at once for a sufficient quantity of water to cover the tops of the highest antediluvian mountains, even supposing they were left standing; though it is not improbable that they might be thrown down by means of the same earthquake. If they were left standing, some of them might (on the retreat of the waters from their tops after the first concussion) form some of the islands that now subsist.

I must also add, that this hypothesis is perfectly consistent with, and perhaps in some measure accounts for, that singular position of the strata of coals, ores, and various kinds of earths (mentioned in Mr. Mitchell's paper), which are found always sloping from mountainous countries, and higher grounds, towards the bottom of the sea; so that what is nearest the surface of the earth in mountains and high countries lies deepest in low lands and under the sea.

It is, besides, somewhat confirmed by that singular observation of Dr. Hasselquist's, in his travels, p. 33, where, speaking of Natolia and the eastern countries in general, he says, " In no place was it more evident that the continent we call earth, was in the beginning the bottom of the sea." Ulloa also informs us, that the same thing is evident in the whole country of Valles in South America *: and Norden tells us, that the rocks in Egypt bear evident marks of having been washed by the sea +.

These are the reasons which induce me to venture upon this supposition; and now I will just consider one or two objections, that appear to me amongst the most material which may be made to what I have advanced.

It may perhaps be said, that we read" of the waters returning from off the earth, and of their being abated at the end of the hundred and fifty days: and also of the waters decreasing continually till the tenth month; and of the tops of the mountains being then seen." And it may be objected, that we ought from thence to conclude, that the waters of the deluge, having covered what was before

• Ulloa's Voyage to South America, Vol. II. p. 99. + Norden's Travels, Vol. II. p. 21.

Genesis, ch. viij. 3—5.

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