"degrees, to proceed from an intelligent "principle? Let them take any piece of hu"man art, or any Machine fram'd by the "wit of man, and compare it with the Body "of an Animal, either for diversity and mul"tiplicity of workmanship, or curiofity in "the Minute parts, or just connexion and

dependance of one thing upon another, or "fit fubferviency to the ends propos'd of Life, "Motion, Ufe, and Ornament to the creature ❝and if in all these refpects, they find it fu"perior to any work of human production,

as they certainly muft, why fhould it be "thought to proceed froin inferior and sense

lefs causes? ought we not in this as well "as in other refpects to proportion the causes "to the effect, and to fpeak truth, and bring an honest verdict for Nature as well as for "Art?

I defire the Theorist may apply this excellent difcourfe to himself, and confider whether this Argument which he produces against the Epicureans and Atheists, does not fully fhew the abfurdity of his own Theory.

CHAP. III.

Of the Mountains.

HE Theorist frames his Antediluvian

TEarth, Imooth, regular and uniform,

without Mountains, and without a Sea. The proof which he brings for this bold affertion, is, that the Globe of the Earth could not rife immediately from a Chaos into the irregular form, in which it is at prefent; the Chaos, fays he, being a fluid Maffe, which we know does neceffarily fall into a spherical furface, whose parts are equidiftant from the Centre, in an equal and even convexity one with another. And fince upon the diftinction of the Chaos, and feparation into feveral elementary maffes, the Water would naturally have a fuperior place to the Earth, 'tis manifeft there could be no habitable Earth form'd out of the Chaos unlefs by fome concretion upon the face of the Water. Then laftly seeing this concrete Orb of Earth upon the face of the Water would be of the fame form with the surface of the Water it was fpread upon, there being no causes that we know of, to make an inequality

in it, we must conclude it equal and uniform, and without Mountains, as alfo without a Sea. For the Sea and all the Maffe of Water was inclos'd within this exterior Earth, which had no other bafis or foundation to reft upon.

This is the Theorift's great argument why the face of the primitive earth was smooth and uniform and without Mountains; which if we confider narrowly, it will apear to depend upon a precarious and falfe fuppofition, namely that the great Maffe of matter which we have now for our earth, was, when in a Chaos, an entirely fluid Maffe, which is a hard thing to be granted, fince the greatest parts of Bodys we have in the earth, at leaft fo far as we can difcern, are hard and folid, and there is not fuch a quantity of water in the earth, as would be requifite to foften and liquify them all. Befides, a great part of them, as Stones and Metals, are uncapable of being liquified by water. We must conclude therefore that the Chaos was not fo fluid a Maffe, as would be neceffary for to have its furface even and uniform. Why might not there have been in this great Maffe huge lumps of firm and folid matter, which without any form, order, or regularity, might be jumbled together, and fwimming up and down, fome on the furface, and fome within the fluid? I will leave it to any to judge which appears moft like a Chaos, this which I have defcrib'd, or his, which is a regular, uniform fluid of a spherical figure,

fo

fo compofed and mix'd with all Bodies that no part of it, at least at the fame diftance from the Centre, is thicker than another: which muft neceffarily fall out, if the Chaos had an exact fpherical figure, as the Theorift fuppofes. If it were otherwife, it is plain by Hydroftatical Principles, that there the fluid would rife higheft, where it is thinneft, or lighteft; and confequently it would not have its furface uniform, equally even and distant from the Centre.

Indeed, methinks the Theorist's first figure of the Chaos, does very much contradict his own hypothefis. There you may fee reprefented great pieces of hard and folid matter of no regular figure, fwimming confusedly in the fluid; any one of which feems to bear a far greater proportion, to the whole Maffe; than the highest hills could do to the whole Earth.

But perhaps it may be faid that all these hard and folid Bodies being heavier than the fluid in which they fwam, fell down and compos'd the Central folid. And fo far I

muft own indeed, that all the Bodies in that great Maffe, which were heavier than water, if left to the laws of gravity, would neceffarily fall down toward the Centre. But certain it is that in fuch a great heap of matter, and fo different mixtures of all forts,

Mollia cum duris, fine pondere habentia pondus. there

there must be feveral that were fpecifically lighter than the water in which they fwam, and therefore after that the heaviest had fallen to the Centre, they would ftill float upon the furface, fo much of them being under water as would equal in quantity a bulk of water of the fame gravity with the whole Maffe, as it is demonftrated by Archimedes 5. Propofition. Lib. 1. De Infidentibus Humido; fo that all the reft of the Maffe ftanding out or being higher than the fluid would compofe a Mountain. And that hills may be thus made, I think is confirmed by the obfervation of thofe who have failed in the Northern Seas, where they fee great Mountains of Ice floating upon the top of the waters, and yet there is but a very fmall difference between the fpecifick gravity of water and Ice, it being as eight to feven according to Mr. Boyle's obfervations. If then we will fuppofe all Mountains hollow and full of Caverns, there being a great many to our certain knowledge that are fo, or elfe joined to fome light matter, fo that the whole compofition may be lighter than water or the Huid Chaos; this would neceffarily produce Mountains.

And now I hope the Theorist will own that the evenness and uniformity of the earth is not fo neceffary a confequence from its production out of a Chaos, as he at firft imagined, fince I have fhewed him how mountains might have been form'd from his own principles of Staticks

and