cerning the feparation of the chaos, the central parts of the globe must have been of a much firmer and more compact texture than the fuperficial ones.

After having given us his idea of the generation of fire, our Author proceeds to account for that dreadful catastrophe, the univerfal deluge; and we shall give it in his own words.

It is a truth univerfally known, that all bodies expand with heat, and that the force or power of that law is unlimited; now as fubterraneous fire gradually increased, fo in like manner its expanfive force increased, until it became equal to the incumbent weight. Gravity and expansion being equally balanced, and the latter continuing to increafe, every day more and more, became fuperior to the incumbent weight, and diftended the ftrata as a bladder forcibly blown.

Now if fire thus generated was furrounded by a shell, or cruft, of equal thickness, and of equal denfity, the incumbent weight muft have been equal: on the contrary, if the furrounding fhell, or cruft, was unequally denfe, the incumbent weight must have been unequal.

But fince the primitive iflands were protuberances gradually afcending from the deep, the incumbent weight must have been unequal for as the specific gravity of ftone, fand, or mud, is fuperior to that of water, we may thence conclude that the incumbent weight of the former must have been greater than that of the latter.

Now the incumbent weight of the islands being greater than that of the ocean, the bottom of the fea would confequently afcend by the expanfive force below, fooner than the islands. The bottom of the fea being thus elevated, the incumbent water would flow toward the lefs elevated parts, and confequently the islands would become more or lefs deluged, as the bottom of the fea was more or less elevated; and this effect must have been more or lefs univerfal, as the fire prevailed more or lefs univerfally either in the fame ftratum, or in the central parts of the earth.

But the tragical fcene ended not with an univerfal flood, and the deftruction of the terreftrial animals; for the expanfive force of the fubterraneous fire, ftill increasing, became fuperior to the incumbent weight and cohefion of the ftrata, which were then burft, and opened a communication between the two oceans of melted matter and

water.

The two elements coming thus into contact, and the latter becoming inftantaneously converted into steam, would produce an explofion infinitely beyond all human conception.

The terraqueous globe being thus burft into millions of fragments, and from a caufe apparently feated nearer to its center than its furface, mult certainly have been thrown into a strange heap of ruins; for the fragments of the ftrata thus blown up could not pof fibly fall together again into their primitive order and regularity, therefore an infinite number of fubterraneous caverns must have ensued, at the distance of many miles, or many hundreds of miles below the bottom of the antediluvian fea.

Now it is eafy to conceive, when a body of fuch an immense mag. nitude as the earth, which is nearly 8000 miles in diameter, was thus reduced to an heap of ruins, that its incumbent water would immediately

immediately defcend into the cavernous parts thereof; and by thus approaching fo much nearer towards the center than in its antediluvian ftate, much of the terreftrial furface became naked and expofed, with all its horrid gulphs, craggy rocks, mountains, and other diforderly appearances.

Thus the primitive ftate of the earth feems to have been totally. metamorphofed by the first great convulfion of nature at the time of the deluge; its ftrata broken, and thrown into every poffible degree of confufion and diforder. Hence thofe mighty eminences, the Alps, the Andes, the Pyrenean, and all other chains of mountains were brought from beneath the great deep. Hence the fea retiring from thofe vaft tracts of land, the continents, became fathomlefs, and environed with craggy rocks, cliffs, impending fhores, and its bottom spread over with mountains and vallies like the land.'

Such is the manner in which Mr. W. accounts for the univerfal deluge, which he confirms by numerous obfervations on petrifactions of marine animals, and on the fituations in which they are found.

Marine animals are confidered as having been produced as foon as the ocean was rendered fit for their reception, that is, before the formation of the primitive iflands; and fince the generality of them are naturally prolific, they might have increased and multiplied fo exceedingly, in a fhort space of time, as to have replenished the ocean from pole to pole; and, confequently, many of them must have been daily enveloped and buried in the mud by the continual action of the tides, particularly such of them as were leaft active, being on that account lefs able to defend or extricate themselves from fuch interments. Foffil fhells, and other marine relics, have been obferved in all parts of the world hitherto explored, even on the highest mountains, in parts very remote from the sea, and in vallies and deep receffes of the earth, bedded in the folid fubftance of chalk, clay, and gravel; but the bones or teeth of fish are depofited only in beds of fand and gravel, and not in the folid body of the ftone, as the fhells are of these the cliffs and caverns in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and almost every country productive of limeftone, exhibit innumerable inftances. Among the many curious obfervations concerning the fituation of thefe bodies, the three following feem worthy of attention:

The bivalve fpecies are fometimes found with both their fhells entire and close as thofe of living fish: and when thus found, each bed confifts of one particular ipecies; namely, oyfters, cockles, mufcles, &c. felected together, as the fame fpecies are actually affembled in the sea.

But, on the contrary, when beds of foffil fhells are compofed of fragments, or feparate bivalves, they confift of a great variety of fpecies, confufedly blended; in the fame manner as the fragments of fea-fhells are thrown together by the fluctuation of the

Foffil bones and teeth resembling those of fish are also found, retaining the perfect colour, figure, and polish of recent teeth, and even apparently worn by ufe: but though the number of fuch foffil bodies is very confiderable, yet those resembling the fhells of fish are infinitely more numerous and I have not been able to discover from my own obfervations a fingle inftance of the former being imbedded with the latter, in the folid fubftance of the limeftone ftrata in Derbyshire, or elsewhere; but conftantly with a variety of adventitious matter, and near the furface of the earth.'

But how comes it to pass that petrifactions, and remains of animals, are found in places far diftant from the countries of which the animals themselves are natives?

Mr. W. is well aware of this objection, and removes it with arguments drawn from obfervations on the temperature of the air and feasons before and after the flood. From a number of facts, it is found, that the interior parts of continents are fubject to greater extremes of heat and cold than the exterior, or fea coafts, and that mountainous countries, especially on continents, are much more liable to changes of temperature than others; whence Mr. W. concludes that extremes of heat and cold are confequences wholly arifing from mountains and thofe vaft tracts of land, the continents. On this account then, the feveral regions of the antediluvian world were univerfally adapted to various species of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and each particular region was inhabited by a much greater variety of fpecies than could poffibly exift together according to the prefent conftitution of nature; for the primitive iflands were of little extent or elevation compared with the mountains and continents of the poftdiluvian world, and confequently the inclemencies of the seasons were by no means fo fevere as they are at prefent, This confideration at once unfolds a phænomenon which has perplexed many of our greateft Naturalifts; namely, the remains, or petrifactions, of animals found in countries very far diftant from their native climates, and alfo of fuch animals as are now no where to be met with. Vid. LINN. Syft. Nat. Vol. III. Order PETRIFICATA.

The diverfity of feafons before and after the flood, brings us next to an enquiry into their effects on the period of human life, where our Author, with arguments equally ingenious and juft, fhews how much the temperature of the antediluvian atmosphere was better adapted than the prefent, to produce longevity, and not only afford every neceffary to fupply the wants, but even to furnish every requifite for the comforts and pleasures of life; making a comparifon between the golden age of the ancient poets and the ftate of the firft inhabitants of the globe.

After fome remarks on the rainbow, and the time of its first appearance, follow feveral very interefting obfervations on the various ftrata of the earth, which not only ferve to illuftrate and

4

confirm

confirm Mr. W.'s theory, but may, at the fame time, be of extenfive use in the art of mining. The mountains in Derbyshire are most accurately and diftinctly described, both as to their ftrata and conftituent parts; nor do we recollect that a more circumftantial defcription of the mineralogy of any country was ever prefented to the public; and what confiderably increafes the value of it is, that Mr. W. feems in every part of his account to have totally divefted himself of that theoretical influence which is very apt to bewilder naturalifts, particularly in fubterraneous refearches.

To form an adequate idea of this part of the work we must refer our readers to the book itself, where thefe obfervations are illustrated with several correct plans of fections of the mountains here taken notice of, in which the fituation, depth, direction, fiffures, and other circumftances of the ftrata, are minutely delineated. We fhall nevertheless endeavour to give a general view of the Derbyshire ftrata as they are reprefented in the first plate.

No. 1. or the firft ftratum, Millfone-grit, 120 yards. A courfe fandftone compofed of granulated quartz, and quartz pebbles. The former retain the sharpness of fragments newly broken; the latter are rounded by attrition, as ftones upon a fea beach. This ftratum is not productive of minerals, or figured ftones representing any part of the animal or vegetable king doms.

No. 2. Shale or Shiver, 120 yards. A black laminated clay, much indurated; it contains neither animal nor vegetable impreffions; nor is it confidered as productive of minerals, as lead ore, fpar, &c. though an inftance has appeared to the contrary, attended with a curious circumftance, namely a vein of lead ore (in No. 3.) which afcended into this ftratum 15 or 20 fathoms, and the higher it ascended the less it was mineralized, till it terminated in a white mucus-like fubftance. Quære, Was the ore generated from the mucus-like fubftance, or was that fubftance the product of ore, decompofed by the acid contained in that ftratum? The above ftratum contains ironftone in nodules, and fometimes ftratified. The fprings iffuing from it are chalybeate.

No. 3. Limeflone, 50 yards, productive of lead ore, the ore of zinc, calamine, pyrites, fpar, fluor, cauk and chert, it contains also figured ftones, reprefenting various kinds of marine animals, as a great quantity of anomice, corralloids, and entrochi. This ftratum is compofed of various laminæ more or lefs feparated by fhale. The upper ones, which are a good black, take a fine polish, and are called black marble.

No. 4. Toadstone, 16 yards. A blackish fubftance, very hard; contains bladder holes, like the fcoriæ of metals, or Iceland lava, and has the fame property of refifting acids; fome of its bladder

holes

holes are filled with fpar, others only in part, and others again are quite empty. This ftratum is not laminated, but confifts of one entire folid mafs, and breaks alike in all directions. It does not produce any minerals or figured ftones, reprefenting either animals or vegetables; nor are any adventitious bodies enveloped in it neither does it univerfally prevail, like the limeflone ftrata, nor is it, like them, equally thick; for it varies from 6 to 600 feet in thickness. It is like wife attended with feveral other circumftances, which leave no room to doubt of its being as much a lava as that which flows from Hecla, Vefuvius, or Ætna.

No. 5. Limefione, 50 yards. This ftratum is laminated like the former, No. 3. and contains the fame minerals and figured ftones; it is likewife productive of the Derbyshire marble, fo much efteemed for flabs and chimney pieces.

No. 6. Toadflone, 46 yards. This ftratum is fimilar to No. 4 in colour and other properties, but much more folid, and freer from bladder holes.

No. 7. Limestone, 60 yards.

Laminated like No. 3 and 5, and contains minerals and figured ftones.

No. 8. Toadfone, 22 yards. Similar to No. 6, but yet more folid.

No. 9. Limeflone, not yet cut through, productive of minerals and figured ftones, like No. 3, 5, and 7.

To the above may be added fix other ftrata of clay, from fix to one foot thick; their colour is a lightifh blue, with a fmall tint of green: they all contain pyrites and fpar in fmall nodules; and all the fprings flowing from them are warm. The first ftratum of clay is between No. 4 and 5, the fecond between No. 5 and 6, the third between 6 and 7, the fifth between 7 and 8, and the fixth between 8 and 9.

The Toadstone, which is known among the miners by the different names of channel, black ftone, cat dirt, and black clay, feems to have very much attracted Mr. W.'s attention; and he gives a very full and fatisfactory account of the manner in which it, as a lava, has infinuated itself alternately between the limeftone; and of feveral other particulars concerning it, which we cannot poffibly explain without the plates.

The ftrata where coal is found are next defcribed. They are intirely argillaceous, and contain no minerals except iron, nor any petrifactions or exuviæ of marine animals, which are fo plentifully to be met with in the other: on the contrary, they abound with impreffions of various fpecies of vegetables, of which there is not the leaft trace in the limeftone.

The Author's reflections, and the conclufions he draws from an attentive confideration of the various phenomena which he has had an opportunity of obferving, are highly important both to the natural hiftorian and the chymtift; and we make not the

leaft