are phenomena which arise from the expansive force of steam, generated in the bowels of the earth, by means of subterraneous fires; the force of steam being twentyeight times greater than that of gunpowder, viz. as 14000 is to 500.* It is evident, that there is a great quantity of steam generated in the bowels of the earth, especially in the neighbourhood of volcanoes, from the frequent eruptions of boiling water and steam, in various parts of the world. Dr. Uno Von Troil, in his letters on Iceland, has recorded many curious instances. "One sees here,' says he, "within the circumference of half a mile, or three English miles, forty or fifty boiling springs together: in some, the water is perfectly clear, in others, thick and clayey; in some, where it passes through a fine ochre, it is tinged red as scarlet; and in others, where it flows over a paler clay, it is white as milk." The water spouts up from some of these springs continually; from others, only at intervals. The aperture through which the water rose in the largest spring was nineteen feet in diameter; and the greatest height to which it threw a column of water was ninety-two feet. Previous to this eruption, a subterraneous noise was frequently heard, like the explosion of cannon; and several stones, which were thrown into the aperture during the eruption, returned with the spouting water. CHAPTER VIII. Hypothesis of the Antediluvian World, and the Cause of Noah's Flood. "Go teach eternal Wisdom how to rule, POPE. THERE have been various opinions, conjectures, and hypotheses, respecting the original formation of the Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth, chap. xi. page 112. earth. The writers of these hypotheses, not satisfied with the Mosaical account of the creation, though they had no other certain foundation to build upon, thought themselves at liberty to model the earth according to the dictates of their own imaginations. Hence, we have had as great a variety of theoretical systems as writers; and these so contradictory and discordant to each other, that, instead of throwing light on the subject, they have, if possible, involved it in greater obscurity.* 1. DR. BURNET'S THEORY. Dr. Burnet supposes that the earth was originally a fluid mass or chaos, composed of various substances, differing both in density and figure. Those which were the most dense sunk to the centre, and formed there a hard solid body; those which were specifically lighter remained next above; and the waters, which were still lighter, covered the whole surface of the earth. The air and other etherial fluids, which were lighter than water, floated above the waters, and totally surrounded the globe. Between the waters, however, and the circumambient air, was formed a coat of oily and unctuous matter, lighter than water. The air at first was very impure, and must necessarily have carried up with it many of those particles with which it was once blended. However, it soon began to purify itself, and deposite those particles upon the oily crust above mentioned, which soon uniting together, the earth and oil became the crust of vegetable earth, with which the whole globe is now covered. * The object of all the writers is to prove that Noah's flood might have been produced by natural causes, without the immediate interposition of the Almighty. Each of these hypotheses contains much useful information, blended in the common mass of fiction and conjecture. The author of this work has been induced to draw up, in as small a compass as possible, a general outline of each of these hypotheses; and to shew occasionally, in short notes, the insufficiency of any of them to account for the preservation of mankind and the different animals, without the particular protection of the Divine Power. See Dr. Keill's examination and confutation of this theory. Dr. Goldsmith, in his Animated Nature, calls it a theory alike distinguished for the elegance of its language, and the shallowness of its arguments. At this time, the earth was smooth, regular, and uniform, without mountains and without a sea. In order to form rivers, he supposes the heat of the sun cracked the outward crust of the earth, and so raised vapours from the great abyss below. There was no diversity or alteration of the seasons of the year, but a perpetual summer; the heat of the sun, therefore, acting continually upon the earth, made the cracks or fissures wider and wider; and, as it reached the waters in the abyss, it began to rarefy them, and generate steam or vapour. These vapours being pent in by the exterior earth, pressed with violence against the crust, and broke it into millions of fragments; these fragments falling into the abyss, drew down with them vast quantities of air, and by dashing against each other, and breaking into small parts by the repeated violence of the shock, they at length left between them large cavities, containing nothing but air. These cavities naturally offered a bed to receive the influent waters; and, in proportion as they filled, the face of the earth became once more visible. The higher parts of its surface now became the tops of mountains, and were the first that appeared; the plains next made their appearance; and at length the whole globe was freed from the waters, except the places in the lowest stations; so that the ocean and seas are still a part of the ancient abyss. Islands and rocks are fragments of the earth's former crust; continents are larger masses of its broken substance; and all the inequalities which are to be found on the surface of the During these violent convulsions in nature, how were Noah and the animals preserved without the immediate interposition of Providence? The only animals that could stand any chance of escaping destruction would be the fishes; and how they could exist in the great abyss below, without air, is not easy to conceive. There was no water on the surface of the earth till the excessive heat of the sun cracked the oily and vegetable crust; now, if the animals and Adam, &c. were created before this crust was cracked, how did they exist without water? In the Mosaical account of the creation, in the first chapter of Genesis, we find the wisdom and goodness of God displayed, by providing subsistence for his creatures before they were created. present earth, are effects of the confusion into which both the earth and water were at that time thrown. 2. DR. WOODWARD'S THEORY.* Dr. Woodward begins with asserting, that all earthly substances are disposed in beds of various natures, lying horizontally one over the other, similar to the coats of an onion; that they are replete with shells and other productions of the sea, these shells being found in the deepest cavities, and on the tops of the highest moun tains. From these observations, which are warranted by experience, he proceeds to observe, that these shells and extraneous fossils are not productions of the earth, but are all actual remains of those animals which they are known to resemble; that all the strata or beds of earth lie underneath each other in the order of the specific gravity, and that they are disposed as if they had been left there by subsiding waters, consequently all the substances of which the earth was composed were originally in a state of dissolution. This dissolution he supposes to have taken place at the flood; but, being aware of an objection, that the shells, &c. supposed to have been deposited at the flood, are not dissolved, he exempts them from the solvent power of the waters, and endeavours to shew that they have a stronger cohesion than minerals; and that while even the hardest rocks are dissolved, bones and shells may remain entire. 3. MR. WHISTON'S THEORY.‡ Mr. Whiston supposes the earth was originally a comet; and considers the Mosaic account of the crea * See Dr. Arbuthnot's examination of this theory, and comparison thereof with Steno's hypythesis. This is by no means true, for we find layers of stone over the lightest soils, and the softest earth under the hardest bodies. The specific gravity of water is less than that of earth, and therefore would, if this hypothesis were true, constantly overflow the earth; and instead of a terraqueous, we should have an aqueous surface, a fit habitation for nothing but fishes! See Dr. Keill's examination and remarks on this theory. tion as commencing at the time when the Creator placed this comet in a more regular manner, and made it a planet in the solar system. Before that time he supposes it to have been a globe without beauty or proportion; a world in disorder, subject to all the vicissitudes that comets endure, and alternately exposed to the extremes of heat and cold. These alternations of heat and cold, continually melting and freezing the surface of the earth, he supposed to have produced, to a certain depth, a choas surrounding the solid contents of the earth. This surrounding chaos he describes as a dense though fluid atmosphere, composed of substances mingled, agitated, and shocked against each other; and in this disorder he supposes the earth to have been, just at the commencement of the Mosaical creation. When the orbit of the comet was changed, and more regularly wheeled round the sun, every thing took its proper place, every part of the surrounding fluid then fell into a certain situation, according as it was light or heavy, The middle, or central part, which always remained unchanged, still continued so; retaining a part of that heat which it received in its primeval approaches towards the sun; which heat he calculates may continue about six thousand years. Next to this, fell the heavier parts of the chaotic atmosphere, which served to sustain the lighter; but as in descending, they could not entirely be separated from many watery parts, with which they were intimately mixed, they drew down these also along with them; and these could not ascend again after the surface of the earth was consolidated. Thus the entire body of the earth was composed, next the centre, of a great burning globe of more than 2000 leagues in diameter: next to this is placed a heavy earthy substance which encompasses it: round which is circumfused a body of water; and upon this body of water is placed the crust which we inhabit. The body of the earth being thus formed, the air, which is the lightest substance of all, surrounded its surface, and the beams of the sun darting through, produced the light, which we are told by Moses first obeyed the Divine command. The whole economy of the creation being thus adjusted, it only remains to account for the risings and |