of the fame Emperor, is in little bronze, and, though a part of one of its legends be effaced, it is eafy to perceive by the legible part, that it refembles the larger one: on its reverse, is the head of Drufus, the fon of Tiberius, with the legend DRUSUS CESAR. HIPPONE LIBERA.-The refearches of the Abbé LE BLOND feem to prove, with fufficient evidence, that the medals of the city of Hippone, published by Vaillant, do not belong to that city,-that medal of Seguin, which really belongs to Hippone, has been very ill explained both by him and by F. Hardouin,-that, of the two African cities which bear the name of Hippone, it is that of the Proconfular Province, or of Africa, properly fo called, which ftruck the medals, now under confideration,-that it was probably under the reign of Tiberius that Hippone received its freedom-that Pliny the younger, and Strabo, feem to have been mistaken, the former, when he fays, that the city in queftion was a colony, and the latter, when he affirms, that the two Hippones were royal cities, and that the typical figure, on the medal of large bronze, is that of Livia, reprefented under the image of a goddess, or of the priestess of Auguftus.

A Differtation on the Rife and Progress of the Temporal Jurifdiction of Churches, from the Establishment of the (French) Monarchy, to the Commencement of the Fourteenth Century. By M. DE In Two Memoirs.

POUILLI.

This differtation contains a lively portraiture of the ufurpa tions of power and property, made by the means of ignorance and fuperftition, and erected into laws.-It is all fact, but not new, to protestant readers, at leaft; but in Roman catholic countries, thefe ufurpations have been either concealed, or much fhaded in the records of hiftory.

A Supplement to the Hiftorical Treatife concerning the Religion of the ancient Perfians. By the Abbé FOUCHER.

This ample memoir does as much honour to the Author's candour as to his erudition. The publication of the ZendAvesta, by M. Anquetil, has opened new fources of knowledge with refpect to the ancient religion of the Perfians, and thus obliged the Abbé FOUCHER to acknowledge the errors and imperfections, that abound in his Memoirs on that fubject, on account of his finding no access to the original laws, and theological tenets, of that people, and the confidence he was thereby forced to place in writers of other nations. Among other things, he fairly confeffes, that, though the perufal of the Zends, confirmed him in the notions he had entertained and published with respect to the principal tenets of the religion of Zoroafter, and alfo to the polytheifm and dualifm of the Perfians, yet it fhewed him, at the fame time, that he had inaccurate ideas of APP. Rev. Vol. Ixi, feveral

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feveral of their particular doctrines. "The authority," fays he," of our learned men, led me into fome mistakes: I had even given too favourable an account of the Perfian religion; and though I did not difguife its effential defects, I nevertheless represented it under fuch a philofophical point of view, as could not but give a very high idea of its founder. The books Zends opened my eyes; and I can almoft fay, that I no longer perceive any thing in that vaunted Perfian theology, that raifes it above the other religious fyftems of Paganism."

This memoir is therefore to be confidered as a revifal of the fubject, and a corrective to the series of memoirs concerning the religion of the ancient Perfians, which this learned Abbé prefented to the academy, at different times. It is divided into ten Articles, containing the difcuffion of fo many fubjects, each of which he treats, in confequence of the new lights he has received from the Zends: The firft Article relates to Zoroafter,-the fecond, to his Writings-the third to Zarouam, or the First Principle-the fourth, to Orfmud, who, in the Zend, is the Principle and End of all Things-and the fifth, to the Amschaffands, the Izeds, and the Ferouers, Three Claffes of Divinities, of whom we find no veftige among the Greeks and Latins (the first of these, were the Firft-born, and the First Minifters of Ormufd, the fecond, inferior local Gods, and the third, Divine Genii, which became human Souls)-The fixth Article contains a Theological Account of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Four Elements the feventh, important Corrections, that are to be made in our Academician's Memoirs concerning the Religion of Greece, which we have mentioned on a former occafion of this kindthe eighth, an Account of Ahrimanias, or the Evil Principlethe ninth, a Sketch of the Religion of Zoroafter according to the Zends--and an Examination of what this Sketch contains, relative to the Unity of God-the Tradition of the Creation and First Ages of the World, the Rebellion of the Apoftate Angels-the Corruption of Human Nature by the Sin of an Original Parent-the Immortality of the Soul-Hell and Purgatory-the laft Judgment, and the Refurrection of the Body.The tenth Article contains an Account of the Moral Doctrine and Precepts of the Zends, which our Author inveftigates with too much feverity, because it is founded on, or accompanied with, the doctrine of Neceffity, and because, he thinks, that there can be no found morality, nay, no morality at all, in a religion which profcribes Human Liberty.--All we can do, at prefent, is to fend our Academician to Dr. PRIESTLEY.

ART.

Hiftoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere, contenant les Epoches de la Nature.—i. e. A Natural History, General and Particular; containing the Epochas of Nature. By the Count de Buffon, &c. Supplement, Vol. V. 4to. Paris. 1778.

T is well known, that this bold genius, who is certainly more adventurous than prudent in his philofophical flights, fent forth, many years ago, an hypothetical comet, to dash out of the fun, as many portions of his fluid fiery fubftance, as compofe, at this day, the revolving planets in the folar fyftem. -It is also known, that he has lately ventured to follow these planets from their pretended original ftate of fluidity or liquefaction, through their decreafing degrees of heat; and thus to measure the time elapfed in their refpective approach to, or ar rival at, a ftate of confiftence, and a capacity of producing and fupporting animal beings.-The calculations and fancies he has exhibited on this fubject, muft (if we are not much mistaken) have made him fmile inwardly at the liberty, which he fees, that a fpoilt child of fame may take with the public.

In the work before us, the ingenious Author comes nearer home for the principles of his investigation. As the hiftorian examines scattered fragments of records, and unriddles ancient and half-decayed infcriptions and medals, in order to ascertain the epochas of civil revolutions, and fix the dates of moral actions, and political events,-fo does our Naturalift rummage in the archives of the phyfical world, and draw from the bowels of the earth, and the bottom of the ocean, proofs and indications of thofe phyfical changes and revolutions, that lead to a knowledge of the different ages, or epochas of nature. This vaft undertaking aims at nothing less than an hiftorical tablature of what nature has been in thofe remote and ancient times, when there were no fpectators to record her operations, and what the will be in those distant periods of a dark futurity, when (according to the comfortable philofophy of our Author) there will be no witnesses of her dreary ftate, and difmal exiftence. A goodly undertaking for a being, placed on a point of infinite space, and in a moment of endless duration! However, let us hear him. Our readers will judge by a brief, but juft sketch, of his method of proceeding and deciding, whether his fame be owing to the folidity of his inveftigations and discoveries, or to thofe fublime flights, and that magic power, energy, and grace of ftyle, that have aftonished and bewitched a confiderable part of Europe.

The hiftory of nature, fays he, is that of all fubftances, places, and ages; and though it feems, at firft fight, that her ftupendous works undergo no alteration, and that, even in her

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most frail and tranfitory productions, fhe remains always the fame, becaufe, every moment, her primitive models are conftantly re-exhibited to our view, under new representations; yet, on a more attentive confideration of things, we fhall find, that her courfe is not so uniform, that it admits of ftriking variations, and fucceffive changes, and, that befides the modifications it has received from the labours of man, it yields, of itself, to new combinations, to various alterations, both of matter and form; and that its parts are as changeable, as the whole appears fixed, uniform, and conftant,' These changes our Author

calls the Epochas of Nature.

The earth then, according to his hypothefis, is, at prefent, different from what it was in the beginning, and alfo, from what it has been in fucceeding periods of time. To form an idea of its ancient ftate, we muft contemplate nature in thofe regions that have been newly discovered, and have been always uninhabited; and even this ancient state may be confidered (we speak here, and throughout, the language of our Author) as modern, when compared with that, in which the earth was, when its continents were covered with water, when the finny race inhabited our plains, and our mountains were the fhoals of the

ocean.

In order to afcertain the epochas of nature, M. de Buffon deduces the knowledge of its paft and fucceffive afpects, from the materials that are furnished by its prefent ftate: his fources of information and evidence on this fubject, are facts, monuments, or remains, and traditions, connected by analogies. The facts he builds upon are the following: Firft, The earth is raifed at the equator, and flatted towards the poles, in a proportion conformable to the laws of gravity, and of the centrifugal force.-Secondly, The earth has an internal heat, which is peculiar to it, and independent on that which it receives from the rays of the fun.-Thirdly, The heat, which the earth derives from the fun, is but fmall, when compared with its own inherent warmth; and the heat, communicated by the fun, would not be fufficient, alone, to fupport the principle of life in animal nature.-Fourthly, The fubftances, which enter into the compofition of the terreftrial globe are, in general, of a glafly nature, and are all fufceptible of vitrification.-This fact is highly difputable, if not palpably falfe.-Fifthly, we find over the whole furface of the earth, and even upon mountains, at the height of 1502 fathoms, an immenfe quantity of fhells, and other fragments of marine productions.

The first of thefe facts, is fufficiently proved by the theory of gravitation, and the experiments made with the pendulum; and as this form of the earth is fuch, as a fluid globe would affume, by turning upon its axis, with a degree of velocity equal to

that

that of the earth's motion, our Author concludes, from hence, that the matter, of which our earth is compofed, was in a fluid ftate, the moment it received its form, and that this was the moment in which it began to turn upon its axis. He concludes alfo, that the fluidity of the earth was a liquefaction occafioned by fire, from this confideration, that the greatest part of the folid fubftances that compofe our globe, are not diffolveable by water. This conclufion, according to our Author, derives a farther degree of probability from the fecond fact. The internal heat of the globe, which ftill fubfifts, proves, that the primitive fire, that produced its fluidity, is not yet entirely diffipated or extinguifhed. Undoubted and repeated experiments prove, that the furface of our globe is much cooler than its internal parts. The comparison of our winters with our fummers, demonftrates this internal heat, which, moreover, becomes palpable, when we defcend into the earth, is perceivable in all parts of the globe, and feems to increase in proportion as we defcend beneath its furface. This internal heat is farther proved, by our Author, by the effects of electricity, and by the temperature of the water of the fea, which, at the fame depth, is nearly equal to that of the interior parts of the earth. M. BUFFON goes ftill farther: he pretends, that the limpidness of the water of the ocean cannot be owing to the influence of the sun, since it is demonftrated by experience, that the folar rays pafs no farther thah 600 feet through the cleareft water, and that of confequence, the heat of the fun does not extend to the fourth part of that mafs, that is, to 150 feet: fo that the whole body. of water, below that depth, would be entirely frozen, without the internal heat of the earth, which alone can maintain their Auidity. Our Author adds feveral other obfervations to confirm the third fact;-it feems, indeed, to be afcertained by experience; for this proves, that the heat of the folar rays does not go deeper into the earth than 15 or 20 feet, fince ice is preserved, at that depth, in the warmest fummers. Hence he concludes, that the temperature of the earth, and the fluidity of the ocean, are both produced by an internal heat peculiar to the earth, and entirely independent on the rays of the fun.

M. DE BUFFON refers us to his theory of the earth, for the arguments that prove all the fubftances, which compose our globe, to be of a glaffy nature, and fufceptible of vitrification; even those, which the chymifts look upon as refractory, and infufible, because they refift the action of the fire in their crucibles and furnaces. And thus he thinks the primitive liquefaction and fluidity of the earth amply proved.

But though this philofopher is of opinion, that all the ingredients of our globe were originally glaffy, and are still capable of vitrification, he, nevertheless, diftinguishes them in a

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manner