Observations to a late Writer a Fault which Mr. Whiston hath committed up and down his Book who it seems hath taken them from others which I accidentally discover'd by falling upon the Monthly Miscellany Letters Vol. 1. Numb 22. Pag. 561 566. Vol. 2. Numb 2. Pag. 49. to 57. As also the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Numb 219. from p. 181. to 201. of which 't is but just to give some Instances for a tender regard ought to be had for the Oâ—iginal Inventors of things who ought not to be robb'd of the Fruits of their Labours and Studies by Pyratical Rovers who set up for stupendous and miraculous Discoverers Turn to this Essay Pag. 33. The Origine of Mountains from the Disruptions and Changes of the Strata of the Earth was Steno's Opinion See his Prodrom to a Dissertation concerning the Changes of the Earth Pag. 40.75 76 77. The same Steno in his Prod. places about the central Fire of the Earth a huge Sphere or Abyss of Waters which according to him supplies the Earth with Springs the Air with Vapoâ—rs and was sufficient for the general Deluge when by the Force of the subterraneous Fires it was thrust and forcâ—d up whereby the Globe was broken to pieces and dissolv'd in the vast â—luid Pag. 61.62 The perpendicular and horizontal Fissures of the Earth dividing the Strata or Beds of Sediments are with great Care and Accuracy delineated and described by Dr. Steno in his Prodrom and many other Phenomenâ— relating to the History of the Earth are explain'd at the End of his Anatom canis carchar in his specim myolog Pag 76 86 88. The resetling or subsiding of Bodies as well terrestrial as marine dissolv'd or mix'd with the Waters of the Deluge according to the Laws of specifick Gravity in their several Strata or Beds of Stone Sand Clay Maâ—le Slate Lime Chalk c. was publish'd above 26 Years ago by Nicholas Steno and Agostino Scilla if the â—oremention'd Accounts in the monthly Miscellan Letters and the Philosophical Traâ—â—â—â—â—â—ons arâ— to be rely'd upon the Books themsâ—lves being not to be come at in a remote Province This Stenoniâ—n Hypothesis of the Formation of the present Earth out of the several Beds or Sediments of Matter mix'd with and sinking down from the Waters of the general Flood according to the Affinity and Weight of Parts is much oppos'd by a late Author of two Essays from Oxford who cannot believe the Deluge to have been universal nor the whole Earth planted with Animals from Noah's Ark whose Arguments I do not approve of being inconsistent with true Philosophy and Divinity Neither is Dr. Nichol's second Creation of Animals after the Flood to be allow'd of being contrary to the Design of Noah's Ark and to the whole Mosaick Narration As to my Opinion concerning the Origine of fossil Shellâ— of form'd Stones and subterraneous Plants Scilla himself tho he with Sâ—eno has taken great Pains to prove them to be the Exuviae or Spoils of Animals and Vegetables from the Similitudes of their Parts in every particular and to be the Remains of the Deluge subsided and lodg'd in several Beds Layers or Sediments yet I find by Dr. Lister that Scilla own'd some sorts of them to be of another Original and the learned Dr. himself proves beyond all contradiction that real perfect Shells are â—requently found in the Bladder Kidneys Imposthumes and other Cells of Animal Bodies and if so why need we force them into the midst of Quarries and Rocks by dissolving the whole Frame of Nature for their Sakes If true Shells can be form'd within Stones of the Bladder and in many other Parts of the Bodies of Creatures then by the same Argument a Million may be form'd in the Bowels of the greater World every ways resembling those of the Sea in Striae Lamellae Fasciae Tendons Threds c. so that they might perswade Steno Dr. Hook Boccone Scilla Columna and Mr. Ray that they were really the very same owing their Original to the Flood or Chaos or Earthquakes My Hypothesis concerning the Generations of several Animals is much confirm'd by the learned and experienced Father Buonani in his late Observations circa viventia in non viventibus repâ—rta who maintains equivocal Generation from many clear and undoubted Proofs For Pag. 151. to Pag. 166. compare Huetius and Bochart de Paradiso Pag. 189 191. Some great Natural Philosophers will have the Ignes Fatui to be flying Gloworms or some other shining Insects Pag. 205. See more of the Figures and Phenomena of Snow and Hail in Barthol de Nive Hook's Micrography Boyle of Cold Marten's Greenland Voyage Lewenhoâ—ck's Letters As for Mr. Whiston's New Theory I am afraid it will be found altogether inconsistént with the Mosaick History being adapted only to the formation of our little Globe without taking in the Heavens which Moses is particular in and depending too much upon mechanical necessary Laws as several other late Theorys and Hypotheses do whereby the Flood and Conflagration might be brought to pass without any Relation to the Fall of Man or Sin For Comets and Eruptions of boyling Abysses may frequently destroy our Globe by such Chains of Natural Causes Comets by the Laws of Trajection may dash and drown us with their Tails and the central Fire may drive up the vast Abyss upon us whether we sin or no these Phenomena may befall the Moon and all the Planets without any respect to Inhabitants and may happen frequently by such Concourses and Links of Mechanism and by the ordinary Laws of Motion Therefore we ought to be cautious of making such Grand Revolutions to rowl upon Machines as well as on the other hand of coining new Miracles and second Creations without any Warrant from Scripture of the first I am afraid the ingenious Mr. Whiston is too guilty and of the latter the learned Dr. Nichols But considering we are in a Country of Liberty and in an Age of Thought and Observation I can easily pardon the Freedom they are pleas'd to take in their Studies and Enquiries Having lately met with an accurate Discourse of Bernardini Ramazzini printed 4 Years ago in Quarto concerning the subterraneous Waters the several Layers or Beds of Earth upon deep diggings the fossil Shells Bones Vegetables Pavements c. as also upon Inundations and Deluges with their Effects I thought fit here to acknowledg the many Obligations we owe to that inquisitive Physician for his various Observations on the Changes of the Earth about the Territory of Modena which are equally commendable with those of Columna upon Apulia Dr. Hooke Mr. Ray Dr. Plot and Dr. Lister upon England Steno upon Tuscany Scilla and Boccone upon Sicily and Malta to whose Discoveries little hath been added as yet notwithstanding the high and mighty Pretences of a late Author who in an Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth Pag. 37. throws Dirt upon those very Gentlemen from whose Writings he hath made
were produc'd the Air and Water being Transmutable Elements Thirdly From the likeness of their Actions and Qualities the one Kind having Fins by which they Swim in the Water the other having Wings by which they Fly or Swim in the Air. As these were the Productions of the first Spring Months viz. Ianuary February and March so in these Months they do always Propagate their Kinds by laying of Eggs every Species according to its Kind some on Mountains others in Valleys some by Water-sides others in the Woods c. the warm Wing of the Dam now supplying the Want of a warm Sun-beam For as the Wing Hatcheth them out of their Shells so it strengthens and nourishes them by Vital Incubations till their Pinions be able to bear them up to seek their own Food Thus the Wing is both the Midwife that brings them out and the Nurse that brings them up CHAP. VI. Of the Terrene or Viviparous Animals AFter the Production of these Animals of a lower Degree of Life and Perfection and the Sun was advanc'd higher in his Annual Motion which Darting down his warm Beams upon the Earth in a more direct Line they did penetrate deeper into the Cold Matter and by drawing forth its Fertile Spirits towards the Skin or Surface of it they set the Plastick power on working and modifying the Passive Matter into more noble Forms which by their Sympathetical Charms drew down the Specifick Forms of the most perfect Animals within the Second Sphere of Life For in every little Pit or Hollow of the Earth which being fill'd with Luxuriant and Prolifick Slime was kindl'd by the Vivifick Vertue of the Seminal Form a little bubble of Life which the Plastick power began to shape into the Form or Figure of an Animal And thus was the numerous Brood of Quadrupedes being Animals of the most perfect Kind first Conceiv'd in the warm and moist womb of Modified Matter nourish'd by sucking in the Luxuriant and Prolifick Slime which by their Vital Heat they digested and distributed into the several Parts and Members of their Bodies increasing of them by an equal assimulation of Parts and as soon as these young Embrio's had got strength they Crawl'd out of their warm Nests of Matter and began to suck in those Honey Dews and lick up that sweet Manna which laid upon the Grass and Herbs and this supply'd to them the want of Maternal Milk and Nourishment For during the time of these Productions God neither suffer'd it to Rain upon the Earth nor the Winds to blow lest this Infant Brood of Young Animals shou'd have been destroy'd before the Birds got Wing or â—he Beasts Foot and strength to defend themselves against a Storm but there went up only a Mist from the Earth which water'd the whole Face of the Ground And this Mist was only a warm and moist Smother which arose from the Earth as we observe it to rise from the Furrows in the Spring Months occasion'd by the Morning Sun-Beams and these Clouds which did Swim in the Air only serv'd for Umbrello's and Parasoli to screen those Infant Animals from being scorch'd by the Heat of the Sun and from drying up their Food and Nourishment The Earth being now Stock'd with the several Kinds of Animals contain'd under the Sensitive Genus they did Propagate their Kinds by Univocal Generation For which end Nature and Providence hath form'd several Vessels of Slime-Pits in every Female for preserving something Analogous to that Original Slime which was then the Passive Principle of Generation and likewise in every Male such Vessels as are most fit and commodious for preserving a Beam or Spark of the Aetherial Flame which being the material Vehicle wherein the Specifick Form is preserv'd kindles the first buble of Life in the Passive Matter And we observe that as soon as Age and Maturity hath fill'd these Seminal Vessels with this Prolifick Slime and digest'd it into a right Degree of Heat and Temperature the Females of every Kind or Species of Animals begin to Prune Dress and Trim themselves by which modest way of Courtship the Male is drawn and Charm'd to within their Sympathetical Spheres Thus the Evening and the Morning or the Sympathetical Union of the Active Form and Passive Matter made the Fifth Production CHAP. VII Of the Creation of Man the Sixth Production THE Earth being now cover'd with the great variety of Species contain'd under the Genus of Vegetation the Waters replenish'd with all Kinds of Fish the Mountains Plains and Valleys Stock'd with Herds and Flocks of all Kinds of Cattle God did once more Modifie the Passive Matter into a more noble and excellent Form not only capacitated to receivâ— the lower Degrees of the Animal Life but also fitted with Organs to entertain an Intellectual Soul which Moses â—ells us God Breath'd into it It being impossible for Matter tho' never so curiously Modifi'd by the Plastick Spirit of Nature and the joint Concurrence of the Coelestial Influences to draw down by the power of any Material Sympathy a Soul out of the Immaterial and Intellectual Spheres of Life to Animate and Enform it And this Noble Creature God call'd Man being made not only after his own Image Spiritual and Immortal but also after his Similitude viz Endow'd with all the Affections and Communicable Attributes of the Divine Nature by which he became capable not only of disclosing the Secret Mysteries of Nature and of diving into its Deep Philosophy but also of Knowing and Adoring his Creator by which Perogatives of his Birth and Noble Extraction he became Qualifi'd for being his Creator's Vicegerent upon Earth The Conclusion Wherein is shewn the meaning and significancy of these Words And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good THat God who is Infinite in Goodness and all Perfections cannot be the Author or Producer of any thing but what is Good and Perfect in its Kind hath been always assum'd as a granted Principle not only by the best of Divines but even the generality of Pagan Philosophers Yet Moses notwithstanding this foreseeing that this excellent Frame of the World which was design'd on purpose to bring all reasonable Creatures to the Knowledge and Veneration of their Creator wou'd be perverted to contrary Ends and Effects and that the Production of all the Creatures might be ascrib'd wholly to Second Causes or to no Cause at all but to Chance and to the casual Motion of Mattâ—r for the prevention of which he here brings in the Almighty more Humano taking an exact View and Survey of the whole Creation both as to its Structure and Furniture and giving it his Divine Approbation in these words and he saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good The Goodness of the Creatures do Principally consist in these Four Particulars In their Correspondency and Agreement with those Patterns and Ideas preconceiv'd in the Divine Understanding In their Fitness and
drops of Rain into Hail-Stones I have observ'd a Shower of Rain upon the Mountains the same a Shower of Hail upon the Skirts of the Mountains the same dissolved again into a Shower of Rain in the Vallies I have observ'd also a Shower of Hail at one end of the Town the same a Shower of Rain at the other end the contracted Body of Cold that caused the Hail being not a Quarter of a Mile in Circumference Of Snow When the Lower Cold riseth and the Upper Cold falleth and so straitens the Sphere of Rarefaction that the Wind blows thin as out of a contracted Mouth the Vapours are frozen in-Snow before they be condensed into a Cloud and the shower of Snow only at first covers the Tops of the Mountains but as soon as the Lower Cold riseth Mountain height and joyns with the Upper Cold the Snow falls down into the Vallies and covers the Earth OBSERVATIONS When the Wind has blown for some time S. E. or full S. or S. W. we must expect a great and general Rain for these Winds blowing from such Regions where the Atmosphere rises high bring over with them the greatest Quantity of Vapours which our Mountanous Country condenseth into Clouds which fall down in great and general Rains And this is the reason why those Countries where most of the Vapours rise have the least of Rain which want is supplied by great Dews which the Evening and Morning Cold condenseth upon the Ground For where the Atmosphere riseth high the Lower and Higher Cold never meet which is the cause of their want of Rain When the Wind blows N. or N. E. or full E. we have seldom Rain but great Flights of Snow For the Atmosphere in those Parts being very low especially in Winter and the Mouth of the Sphere of Rarefaction very strait the Wind that blows from these Quarters is so very thin and freezing that those few Vapours which are brought from those places for the most part fall down in Snow CHAP. XI Of Frost and Thaw c. FRost and Thaw are the Effects of quite diâ—ferent Causes the one being occasion'd by the Influence of Heat the other of Cold and these two contrary Qualities do not give ground one to another without great struggle and contest The first beginning of Freezing is at the Waters and this we call a Water Frost it s the Effect or Operation of the Morning Cold which drawing down to the Waters in the Morning Twilight and carrying the Vapours along with it leaves a Waterish Hoar Frost upon the Ground behind it These Vapours lie upon the Waters until Nine a Clock for by that time the Influence of Heat having warm'd the Waters forceth them to remove their Quarters first to the cold Tops of the Mountains and thence to the cooler Regions of the Air from whence they fall down in Showers of Rain about Twelve a Clock this Frost only gains the Waters Vallies and Plains The Second Morning the Cold doubles its Force and Glaceates the Waters congeals the Earth and riseth to the middle of the Mountains their Tops still continuing in the possession of Heat This degree of Cold is over-powered by the Influence of Heat about Two a Clock and falls down in Rain in the Evening Twilight The Third Morning the Cold trebles its force and gains the Tops of the Mountains And the Influence of Heat commonly recovers this lost Ground a little before the Sun set and in the Morning Twilight it falls down in a shower of Snow covering only the Tops of the Highest Mountains The Upper and Lower Cold being now united the Frost keeps its possession of the Earth and Waters sometimes for a Month or more together and in some Countries lying at a distance from the Sea the whole Winter Quarter the Wind all the time blowing Cold and Thin the Mouth of the Sphere of Rarefaction being straitned by the joyning of the Higher and Lower Cold. During the Time that the Earth and Waters continue in the possession of Frost and Snow the Subterranean Heat breaks out of the Springs and Mineral Feeders and joyning with the Heart of the Sun Regeâ—es the Spring-heads and part of the Rivers gaining them intirely into its possession But the general Frost continues until the Vapours rising from the Southern or Western Ocean recover the Wind into some of the Solar Quarters which opening the Sphere of Rarefaction the Wind blows warm and moist For as the same Breath from an open Mouth warms ones Fingers so from a contracted Mouth it will cool his Porridge The general Frost in the Northern Countries near the Pole and in Countries at a distance from the Sea seldom Regeles until the Subterranean Heat break forth and joyn with the Heat of the approaching Sun and then the Frost and Snow is dissolved in a very short time and the Spring comes on much sooner than in those Countries where the Regelation is more gradual Thus as a constant Intercourse of Day and Night gives the Active Animals liberty by Rest and Sleep to recover their wasted Strength and Spirits so an Annual return of Frost and Snow recovers and repairs the Strength and Spirits of the Earth which had been spent in the preceeding Summers Productions For in this Natural World all things are repair'd by corrupting preserv'd by perishing and reviv'd by dying As the Operation of Cold did gradually gain ground upon the Influence of Heat so by the same methods and degrees Heat recovers its lost ground the Fresh or Thaw beginning first at the Waters and from thence riseth up to the Plains and Vallies and last of all the Tops of the Mountains which are for sometime kept in the possession of Frost and Cold after the lower parts of the Earth be regeled are gained CHAP. XII Of the Sphere of Rarefaction THE Sphere of Rarefaction is a Sphere of Heat wherein the Suns Reflections meet and unite themselves in their own defence against the Upper and Lower Cold. And being placed in a middle between them it riseth or falleth openeth or closeth as it prevails upon them or as they open or close rise or fall This Sphere of Heat by Rarefying of Vapours and Exhalations causeth Wind. That Heat is the cause of Wind is apparent from the Experience of such People who to cause Wind usually set Chaff Seeds or Straw on Fire And when Houses or Towns are accidentally thus set on Fire the Heat of the Flame by Rarefying of the Vapours and Exhalations round about will raise the Wind to so great a height as will make it a matter of great difficulty to quench the Flame CHAP. XIII Of Wind Helms and Arches WInd is the Nitrous part of Vapour and Exhalation Rarified and Dilated by the Sphere of Rarefaction The Winds are either higher or lower as the Sphere of Rarefaction riseth or falleth they are thicker or thinner as it openeth or closeth they are Moist Hot or Dry as they have more or less of Vapour or
violent an Ebullition and Commotion in it as to raise the Cover and overturn it yet it cannot be suppos'd that either that uniform and constant Fire or Heat disseminated through the Body of the Earth or the external Heat of the Sun 's warm Influence can produce any such Effects because Fire and Nitre do Naturally exert their power upwards and side-way but never downward but when it is so pent up that it can get no other Vent And when even Gun-powder is forc'd to make its Effort upon the Waters the strength of its Flatus does little Execution being presently stiâ—l'd We shall therefore suspend further Enquiry about this matter until Dr. Woodward's larger Volume be made publick and endeavour to find out some other Causes by which that Universal Deluge which happen'd in Noah's time might be effected in an other way and grounded upon fair probabilities of Reason and Certainty First then no doubt but God Almighty was the Principal Cause the Sins of Mankind the provoking Cause and the Subterranean Superterranean and Nubiferous Waters were the immediate Instruments of it But how all these divided Waters shou'd be re-united and gather'd into such a Body as was sufficient to cover all the Tops of the Mountains Fifteen Cubits high as Moses gives Account is the only matter of difficulty to be â—ncounter'd In Order to which I shall not Entertain you with a long Story of the Opinions of Learn'd Men about it not undertake to shew you upon what improbable Grounds and inconsistences the Theorist and Dr. Woodward have establish'd their Hypothesis of it but having discover'd a Vast and Porâ—entous Body of Water Circulating in the Veins of the Earth bearing Proportion as I have observ'd to Seventy-two Oceans and several Oceans of Water more floating in the Clouds and rarisied into thin Air thaâ— it might be a sit Medium for Respiration c. my Adventure shall be â—irst to shew how and by what Cause the Subterranean VVater was rais'd above Ground and the thin Air was condens'd into VVater how both join'd with the Sea and caus'd the Deluge And then Secondly I shall give Account how the Waters again divided how all things return'd to their Natural Course and by what Gradations the dry Land appear'd And more than this is not necessary to make and establish a clear Hypothesis of the Universal Deluge First then we may conclude from Arguments of the greatest probability imaginable that the collection and reuniting of such a quantity of Water as was sufficient to Drown the World was caus'd by an Universal Damp that happen'd at that time in the whole Course of Nature For First all the Central Fire by a Preternatural Fermentation and Dilation of those angry Volatiles on which it consists gain'd ground upon its Fluid Neighbours those Subterranean Waters which circulate in the Body of the Earth and forcing them into a most rapid Ebullition and Commotion caus'd most violent Eruptions in all the Veins Joints Fissures and Hyatus's as well under the Channel of the Sea as in all the parts of the Earth's Surface These violent Eruptions of the Submarine and Subterranean Waters which Moses calls the breaking up of the Fountains of the great Deep swell'd up the Sea into such a height of Gibbosity that it forc'd the Rivers to stand back and rise as high as their Fountain Heads which covering all the dry Land excepting the Tops of the highest Mountains the Aerial Damp caus'd by the Moon 's waterish Vertex pressing down the Vortex or Atmosphere of this Terraqueous Globe did not only interrupt the Communication of the Subterranean and Aerial Waters by causing the raising and circulation of Vapours to cease but also by condensing the moist Air into waterish Clouds which falling down in continual Spouts for Forty Days and Nights together the Air being without Motion consequently neither able to break nor support them the Tops of the highest Mountains were cover'd Fifteen Cubits as Moses gives Account Gen. 7.15 and these portentous Rains which fell in Spouts Moses expresseth by the opening of the Windows of Heaven Gen. 7.11 Thus the divided Waters being reuniâ—â—d as they were in the Creation and the circulation of Vapours broken by the stagnation and damping of the Aerial Regions the whole Surface of the Earth was cover'd until God caus'd a Wind to pass over the Earth which breaking the Aerial Damp the Rain ceased the Subterranean Waters sunk down into their Veins recover'd the Ground which the Central Fire had gain'd from them The Rivers forc'd the Sea to retreat back to her own Channel and returning to her regular Flux and Reflux the Vapours arose and repair'd the Air again wiâ—h Clouds and Moisture and all things return'd to their Natural Course Iâ— cannot be imagin'd how the Heart of Noah and his Family was reviv'd when the Sun began to shew its Face again and the Rain-Bow appear'd in a broken Cloud For Noah being undoubtedly as well a Natural Philosopher as a Priest in his Family the appearance of a Rain-Bow which after a long Storm is an infallible sign of Fair-weather cou'd not but encourage him with hopes that the Damp was broken and the Storm over God therefore made a Covenant with Noah and his Posterity that there shou'd never be an Universal Deluge upon the Earth Gen. 9.23 and to establish this Covenant withâ—him he made the Rain-Bow being a Waterish Meteor and after a Storm a sign of Fair-weather a most proper and significant Sign and Seal of that Covenant viz. a Sign commemorative of the past Deluge and a Seal confirmative that there shou'd never be any more Flood to destroy the Earth And no more than this seems to be meant by the appearance of the Rain-Bow in the Cloud CHAP. XXI Of the Season of the Year when the Deluge happen'd DR Woodward declares his Opinion that the Deluge comâ—enc'd in the Spring Season in the Month we call May but upon what Reason he grounds this Conceit I cannot easily apprehend For the Fruits of the Earth being then but Growing and the former Autuâ—n Seeds being destroy'd by the by past Winter Nature wou'd have been forc'd to a Spontaneous Production of the several kinds of Vegetables as had lost their Seeds And wheâ— the several Species of Animals which were preserv'd from the Flood had liberty to go abroad and seek Food they wou'd not easily have found it in November and December which Months according to his Hypothesis were the Season when the Waters abâ—ted and the Beasts ordeâ—'d to leave the Ark and seek their own Food where â—hey cou'd find it It seems then most probable that the Universal Deluge commenc'd in that Month we call August when the Seeds of all Vegetables were full Ripe and ready to Sow themselves in the Fertile Soil that when the Deluge was over and the dry Land had for some time appear'd and had receiv'd Heat and Incrustation from the warm Influence
gives all Countries their Yearly Seasons And this gradual Increase and Decrease of Heat answers all the Ends of Nature both in the Vegetive and Animal World much better than the constant Temperature and Equality of Heat which the Theorist supposeth to have been in the Anâ—ediluvian Earth After the Creation of the Sun God reduc'd all those vast Fogs and waterish Mists that rang'd about in the Planetary Spheres into a Body which Moses calls the Moon and he design'd it as a Reverend and Learn'd Divine of our own has observ'd to be for a Vicarious Light to the Sun to supply his absence and perform his Office in the lower World He plac'd the Moon in the lowest of the Coelestial Spheres at such a convâ—nient distance from the Earth that the warm Influence of the Sun being reflected from it might carry down with it some of its Coelestial Moisture He gave also to the Moon so commodious a Motion which it performs in every 28 or 29 Days that when the Sun is Southward it moves Northward and when the Sun moves Northward it's Motion is Southward by which Motion the Cold and Darkness of the long Winter Nights are moderated and these remote Regions under the Poles comforted with the Sun's Influence at Second-hand when they want it at the First Thus by reducing of those waterish Fogs into the Body of the Moon the upper Firmament or the Planetary Spheres were clear'd and the Planâ—ts with the rest of the Stars Created in the Morning of the World began to appear and to send down their Aetherial and Invisible Influences upon this Globe which were obstructed and interrupted by the Interposition of these waterish Mists And the Creation of the Sun and Moon and the Clearing of the Planetâ—ry Spheres God made use of as 〈…〉 or necessary Second Causes towâ—rd â—he Production of the Second Dâ—â—ree of Life and therefore these made the Fourth Production CHAP. IV. Of the Production of the Second Degree of Life and first of Oviparous Animals as Fish and waterish Insects HAving already observ'd that whilst the Earth was a Fluid and Waterish Mass and there was a commixâ—ure of Light and Darkness the Plastick and Vivifick Spirits the Specifick Forms of Vegetation and the lowest Forms of Animals were disseminateâ— in the Exterior Strata of this waterish Mass and if God had not Curs'd the Earth by dividing Light from Darkness the Material and Formal Principles of Life the Luxuriant Matter wou'd have teem'd foâ—th such numbers of Animal Productions that the Surface of the Earth and Waters wou'd not have maintain'd them This Hypothesis is grounded not only upon the form'd Stones we meet with lodg'd in the Interior Strata of the Earth which having the shapes and representations of Terrene and Marine Insects cou'd proceed from no other Original than a Plastick Spirit but also upon those Subterranean Animals as Toads Frogs Asks and Clocks which we sometimes meet with inclos'd in the Cavities and Hollows of Stone as well as in their dry Joints I have found a large Toad six Yards under Ground inclos'd in the very middle of a hard Stone where the Joint that led to it was so straight that it wou'd not receive the thinnest Knife so likewise great numbers of Asks Clocks and Beetles in the dry Joints of Stones which cou'd have no other generation but what was from a Plastick Spirit modifying a Subterranean Vapour collected into that Cavity or dry Joint the Vivifick Flame kindl'd a Spark of Life in them which by sucking in such Subterranean Vapours as abounded in the Joints of these dry Stones which had lost their Natural Feeders were increaâ—'d to that bulk we found them in no doubt but the Stamina Vitae of these Subterrene Animals are preserv'd by continual Sleeping and the Air they breath is purely Subterranean like Embrios in the Womb which live by the Respiration of their Mothers And it may seem very probable that these under-ground Animals have liv'd in these Joints and Cavities ever since the Deluge and perhaps long before for as nothing preserves the Vital Flame more than Sleep so nothing wastes and spends it more than Action To these I might add the Production of Eels Worms Marine and Waterish Insects as the Vrtica Marina c. which being Zoophyta or Plant Animals and not Locomotive cou'd have no other Production than what was meerly Aequivocal or Spontaneous and from Matter modifi'd and prepar'd for recâ—iving of the Vital Spark Besides these Invisible Productions I shall add one more visible and apparent Take a strong Horse-hair and put it into the Water warm'd by the Influence of the Sun especially in May oâ— Iune and within some few Hours it will take Life move at both Ends and in a short time its probable that it might become one of those several kinds of Eels we meet with in the Waters Notwithstanding that all these Productions had their first Original from such Matter as was most proper and capable to be modisied by the Plastick Spirit of Nature yet being produc'd they sometimes propagate their several Kinds by univocal Generation these Marine Insects which are not Locomotive being only excepted From these Praeliminary Instances and a great many more Ocular Observations which might easily be produc'd I conclude that as the several Forms of Vegetables were disseminated in the upper Covers of the Earth so were the Specifick Forms of several kinds of Fish as well those which the Natuâ—alists call Pelagiae as those they call Lâ—turales desseminated in the Waâ—â—râ— or Submarine and fresh-water Quicksands and as the Water receiv'd higher Dâ—grees of Modificâ—tion they produc'd Fish of a higher Degree of Life in obedience to that Command laid upon them Let the Waters bring forth abundantly The Second Causes which concurr'd in the Production of these Waterish Animals were First the Coelestial Influences Secondly The Water which being Modified by the Plastick Spirit and the Coelestial Influences became waterish Vehicles or Bodies for their Specifick Forms to act in Thirdly The Submarine and Waterish Quick-sands in which their Eggs were Generated Fourthly The Subterranean Heat which abounding most in these Submarine Quick-sands or waterish Nests did Hatch these Eggs into Life Fifthly An Innate Power in the Plastick Form which discriminated their Kinds The Original Production of all kinds of Fish being from their Invisibe and Vital Forms disseminated in Waterish Quick-sands as soon as they came to Perfection and Maturity they retain'd Seed in themselves by which they Propagated their own Kinds The time of their Propagation is with us about September for then being grown strong and lusty with their Summers Feeding and the Influence of the Moon and the rest of the Aetherial Bodies being then more strong and powerful upon the Waters Again about that time the Subterranean Heat rises towards the Surface of the Earth and breaks out in Springs and Quick sands which is the reason why about that time the Fresh-water Fish draw up to the