that this is no idle and unnecessary Discourse but very momentous and important and this Subject as mean as it seems worthy the most serious consideration of Christian Philosophers and Divines concerning which though I have spent many thoughts yet can I not fully satisfie my self much less then am I likely to satisfie others But I promise my self and them more full satisfaction shortly from the Labours of those who are more conversant and better acquainted with these Bodies than I who have been more industrious in searching them out and happy in discovering them who have been more curious and diligent in considering and comparing them more critical and exact in observing and noting their nature texture figure parts places differences and other accidents than my self and particularly that learned and ingenious Person before remembred The following Tables containing some Species of the most different Genera of these Bodies viz. Shark's Teeth Wolf-fish's Teeth Cockles or Concha Periwinkles or Turbens Cornua Ammonis or Serpent stones Sea-urchins and their Prickles Vertebres and other Bones of Fishes entire Fishes Petrifi'd and of those some singly some represented as they lye in Beds and Quarries under Ground for the information of those who are less acquainted with such Bodie were thought fit to be added to this Edition TAB II. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Several Fragments and Lumps of petrify'd Shells as they lie in Quarries and Beds under ground on many of these Petrifactions there still remain some Laminae or Plates of the Original Shells which prove them not to be Stones primarily so figur'd Fig 3. The Cornu Ammonis lying in Rocks with other petrify'd Bodies TAB III. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2. Two petrify'd Fishes lying in Stone with their Seales and Bones Fig. 3. A Sea-Urchin petrify'd with its prickles broken off which are a sort of Lapis Iudaicus or Iew-Stones their Insertions on the Studs or Protuberances of the Shell are here shewn See their History and Manner of Lying in Stone and Beds in Agostino Scilla 4. Napoli TAB IV. Pag. 162. FIG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Several petrify'd Teeth of Dog-Fishes Sharks and other Fishes Fig. 15 16. The same lying in a Tophaceous Bed and also in a Jaw-Bone Fig. 17. The petrify'd Teeth of a Wolf-Fish in a piece of the Jaw the Round Ones or Grinders are sold in Maltha for petrify'd Eyes of Serpents and by our Jewellers and Goldsmiths for Toad-stones commonly put in Rings Fig. 18 19 20. Other petrify'd Bones of Fishes especially Joynts or Vertebra's of Back-bones one with two stony Spines issuing out f. 20. See them more at large in the Draughts of that curious Sicilian Painter Agostino Scilla Place this before Tab. II. p. 162. The CONTENTS DISCOURSE I. Of the Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the WORLD CHAP. I. Testimonies of the Ancient Heathen Writers Hesiod Ovid Aristophanes Lucan Euripides concerning the Chaos and what they meant by it Chap. II. That the Creation of the World out of a Chaos is not repugnant to the Holy Scripture if soberly understood p 5 6 7 8. Chap. III. Of the separating the Land and Water and raising up the Mountains p. 9 c. By what means the Waters were gathered together into one place and the dry Land made to appear p. 10. That subterraneous Fires and Flatus's might be of power sufficient to produce such an effect proved from the force and effects of Gunpowder and the raising up of new Mountains p. 11 12 13. The shaking of the whole known World by an Earthquake p. 13 14. That the Mountains Islands and whole Continents were probably at first raised up by subterraneous Fires proved by the Authority of Lydiate and Strabo p. 15 16 17. Of subterraneous Caverns passing under the bottom of the Sea p. 19 20 21 c. A Discourse concerning the Equality of the Sea and Land both as to the extent of each and the height of one to the depth of the other taken from the Shores p. 25 26 27 31 32 33. That the motion of the Water levels the bottom of the Sea p. 28 29 30. A Discourse concerning the Use of the Mountains 35 36 37 c. The Sum of what hath been said of the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth p. 44. Chap. IV. Of the Creation of Animals some Questions concerning them resolved p. 46. That God Almighty did at first create either the Seeds of all Animate Bodies and dispersed them all the Earth over or else the first Sett of Animals themselves in their full state and perfection giving each Species a power by Generation to propagate their like p. 46 47. Whether God at first created a great number of each Species or only two a Male and a Female p. 47 48. Whether all individual Animals which already have been and hereafter shall be were at first actually created by God or only the first Sett of each Species the rest proceeding from them by way of Generation and being a new produced p. 49 50 51 c. Objections against the first part answered 1. That it seems impossible that the Ovaries of the first Animals should actually include the innumerable Myriads of those that may proceed from them in so many Generations as have been and shall be to the end of the World This shewn not to be so incredible from the multitude of parts into which Matter may be and is divided in many Experiments p. 51 52 53 54. c. 2. If all the Members of Animals already formed do pre exist in the Egg how can the Imagination of the Mother change the shape and that so notoriously sometimes as to produce a Calve's-head or Dog's-face or the like monstrous Members Several Answers to thus Objection offered p. 57 58 59 DISCOURSE II. Of the General DELUGE in the Days of Noah its Causes and Effects p. 62. CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers and some Ancient Coyns or Medals verifying the Scripture-History of the Deluge p. 63 64 65 66. That the Ancient Poets and Mythologists by Deucalion understood Noah and by Deucalion's Flood the General Deluge proved 66 67 68 69. Chap. II. Of the Causes of the General Deluge 70 1. A miraculous transmutation of Air into Water rejected 70 71 72. That Noah's Flood was not Topical 73. 2 3. The emotion of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean the most probable partial Causes of the Deluge but the immediate Causes assigned by the Scripture are the breaking up of the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven 73. That those Causes are sufficient to produce a Deluge granting a change of the Centre of the Earth to prevent the Waters running off 73 74 75. That all the Vapours suspended in the Air might contribute much towards a Flood ibid. Concerning the Expence of the Sea by Vapour 76 77 78 c. Of the Waters keeping its Level An
Mankind whose right the Kingdom was 6. The sending out of a Dove to try whether the Waters were abated and the Flood gone off is we have seen by Plutarch attributed to Deucalion 7. Lucian in his Timon and in his Book De Dea Syria sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion's after the Example of Noah's Flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Deucalion was the only Man that was left for a second Generation for his Prudence and Piety sake And he was saved in this manner He made a great Ark and got aboard it with his Wife and Children And to him came Swine and Horses and Lions and Serpents and all other living Creatures which the Earth maintains according to their kinds by pairs and he received them all and they hurt him not for there was by Divine Instinct a great friendship among them and they sailed together in the Ark so long as the Waters prevailed And in his Timon he saith That Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of all Provisions for their sustenance TAB I. pag 69 The two ancient Apamian Coyns taken out of Octav. Falconieri de Nummo Apamensi Deucalionaei Diluvij typum exhibente 8 â—â— Romae By the Greek inscriptions they were stamp under Philippus Marcus Aurelius Alexander and Septimius Severus Howbeit I do not deny that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly as they call Deucalion's which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge I acknowiedge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges about Two hundred and thirty years before Deucalion's by which the Countrey was so marred that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two hundred years CHAP. II. Of the Causes of the Deluge WHat were the instrumental Causes or Means of the Flood Whether was it effected by natural or supernatural Means only Whether was God no further concerned in it than in so ordering second Causes at first as of themselves necessarily to bring it in at such a time First Those that hold this Deluge was altogether miraculous and that God Almighty created Waters on purpose to serve this occasion and when they had done their work destroyed them again dispatcht the Business and loose or cut the Knot in a few words And yet this Hypothesis is not so absurd and precarious as at first sight it may seem to be For the World being already full there needed not nor indeed could be any Creation of Water out of nothing but only a Transmutation of some other Body into Water Now if we grant all Natural Bodies even the Elements themselves to be mutually transmutable as few Men doubt and some think they can demonstrate why might not the Divine Power and Providence bring together at that time such natural Agents as might change the Air or Aether or both together into Water and so supply what was wanting in Rains and extraordinary Eruptions of Springs To them that argue the Improbability of such a change from the great quantity of Air requisite to the making of a little Water it may be answered That if Air and all Bodies commixt with it were together changed into Water they must needs make a bulk of Water of equal quantity with themselves unless we will grant a Peripatetical Condensation and Rarefaction and hold that the same Matter may have sometimes a greater sometimes a lesser quantity or extension This Cause the conversion of Air into Water the Learned Jesuite Athanasius Kircher in his Book De Arca Noae alledges as the undoubted instrumental Cause or Means of the Deluge in these words Dico totum illud aereum spatium usque ad supremam regionem aeris praepotentis Dei virtute in aquas per inexplicabilem nubium coacervatarum multitudinem quâ replebatur conversam esse cujus ubertas tanta fuit ut Aer supremus cum inferiori in Oceanum commutatus videri potuerit non naturae viribus sed illius cujus voluntati imperio cuncta subsunt That is I affirm That all that Aereal space that reaches up to the supreme Region of the Air was by the power of the Omnipolent God and instrumentality of an inexplicable multitude of Clouds amassed together wherewith it was filled changed into Water so that the upper and lower Air might seem to be 〈◊〉 into an Ocean not by the strength of Naâ—â—â—e but of him to whose Will and 〈◊〉 all things are subject And he is so confident that this Deluge in which the 〈…〉 raised fifteen Cubits above the highest by Mountains was not nor could be effected by natural Causes but by the right hand of the most High God only that he saith No Man can deny it but he who doth not penetrate how far the power of Nature can extend and where it is limited To conclude this Hypothesis hath the Suffrages of most Learned Men. But because the Scripture assigning the Causes or Means of the Inundation makes no mention of any conversion of Air into Water but only of the breaking up the Fountains of the Great Deep and the opening of the Windows of Heaven I suppose those Causes may be sufficient to work the Effect and that we need not have recourse to such an Assistance As for those that make the Deluge Topical and restrain it to a narrow compass of Land their Opinion is I think sufficiently confuted by a late ingenious Author to whom therefore I refer the Reader I shall not undertake the Defence or Confutation of those or any other Hypothesis only tell you which at present seems to me most probable and that is theirs who for a partial cause of the Deluge assign either a change of the Center of the Earth or a violent depression of the Surface of the Ocean and a forcing the Waters up from the subterraneous Abyss through the Channels of the Fountains that were then broken up and opened First then let us consider what Causes the Scripture assigns of the Flood and they are two 1. The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep 2. The opening of the Windows of Heaven I shall first treat of this last By the opening of the Windows of Heaven is I suppose to be understood the causing of all the Water that was suspended in the Air to descend down in Rain upon the Earth the effect hereof here mentioned being a long continuing Rain of Forty days And that these Treasuries of the Air will afford no small quantity of Water may be made appear both by Scripture and Reason 1. By Scripture which opposes the Waters that are above the Heavens or Firmament to those that are under them which if they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some measure equal it would never do Gen. 1. 6. God is said to make a Firmament in the midst of the Waters and to divide the Waters which were under the Firmament from the Waters which were above the Firmament And this was the work of a whole
Curious by publishing a general Catalogue of all the formed Stones found in England and his Remarks upon them And I have likewise proved by good Authority that beyond the Seas in high Mountains and many Leagues distant from the Sea too there have been Beds of real shells I might have added Sharks-teeth or Glossopetrae as both Goropius Becanus and Georgius Agricola testifie if not in Beds yet plentifully disperst in the Earth There are several Medical Histories extant as Dr. Tancred Robinson informs me of perfect shells found in Animal Bodies in whose Glands they were originally formed which is a considerable Objection not easily to be removed TAB II. pag 162 TAB III pag. 162 TAB IV Pag 162 CHAP. V. That there have been great Charges made in the Superficial Part of the Earth since the General Deluge and by what Means I Shall now Discourse a little concerning such Changes as have been made in the Superficial part of the Earth since the Universal Deluge and of their Causes That there have been such I think no sober and intelligent Person can deny there being so good Authority and Reason to prove it Plato in his Timaeus tells us That the Egyptian Priests related to Solon the Athenian Law-giver who lived about 600 years before our Saviour that there was of old time without the Straits of Gibraltar a vast Island bigger then Africa and Asia together called Atlantis which was afterward by a violent Earthquake and mighty Flood and Inundation of Water in one day and night wholly overwhelmed and drown'd in the Sea Whence it may be conjectured that the Old and New World were at first continuous or by the Intervention of that Island not very far remote from each other That the Island of Sicily was of old broken off from Italy by the irruption or insinuation of the Sea is generally believed and there is some memorial thereof retained in the very name of the City Rhegium standing upon the Fretum that separates Italy and Sicily which signifies breaking off Zancle quoque juncta fuisse Dicitur Italiae donec confinia pontus Abstulit mediâ tellurem reppulit undâ In like manner the Island called Euboea now Negroponte was of old joyned to Greece and broken off by the working of the Sea Moreover the Inhabitants of Ceylon report that their Island was anciently joyned to the Main-land of India and separated from it by the force of the Sea It is also thought and there is good ground for it that the Island of Sumatra was anciently continuous with Malacca and called the Golden Chersonese for being beheld from afar it seems to be united to Malacca And to come nearer home Verstegan affirms and not without good reason that our Island of Great Britain was anciently Continent to Gaule and so no Island but a Peninsula and to have been broken off from the Continent but by what means it is in his judgment altogether uncertain whether by some great Earthquake whereby the Sea first breaking through might afterward by little and little enlarge her passage or whether it were cut by the labour of Man in regard of commodity by that passage or whether the Inhabitants of one side or the other by occasion of War did cut it thereby to be sequestred and freed from their Enemies His Arguments to prove that it was formerly united to France are 1. The Cliffs on either side the Sea lying just opposite the one to the other that is those of Dover to those lying between Callice and Bouloin for from Dover to Callice is not the nearest Land being both of one Substance that is of Chalk and Flint 2. The sides of both towards the Sea plainly appearing to have been broken off from some more of the same stuff or matter that it hath sometime by Nature been fastned to 3. The length of the said Cliffs along the Sea-shore being on one side answerable in effect to the length of the very like on the other side that is about six Miles And 4. the nearness of Land between England and France in that place the distance between both as some skilful Sailers report not exceeding 24. English Miles Some of the Ancients as Strato quoted by Strabo in the first Book of his Geography say That the Fretum Gaditanum or Strait of Gibraltar was forcibly broken open by the Sea The same they affirm of the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont that the Rivers filling up the Euxine Sea forced a passage that way where there was none before And in confirmation hereof Diodorus Siculus in his Fifth Book gives us an Ancient Story current among the Samothracians viz. That before any other Floods recorded in Histories there was a very great Deluge that overflowed a good part of the Coast of Asia and the lower Grounds of their Island when the Euxine Sea first brake open the Thracian Bosphorus and Hellespont and drowned all the adjacent Countries This Traditional Story I look upon as very considerable for its Antiquity and Probability it seeming to contain something of truth For it 's not unlikely that the Euxine Sea being over-charged with Waters by extraordinary Floods or driven with violent storms of Wind might make its way through the Bosphorus and Hellespent But it will be objected That the Euxine Sea doth empty it self continually by the Bosphorus and Hellespont into the Mediterranean and that if it had not this way of discharge the Rivers bringing in more than is spent by vapour it would soon overflow all its shores and drown the circumjacent Countreys and so it must have done soon after the Flood and therefore it is not probable that Samothrace should have been inhabited before that irruption if any such there were To which I answer 1. That Monsieur Marsilly thinks he hath demonstrated an under-current in the Thracian Bosphorus by means of which the Euxine may receive as much Water from the Mediterranean as it pours forth into it But because I have already declared my self not to be satisfied of the being and possibility of these undercurrents I answer 2. The Annual receipts from the Rivers running into the Euxine not very much exceeding what is spent in vapour who knows but that from the time of the General Deluge till the Irruption whereof we are discoursing the Euxine might yearly enlarge its Bason and encroach upon the Neighbouring Countreys Natural Historians give us an account of new Islands raised up in the Sea Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 87. enumerates Delos and Rhodes Islands of note and of less account and later emersion Anaphe beyond Melos and Nea between Lemnos and the Hellespont Alone between Lebedos and Teos and among the Cyclades Thera and Therasia Olymp. 135. An. 4. which last or one of the same name Seneca saith was raised himself beholding it nobis spectantibus enata Among the same after 130 years Hiera and two Furlongs distant in his own time when Iunius Syllanus and L. Balbus were Consuls Thia. But the most
Mutations are made in the upper or superficial Region of the Earth the parts thereof seeming to tend to a greater quiet and settlement Besides the Superficies of the Sea notwithstanding the overwhelming and submersion of Islands and the straitning of it about the Outlets of Rivers and the Earth it washes from the shores subsiding and elevating the bottom seems not to be raised higher nor spread further or bear any greater proportion to that of the Land then it did a thousand years ago So have I finished my second Discourse concerning the Deluge and its Effects and the Mutations that have been since made in the Earth and their Causes DISCOURSE III. OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD THE INTRODUCTION TO THE Third Discourse THERE is implanted in the Nature of Man a great desire and curiosity of fore-knowing future Events and what shall befal themselves their Relations and Dependents in time to come the Fates of Kingdoms and Commonwealths especially the Periodical Mutations and final Catastrophe of the World Hence in ancient times Divination was made a Science or Mystery and many Nations had their Colledges or Societies of Wise-men Magicians Astrologers and Sooth-sayers as for example the Egyptians Babylonians and Romans Hence the Vulgar are very prone to consult Diviners and Fortune-tellers To gratifie in some measure this Curiosity and that his People might not in any Priviledge be inferiour to the Nations about them it pleased God besides the standing Oracle of Vrim not only upon special occasions to raise up among the Iews extraordinary Prophets by immediate Mission but also to settle a constant Order and Succession of them for the maintenance and upholding whereof there were Colledges and Seminaries instituted for the educating and fitting young Men for the Prophetick Function These were the Sons of the Prophets of whom we find so frequent mention in Scripture Moreover it pleased God so far to condescend to the weakness of the Iews that in the Infancy of their State he permitted them to consult his Prophets concerning ordinary accidents of life and affairs of small moment As we see Saul did Samuel about the loss of his Fathers Asses which it 's not likely he would have done had it not been usual and customary so to do In the latter times of that State we read of no consulting of Prophets upon such occasions At last also by their own confession the Spirit of Prophecy was quite taken away and nothing left them but a Vocal Oracle which they called Bath col i. e. the Daughter of a Voice or the Daughter of Thunder a Voice out of a Voice This Dr. Light foot thinks to have been a meer Fancy or Imposture Quae de Bath Kol referunt Iudaei ignoscant illi mihi si ego partim pro fabulis habeam Iuduicis partim pro praestigis Diabolicis What the Iews report concerning Bath Kol I beg their pardon if I esteem them no other then either Jewish Fables or Diabolical Illusions It is a Tradition among them that after the death of the last Prophets Haggai Zachary and Malachy the Holy Spirit departed from Israel But why I beseech you was Prophecy withdrawn if Coelestial Oracles were to be continued Why was Vrim and Thummim taken away or rather not restored by their own confession after the Babylonish Captivity It were strange indeed that God taking away his ordinary Oracles from a People should bestow upon them one more or equally noble and that after they were extremely degenerated and fallen into all manner of Impiety Superstition and Heresy c. And a little after if I may freely speak what I think those innumerable Stories which every where occur in the Jewish Writings concerning Bath Kol are to be reduced to two Heads viz. 1. The most of them are meer Fables invented in honour of this or that Rabbin or to gain credit to some History 2. The rest meer Magical and Diabolical Illusions c. In the Primitive Churches of Christians planted by the Apostles there was also an Order of Prophets 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. This Spirit of Prophecy was an extraordinary and temporary Gift as were the Gifts of Healing and Speaking with Tongues continuing not long after the Death of the Apostles and Consignation of the Canon of Scripture So that now we have no means left us of coming to the knowledge of future Events but the Prophecies contained in the Writings of the Holy Penmen of Scripture which we must search diligently consider attentively and compare together if we desire to understand any thing of what shall befal the Christian Church or State in time to come This Text which I have made choice of for my Subject is part of a Prophecy concerning the greatest of all Events the Dissolution of the World 2 PETER iii. 11. Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness CHAP. 1. The Division of the Words and Doctrine contained in them with the Heads of the following Discourse THESE Words contain in them two Parts 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine All these things shall be dissolved 2. A Consequent or Inference thereupon What manner of persons ought we to be The Doctrine here only briefly hinted or summarily proposed is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up These words are by the generality of Interpreters Ancient and Modern understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Heaven and Earth in which sense I shall choose rather to accept them at present than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond and some few others to stem the Tide of Expositors and apply them to the destruction of Ierusalem and the Jewish Polity I say then That this World and all things therein contained shall one day be dissolved and destroyed by Fire By World in this Proposition We and by Heaven and Earth in this place the most rational Interpreters of Scripture do understand only the whole Compages of this sublunary World and all the Creatures that are in it all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah and now secured from perishing so again that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words in his Annotations on this place And again the word Heavens saith he being an Equivocal word is used either for the superiour Heavens whether Empyreal or Ethereal or for the sublunary Heavens the Air as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superiour and inferiour World as the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed falsly to Aristotle defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Systeme or Compages of Heaven and Earth and the Beings therein contained or
the middle of the Earth which could not be meant saith he of the Sepulchre because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome that Hell is about the Center of the Earth insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned by giving us the Dimensions thereof Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis For tho' indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth as the component parts of this Body yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple uniform homogeneous Body as neither do we when we say Vpon the face of the earth or the like For the Earth we see is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Metals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho' it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it not for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho' they confess they run East and West which is a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sir Tho. Willoughby in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lies West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fuel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years And as there are at some tho' uncertain Periods of Time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two Years vanish'd quite away but that by great supplies of combustible Matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT IV. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho' indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho' the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For this reason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2.
Three Physico-Theological DISCOURSES CONCERNING I The Primitive CHAOS and Creation of the World II. The General DELUGE its Causes and Effects III. The Dissolution of the WORLD and Future Conflagration WHEREIN Are largely Discussed the Production and Use of Mountains the Original of Fountains of Formed Stones and Sea-Fishes Bones and Shells found in the Earth the Effects of particular Floods and Inundations of the Sea the Eruptions of Vulcano's the Nature and Causes of Earthquakes With an Historical Account of those Two late Remarkable Ones in Iamaica and England With PRACTICAL INFERENCES By IOHN RAY Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition Corrected very much Enlarged and Illustrated with Copper-plates LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith at the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN L d Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan My LORD IT was no Interest or Expectation of mine that induced me to Dedicate this Discourse to your Grace I am not so well conceited of my own Performances as to think it merits to be inscribed to so Great a Name much less that I should Oblige your Lordship or indeed a far meaner Person by such Inscription My principal motive was that it would give me opportunity of Congratulating with the Sober Part of this Nation your Advancement to the Archiepiscopal Dignity and of acknowledging His Majesty's Wisdom in making choice of so fit a Person to fill that Chair endued with all Qualifications requisite for so high a Calling so able and skilful a Pilot to govern the Church and so prudent and faithful a Counsellor to serve Himself But I will not enlarge in your just Praises lest I should incur the unjust Censure or Suspicion of Flattery Give me leave only to add what I may without injury of Truth and I think without violation of Modesty that your Grace's Election hath the concurrent Approbation and Applause of all good Men that know you or have had a true Character of you which may serve to strengthen your Hands in the Management and Administration of so difficult a Province though you need no such Support as being sufficiently involved and armed by your Vertues and protected by the Almighty Power and Providence Those that are Good and Wise are pleased and satisfied when Great Men are preferred to Great Places and think it pity that Persons of large and publick Spirits should be confined to narrow Spheres of Action and want Field to exercise and employ those rich Talents and Abilities wherewith they are endowed in doing all the Good they are thereby qualified and inclined to do My LORD I am sensible that the Present I make you is neither for Bulk nor Worth suitable to your Person and Greatness yet I hope you will favourably accept it being the best I have to offer and my Boldness may pretend some Excuse from ancient Acquaintance and from my Forwardness to embrace this Opportunity of professing my Name among those that Honour you and of publishing my self My LORD Your Grace's most devoted Servant and humble Orator IOHN RAY THE PREFACE HAving altered the Method of this Treatise and made considerable Additions to it it may justly be expected that I should give some Account thereof to the Reader In the Preface to the former Edition I acquainted him that I had taken Notice of five Matters of Ancient Tradition 1. That the World was formed out of a Chaos by the Divine Wisdom and Power 2. That there was an universal Flood of Waters in which all Mankind perished excepting some few which were saved in an Ark or Ship 3. That the World shall one day be destroyed by Fire 4. That there is a Heaven and a Hell an Elysium and a Tartarus the one to reward good Men and other to punish wicked and both eternal 5. That bloody Sacrifices were to be offered for the Expiation of Sin And that of four of them I had occasion to treat in this Book of two that is to say of the Dissolution of the World by Fire and the Eternal State that was to succeed in reference to Man either in Heaven or Hell more directly of the other two viz. The Primitive Chaos and Creation and the General Deluge occasionally and by way of digression at the request of some Friends But now this Treatise coming to a second Impression I thought it more convenient to make these several Discourses upon these Particulars substantial Parts of my Work and to dispose them according to the priority and posteriority of their Subjects in order of time beginning with the Primitive Chaos Concerning these Traditions it may be enquired what the Original of them was Whether they were of Divine Revelation or Humane invention In answer whereto As to the Second That there was once a General Deluge whereby this whole sublunary World was drown'd and all Animals both Man and Beast destroyed excepting only such as were preserved in an Ark it being matter of Fact and seen and felt by Noah and his Sons there can be no doubt of the Original of that The First concerning the Chaos and Creation of the World if it were not ancienter 〈…〉 Scripâ—â—re it is likely it had its Origâ—nal frâ—m the first Chapter of Genesis and the Chaos from the second Verse And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep But if it were more ancient it must still in all likelihood be Divinely revealed because Man being created last and brought into a World already filled and furnished And God being an Omnipotent and also a Free Agent who could as well have created the World in a moment or altogether as successively it was impossible for Man by reason to determine which way he made choice of The Third Concerning the future Dissolution and Destruction of the World by a General Conflagration there being nothing in Nature that can demonstrate the necessity of it and a second Inundation and Submersion by Water being in the Course of Nature an hundred times more probable as I have shewn in the ensuing Discourses And therefore we see God Almighty to secure Man against the apprehension and dread of a second Deluge made a Covenant with him to give him a visible Sign in confirmation of it never to destroy the World so again And the Ancients who relate this Tradition deivering it as an Oracle or Decree of Fate Ovid Metamorph. 1. Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus c. was likewise probable of Divine Revelation The Fourth That there shall be a Future State wherein Men shall be punished or rewarded accordingly as they have done ill or well in this Life and that State Eternal thô the first part may be demonstrated from the Justice and Goodness of God because there being an unequal distribution of Good and Evil in this Life there must be a time to set things streight in another World yet it being so difficult to Human Reason
loss of a multitude I might say infinity of them which seems not agreeable to the Wisdom and Providence of Nature For supposing every Male hath in him all the Animalcules that he shall or may eject they may for ought I know amount to millions of millions and so the greatest part of them must needs be lost Nay if we take but one Coit there must in uniparous Creatures at least abundance be lost But if we suppose the Foetus to be originally in the Egg it is not so For the Eggs of all sorts of Creatures are so proportioned to the nature of the Animals the time that they live the time and number of their gestations and the number they bring forth at all times that they will much about suffice for the time the Creatures are fit to breed and nourish their young so that they may if need be be all brought forth and come to perfection The End of the first Discourse DISCOURSE II. Of the general Deluge in the Days of NOAH its Causes and Effects I Proceed now to say something concerning the General Deluge in the days of Noah which was also a matter of Ancient Tradition I shall not enlarge much upon it so as to take in all that might be said but confine my self to Three Heads 1. I shall confirm the Truth of the History of the Deluge recorded in the Scripture by the Testimonies of some ancient Heathen Writers 2. I shall consider the Natural Causes or Means whereby it was effected 3. I shall enquire concerning the Consequences of it what considerable effects it had upon the Earth CHAP. I. Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge FIrst then I shall produce some Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge The first shall be that of Berosus recorded by Iosephus in the fifth Chapter of his first Book of Iewish Antiquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That is Berosus the Chaldaean relating the Story of the Deluge writes thus It is reported that there is some part of the Vessel the Ark still remaining at the Mountain of the Gordyaeans and that certain Persons scraping off the Bitumen or Pitch carry it away and that men make use of it for Amulets to drive away Diseases A second Testimony the same Iosephus affords us in the same place and that is of Nicolaus Damascenus who saith he gives us the History of the Ark and Deluge in these words About Minyas in Armenia there is a great Mountain called Baris to which it is reported that many flying in the time of the Deluge were saved and that a certain person was carried thither in an Ark which rested on the top of it the reliques of the Timber whereof were preserved there a long time Besides these Iosephus tells us in the same place that Hieronymus the Egyptian who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities and Mnaseas and many others whose words he alledges not make mention of the Flood Eusebius superadds two Testimonies more The one of Melon to this effect There departed from Armenia at the time of the Deluge a certain man who together with his Sons had been saved who being cast out of his House and Possessions was driven away by the Natives This man passing over the intermediate Region came into the mountainous part of Syria that was then desolate This Testimony makes the Deluge Topical and not to have reached Armenia The other is of Abydenus an ancient Writer set down by Eusebius Praepar Evangel lib. 9. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. After whom others reigned and then Siâ—ithrus so he calls Noah To whom Saturn foretold that there should be a great Flood of Waters upon the fifteenth Day of the Month Desius and commanded him to hide all Writings or whatever was committed to writing in Heliopolis of the Sypparians Which so soon as Sisithrus had performed he presently sailed away to Armenia where what God had predicted to him immediately came to pass or came upon him The third day after the Waters ceased he sent forth Birds that he might try whether they could espy any Land uncovered of Water But they finding nothing but Sea and not knowing whither to betake themselves returned back to Sisithrus In like manner after some days he sent out others with like success But being sent out the third time they returned with their feet fouled with Mud. Then the Gods caught up Sisithrus from among Men but the Ship remained in Armenia and its Wood afforded the Inhabitants Amâ—lets to chase away many Diseases These Histories accord with the Scripture as to the main of the being of a 〈…〉 Noah escaping out of it only 〈…〉 the Truth by the admixture 〈…〉 â—abulous stuff 〈…〉 first Book against Iulian to 〈◊〉 Deluge alledges a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor Plato himself saith he gives us an obscure intimation of the Deluge in his Timaeus bringing in a certain Egyptian Priest who related to Solon out of the Sacred Books of the Egyptians that before the particular Deluges known and celebrated by the Grecians there was of old an exceeding great Inundation of Waters and devastation of the Earth which seems to be no other than Noah's Flood Plutarch in his Book De Solertia Animalium â—tells us That those who have written of Deucalion's Flood report that there was a Dove sent out of the Ark by Deucalion which returning again into the Ark was a sign of the continuance of the Flood but flying quite away and not returning any more was a sign of Serenity and that the Earth was drained Indeed Ovid and other Mythologists make Deucalion's Flood to have been universal and it 's clear by the Description Ovid gives of it that he meant the general Deluge in the days of Noah And that by Deucalion the Ancients together with Ovid understood Noah Kircher in his Arca Noae doth well make out First For that the Poet Apollonius makes him the Son of Prometheus in his third Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Prometheus the Son of Iapetus begat the Renowned Deucalion 2. Berosus affirms Noah to have been a Scythian And Lucian in his Book De Dea Syria tells us that many make Deucalion to have been so too 3. The Scripture testifies that Men were generally very corrupt and wicked in the days of Noah And Andro Teius a very ancient Writer testifies that in Deucalion's time there was a great abundance of wicked Men which made it necessary for God to destroy Mankind 4. The Scripture saith that Noah was a Just Man and Perfect in his Generation And Ovid saith of Deucalion that Non illo mâ—lior quisquam nec amantior aequi Vir fuit aut illâ Pyrrhâ uxore ejus reverentior ulla Deorum And a little after Innocuos ambos cultores numinis ambos 5. Apollonius saith of Deucalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He first ruled over Men. Which may very well be attributed to Noah the Father and Restorer of
if not about the Center yet certainly in profound Caverns and even under the very bottoms of the Seas to which some and no mean Philosophers have attributed the Ebbing and flowing of its waters Let us then suppose that the Rivers do daily carry down to the Sea half an Ocean of water and that the Rain supplies all that as our Opinion is and see what we can infer from thence I think it will be granted that ordinarily communibus annis the Rain that falls in a whole year amounts not to above one quarters continual Rain Now if this suffices for a daily eâ—â—usion of half an Ocean 〈…〉 that if it should rain without any 〈◊〉 all the year round the Rivers would 〈◊〉 out two Oceans into the Sea 〈◊〉 And so in forty days continual Rain 〈◊〉 would distil down upon the Earth 〈…〉 of Water A prodigious quantity 〈◊〉 and â—â—arce credible which if the 〈…〉 as fast as it comes on 〈…〉 a quantity of water 〈…〉 twice in twenty four 〈…〉 then that so much water 〈…〉 upon the â—arth I argue thus 〈…〉 upon the Earth must have 〈…〉 down to the Sea and according â—o the small declivity of the 〈…〉 the Mountains pared off and 〈…〉 a considerable one too 〈…〉 it actually hath so that the Floods 〈…〉 some days after the 〈…〉 upon the higher grounds And 〈…〉 the general Deluge 〈…〉 down to the Sea as fast 〈…〉 the Earth would permit 〈…〉 the Fountains of the 〈…〉 Clouds 〈…〉 could than they run down 〈…〉 the Earth it deserves 〈…〉 whether by the end of 〈…〉 Mountains fifteen Cubits high And yet the Scripture doth not in plain terms say that ever the waters of the Flood arose fifteen Cubits above the tops of the highest Mountains as Mr. Warren well observes Besides we are further to consider that this forty days Rain at the time of the Deluge was no ordinary one such as those that usually distil down leisurely and gently in Winter time but like our Thunder-storms and violent Showers Catarracts and Spouts which pour forth more water in an hour then they do in four and twenty So that in forty natural days the Clouds would empty out upon the Earth not eighty Oceans of water but above twenty times that quantity If by the Windows of Heaven are meant Catarracts as the Septuagint interpret the word And so we need not be to seek for water for a Floud for the Rain alone falling at that rate we have mentioned would if the Opinion of those men who hold that the Rivers discharge into the Sea half an Ocean daily were true in the space of forty natural days afford water enough supposing it run off no faster than usually it doth to cover the Earth Mountains and all Neither yet did the Mountains help but rather hinder the descent of the waters down to the Sea straitning it into Channels obstructing its passage and forcing it to take Circuits till it got above the Ridges and Tops of them As to this Argumentation and Inference the case is the same if we hold that the Water circulates through the 〈◊〉 of the Earth For supposing the Rivers pour 〈◊〉 half an Ocean daily and granting that in times of Floods their streams are but double of their usual Currents though I verily believe they are more than quadruple and that the eâ—fusions of the Fountains be in like measure augmented it will follow that the daily discharge of the Rivers will amount to two Oceans Now at the time of the general Deluge both these Causes concurred For there being a constant Rain of forty days there must on that account be a continual Flood and the Fountains of the great Deep â—eing broken up they must in all likelyhood afford as much Water as the Rain which whether it would not suffice in forty natural days to produce a Flood as big as that of Noah notwitâ—standing the continual descent and going off of the Waters I propose to the consideration of the Ingenious Especially if we allow as is not unreasonable 〈◊〉 suppose that the Divine Providence 〈◊〉 at first cause a contrary Wind to stop 〈◊〉 â—nhibit the descent of the Waters as afterwards he raised an assisting one to carry them off I have but one thing more to add upon this Subject that is that I do not see how their Opinion can be true who hold that some Seas are lower than others as for Example the Red Sea than the Mediterranean For it being true that the Water keeps its level that is holds its Superficies every where equidistant from the Center of Gravity or if by accident one part be lower the rest by reason of their fluidity will speedily reduce the Superficies again to an equality The Waters of all Seas communicating either above or under ground or both ways one Sea cannot be higher or lower than another but supposing any accident should elevate or depress any by reason of this confluence or communication it would soon be reduced to a level again as might demonstratively be proved But I return to tell the Reader what I think the most probable of all the Causes I have heard assigned of the Deluge which is the Center of the Earth being at that time changed and set nearer to the Center or middle of our Continent whereupon the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans must needs press upon the Subterraneous Abyss and so by mediation thereof force the Water upward and at last compel it to run out at those wide Mouths and Apertures made by the Divine Power breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep And we may suppose this to have been only a gentle and gradual Emotion no faster than that the Waters running out at the bottom of the Sea might accordingly lowre the Superficies thereof sufficiently so that none needed run over the Shores These Waters thus poured out from the Orifices of the Fountains upon the Earth the declivity being changed by the removal of the Center could not flow down to the Sea again but must needs stagnate upon the Earth and overflow it and afterwards the Earth returning to its old Center return also to their former Receptacles If any shall object against this Hypothesis because by it the Flood will be render'd Topical and restrained only to the Continent we live in though I might plead the Unnecessariness of drowning America it being in all probability unpeopled at that time yet because the Scripture useth general expressions concerning the extent of the Flood saying Gen. 1. 19. And all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered and again verse 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of lìfe of all that was in the dry land died And because the Americans also are said to have some ancient Memorial Tradition of a Deluge and the Ingenious Author of the Theory of the Earth hath by a moderate Computation demonstrated that there must be then more People upon the Earth than now I will propose another way of
solving this Phaenomenon and that is by supposing that the Divine Power might at that time by the instrumentality of some natural Agent to us at present unknown so depress the Surface of the Ocean as to force the Waters of the Abyss through the forementioned Channels and Apertures and so make them a partial and concurrent Cause of the Deluge That there are at some times in the course of Nature extraordinary pressures upon the Surface of the Sea which force the Water outwards upon the Shores to a great height is evident We had upon our Coasts the last Year an extraordinary Tide wherein the Water rose so high as to overflow all the Sea-Banks drown multitudes of Cattel and fill the lower Rooms of the Houses of many Villages that stood near the Sea so that the Inhabitants to save themselves were â—orced to get up into the upper Rooms and Garrets of their Houses Now how this could be effected but by an unusual pressure upon the Superficies of the Ocean I cannot well conceive In like manner that the Divine Providence might at the time of the Deluge so order and dispose second Causes as to make so strong a pressure upon the face of the Waters as to force them up to a height sufficient to overflow the Earth is no way unreasonable to believe These Hypotheses I propose as seeming to me at present most facile and consonant to Scripture without any concern for either of them and therefore am not solicitous to gather together and heap up Arguments to confirm them or to answer Objections that may be made against them being as ready to relinquish them upon better information as I was to admit and entertain them CHAP. III. Of the Effects of the Deluge I Come now to the Third Particular proposed that is To Enquire concerning the Consequents of the Deluge What considerable Effects it had upon the Earth and and its Inhabitants It had doubtless very great in changing the Superficies of the dry Land In some places adding to the Sea in some taking from it making Islands of Peninsulae and joining others to the Continent altering the Beds of Rivers throwing up lesser Hills and washing away others c. The most remarkable Effects it 's likely were in the skirts of the Continents because the Motion of the Water was there most violent Athanasius Kircher gives us a Map and Description of the World after the Flood shewing what Changes were made therein by it or upon occasion of it afterward as he fansies or conjectures But because I do not love to trouble the Reader with uncertain Conjectures I shall content my self to have said in general that it may rationally be supposed there were then great Mutations and Alterations made in the superficial part of the Earth but what they were though we may guess yet can we have no certain knowledge of and for Particulars refer the Curious to him One malignant effect it had upon Mankind and probably upon other Animals too in shortning their Age or the duration of their lives which I have touched before and shewn that this diminution of Age is to be attributed either to the change of the Temperature of the Air as to Salubrity or Equality sudden and frequent changes of Weather having a very bad influence upon the Age of Man in abbreviating of it as I could easily prove or else to the deteriority of the Diet or to both these Causes But how the Flood should induce or occasion such a change in the Air and productions of the Earth I do not comprehend CHAP. IV. Of formed Stones Sea-shells and other Marine-like Bodies found at great distances from the Shores supposed to have been brought in by the Deluge ANother supposed Effect of the Flood was a bringing up out of the Sea and scattering all the Earth over an innumerable multitude of Shells and Shell-fish there being of these shell-like Bodies not only on lower Grounds and Hillocks but upon the highest Mountains the Appennine and Alps themselves A supposed Effect I say because it is not yet agreed among the Learned whether these Bodies formerly called petrified Shells but now a-days passing by the name of formed Stones be original Productions of Nature formed in imitation of the Shells of Fishes or the real Shells themselves either remaining still entire and uncorrupt or petrified and turned into Stone or at least Stones cast in some Animal Mold Both parts have strong Arguments and Patrons I shall not balance Authorities but only consider and weigh Arguments Those for the latter part wherewith I shall begin are First Because it seems contrary to that great Wisdom of Nature which is observable in all its Works and Productions to design every thing to a determinate end and for the attaining that end make use of such ways as are most aggreeable to Man's reason that these prettily shaped Bodies should have all those curious Figures and Contrivances which many of them are formed and adorned with generated or wrought by a Plastic Vertue for no higher end than only to exhibite such a form This is Mr. Hook's Argumentation To which Dr. Plot answers That the end of such Productions is to beautifie the World with those Varieties and that this is no more repugnant to the Prudence of Nature than is the production of most Flowers Tulips Anemones c. of which we know as little use of as of formed Stones But hereto we may reply That Flowers are for the Ornament of a Body that hath some degree of life in it a Vegetaâ—ive Soul whereby it performs the actions of Nutrition Auction and Generation which it is reasonable should be so beautified And Secondly Flowers serve to embrace and cherish the Fruit while it is yet tender and to desend it from the injuries of Sun and Weather especially for the protection and security of the Apices which are no idle or useless part but contain the Masculine Sperm and serve to give fecundity to the Seed Thirdly Though formed Stones may be useful to Man in Medicine yet Flowers afford us abundantly more uses both in Meat and Medicine Yet I must not dissemble that there is a Phaenomenon in Nature which doth somewhat puzzle me to reconcile with the prudence observable in all its works and seems strongly to prove that Nature doth sometimes ludere and delineate Figures for no other end but for the Ornament of some Stones and to entertain and gratifie our Curiosity or exercise our Wits That is those elegant Impressions of the Leaves of Plants upon Cole-state the knowledge whereof I must confess my self to owe to my Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd of Oxford who observed of it in some Cole-pits in the way from Wychester in Glocestershire to Bristol and afterwards communicated to me a Sample of it That which he found was marked with the Leaves of two or three kinds of Ferns and of Harts-tongue He told me also that Mr. Woodward a Londoner shewed him