the Sea at the Island of Lipara was boyling hot and some Ships being burnt most of the Seamen were stifled with the vapour besides it dispersed abroad a power of dead fish which the Liparensians greedily gaâ—â—ering up and eating were consumed with a contagious disease in their bellies so that the Islands were wasted with a new sort of pestiiâ—â—ce And Father Kircher the Jesuite in the Preface to his Mundus Subterraneus giving a Relation of an Earthquake which shook a great part of Calabria and made notable devastations there which himself saw and was in Anno 1638. clearly demonstrates that Aetna Stromboli and the Mountains of Calabria do communicate by vaults and caverns passing under the bottom of the Sea I shall insert but one passage out of him referring the Reader to the fore-quoted Preface for the rest Hisce calamitatibus saith he dum jactamur ego curiosiùs intuitus Strongylum 60 ferè milliarium intercapedine dissitum illum insolito modo furere notavi c. i.e. While we were tost with these calamities I beholding curiously the Island Stromboli about 60 miles distant observed it to rage after an unusual manner for it appeared all filled with fire in such plenty that it seemed to cast forth mountains of flame a spectacle horrid to behold and formidable to the most undaunted Spirit In the mean time there was a certain sound perceived as it were of Thunder but by reason of the great distance from whence it came somewhat obscure which by degrees proceeding forward in the subterraneous conduits grew greater and greater till it came to the place just underneath us they were at Lopez by the Sea where it shook the Earth with such a roaring or murmure and fury that being not able to stand any longer upon our Legs we were forced to support our selves to catch hold upon any shrub or twig that was near us lest our limbs should be put out of joynt by too much shaking and concussion At which time happened a thing worthy of immortal and eternal memory viz. the subversion of the famous Town of S. Eusemia which he goes about to relate As for Vesuvius if that be not hollow down to the very roots and foundations of it how comes it to pass that at the times of its deflagrations it should vomit out such stoods of boiling Waters as if we had not read of them in Histories and been told so by our Guide when we ascended that Mountain we must needs have perceived our selves by the mighty guls and channels in the sides thereof it being of it self near the top so spungy and dry that it is more likely to imbibe then to cast off much rain in the Winter time And again what causes the Sea to recede at those times and that to so great a distance that the Galleys have been laid dry in the very Haven of Naples Howbeit I cannot positively assert the Mountains thus to have been raised But yet whether without means or by whatsoever means it were a Receptacle for the Waters was prepared and the dry Land and Mountains elevated so as to cast off the Waters on the third day and which is wonderful the Cavities made to receive the Waters and the whole terra firma or dry Land with its Mountains were so proportioned one to the other as that the one was as much depressed below the Shores as the other was elevated above them And as if the one had been taken out of the other the Sea with all its Creeks and Bays and Inlets and other Appendants was made and is very near equal to the whole dry Land with its Promontories and Mountains if not in Superficies yet in bulk or dimensions though some think in both Which equality is still constantly maintained notwithstanding all Inundations of Land and Atterations of Sea because one of these doth always nearly ballance the other according to the vulgar Proverb we have before mention'd What the Sea loses in one place it gains in another If any shall demand How the Sea comes to be gradually depressed and deepest about the middle part whereas the bottom of it was in all likelihood equal while the Waters covered the whole Earth I answer the same Cause that raised up the Earth whether a subterraneous fire or status raised up also the skirts of the Sea the ascent gradually decreasing to the middle part where by reason of the solidity of the Earth or gravity of the incumbent Water the bottom was not elevated at all For the enclosed fire in those parts where its first accension or greatest strength was raised up the Earth first and cast off the Waters and thence spreading by degrees still elevated the Land and drove the Waters further and further till at length the weight of them was too great to be raised and then the fire brake forth at the tops of the Mountains where it found least resistance and disperst it self in the open Air. The Waters also where they found the bottom sandy or yielding made their way into all those Cavities the fire had made and left filling them up as high as the level of the Ocean Neither let any man imagine that the Earth under the Water was too soft and muddy to be in this manner raised by subterraneous fire for I have shewn before that the bottom of the Sea is so saddened and hardened by the weight of the incumbent Water that the High-ways beaten continually by Horses and Carriages are not more firm and solid But omitting this which is only a conjecture I shall discourse a little more concerning the Equality of Sea and Land It hath been observed by some That where there are high Cliffs or Downs along the Shore there the Sea adjoyning is deep and where there are low and level Grounds it is shallow the depth of the Sea answering to the Elevation of the Earth above it and as the Earth from the Shores is gradually higher and higher to the middle and parts most remote from the Sea as is evident by the descents of the Rivers they requiring a constant declivity to carry them down so the Sea likewise is proportionably deeper and deeper from the Shores to the middle So that the rising of the Earth from the Shores to the Mid-land is answerable to the descent or declivity of the bottom of the Sea from the same shores to the Mid-Sea This rising of the Earth from the Shores gradually to the Mid-land is so considerable that it is very likely the Altitude of the Earth in those Mid-land parts above the Superficies of the Sea is greater than that of the Mountains above the leve of the adjacent Lands To the height of the Hills above the common Superficies of the Earth do answer in Brerewood's Opinion the extraordinary Dephts or Whirl-pools that are found in the Sea descending beneath the ordinary bottom of the Sea as the Hills ascend above the ordinary face of the Land But this is but a conjecture of
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.
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