was fain to make the best shift he could which is a very bad one and still the worse by his management But so far is the Theorist mistaken in this point that supposing the great agitation of the vapours yet it is certain that their true course would be quite contrary to what he asserts namely from East to West and not towards the North and South parts of the World for they would be carried that way by a wind which would continually blow from East to West This I think I am able to prove demonstratively thus Since therefore this is clearly agreeable both to reason and observations there is no further doubt to be made of it The wind therefore in the Torrid Zone of the primitive earth blowing continually from East to West must of necessity carry with it all those bodyes which swim in it and are of the same density with it self All the vapours and exhalation therefore that can be drawn either from the abyss or earth by the heat of the Sun since they swim in an Air of the same density with themselves must be carryed from East to West by the motion of the winds which is alwayes directed that way And now I hope it will be plain even to the Theorist himself tho men are seldom convinced of the falshood of their own notions that the vapours which are raised by the Sun under the Torrid Zone of the primitive earth could never have reached either of the Poles and therefore most part of the Inhabitants of the earth must still have been without water since 't is impossible any supplies could be brought to them from the AEquator CHAP. VI. Of the Figure of the Earth THE Theorist as he thinks having found a sufficient stock of waters for the supply of all the Rivers in the earth does now enter upon the solution of another great difficulty which is to shew how in a smooth and regular earth the waters could run and what way they would take their course after their arrival at the Poles in vapour for since there were no Hills nor Mountains nor high Lands in the first Earth the vapours falling in the Frigid Zones and towards the Poles there it seems they would stand in Lakes and Pooles having no descent one way more than another The Theorist therefore to take off the objection will have the earth not to be of an exact Spherical but an Oval figure in which he sayes it is manifest that the Polar parts are higher than the AEquinoctial that is more remote from the Centre as appears by his figure and this he tells us will do the business For by that means the vapours which fall at the extream parts of the earth will have a continual descent towards the middle parts thereof and by consequence it will be a sufficient descent for the running of Rivers Now I will readily grant that the figure of the earth is not Spherical but Spheroidical but I can see no reason why it should be an oblong Spheroid and not a broad one for it may be of a Spheroidical figure tho the Axis of it were shorter than the Diameter of its equator and if it were so I would fain know by what means the vapours would flow from the Poles to the Equator But the Theorist gives us an account how the Earth came to be formed after the fashion of an oblong Spheroid 'T is true sayes he if the Earth were as fluid a substance as it was in the Creation and stood immovable without turning round its own Axis it would certainly settle it self into a Spherical figure but because it turned very swiftly round its Axis the Fluid by that agitation would indeavour to recede from its Centre of motion and form it self into a figure very nearly Oval as we see in the Sea or in any Lake when the waters are driven by the wind upon the Land the Waves extend themselves in length so in our watery Globe which is turned about its own Axis the whole bulk of water under the equator being much more agitated than that which is towards the Poles where the fluid in its diurnal motion describes lesser circles it will indeavour to recede from the Centre of its motion and because it cannot get quite off and fly away by reason of the Air which every way presses upon it and the straitness of its Orb in these places neither could it flow back without a great check and resistance from the same Air it could not otherwise free it self than by flowing towards the sides for waters which are hindered in their motion will take the easiest course they can have Now from this detrusion of the waters towards the side the parts towards the Poles must come to be much increased and those towards the equator discharged of abundance of water which otherwise would have layen upon them and by consequence the earth must have been of an Oblong or an Oval figure I come now to examin the Theorists reasons by which he proves the Earth to be of an Oblong Spheroidical figure He tells us that the fluid under the aequator being much more agitated than that which is towards the Poles which describes in its diurnal motions lesser arches and because it cannot quite get off and fly away by reason of the Air which every way presses upon it it could no other wayes free it self than by flowing towards the sides and consequently form the Earth into an Oval figure That the Reader may observe how excellent the Theorist is at drawing conclusions I will put this reasoning in other words thus All Bodies by reason of the Earths diurnal rotation do endeavour to recede from the Axis of their motion but by reason of the pressure of the Air and the straightness of the Orb they cannot recede from the Axis of their motion therefore they will move towards the Poles where they will come nearer to the Axis of their motion as if you would suppose a Body at the AEquator which doth endeavour to recede from the Axis of its motion but because it cannot quite fly off and get away therefore it will move towards the Poles that is it will come nearer to the Axis of its motion than if it had stayed at the AEquator It seemes to me that the Theorist in this part has endeavoured to give us a proof of his great skill in Logicks for he from a possible supposition has endeavoured directly to prove its contradictory that is because all Bodies do endeavour to recede from the Axis of their motion therefore they will endeavour to go to the Axis of their motion But I will now examin his Argument more particularly and first I will grant to the Theorist that all Bodies turned round about any Centre do endeavour to recede from it and fly off in the tangent For this is both evident to reason and experience but since the Air does alwayes move round the Earth it is plain that
than half the Sun could never appear but its Centre would continually turn round in their Horizons never rising higher nor falling lower the nearer one came to the aequator so much higher would he have the Sun in his meridian but in the same place it would alwayes be at a constant height at twelve of the Clock In the aequator the Sun throughout the whole year would alwayes be vertical when it comes to the meridian and there only would there be an intense and perpetual Summer when at the poles and in places near them there would be an eternal Winter without any intermission of Frost and Snow The Sun also would alwayes Rise and Set in the same points of their Horizons and therefore there would be no alteration in the Earth but upon the account of day and night and no sort of changes in the year which would alwayes keep the same tenour and face the annual motion of the earth being of no use These are the effects which the Learned Kepler has shewed would necessarily follow from the position of the Earths axis which besides that it makes the Earths Annual circuit round the Sun of no sort of use and advantage to it And this I suppose cannot well agree with the infinite wisdom of its Maker it brings with it such a train of consequences which if men would consider I believe there would be few so fond of changes as to be willing to have the present oblique position altered for the perpendicular one of the Theorist which would render this whole Island no better than a wilderness and the greatest part of the Earth not habitable For under the AEquinoctial to whose inhabitants the Sun would continually at twelve of the Clock shine perpendicularly and even throughout the Torrid Zone there would be an intolerable scorching heat In the Frigid Zone the cold could not be indured and the greatest part of the two temperate Zones would not have a sufficient quantity of heat to ripen their fruits All men in England are sensible that the heat we have in Summer is but just great enough to bring our Corn and Fruits to perfection and therefore if the heat we have in Summer were no greater than it is now about the 10 th of March or the 11 th of September the Ground would not be able to produce any vegetables to supply us with food so that all of us must have changed our Climate for some more fertile Soil which receives more of the Suns influence This may serve to shew how vain and false the Theorist's assertion is that the primitive earth had its axis perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptick and that this position is so far from being the best it could have that it may be justly reckoned among the worse sort of positions I come now to shew the great advantages we reap by the present position of the Earth and how apt it is to serve the ends for which it was designed by its wise contriver Kepler in the above mentioned book tels us that the earth was designed a place for those things which are liable to Generation and Corruption and therefore it was by no means fit that the Sun should shine upon every part of it throughout the year with an equal tenour and force but there ought to be such alterations and changes of his heat as are necessary to produce the design'd effects for it is plain that different degrees of heat are requir'd for the production and ripening of most Plants the heat that is requisite for the first growth of a vegetable not being sufficient for the ripening and perfecting the seed thereof and that degree of heat which is necessary for bringing the seed to perfection would quite wither the green and tender herb Now all this is obtained by the present position of the Earth and the inclination of its Axis to the plane of the Ecliptick for from thence arises the variety of Seasons and different degrees of heat and cold We perceive in the Spring time that we have the heat of the Sun still increasing in such a measure as the Plants require for their nutrition and growth At last the Sun arrives at his greatest meridian height and then the Plants bring forth their Seeds which grow every day more and more perfect and then are fully ripe and fit for food and when the Sun has performed his work in our part of the World he returns again to the tropick of Capricorne to make room for the Snow and Ice which comes in the Winter for the moistening and preparing the earth for a new Crop And tho in the Torrid Zone they never have any Snow or Ice yet at the time of the year when the Sun is vertical to them there falls such a quantity of rain as not only cools the Air and makes the Heat of the Sun tolerable but also fattens the ground and prepares it for the production of fruits But there is one more considerable advantage which we reap by the present position of the earth which I will here insert because I do not know that 't is taken notice of by any And it is that by the present inclination of the earths axis to the plane of the ecliptick we who live beyond forty five degrees of Latitude have more of the Suns heat throughout the year than if the Sun shined alwayes in the equator that is if we take the summ of the Suns actions upon us both in Summer and Winter they are greater than its heat would be if it moved always in the equator or which is the same thing the aggregate of the Suns heat upon us while it describes any two opposite parallels is greater than it would be if in these two dayes it described the equator whereas in the Torrid Zone and even in the temperate almost as far as forty five degrees of Latitude the summ of the Suns heat in Summer and Winter is less than what it would be were the axis of the Earth perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptick I know Dr. Bently in his last Lecture for the Confutation of Atheism asserts that tho the axis had been perpendicular yet take the whole year about we should have had the same measure of heat we have now But I am not surprised to find an error of this nature asserted by one who as it appears is not very well skilled in Astronomy for in the same Lecture he confidently saies that 't is matter of fact and experience that the Moon alwaies shews the same Face to us not once wheeling about her own Centre whereas 't is evident to any one who thinks that the Moon shews the same face to us for this very reason because she does turn once in the time of her period about her own Centre But it were to be wished that great Criticks would confine their Labours to their Lexicons and not venture to guess in those parts of Learning which are capable
writers of Hydrostaticks that a sphere whose centre of Gravity is the same with its centre of Magnitude if put in a fluid of the same specifick gravity with it self will retain any given position and therefore there can be no reason drawn from the earths gravity or equilibration why the position of its axis should be perpendicular to the plane of the Ecliptick rather than any other of its diameters CHAP. V. Of Rivers THE Theorist having represented to us the first Earth as a smooth regular and uniform body without Mountains and without a Sea In the 5th Chap. of his second book he starts a great difficulty how it was watered from what causes and in what manner how could Fountains rise or Rivers flow in an Earth of that form and nature he has shut up the Sea with thick walls on every side and taken away all communication that could be 'twixt it and the external earth he has removed all the Hills and Mountains where the Springs use to rise and whence the Rivers descend to water the face of the ground and lastly he has left no issue for these Rivers no Ocean to receive them or any place to disburthen themselves into So that his new found World is like to be a dry and barren wilderness and so far from being Paradisaical that it would scarce be Habitable These indeed are great difficulties and the Theorist has acknowledged them to be such for he sayes there was nothing in his whole Theory that gave so rude a stop to his thoughts as that part of it concerning the Rivers of the first Earth But as the difficulties are great and as one would think insuperable so no doubt the glory that redounds to the Theorist must be nothing less if they be clearly taken away To understand therefore what the state of the primitive Rivers and waters would be he finds it necessary to consider and examine how the rains fell in the first Earth and he tells us that the order of nature in the Regions of the an would be very different from what it is now there could be no violent motions there nor any thing that proceeded from extremity of cold as Ice Snow or Hail and as for Winds they could neither be impetuous nor irregular in that Earth of his seeing there were no Mountains nor any other inequalities to obstruct the course of the vapours nor any unequal seasons nor unequal actions of the Sun but as for waters meteors dews and rains there could not but be plenty of these in some part or other of that Earth for the action of the Sun in raising vapours was very strong and very constant and the Earth was at first moist and soft and according as it grew more dry the rayes of the Sun would pierce more deep into it and reach at length the great abyss which lay underneath and was an unexhausted storehouse of new vapours Now the same heat which extracted these vapours so copiously would also hinder them from condensing into rain in the warmer parts of the Earth and there being no mountains or contrary winds or any such causes to stop or compress them they would take their course where they were least resisted which is towards the Poles and the colder regions of the Earth for East and West they would meet with as warm an air and vapours as much agitated as themselves which therefore will not yield to their progress that way but North and South they will find a more easy passage so that the concourse of vapours which were raised chiefty about the Equinoctial and middle parts of it would be towards the extreme parts or the Poles When these vapours thus driven by the heat of the Sun were arrived in the cooler Regions near the Poles they would be condensed into rain for wanting there the cause of their agitation namely the heat of the Sun their motion would soon begin to languish and they would fall close to one another in the form of water Thus he thinks he has found a sufficient source for waters in the first earth which would never fail neither diminish nor overflow But tho' he esteems this an inexhaustible store-house and an easy way to furnish Waters yet if it be narrowly examined he will find it not in the least sufficient for such an effect For first according to his own hypothesis there could be no Rivers for a long time after the formation of the Earth till the Sun had crackt the outward crust thereof and its heat had reacht the great abyss which the Theorist must needs own will require a very considerable space of time one would think it would be several hundreds of years before the Suns heat could perform such an effect during all which time the inhabitants of the Earth must be without waters and rivers and lead very sad and uncomfortable lives Is this the fruit of the Golden Age or is this consistent with the happiness of the antediluvian Fathers in my opinion it is directly contrary to the Scriptures for they give us an account of rivers immediately after the formation of the Earth But 2 dly I will hereafter prove that the Suns Beams did never yet reach so deep in the Earth as the thickness of the first crustation must have been and consequently there never could arise any vapours from the abyss to furnish the rivers 3 dly Supposing the heat of the Sun to have crackt the crust and to have raised vapours from the abyss yet it is certain it could not do it in such a quantity as would be sufficient to furnish the Earth with waters And now the Theorist will tell us what can be more sufficient than the whole orb of water sure this would do or else nothing could this he will say is an inexhaustible treasure that the rivers could never drain and therefore there was no fear of want of waters from thence Yes there was reason to fear it very much for supposing that there was enough in the abyss yet perhaps the action of the Sun would not raise so much as would be sufficient to water the Earth so there may be enough of Gold in the bowels of the earth but if we cannot come at it we shall never be the richer for it That I may examine this I will suppose that the mouths of these cracks which the Sun is said to have made by its heat to be a 1 10000 part of the surface of the earth this will exceed 2600 square miles which I think is as much as the Theorist can reasonably allow them for if it were but one continued crack round the equator of a miles breadth it would not exceed 25000. miles 2 dly I will suppose with the Theorist that one half of the surface of the present earth is Land and the other is Sea and by consequence the mouths of those pits or cracks must be one five thousandth part of the whole of the now Ocean Now it is evident
that vapours drawn by a determinate heat from any quantity of water in a determinate time are alwayes proportionable to the surface of that water for from a double surface there will be exhaled a double quantity of vapour from a triple surface a triple quantity of vapour and so on Therefore the surface of the Sea being 5000 times bigger than the mouths of these cracks there will be exhaled from it 5000 times more water than what in that case could be drawn from the abyss And therefore if the whole crust of the Antediluvian earth were but of the same bigness with our now dry land it would have but one five thousandth part of the water to furnish it that our present earth has but because according to the Theorist the surface of the dry land was then twice as big as it is now there being at that time no Ocean which takes up one half of the surface therefore it is plain that any particular Country in that case would have ten thousand times less water than it now has there being five thousand times fewer vapours to water a double surface of Land that is in a Country as big as the Island of Britain there would not be so much as one River nor so much rain in a year as does now fall in one day We see therefore how well the Theorist has watered his Antediluvian earth from the inexhaustible treasure of the abyss as he calls it For however immense that great store-house was yet still there would be a great scarcity of water on the surface of the earth From hence we may fully answer an objection of the Atheists against a providence for say they where is the wisdome of the Creator in having so much useless Sea to no purpose and so little dry Land for which men are every day fighting might not the half of the Sea have been dry Land which might have been serviceable to mankind But this as most of their other arguments against providence proceeds from a deep ignorance of Natural Philosophy For if there were but half the Sea that now is there would be also but half the quantity of vapours and consequently we could have but half so many Rivers as now there are to supply all the dry Land we have at present and half as much more The wise Creator therefore did so prudently order it that the Sea should be large enough to supply vapours for all the Land which it would not do if it were less than it now is But I will suppose with the Theorist that there was a quantity of vapours exhaled by the heat of the Sun from the abyss sufficient to furnish plentifully the whole earth Yet still there is a great doubt how Rivers could be formed for what wayes could the vapours take their course to be condensed and form Springs if there were no winds to carry them certainly they would stagnate near the mouths of the cracks and leave the rest of the earth never a whit the better for them and every one that wanted water must go as far as the equator to fetch it No sayes the Theorist there was no need for that the vapours being very much agitated and rarified by the heat of the Sun and being once in the open air their course would be that way where they found the least resistance to their motion and that would certainly be towards the Poles and colder regions of the earth for East and West they would meet with as warm an air and vapours as much agitated as themselves which therefore would not yield to their progress that way But towards North and South they would find a more easy passage the cold of these parts attracting them as we call it that is making way to their motion and dilatation without much resistance as mountains and cold places usually draw vapours from the warmer Here is a new use or imployment the Theorist has found for the Mountains and Cold to be Gentlemen-ushers for the vapours and make way for their motion He had told us before that the Cold and Hills attracted vapours but because that word was not Philosophical being exploded and ridiculed by those who call themselves new Philosophers he explains himself and tells us by attraction he meant the making way for their motion and dilatation but how a Mountain can make way to the dilatation and motion of vapours is far beyond my pitch of understanding to me it seems reasonable that they should resist both and hinder the vapours either from moving forward or dilating themselves Sure I am Cold is so far from being any wayes conducive to the dilatation of vapours that it does alwayes condense them as is plain by cold stone walls which alwayes condense the vapours that fall upon them But the vapours sayes the Theorist are very much agitated by the heat of the Sun which gives them their motion and therefore they would take their course towards the Poles where they find the least resistance What other motion the heat of the Sun can give them but upwards I cannot imagine for by it they are raised and made specifically lighter than the air in which they swim and therefore by a known principle in Hydrostaticks they must rise till they come to air of the same gravity with themselves but then what should drive them to the Poles their great agitation sayes he and the little resistance they find that way the air in the East and West being more agitated than that towards North and South and therefore will more resist their motions This is a very dark answer for I cannot conceive why the air upon the North or South side of an atome of vapour should be more agitated than that upon the East and West side for sure I am there is the same degree of heat on all sides of it and therefore upon that account it should find an equal resistance every way Nay the Theorist or such an other Philosopher might with as good reason have proved that their course would have been only East and West for there the air was very much rarified and made thin by the heat of the Sun the air towards North and South not being so much rarified was thicker and therefore would resist more as water which is a thicker medium does more resist the motion of bodies in it than air This seemes to me to be a much better grounded opinion than the Theorists tho' both of them are absolutely false and may be disprov'd by the very same reasons for how can any man fancy that vapours only driven by the heat of the Sun would travel some thousands of miles through a fluid body of air as dense as themselves this seems to be against the common notions of every man and therefore I think needs no particular calculations I cannot but believe that the Theorist did see these absurdities since they are so very palpable but finding no way to extricate himself from these difficulties he
was would not be perpetual nor last many thousands of years if one consider the effect the heat of the Sun would have upon it and the Waters under it drying and parching the one and rarifying the other into vapours For according to him the course of the Sun was such at that time that there was no diversity or alteration of Seasons in the year as there is now by reason of which alteration of Seasons our Earth is kept in an equality of temper the contrary Seasons ballancing one another so that what moisture the heat of the Summer sucks out of the Earth is repaired again in Rains the next Winter and what chaps are made in it are filled up and the Earth is reduced to its former constitution But if we should imagin a continual Summer the Earth would proceed in dryness still more and more and the cracks would be wider and pierce deeper into the substance of it The heat of the Sun therefore according to the Theorist acting continually upon the Earth would have reduced it in the space of some hundreds of years to a considerable degree of dryness in certain parts and would also have much rarifyed and exhaled the water under it so that considering the structure of that Globe the exterior Crust and the Water under it he thinks it may be fitly compared to an AEolipile or an hollow Sphere with Water in it which the heat of the fire rarifies and turns into Vapour or Wind the Sun here is the Fire and the exterior Earth the shell of the AEolipile and the Abyss the water within it as soon then as the heat of the Sun had reached the waters in the Abyss it began to rarify them and raise them into Vapours by which rarifaction they required more room than they did before and finding themselves pent in by the exterior earth they pressed with violence against that Arch to make it yield and give way to their dilatation and by this means the Earth was broken and the frame of it torn in pieces as by an Earth-quake and those great portions or fragments into which it was divided fell down into the Abyss some in one posture and some in another and was the cause of a general Deluge I shall now examin these causes which the Theorist has given for the Dissolution of the Earth and in this Chapter I will first enquire whither the heat of the Sun can reach so far as the great Abyss to rarify the waters thereof First then I have proved in the third Chapter of this examination that there were Hills and Mountains in the primitive Earth as there are now in ours I have also shown that the Axis of the earth was then enclined the same way to the Plane of the Ecliptick as it is at present from thence it plainly follows that there was then the same variety of Seasons and Alternations of Heat and Cold in the primitive earth that there are now in our earth and by consequence all the Arguments drawn from the great heat and strong action of the Sun upon the Antediluvian earth must fall to the ground there being then no greater heat of the Sun on the earth than there is at present But 2 dly there are places in the earth as the Island of Barbadoes and some other Islands near the AEquator where there is little or no variety of Seasons or alteration of the Suns heat but it continues to shine very strongly upon them throughout the whole year and yet in none of them is there any of these great Chaps and Cracks which the Theorist sayes were made in the primitive earth by the strong action of the Sun tho it has shon above thrice as long upon these Islands as it did upon the Antediluvian World 3 dly It is certain that if we judge according to experience that the heat of the Sun doth not reach far into the Earth and that its beams can go but a very little way into the Crust for in Vaults and Caves there is no sensible alteration of heat in Summer and Winter even tho they have a communication with the open Air And in the deep pits of the Royal Observatorie at Paris it has been found by experience that a Thermometer placed there in the coldest day of Winter does not sensibly vary from what it was in the greatest heat in Summer and they who work in Mines can tell how little difference they observe of heat in the Summer more than in the Winter in places underground But if the heat of the Sun could penetrate for any considerable depth the Crust of the Earth it is plain that when its heat is strongest and most intense upon the Surface it would also be most intense within the Crust but the forementioned experiments do prove that within the bowels of the Earth there is no sensible difference between the heat of the Sun when its action is strongest from what it is when its action is weakest Since then the heat of the Sun does not penetrate the Earth so as to be sensible even for the small space that we are able to dig thorough how can we imagin it possible that it should ever reach the Abyss through the whole exterior Crust of the Earth so as to be able to heat the water and raise it into Vapour But that I may bring this point to a Calculation as near as I can I will suppose that the heat caused by the direct influence of the Sun upon any Surface is alwayes all other things being the same as the quantity of Rayes of heat which falls upon that Surface which I believe the Theorist will allow I will also suppose that fewer Rayes of heat passed thorough the solid Orb than if it had been composed of several concentrical Surfaces placed at some distance from one another every one of which transmitted only the one half of the Rayes of heat which fell upon it this I think may be also easily allowed for it is plain that the Surface of the Earth does not transmit the half nay not the hundredth part of the Suns beams which fall upon it These things being supposed it is plain that but one half of the Rayes which fall upon the first Surface would fall upon the second but one fourth of them upon the third one eighth part of them upon the fourth and one sixteenth part upon the fifth c. so that they would still decrease in a Geometrical proportion of 2 to 1 and if there were but one hundred of these Surfaces the number of Rayes which fell upon the first would be to the number of Rayes which passed thorough to the last as 2 99 to 1 or as the ninty ninth power of 2 is to 1. How great a disproportion then would there be between the number of those Rayes which fell upon the first surface and those which fell upon the last for the ninty ninth power of 2 is a number which if written at length would
consist of a hundred Figures but if we should imagin all the spaces between the Surfaces filled up with solid and not diaphanous matter as it really is so in the Crust of the Earth the heat upon the surface must be much less than what it would be by the former proportion From thence we may conclude that if the heat of the Sun upon the Surface of the Antediluvian Earth was not much greater than it is now it could never reach so far into the Crust as to be able to raise Vapours from the Abyss or if it was so great as to be able to raise Vapours from thence that is if it was then as great upon the Surface of the Abyss as it is generally upon the Surface of the present Earth it must have been almost infinitely greater upon the Surface of the Antediluvian World Certainly there could be no necessity for a Deluge in that case except it were to cool the Earth again after such an excessive heat which must have destroyed all the Animals Plants and Trees which were upon the earth and have turned them into Glass But perhaps it may be urged that the heat of the Sun does generate and prepare Metals which ly hid in its bowels To which I answer that I have already brought a sufficient demonstration that the heat of the Sun does pass but a very little way within the earth and therefore the Opinion that Metals are generated by the Suns influence must be false for they generally lye far hid within the bowels of the earth and therefore without the reach of the Suns influence But notwithstanding all this should I grant to the Theorist that the heat of the Sun had reached the Abyss and had raised the Vapours so that the crust of the Earth fell down and was broken in pieces yet I cannot see how from thence there could follow any universal Deluge or indeed any Deluge at all tho the Theorist does endeavour to explain it thus When the Earth sayes he was broken and fell into the Abyss a good part of it was covered with water by the mere depth of the Abyss it fell into and those parts of it that were higher than the Abyss was deep and consequently would stand above it in a calm water were notwithstanding reached and overtopp'd by the waters during the agitation and violent commotion of the Abyss for it is not imaginable sayes he what the commotion of the Abyss would be upon this dissolution of the Earth nor to what height its waves would be thrown when these prodigious fragments were tumbled down into it If you would suppose a stone of ten thousand weight taken up into the Air a Mile or two and then let fall into the middle of the Ocean it is Credible that the dashing of the water upon that impression would rise as high as a Mountain but if you will suppose a mighty Rock or a heap of Rocks to fall from that height or a great Island or Continent these would expel the waters out of their places with such a force and violence as would fling them above the highest Clouds This is in short the method the Theorist has found out for making an universal Deluge But if I can prove from his own Principles that long before the Deluge happened all the Waters in the Abyss were drawn up by the heat of the Sun to supply the Rivers that were necessary to water the Earth I would fain know what would become of his Deluge or how he can make in that case the fall of the Crust to be the cause of an Universal Flood for by all the conception that I can have of it the water which was upon the surface of the Earth by the fall would rush into the Abyss and it would be so far from making any Flood that it would leave the surface of the Earth and make dry Land appear where formerly there was none To prove this I must first enquire what proportion the quantity of waters which the Sea receives from the Rivers of the Earth in any time bears to the quantity of water in the Ocean and by consequence I will Calculate the time the Rivers would take to fill the Ocean if it were empty and they ran as they do now or which is the same thing I will find what time the Sea would take to empty it self into the Rivers supposing that it was not recruited again by the continual course of fresh waters which run into it that is if the Abyss did formerly supply all the Rivers with water before the flood and none of them ran into it again as the Theorist supposes they did not I am to find what time it would take to empty it self on the surface of the Earth And if I can prove that it would quite empty it self on the surface long before the Deluge happened I think from thence it would necessarily follow that there would be no Deluge at all by the fall of the Crust To begin therefore I will suppose as the Theorist has done in his second Chap. Book first that one half of the surface of the Terraqueous Globe is Sea and the other Land and that if we take the Sea one place with another it is a quarter of a mile deep Now the surface of the whole Earth being 170981012 Italian miles the surface of the Sea is 85490506 square miles which being multiplyed by ¼ th the Sea being ¼ th of a mile deep the product is 21372626½ Cubical miles which is the quantity of water contained in the whole Ocean Now to Calculate the water the Ocean receives from the Rivers we must consider some great river whose breadth depth and swiftness are best known such is the Po which passes through Lombardy and waters a large Country of 380 miles in Length Ricciolus in his Geographia Reformata tells us that its breadth before its division into a great many Channels by which it falls into the Sea is a hundred Bononian Perches or a thousand feet and its depth is one Perch or ten Feet and therefore its perpendicular Section from one side to the other is a hundred square Pearches or 40000 square Feet Its swiftness also is so great that the course of the water is about four Italian miles in an hour or which is the same thing 2000 Italian Perches for there are 500 Perches in a mile The Po therefore carries into the Adriatick 200000 Cubical Perches of water in the space of an hour and therefore the quantity of water it brings into the Sea in a day is 4800000 Cubical Perches or 380000000 Cubical Feet of water but one Cubical mile contains 125000000 Cubical Perches and therefore if the Po takes one day to bring into the Adriatick 4800000 Cubical Perches of water it will require twenty six dayes to carry into the Sea 125000000 Cubical Perches or one Cubical mile or which comes to the same thing twenty six Rivers every one of which is of the
Calculated that it would at least require eight Oceans of water to cover the face of the whole Earth and raise the waters to a height that would be requisite for drowning of the world Now there being but one Ocean of water in the Abyss how is it possible that any however violent agitation and force by which the waters were driven upwards should multiply this one Ocean of waters into eight Oceans this I am sure is a thing as impossible for him to explain as it is for me to believe it is plain indeed that the fall of the Crust especially if there were any considerable distance between the Abyss and it would raise the waters to the tops of the highest Mountains and would in some places produce a partial Deluge but it is evident that it is impossible in nature let the motion be never so violent that one Ocean should be sufficient to cover the whole Earth and that above the tops of the highest Mountains when eight Oceans are the least that can be required to perform such an effect The waters indeed at different times might have covered the whole Earth successively first by making a Deluge in one place and then in another but this could never have been brought to pass by the fall of the Crust at once Besides the Scriptures inform us that the whole Earth was under water at the same time that all the high Hills that were under the whole Heaven were covered now it is as impossible that one Ocean should suffice to drown the whole Earth and cover the tops of the highest Hills tho for the space of one moment as it is to make one pint of pure water fill a vessel which holds a Gallon This Argument which I have now used is the Theorists own which he has alledged in his 2 d and 3 d Chapters against all other wayes of destroying the Earth by a Deluge but he did not then observe that it concluded as strongly against his own Theory as it did against any other which pretends to explain the Deluge without the supposition of more water than what was Lodged in the Ocean or the Clouds But tho I should suppose that there was sufficient water in the Abyss to cover the face of the whole Earth at once yet I cannot conceive how such a flood of waters that was raised by the fall of the Crust could last for so long a time as the Scriptures inform us Noah's flood did which was an hundred and fifty dayes without abating on the face of the Earth We know that water driven with great violence upwards falls down again in a very short space of time and can we Imagin that the water which was raised by the fall of the Crust could last many dayes or indeed many hours without descending again to its ancient Channel But the Scriptures assure us that the water in Noah's Flood continually encreased and prevailed on the Earth for the space of one hundred and fifty dayes it is plain therefore that for this very reason the Flood of Noah could never be produced by the fall of this outward Crust of the Earth The Conclusion THERE are two sort of Arguments that may be brought against the Theory the one depends only on the principles of Reason and Philosophy and the other on the Authority of the writings of Moses but these which might be gathered from Moses would be of no force against the Theorist since he denyes the truth of his narrations which he imagines to be invented by that excellent Law-giver to please and amuse the Jews I have therefore in this Treatise only made use of Arguments which are drawn from Philosophy which he cannot refuse to admit since he appeals to them for the Truth of his own Hypothesis Because the Theorist tells us that all things were made according to the three Mathematical sciences of Arithmetick Staticks and Geometry and that to understand the manner of their composition we must proceed in the search of them by the same Principles and resolve them into these again I thought therefore I might fairly examin his Theory by the rules of those three Mathematical Sciences and I hope that I have shown that it is built on principles which are directly repugnant to each of them But because Arguments drawn from the Mathematicks are not easily understood by those that are unacquainted with that Science I have endeavoured to choose only those Arguments which are plain and obvious and which depend only on Arithmetick and the common principles of Hydrostaticks so that except in one or two places there is nothing in this Treatise but what may be easily understood by those who have a moderate knowledge in these Sciences The points I have examined according to these rules are First The Origination of the Earth from a Chaos which as it is delivered down to us by Moses must be undoubtedly owned by those who acknowledge the Divine Inspiration of that Writer But as the Theorists method of forming the World is not agreeable to the Mosaick History so I think I have shewed that it is repugnant also to the Laws of Nature and Gravitation which by his method could never have produced any habitable World 2 dly The form of the Antediluvian World which the Theorist sayes was smooth regular and uniform without mountains and without a Sea This he asserts to be a necessary consequence of its rise from a Chaos but I have proved that it is not so necessary that an Earth arising from a Chaos should be uniform and smooth as he supposes I have also shewed the great use of Mountains and how necessary they are for our subsistance in the present Earth and that they are so far from being placed here without design as the Theorist imagins that there is scarce any thing in nature that shews more of wisdom and contrivance than they do being absolutely necessary for the furnishing and maintaining Rivers with fresh waters which is a demonstration that they were in the primitive Earth as well as they are in ours 3 dly The right position of the Earths Axis which I have proved to be so far from being excellent and fitted for a Paradisiacal World that it would make the greatest part of the Earth not habitable I have also enquired into the great advantages we reap from the present position of the Earths Axis which is by far preferable to any other especially to the perpendicular position of the Axis of the Earth to the plane of the Ecliptick 4 thly The method the Theorist has found out to form the Antediluvian Rivers when there was no Sea to furnish them with waters or any Channel or Ocean to receive them This I have proved to be impossible on several accounts since the heat of the Sun could never bring up so much Vapour from the Abyss as would be necessary to furnish all the Rivers of the Earth with water and tho we should grant that Vapours were drawn
elegant descriptions the Author gives the subject he treats of shew that he has a great command of Language His Rhetorical expressions may easily captivate any incautious reader and make him swallow down for truth what I am apt to think the Author himself from the sacred character he bears designed only for a Philosophical Romance seing that an ordinary examination thereof according to the laws of Mechanisme cannot but shew that he has acted the part of an Orator much better than he has done that of a Philosopher For in reality none of these wonderful effects which he indeavours to explain could have proceeded from the causes he assigns And to demonstrate this is the design of this small Treatise in which I will not inquire how far the Theory is agreeable to Holy Scriptures that being a work already done by others who I presume understand that Subject better than I do neither will I confine my self to follow the Author from Chapter to Chapter and find fault with every thing contain'd in the Theory least it should look more like spitefulness and ill nature than a diligent search after Truth My design therefore is to choose out some of the principal heads of the Theory and having shown them to be false and disagreeable to the laws of Mechanisme the rest must all fall to the ground of course CHAP. I. An Examination of the Theorists general Argument which he uses to prove the Truth of his Theory IN the second and third Chapters the Theorist makes way for an Argument which he alledges in his seventh to prove the truth of his Theory viz. that all other wayes for the explication of Noah's Flood are false and impossible and that he has given the only possible and consistent Idea of an universal flood and therefore it came to pass the way he has assigned and no other This Argument we see is founded upon two Propositions 1 st That no other way is possible and 2 dly That his own Theory is an intelligible and consistent explication of the universal flood This last Proposition I intend to examin in the following Chapter and the first in this The Theorist to prove all the common ways of explicating the universal deluge false and impossible Calculates the quantity of water which would be sufficient to cover the whole earth above the tops of the highest Mountains and finds that no less than eight Oceans of water could be sufficient for such a work Now it is certain says he that such a stock of waters could neither come from the Sea the Rain or subterraneous Caverns Channels of the earth there being no such quantity of water in nature as would be requisite for such a purpose and therefore the explication of the deluge from these causes is impossible Neither will he allow any supercelestial waters to make up the eight Oceans necessary for the deluge For if there were any such waters the Heavens above where they lay must be either solid or fluid If solid as Glass or Chrystal how could the waters get thro them to descend upon the earth If fluid as the Air or AEther how could the waters rest upon them it being heavier than Air But if you will suppose that waters were brought down from this imaginary region to drown the world in that vast quantity that would be necessary what became of them when the deluge ceased It would be a hard task to lift seven or eight Oceans of water up among the spheres and there is no room for them here below Thus the Theorist thinks that the vulgar makes the deluge impossible and unintelligible upon a double account both in requiring more water than can be found and more if found than can be dispos'd of This is the sum of the Theorist's Argument why all other methods and explications of the deluge are false and impossible which I have here related because I think it an evident demonstration of the impossibility of all Natural and Mechanical explications of the deluge whatsoever even his own not excepted as I shall shew in its due place it being impossible for Nature not assisted with extraordinary divine power to bring so much water upon the earth and if it were once brought it is as impossible to move it But all this does no way prove that the deluge might not have been brought upon the earth by the Almighty power of God Cannot he bring out the waters from the deep or the Abysse as from a Storehouse and sustain them from running down again with the same ease he made the waters of the red Sea stand on an heap while the Israelites passed through Is any thing of this nature too hard for the Almighty to perform Might not he if there were not enough in the abysse bring water on the earth from the Heavens above which might have been there from the Creation notwithstanding the Theorist's question How could they rest there Since the same power might keep them in their place that detains the Moon or any other of the Planets in their orbits and perhaps from some of these or from other places best known to the Divine wisdom some of this water was brought upon the earth and afterwards remov'd by the Omnipotent hand of God who only worketh great wonders Is not this a much easier and shorter account of the deluge than the Theorist's which is built upon false and precarious principles inconsequential conclusions which after all will not be sufficient to produce the desired effect But it seems the Theorist is not very willing to acknowledge that God Almighty had any hand in that great Catastrophe of the world tho' it be plainly told us in Scripture that he was the immediate Author thereof Gen. 6.17 Behold saith God I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth Nor do I see any reason why he ought not to acknowledg the universal deluge of the world to be Miraculous as well as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was by raining of Fire and Brimstone since they were both sent as punishments for the sins of men neither of which without doubt had ever happened if man had continued in the state of Innocence The Scriptures give us an account of several Miracles wrought by the hand of Omnipotence upon occasions which did not so necessarily require them Why ought we then to deny this universal destruction of the earth to be miraculous Miracles are the great wonderful works of God by which he sheweth his Dominion and Power and that his Kingdom reacheth over all even Nature her self and that he does not confine himself to the ordinary methods of acting but can alter them according to his pleasure Were not they given us to convince us of the sacred truths contained in holy Scripture Was it not by the demonstrative force of Miracles that Moses and the Apostles proved their divine Mission beyond all that other Framers of Religions could pretend to And tho' our holy Faith
stands so well confirmed by real miracles that we are neither to make nor admit of any false ones yet certainly we are not to detract from the value of the true ones by pretending to deduce them from Natural and Mechanical causes when they are no ways explicable by them It is therefore both the easiest and safest way to refer the wonderful destruction of the old world to the Omnipotent hand of God who can do whatsoever he pleases CHAP. II. Of the Chaos THat the Earth was formed from a Chaos must be unquestionably own'd by all who acknowledge the truth of the Holy Scriptures for they tell us that in the beginning the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep which is a most excellent description of that Chaos from which the world arose From it therefore the Theorist begins to frame his Antediluvian earth by the sole help of Natural and Mechanical causes He supposes the Chaos to be the matter of the earth and heavens without form or regularity reduc'd into a fluid Masse wherein are the materials and ingredients of all Bodies mingled in confusion one with another without any order of higher or lower heavier or lighter solid or volatile The first change he imagins that did happen to this Masse was that the heaviest and grossest parts sunk down towards the middle of it for there he supposes the Center of its gravity and constituted the hard and solid interior part of the earth The rest of the Masse which swam above was also divided by the same principle of gravity into two orders of bodies the one liquid like water the other volatile like air For the fine and active parts disintangling themselves by degrees from the rest did mount above them and having motion enough to keep themselves upon the wing did play in these open places where they were to constitute that body we call Air the other parts being grosser than these settled in a masse together under the air upon the body of the earth composing not only water strictly so called but the whole Masse of liquors or liquid bodies belonging to the earth of which there were two kinds one of which is fat oily and light and the other lean and more earthy like common water Now it being well known that these two liquors mixed together if left to themselves and the general action of nature separate one from another as in Cream and thin Milk oil and water and such like So we cannot doubt but that the same effect would follow here and the more oily and light parts of this Masse would get above the other and swim upon it Thus would the whole Masse of liquids be divided into two lesser Masses Now if we look over again these two great Masses of Air and Water we cannot but imagin that they were both at first very muddy and impure for the air was yet thick grosse and dark there being abundance of terrestrial particles swiming in it still after the grossest were sunk down and the lesser and lighter which remain'd in the Air did sink too but more slowly So that in their descent they did meet with the oily liquor upon the face of the deep which did intangle and stop them from passing any further so as mixing there with that unctuous substance they did compose a certain slime or fat soft earth spread upon the face of the waters And this thin and tender Orb encreased more and more as the little earthy particles detain'd in the air could make their way to it and mingled with that oily liquor till at length they suckt it all up and were wholly incorporated together which was the first concretion and firm consistent substance upon the face of the Chaos After this fashion has the Theorist formed his Antediluvian habitable world which doth not much differ from the Cartesian method of making the earth only Des Cartes being somewhat wiser than the Theorist would not allow the outward crust within whose bowels the waters were shut up to be a habitable earth knowing well that neither man nor beast could live long without water But he made the crust first broken and the waters flow out before he plac'd any inhabitants on it Another small difference betwixt the two hypotheses is that Mons. Des Cartes never thought of making the exterior Orb of oily liquids which the Theorist asserts to be absolutely necessary towards the formation of the crust For if it were not says he for the oily liquor which swims upon the surface of the Abyss the particles of earth which fell through the air had sunk to the bottom and had never formed the exterior Orb of earth But notwithstanding this I believe it may be easily made evident tho neither of their Systems are true that the Therorist's hypothesis is the worst of the two Which I will prove from his own concessions for he has already own'd that the oily liquor is much lighter than the watery Orb. He has mentioned also that the terrestrial particles when falling from the air if the Orb were only water would sink to the bottom and therefore those particles must be heavier than water From thence I think it does necessarily follow that these terrestrial particles must also be heavier than the oily fluid which is lighter than water and therefore they will more easily descend thro' it than they did thro' water it being well known that there are several bodies which will swim in water but sink in oil But that which seems to have deceiv'd the Theorist in this point was that he had observed that small dust tho' specifically heavier than oil yet being thrown upon it it did not sink and therefore he concluded that a great deal of it if cast upon the surface of oil after the same manner would not descend but form a solid concrete substance upon the surface of the oil But this consequence will soon appear to be false if we consider the true reason why some bodies tho' specifically heavier than the fluid in which they are put do not sink but swim upon the surface which is this That there is scarce any liquid in nature which is absolutely fluid and whose parts do not resist separation one from another and therefore will somewhat hinder or retard the descent of bodies thro them Now this resistance all other things being alike is always proportional to the surface of the body descending so that small bodies whose weight or force to move or separate the parts of the fluid is but very little may have a surface so large that they cannot overcome the resistance of the fluid that is they cannot make way for their descent thro' the fluid and therefore must swim upon the surface of it but the surfaces of bodies not increasing in the same proportion with their solidities or weights small bodies will have a greater resistance in proportion to their weight than greater ones of the same intensive gravity
same swiftness with the Po will pour into the Sea one Cubical mile of water in a day I must in the next place determin what proportion all the Rivers in the Earth bear to the Po which to determin exactly would be a task not easily to be performed but I think we may determin it near enough for our present purpose by supposing that the quantity of water received into the Sea by the great Rivers in any Country is very near proportional to the extent and surface of that Country And consequently the Country which is watered by the Po and the Rivers which run into it bears the same proportion to the surface of the whole dry Land that the Po doth to all the Rivers in the Earth But I have observed from the exactest Maps I could see that the Po from its Origin in the Alps to its end where it runs into the Sea is in length three hundred and eighty miles and that the Rivers which fall into it from each side come from Springs of about sixty miles distance from the Po consequently the Po and the Rivers which run into it water a Country which is 380 miles long and 120 broad all which makes 45600 square miles but the surface of all the Land being equal to half the Terraqueous Globe is 85490506 square miles and therefore according to the proportion formerly mentioned the water which is carried into the Sea by all the Rivers is 1874 times greater than what the Po carries into the Sea It is true there are in the Earth some barren places which have no great quantity of water or Rivers in them but they being but small will not much alter our account and for an Equivalent we can easily prove that tho there are some Countries not so well stored with Rivers as Lombardy yet there are several others which are much better furnished with them particularly the South part of America where there are Rivers which according to credible relations are above fourscore miles in breadth and therefore by allowing a proportional depth they will be several hundreds of times bigger than the Po. Now I have already Calculated that twenty six Po's will pour into the Sea one Cubical mile of water in a day and consequently in 365 dayes or in the space of a year they will pour into the Sea 365 Cubical miles of water hence it follows that if 26 Rivers as big as the Po pour into the Sea 365 miles of water in the space of a year from 1874 Rivers as big as the Po there will be brought into the Sea in the same time 26308 Cubical miles of water and therefore by the rule of proportionals in the space of 812 year the Rivers will bring into the Sea 21372626 Cubical miles of water which is a quantity of water as great as the Ocean and therefore in that time they would fill the great Channel of the Ocean if it were empty and their course the same both for quantity of water and swiftness that it is now And since the Sea furnishes the Rivers with all the water that runs through them it is plain that the Sea would empty it self in the space of 812 years if none of the Rivers ran into it again Since therefore according to the Theorist the Abyss was the store-house which furnished the Rivers of the Antediluvian Earth with water and none of them according to him ran into it again and because all the waters which were antiently in the Abyss are now in the Ocean it must needs follow that in the space of 812 years it would be quite empty upon supposition that there were as many Rivers in the primitive Earth as there are now in ours but because there was then twice as much Land to be furnished with Rivers there being then no Seas as the Theorist sayes we must in proportion allow twice as many Rivers to water the double quantity of dry Land and therefore by such a double quantity of Rivers the Abyss would be emptied in half that time Perhaps the Theorist will say that the Rivers were not altogether furnished by Vapours drawn from the Abyss but by those also that were exhaled from the surface of the Earth and that after the water in the Rivers had run towards the AEquator and middle parts of the Earth the water was again raised into Vapours by the great heat of the Sun and carried back towards the Poles in order to supply the Rivers again But this is no objection to our present Argument for tho the Vapours drawn from the surface of the Earth would no doubt encrease the quantity of water in the Rivers yet still there would be drawn from the Abyss the same quantity of Vapour as was before the same cause still continuing to act would still produce the same effect and the Abyss having at first furnished the Rivers with a sufficient quantity of water would still continue to do the same and in the same quantity and therefore it signifies nothing against the former Calculation how much Vapour was drawn from the surface of the Earth or how much the Rivers were encreased by it Since then I have sufficiently proved on the supposition of his Principles that all the water in the Abyss was long before the time of the Deluge drawn out of the Abyss and placed on the surface of the Earth I would fain know how in that case the Theorist can explain an Universal Deluge by the fall of the outward Crust of the Earth upon the Abyss for in my Opinion this fall would have been so far from being the cause of a Deluge that it would have proved the true way to deliver the Earth from a Deluge of waters which was then on it For all the water which was in the Abyss being drawn up on the surface of the Land and the Earth being of a Spheroidical and Oval shape without Hills and Mountains upper and lower Grounds but exactly of the same Figure which its gravity and centrifugal force formed it into when it was fluid the great Mass of water which was then upon the Earth must have settled it self also in the same Figure it having no banks to retain it within its Channel or Mountains to keep it within bounds and the true effect of the fall of the Crust must have been to have discovered the Land and the waters would have run from the surface of the Earth into the Abyss and there would have formed a Sea and made that Land appear which before was covered with waters Notwithstanding what I have already proved I will now suppose that all the water which is now in the Ocean was in the Abyss at the time of the Deluge and that the Crust of the Earth was broken and crackt and fell down on the surface of the Abyss yet still I cannot understand how this fall could produce an Universal Deluge and make the waters swell above the tops of the highest Mountains For the Theorist has
from the Abyss in places near the Equinoctial as he supposes yet it is impossible that it should ever reach the Poles there to form the Springs from which the Rivers were to run Or if Vapours were once brought to the Poles by whatever cause we can imagin yet it is impossible that they should ever run back from the Poles to the AEquator since according to him the Earth was perfectly smooth and uniform without any upper grounds from whence the water was to descend to the lower places of the Earth 5 thly The Figure of the Earth which the Theorist rightly affirms not to have been exactly Spherical because at the Commencement of the Diurnal rotation it being Fluid all the parts of it would endeavour to recede from the Axis of their motion but as he has guessed that it did settle into an Oblong Spheroidical or Oval Figure on no other account that I know of but because he thinks such a one would best answer his design so I think I have clearly enough demonstrated that the Earth has formed it self into a quite contrary Figure whose Axis is shorter than the Diameter of the AEquator and I have proved from Observations that the Earth is really of such a Figure 6 thly The causes the Theorist has assigned for the breaking of the outward Crust which he affirms to be done by the great heat of the Sun But this I have clearly proved to be a cause altogether insufficient for such an effect since the heat of the Sun could never reach so far into so thick a Crust as to be great enough to raise water into Vapours But lastly granting the Crust to have been broken and to have fallen down into the Abyss yet I have proved from the Theorists own Principles that there could follow no Universal Deluge there being not so much water in the Abyss as was sufficient to cover the face of the whole Earth Throughout the whole Examination I have observed the Theorists advice and have considered only the substance of the Theory without making any excursions upon things that are accidental and collateral which as he sayes do not destroy his Hypothesis These are the main foundations on which his Theory is built and since I have proved them all to be not only precarious but impossible his whole Hypothesis must fall with them Perhaps many of his Readers will be sorry to be undeceived for as I believe never any Book was fuller of Errors and Mistakes in Philosophy so none ever abounded with more beautiful Scenes and surprising Images of Nature but I write only to those who might perhaps expect to find a true Philosophy in it They who read it as an Ingenious Romance will still be pleased with their Entertainment FINIS SOME REMARKES ON M r. WHISTON'S Theory of the Earth THO' I think it impossible to give a True and Mechanical account of that great Deluge of waters which once overflowed the Face of the whole Earth it being a work not to be performed without the extraordinary contrivance of the Divine power yet I cannot but acknowledge that Mr. Whiston the Ingenious Author of this new Theory of the Earth has made greater discoveries and proceeded on more Philosophical Principles than all the Theorists before him have done In his Theory there are some very strange coincidents which make it indeed probable that a Comet at the time of the Deluge passed by the Earth It is surprizing to observe the exact correspondence between the Lunar and Solar year upon the supposition of a circular Orbit in which the Earth moved before the Deluge It cannot but raise admiration in us when we consider that the Earth at the time of the Deluge was in its Perihelion which would be the necessary effect of a Comet that passed by at that time in drawing it from a Circular to an Elliptical Orbit This together with the consideration that the Moon was exactly in such a place of its Orbit at that time as equally attracted with the Earth when the Comet passed by seems to be a very convincing Argument that a Comet really came very near and passed by the Earth on the day the Deluge began But notwithstanding this I believe it will be evident by the following considerations that a Comet could never have produced those various effects that Mr. Whiston has attributed to it and it will also further appear that the Deluge was the immediate work of the Divine power and that no secondary causes without the interposition of Omnipotence could have brought such an effect to pass But first I will make some Remarks on the Origin of the Primitive Earth and method by which Mr. Whiston supposes it was formed Mr. Whiston's first Hypothesis is that the antient Chaos the Origin of our Earth was the Atmosphere of a Comet but this supposition tho he endeavours to prove it by several Arguments doth not seem probable for the reasons following First the Scriptures represent the Primitive Antient Chaos as a very dark and obscure Body for they say that it was without form and Void and that Darkness was upon the face of the Deep this will further appear by the next verse where God is said to have made light upon the first day of the Creation which is a clear proof that there was none before that time but that the whole Chaos was originally a dark and confused heap of Bodies Now it is certain by the Testimonies of all those who have made any Observations about Comets that their Atmospheres are very bright and luminous Fluids through which the beams of the Sun diffuse themselves very freely and many of them are again reflected back to us and indeed if we consider their pellucidness and the vast quantity of Light which passes through them without reflection it is not easy to imagine how they should appear so lucid to our Eyes Nor do I believe that it is possible to find among all the pellucid Bodies of our Earth any one which being placed at the same distance from us as the Atmosphere of Comets are would appear so bright or reflect the light so strongly as they do For it is easy to be observed that diaphanous Bodies are not so luminous nor do they reflect light in such a quantity as it is reflected from opake Bodies It cannot be said that the light by which we perceive a Comet is only reflected from the top of its Atmosphere and that it doth not pass through the Body of it to illuminate all the other parts of it which are therefore involved in thick darkness for it is evident that light passes clearly through the whole Body of the Atmosphere and illuminates the central solid which strongly reflects the light to us back again I know Mr. Whiston supposes that this great darkness mentioned in the Scripture proceeded from the subsiding of the vast Dense and heavy Fluid or large Abyss which he sayes encompassed the central solid and was it self covered over
with a collection of Earthly Watery and Airy particles intercepting and reflecting all the Rays of light which fell upon it but this I think doth not well agree with the tenour of Scripture which represents the Chaos in its very Original state as involved with darkness and obscurity It is also repugnant to all the ancient Traditions we have about it which represent it as a dark and confused heap of Bodies from the very beginning of its existence till the time of the Creation or Formation of the Earth It is plain also that the Abyss or Deep mentioned in Scripture could not be that dense and heavy fluid Mr. Whiston speaks of on which he sayes the upper Crust of our Earth is founded it being certain that the Scriptures are to be understood of an Abyss which was then dark and afterwards when light was Created was illuminated and made visible For when light is said to have been made without doubt we must suppose that it was produced in some place which before was involved in darkness and then exposed to the light which can never agree with Mr. Whiston's Abyss which he makes to be encompassed with a dense and opake Crust perfectly impenetrable by the light of the Sun It appears therefore that this darkness mentioned in the Scriptures must be undestood to be somewhere else than on the Surface of a dense and heavy fluid that surrounds the central solid It is also to be observed that it is not easy to conceive how these Earthy Watery and Airy particles should fall so thick and fast on one another as would be sufficient to intercept all the light which fell upon them and quite darken the Atmosphere without suffering the least glimmering of light to pass through them For as Mr. Whiston observes the heat of a Comet when it passes its Perihelion is so excessively great as to last many thousand years and we cannot doubt but that great commotion and confusion which is raised by this heat must last proportionally and as the heat doth gradually decrease so must the commotion in the Atmosphere decrease proportionally by which the most solid and heavy Bodies would soonest fall down And one would think that it would not be the work of one or two years but it would require some thousands of years after the solid Bodies first began to fall before the Atmosphere could settle it self into a regular and uniform Body And therefore since all these diaphanous and solid Bodies which composed the outward Crust fell so slowly and by degrees on the Abyss and since at the time they were all there they were not able to darken the Atmosphere I think that by their slow and gradual descent they would not fall so thick upon one another but that the Comets Atmosphere would still be penetrated and illuminated by the light of the Sun But if I should grant to Mr. Whiston that there were such dark and thick Clouds in the Atmosphere of the Comet as were sufficient to intercept all the light that should be derived to it from the Sun yet if we consider that the central solid of a Comet is a Body which by reason of its near approach to the Sun is scorched and burned by very intense heat and that all solid and hard bodies when they are heated to any considerable degree are clear and luminous we must acknowledge that the proper and native light of Comets if I may so call it is very considerable and therefore upon this single account of a Comets proper light it cannot be such a dark and obscure Body as that Chaos was from which the world had its Origination Since then the Atmospheres of Comets are clear and pellucid luminous Bodies through which we can distinctly view their central solids and since the Chaos out of which the world was made from its very Original was a dark and confused heap of Bodies without the least glimmerings of light which was not created till the first day of the Hexaëmeron it is plain that this Chaos could never be the Atmosphere of a Comet and therefore Mr. Whiston's first Hypothesis is but ill grounded It is also to be observed that the greatest part of these solids which compose our upper Stratum consist of Stones Sand and Gravel and that they when they are once heated to any considerable degree are necessarily melted and turned into Glass Now if they had ever existed in the Atmosphere of a Comet when it was near the Sun they must have sustained a degree of heat some hundreds of times greater than the heat of red hot Iron and consequently they must have been melted and during the time of their immense heat they would have composed a fluid which afterwards when the Comet was cooled would appear in the form of Glass by which it is plain that those Bodies never were in the Atmosphere of a Comet for otherwise they could never have appeared to us in the form they are in at present Mr. Whiston asserts that there are very many and very considerable Phaenomena of nature which require a central force or internal heat diffusing warm steams every way from the centre to the circumference and especially he seems to be pleased with Dr. Woodwards method of raising Vapours through the Earth to furnish the Rivers with water by the help of a central fire which he thinks is easily accounted for by supposing the interior solid of the Earth to have been the Nucleus of a Comet that once in its approach to the Sun had acquired an immense heat which it doth still in a great measure preserve but this Opinion tho it has been maintained by a great many Learned Men seems to be very improbable For if I should suppose that there was such a central fire yet it is not to be imagined that it could ever diffuse it self and penetrate the exterior parts of the Earth We know by experience that if a stone wall of four or five foot thickness be heated red hot upon one side that the other continues as cold as before without being sensibly affected with the heat which is intense on the opposite side Since then we see that an intense heat is not able to penetrate through a stone wall how can we suppose that it should diffuse it self through a dense and heavy fluid an hard and diaphanous Crust of some hundreds of miles thickness I know none of the Phaenomena of nature that do necessarily require a central fire For as to burning Mountains and Volcano's if Mr. Whiston will be pleased to consult Borelli de incendiis Montis AEtnae he will easily be convinced that its fire doth not proceed from the Centre but that it is kindled very near the surface of the Mountain And as for Rivers I believe it is evident that they are furnished by a superior circulation of Vapours drawn from the Sea by the heat of the Sun which by Calculation are abundantly sufficient for such a supply For it is certain that
reasons that I cannot be induced to believe Mr. Whistons Hypothesis that the Earth had no diurnal rotation before the fall to be probable it seeming to be far more agreeable to the Laws of Nature and Philosophy that the Earth received both its annual and diurnal motions at the same time viz. when it was first Created These are the chief and principle Remarks that I have made on the Original State and Formation of the Earth I will now briefly consider his Theory of the Deluge which is in short thus He supposes that a Comet at the time of the Deluge came very near and passed by the Earth that the Comet when it came below the Moon would raise a vast and strong Tide both in the Seas that were then on the Surface and in the Abyss which was under the upper Crust of the Earth after the same manner as the Moon doth at present in the Ocean that this Tide would begin to rise and encrease all the time of the approach of the Comet would be at its greatest height when the Comet was at its least distance from the earth By this tide and the attraction of the Comet he supposes that the Abyss would put on an Elliptick or rather an exactly oval figure whose surface being much larger than the former spherical one the exterior crust of earth which lay upon it must conform it self to the same figure which it could not do as long as it remain'd solid and conjoin'd and therefore it must of necessity by the violent force of the tide be stretched and broken and have innumerable fissures made quite through it After this he supposes that the Comet in its descent towards the sun passing close by the body of the earth involved it in its Atmosphere and tail for a considerable time and left prodigious quantities of condensed and expanded vapours on its surface a great part of which being very much rarify'd after their primary fall would be immediatly drawn up into the Air again and afterwards descend in violent and outragious Rains upon the Earth and would be the canse of the forty dayes rain mentioned in Scripture The other great Rain which together with the former lasted an hundred and fifty dayes was occasioned as he thinks by the Earths being involved a second time in the Comets tail from which and from its Atmosphere he derives one half of the water which served for the Deluge The other half he supposes was deduced from the subterraneous Abyss the fluid whereof he says was forced upon the Surface of the Earth by the vast and prodigious pressure of the incumbent water that was derived from the Comets Atmosphere and Tail which he supposes would press downwards with a mighty force and endeavour to sink the outward Crust of the Earth into the Abyss by which vast quantities of the subterraneous fluid would be forced and raised upon the Surface of the Earth through the Cracks and Fissures that were made in the Crust by the violence of the Tide in the Abyss By these methods Mr. Whiston supposes that there was water enough brought on the Surface to cover the face of the whole Earth for the perpendicular height of three miles that is above the tops of the highest Mountains But he further supposes that neither that water which was derived from the Comet nor that which was forced up from the bowels of the Earth was pure Elementary water but rather a thick and muddy fluid which he sayes being heavier than water sunk to the bottom and covered the Earth for the depth of 166 feet After having thus formed the Deluge his next great work is to remove these waters which were brought on the Earth and this he supposes to be performed by a wind which dried up some and forced the rest through the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth into the Abyss in which a great part of them had been before and from whence they were derived These are the suppositions by which Mr. Whiston pretends to account for all the Phaenomena of the Deluge But tho I can easily allow the first Hypothesis to be true viz. That a Comet at the time of the Deluge came very near and passed by the Earth since its approach at that time is not only made possible but also very probable by him yet I cannot admit of the particular explications he has given of several of the Phaenomena of the Deluge a great many of them as he has explained them seeming to be no wayes agreeable to the Laws of Mechanicks and Philosophy For first tho it is certain that a Comet when it passed by the Earth would raise a very strong and prodigious Tide in the Seas that were then on the Surface yet I cannot perceive that such an effect would be produced in the Abyss which he supposes to be a dense and heavy fluid encompassed on all sides with a thick and solid Crust of Earth lying closely upon it For Tides being only a violent swelling and motion of the waters produced by the attraction of some great Bodies that come near them if we should suppose that the waters were every where shut up within a solid Orb lying on them so that there were no room or space left for them to move in it is plain that in such a case there could be no Tide or agitation of the waters but they would remain in the state they were in before nor could they press stronger on that Orb which inclosed them than Sand Gravel or any other firm and hard Bodies would do that could fill their place all Bodies whether firm or Fluid being equally attracted when the attracting Body is at the same distance from them This being then the true case of the Abyss which Mr. Whiston supposes to be enclosed by the thick solid and upper Crust of the Earth which pressing so close upon it as to leave no void space at least not such a one as would make room enough for any considerable commotion of the waters and because fluids are not more attracted than solids are it is plain that by the Tide of the Abyss and the attraction of the Comet there could never be produced any greater effect on the Crust which encompassed the subterraneous fluid than if the whole Earth had consisted of firm and solid matter without any Abyss It is certain therefore that since there was no tide in the Abyss there could be no cracks and fissures made in the Earth by it To explain the great rains which fell on the Earth during the time of the deluge Mr. Whiston assumes a proposition which I believe he can hardly prove viz. that after the Earth was involved in the Comet 's Atmosphere and tail and had acquired a prodigious quantity of condensed and expanded Vapours that fell on its surface a great part of them being much rarify'd would be drawn up again into the Air and afterwards descend in violent and outragious rains Now if we consider
the incredible velocity with which these Vapours descended which Mr. Whiston calculates to be so great that they descended eight hundred and sixty eight miles in a minute and the great resistance they met with in their descent through the Air and the force by which they fell on the ground we must necessarily acknowledge that they must have been condensed and turned into Water by such a resistance and fall For it is certain that when Vapours fall they must meet with a great check and resistance from the Air by which their parts will be pressed close together and as their velocity encreases so would the resistance and their density till at last their parts come to be as closely united as it is possible and then they 'd fall in the form of Water Thus it is without doubt when it rains for we must not imagine that rain drops have the same form and density in the Clouds with which they arrive at the ground for Water being of a greater intensive gravity than Air it is impossible that it should be sustained in it but when it is expanded into Vapour Now it is plain by observations on the Barescope that whenever the Vapours begin to descend the Air is lighter than it was before it therefore not being able to sustain them they must fall to the ground but in their way they meet with a great resistance and check from the Air and so must necessarily be condensed and fall in drops of Water on the ground And since the resistance of the medium is always as the square of the velocity with which the Body moves through it and because the velocity of vapour which fell from the Comet to the Earth must have been according to Mr. Whiston some thousands of times greater than the velocity with which common Vapour or Rain descends it must needs follow that the resistance the Vapour which was derived from the Comet met with was some millions of times greater than the resistance of common Vapour when it descends but the resistance of common Vapour when it descends is great enough to condense it into water it is evident therefore that all such Vapours as descended from the Comet must have been of necessity condensed into water long before they ever touched the Earth Seeing then they descended on the Earth in the form of water and seeing there was no sufficient cause that could immediatly raise and mount them up again the heat of the Sun not being great enough for such an effect it is plain that they could never rise up again to produce the forty Dayes Rain mentioned in Scripture Mr. Whiston having as he imagins explained the great Rains which fell on the Earth at the time of the Deluge doth in the next place proceed to shew how the waters of the Abyss were forced up to the Surface of the Earth and became a great cause of the Universal flood This he supposes to be performed by the vast quantity of waters that had descended from the Comet which he sayes being of a prodigious weight would press the Crust of the Earth downwards with a mighty force and endeavour to sink it deeper into the Abyss by this pressure the waters of the Abyss would be forced upwards through the Cracks and Fissures newly made by the violence of the Tide on the Surface of the Earth He endeavours to illustrate this method of Operation by the Example of a Stone or Marble Cylinder exactly fitted to a hollow Cylindrical vessel that it may just ascend or descend freely within it He supposes the Stone Cylinder to have holes bored in it quite through parallel to its Axis and let down in the hollow Cylinder which is half full of water till it touch the water then if each of the holes be filled with Oil or some other fluid lighter than water he says that the weight of the Cylinder pressing on the water would squeeze the Oil on its Surface through the holes and throw it out with some violence and this would be a just representation of the Deluge There is but one possible case wherein the pressure of the water could sink the Crust deeper into the Abyss and that is if the waters which lay on the Surface could not descend through the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth And tho I can see nothing that can hinder them from descending yet if I should suppose that they did not I can evidently prove by Calculation that such a pressure could never raise the Abyss above the Surface of the Crust To demonstrate this I assume the height of the water which was derived from the Comet to have been a tenth part of the thickness of the whole Crust tho doubtless this is much greater than in reality it can be allowed to have been and because according to Mr. Whiston the Columns of which the Crust is composed are about four times heavier than common water it follows that a Column of the same specifick gravity with the rest of the Crust whose base is equal to the base of the incumbent Column of water and one fourth part of its height will weigh as much or press the Crust as much downwards as the whole Column of water could do but the height of the water being a tenth part of the depth of the whole Crust the height of the additional Column that weighs as much as the water must be a fortieth part of the depth of the Crust From hence it follows that the height or thickness of the Crust before the additional Column is laid on is to its thickness after the additional Column is laid on as 40 is to 41. The whole problem then is plainly reduced to this Having two Cylinders or Columns of the same intensive gravity but of different heights that swim in any Fluid to find what proportion the parts or heights immerged bear to one another By a known proposition in Hydrostaticks the part immerged of each Cylinder bears the same proportion to the whole Cylinder that the intensive gravity of the Cylinder bears to the intensive gravity of the Fluid from thence it is evident that the parts immerged have the same proportion that their respective whole Cylinders have to one another which in the present case is as forty to forty one By this it is clear that the additional weight of the incumbent water would not sink the Crust above one fortieth part deeper into the Abyss than it was before and therefore it could never rise by such a pressure so high as the Surface of the Earth But if we should suppose that the pressure on the Crust should be so great as to press the Abyss upwards and the waters in it to the Surface of the Earth it is certain that in such a case when the waters in the Abyss had ascended to the Surface there must be a communication between the Abyss and it by this communication the waters on the Surface must necessarily descend and ly immediately on
the Abyss and so the case would be reduced to the former one where the water is supposed to press immediately on the Fluid in the Abyss by which pressure the Crust would be so far from sinking deeper that it would be raised to a greater height as I have shown before From all this it is demonstratively evident that by no sort of pressure of the incumbent fluid the Abyss could be forced upwards to spread it self on the Surface of the Earth Another Argument which may be urged against deriving water from Mr. Whiston's Abyss is this He supposes the Abyss to consist of a very dense Fluid whose intensive gravity is greater than the gravity of the Crust which subsided into it but this Crust being three or four times heavier than water it must be immediately contiguous to the Abyss so that there can be no room for any considerable quantity of water to ly between them and therefore it is plain that whatever water was raised from the Abyss must be only on the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth But Mr. Whiston supposes that the half of that water at least which was necessary for the Deluge was derived from the Abyss that is as I shall hereafter prove there must have been eleven times more water derived from the Abyss than there is in the whole Ocean which is a prodigious greater quantity than the Cracks and Fissures can be supposed able to contain Perhaps Mr. Whiston will grant that the greatest part of what was drawn from the Abyss was not pure water but that dense and heavy Fluid on which the Crust subsided but if it were so it is certain that such a Fluid being heavier than water must have taken its place next to the Surface of the Earth and have filled up all the pits holes and valleys that were on the Earth nay it would have driven the Sea out of its Channel and would have compleatly filled its place where it would have remained to this day It is most evident that if such a thing had happened there would have been vast quantities of that dense and heavy Fluid still abiding on the Surface of the Earth and in pits and holes there being nothing to drive it from thence into the Fissures again But yet it is evident from Observations that there is not any such thing in Nature to be seen and that there is no where to be found any quantity of such a dense and heavy Fluid which Mr. Whiston supposes covered the Earth at the time of the Deluge There is only a little Quick-silver which is found in some Mines in the very bowels of the Earth but the quantity of it is so small and inconsiderable that we cannot possibly suppose it to be the remains of the Fluid in the Abyss For if ever there had been any such Fluid on the Surface of the Earth there must have certainly remained greater quantities of it to this day since as I have observed before the very Seas must have been full of it I freely acknowledge Mr. Whiston's Hypothesis about Shells Bones Teeth and other Exuviae of Land and Sea Animals found and dug out of the Bowels of the Earth to be very Ingenious and more Philosophical than any other Hypothesis that I have yet seen so that to me it seems indeed probable that the water which made the Deluge from whence soever it was derived had in it much Mud and Earthy matter which after the waters were gon off settled on the Surface of the old Earth and became a new Crust in which these Shells Teeth and Bones subsided This Hypothesis I think doth very naturally explain all the Phaenomena Dr. Woodward mentions in his Theory and on that account it may be easily admitted as a true one I come now to consider Mr. Whiston's way by which he supposes all the waters that were necessary for the Deluge were drawn off the Earth He imagins this to be performed partly by a wind which dried up some and partly by the descent of the waters through the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth to which the wind by hurrying the waters up and down would be very sufficient Before I examin these causes it is fit that I should make an estimate of the quantity of water that would be necessary to cover the whole Earth above the tops of the highest Mountains Dr. Burnet in his Theory of the Earth reckons it to be about eight Oceans of water supposing the Surface of the Sea to be equal to the Land and to be every where a quarter of a Mile deep taking one place with another But on the same supposition I believe I can more exactly determin it to be near three times as much I must here assume that the height of the highest Mountain above the level of the Ocean is above three Miles perpendicular height I know Varenius in his Geographia Generalis Calculates the height of the Pico in the Island of Tenerife to be one German Mile or above four English Miles in height and tho I am inclined to believe that its height is yet greater than Varenius makes it for he seemes to allow too much both for refraction and errors in the Observations yet because three Miles is the height Mr. Whiston seemes to allow the waters at the Deluge I will suppose the Hills no higher and from thence I will Calculate what water would be necessary to make an Universal Deluge It is evident upon such a supposition that the waters must be raised beyond three Miles perpendicular height that they may be as high as the tops of the Hills Now it is easy to Calculate how much water would be necessary to raise the Surface of the Sea to such an height The Ocean being by Hypothesis a quarter of a mile deep there are twelve such quarters in three Miles and consequently there must not be less than twelve Oceans of water lying on the Surface of the Sea that it may be of the same height with the water which covered the Land Let me in the next place suppose the whole surface of the Land thickly beset with Mountains every one of which was three Miles perpendicularly high now because three Miles has but a very small proportion to the semidiameter of the Earth it is evident that the Orb or rather part of an Orb consisting of waters and Mountains would be also equal to a Cylinder whose height is three Miles and its base a Circle equal to the Surface of the Land But because the Hills are supposed to be of a conical Figure and cones by the 10 th of the 12 th of Euclid are the third part of a Cylinder on the same base and of the same height it is evident that the Hills would make but one third part of the former Cylinder that is all the Mountains if they were levelled would raise the Surface of the Earth a mile higher than it is from thence it follows that the water which lay on the
Surface of the Land at the time of the Deluge was equal to a Cylinder whose base was equal to the Surface of the Land and its height two miles And because in two miles there are eight quarters of one mile it is plain that the water which was necessary to cover the Land must be equal to eight Oceans of water which together with the other twelve makes twenty Oceans of water But because the whole Land is not so thickly covered with Hills as I have supposed it being indeed not possible that it should be and because there are but few Hills so high as I have supposed them all to be we must at least allow two Oceans more on these two accounts so that the whole amounts to two and twenty Oceans of water which together with the water that doth now compose the present Ocean makes three and twenty Oceans of water which is the least that can be necessary for an Universal Deluge If the height of the greatest hills were four miles above the Surface of the Ocean as most probably it is by Varenius's Calculation the water that must be required to drown the whole Earth must be no less than twenty eight Oceans of water But I will here suppose there was no more water than what was required by the former supposition Tho it be easy for Mr. Whiston to suppose all this or even a much greater quantity of water to be derived from the Atmosphere of a Comet yet I believe he will not find it so easy a task to remove it again from the Earth He himself acknowledges that the Air could receive and sustain but very inconsiderable quantities of it in comparison of the intire Mass of waters which then lay on the Earth It is not possible that this water could descend through the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth which of necessity must have been all full at the time of the Deluge for water cannot ly on the Surface of the Earth till all the Cracks Holes and Fissures in it be first filled This is so evidently certain both to sense and experience that I think it beyond all contadiction true it being as impossible to make water ly on the Surface of the Earth before all its Cracks Pits and Holes are filled as it is to make a Vessel retain water whose bottom is bored through with holes But tho I should suppose that the Cracks and Fissures remained empty during the Deluge which is indeed an impossible supposition yet it is certain that these Fissures could receive but little more water than what was at first derived from them For the Crust of the Earth according to Mr. Whiston lying immediately on the dense and heavy Abyss and water being lighter than it it is absolutely impossible that ever water should settle it self between the Crust and the Abyss It is therefore clear that no more water could descend through the Cracks and Fissures of the Earth than what they were able to contain or what had first ascended through them to the surface of the Earth which Mr. Whiston supposes to be half the water necessary for making the Deluge and must be according to the former Calculation at least eleven Oceans of water Tho indeed I cannot easily understand how 't is possible for them to contain and receive so much What then can we imagin would become of the rest for after that the Channel of the Sea was compleatly filled there would remain eleven Oceans more to be disposed of which there is no imaginable place in the Earth able to receive And therefore it is clear even to a demonstration that all this water could never be removed by natural means These are the chief and most substantial points I have considered in Mr. Whiston's New Theory I might have made several objections against other parts of it and particularly I might have taken notice of some mistakes he has made in Geometry but because the Truth of his Theory doth not depend upon them I have passed them over If Mr. Whiston will be pleased to make any answer to the Objections I have here made I would desire of him that whatsoever difficulties he designs to remove he will do it by clear and distinct reasoning from Mechanical Principles If he find himself pressed with any objection which he cannot answer I doubt not but that he will have the Ingenuity to own it I know there are some Philosophers that never miss to tell their Readers they reason clearly and distinctly when no body else can discover the consequence but themselves And when they are sore pressed with any difficulty they make a long discourse about some thing the Reader knows not what and endeavour to get off in a mist of words but I expect no such dealing from one of Mr. Whiston's Candor and Sincerity FINIS * Dr. Burthogge * See the Preface and Page 125. first part and Page 147. part second Oxford Edition * Warren's Geology page 116. * Philosophical Transactions Number 192. * See the Figure of the 105 th Page * Archaeologiae Philosoph p. 320 321.