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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58173	Miscellaneous discourses concerning the dissolution and changes of the world wherein the primitive chaos and creation, the general deluge, fountains, formed stones, sea-shells found in the earth, subterraneous trees, mountains, earthquakes, vulcanoes, the universal conflagration and future state, are largely discussed and examined / by John Ray ...	Ray, John, 1627-1705.	1692 (1692)	Wing R397; ESTC R14542	116,553	292

of a multitude of different Species of Bodies Mettals Minerals Stones and other Fossils Sand Clay Marle Chalk c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water and together compound one Mass which we call Earth Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of differen● Bodies is to us altogether unknown For tho it be observed by Colliers that the Beds of Coals lie one way and do always dip towards the East let them go never so deep so that would it quit cost and were it no● for the Water they say they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines were they a Mile deep to the Semidiameter of the Earth not as one to four thousand Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West and dip towards the East Of which what Account or Reason can we give but the motion of the Earth from West to East I know some say that the Veins for Example of Tin and Silver dip to the North tho they confess they run East and West which is I confess a thing I cannot understand the Veins of those Metals being narrow things Sr Tho. Willoughby in his forementioned Letter writes thus I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal and find that generally the Basset end as they call it lyes West and runs deeper toward the East allowing about twenty yards in length to gain one in depth but sometimes they decline a little from this Posture for mine lie almost South-West and North-East They always sink to the East more or less There may therefore for for ought we know be Fire about the Center of the Earth as well as any other Body if it can find a Pabulum or Fewel there to maintain it And why may it not since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna Vesuvius Stromboli Hecla and other burning Mountains or Vulcano's have found wherewith to feed them for thousands of years And as there are at some tho uncertain periods of time violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth if any such there be receiving accidentally extraordinary Supplies of convenient Fewel either from some inflammable Matter within or from without rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth and burn up all things This is not impossible and we have seen some Phaenomena in nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again as that noted one in Cassiopeia which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus and then by degrees diminishing after some two years vanish'd quite away but that by great Supplies of combustible matter the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force either found or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the maculae which inclosed it and in an instant as it were overflowed the whole Surface of the Star whence proceeded that illustrious Light which afterwards again gradually decayed its Supply failing Whereas other newly appearing Stars which either have a constant Supply of Matter or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae and made them comply with its motion have endured for a long time as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus which appears and disappears at certain Intervals But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected and that is SECT 4. The Fourth Natural Cause of the World's Dissolution the Earth's Dryness and Inflammability 4. The Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone with the Eruption of the Vulcano's to set it on fire Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will ●ump and consent tell us that the Sun-beams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch'd and rendred apt for Inflammation But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us For tho indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty minutes yet that Difference is not so considerable but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments or Observations in point of Exactness So that not having decreased for eighteen hundred years past there is not the least ground for Conjecture that it will alter in eighteen hundred years to come should the World last so long And yet if there were such a Diminution it would not conduce much so far as I can see to the bringing on of a Conflagration For tho the Earth would be extremely dried and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified would contain but few nitrous Particles and so be inept to maintain the Fire which we see cannot live without them It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it and burning very remisly in Summer time and hot Weather For thi●●eason in Southern Countries in extraordinary hot Seasons the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration To the clearing up of this let us a little consider what Fire is It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion 2. A supposed nitrous Pabulum or Fewel which it receives from the Air. 3. A Sulphureous or unctuous Pabulum which it acts and preys upon passing generally by the Name of Fewel This forementioned subtil Body agitating the supposed nitrous Particles it receives from the Air doth by their help as by Wedges to use that rude similitude penetrate the unctuous Bodies upon which it acts and divide them into ●heir immediate component Particles and at length perchance into their first Principles which Operation is called the Chymical Anatomy of mix'd Bodies So we see Wood for Example divided by Fire into Spirit Oil Water Salt and Earth That Fire cannot live without those Particles it receives from the Air is manifest in that if you preclude the Access of all Air it is extinguished immediately

Tancred Robinson for the solving of that Phoenomenon The same also induces me to believe that Vapours may have a greater interest in the production of Springs even in temperate and cold Regions than I had before thought The Experiment or Observation is this About the beginning of December 1691. there happened to be a Mist and that no very thick one which continued all day the Vapour whereof notwithstanding the Trees were wholly divested of Leaves condensed so fast upon their naked Branches and Twigs that they dropped all day at such a rate that I believe the Water destilling from a large Tree in twenty four hours had it been all received and reserved in a Vessel might have amounted to a Hoggs-head What then may we rationally conjecture would have dropped from such a Tree had it been covered with Leaves of a dense Texture and smooth Superficies apt to collect the Particles of the Vapour and unite them into Drops It is clear by this effect that Trees do destil Water a pace when Clouds or Mists hang about them which they are reported by Benzo constantly to do about the Fountain tree in Ferro except when the Sun shines hot upon it And others tell us that that Tree grows upon a Mountain too So that it is no wonder that it should drop abundance of Water What do I speak of that Tree all the Trees of that kind grow on the sides of vast Mountains as Dr. Robinson hath noted Besides that in hot Regions Trees may in the night time destil Water though the Air be clear and there be no Mist about them seems necessarily to follow from Mr. Halley's Experiment Now if there be in Mists thus much Vapour condensed upon Trees doubtless also there is in proportion as much upon the Surface of the Earth and the Grass And consequently upon the Tops and Ridges of high Mountains which are frequently covered with Clouds or Mists much more so much as must needs have a great interest in the production and supply of Springs even in temperate Countries But that invisible Vapours when the Sky is clear do at any time condense so fast upon the Trees as to make them drop I never observed in England or elsewhere no not in the Night-season though I do not deny but upon the Appennine and Southern side of the Alps and elsewhere in the hotter parts of Europe in Summer Nights they may However considering the Penetrancy of such Vapours that in moist Wether they will insinuate themselves deeply into the Pores of dry Wood so that Doors will then hardly shut and Chinks and Crannies in Boards and Floors be closed up I know not but that they may likewise strike deep into the Ground and together with Mists contribute to the feeding and maintenance of Springs in Winter-time when the Sun exhales but little it being an Observation of the Learned Fromondus Quod hyeme nec nivali nec imbrifera fontes tamen aquam largiùs quàm aestate nisi valdè pluvia sit vomant That in Winters neither snowy nor rainy yet fountains powre forth more Water than in Summer unless it happen to be a very wet season Yet are their Contributions inconsiderable if compared with the supplies that are afforded by Rains And one reason why in Winter Fountains flow more plentifully may be because then the Sun defrauds them not nor exhales any thing out of the Earth as in Summer time he doth Therefore whenever in this Work I have assigned Rain to be a sufficient or only cause of Springs and Rivers I would not be understood to exclude but to comprehend therein Mists and Vapours which I grant to have some interest in the production of them even in Temperate and Cold Regions and a very considerable one in Hot. Though I cannot be persuaded that even there they are the sole Cause of Springs for that there fall such plentiful and long continuing Rains both in the East and West Indies in the Summer Months which must needs contribute something to their Original Pag. 169. lin 19. add This end and use of Mountains I find assigned by Mr. Halley in his Discourse concerning the Original of Springs and Rivers in these words This if we may allow Final Causes and why may we not What needs this hesitancy and dubitation in a thing that is clear seems to be the Design of the Hills That their Ridges being placed through the midst of the Continents might serve as it were Alembicks to distil fresh Water for the use of Man and Beast and their heights to give a descent to those Streams to run gently like so many Veins of the Macrocosm to be the more beneficial to the Creation Pag. 170. lin 10. add To summ up all relating to the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth in brief 1. I say the Water being the lighter Element doth naturally occupy the upper place and stand above the Earth and so at first it did But now we see it doth not so the Earth being contrary to its nature forcibly elevated above it being as the Psalmist phraseth it founded above the Seas and established above the Floods and this because it was best it should be so as I shall clearly prove and deduce in particulars in another Discourse 2. The Dry Land is not elevated only upon one side of the Globe for then had it had high Mountains in the middle of it with such vast empty Cavities within as must be equal to the whole Bulk raised up the Center of Magnitude must needs have been considerably distant from the Center of Gravity which would have caused a very great and inconvenient inequality in the Motion of the parts of the Earth but the Continents and Islands are so equally disperst all the Globe over as to counterballance one another so that the Centers of Magnitude and Gravity concur in one 3. The Continents are not of exactly equal and level Superficies or Convexity For then the Parts subject to the Course of the Sun called the Torrid Zone would have been as the Ancients fancied them unhabitable for Heat and Drought But there are huge Ridges and extended Chains of lofty Mountains directed for the most part to run East and West by which Means they give free Admittance and Passage to the Vapours brought in by the Winds from the Atlantick and Pacifick Oceans but stop and inhibit their Excursions to the North and South either condensing them upon their sides into the Water by a kind of external Destillation or by streightening and constipating of them compelling them to gather into Drops and descend down in Rain These are great things and worthy the Care Direction and Disposal of the Great and Wise Creator and Governor of all things And we see they are accordingly excellently ordered and provided by him Some Greek and Latin Quotations Englished Pag. 25. Lin. 7. THose Words of Lactantius Ergo quoniam sex dierum c. signifie in English Therefore because all the