SUpposing that God Almighty did at first create the Terrestrial Globe, partly of solid and more ponderous, partly of fluid and lighter parts; the solid and ponderous must needs naturally subside, the fluid and lighter get above. Now that there were such different parts created, is clear, and therefore it is reasonable to think that the Waters at first should stand above and cover the Earth: and that they did so, seems evident to me from the testimony of the Scripture. For in the History of the Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis, verse 2. it is said, That the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, intimating that the Waters were uppermost. And God said, verse 9. let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. Whence, I think, it is manifest to any unprejudiced Reader, That before that time the Land was covered with water. Especially if we add the testimony of the holy Psalmist, Psalm 104. vers. 6. & 9. which is as it were a comment upon this place of Genesis, where speaking of the Earth at the Creation, he saith, Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the Mountains… and ver. 9. That they turn not again to cover the Earth. And that this gathering together of waters was not into any subterraneous Abyss, seems likewise clear from the Text. For it is said, That God called this Collection of waters Seas, as if it been on purpose to prevent such a mistake.
Whether this separation of the Land and Water, and gathering the waters together into one place, were done by the immediate application and agency of God’s Almighty Power, or by the intervention and instrumentality of second Causes, I cannot determine. It might possibly be effected by the same Causes that Earthquakes are, viz. subterraneous Fires and Flatuses. We see what incredible effects the Accension of Gunpowder hath: it rends Rocks, and blows up the most ponderous and solid Walls, Towers and Edifices, so that its force is almost irresistible. Why then might not such a proportionable quantity of such Materials set on fire together raise up the Mountains themselves, how great and ponderous soever they be, yea the whole Superficies of the dry Land (for it must all be elevated) above the Waters? And truly to me the Psalmist seems to intimate this Cause, Psalm 104. 7. For after he had said, The waters stood above the mountains; he adds, At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. Now we know that an Earthquake is but a subterraneous Thunder, and then immediately follows, The mountains ascend, the valleys descend, &c. If there might be a high Hill raised up near the City Troezen, out of a plain Field, by the force of a subterraneous Fire or Flatus, as Ovid tells us.
Est prope Pitthaeam tumulus Troezena sine ullis
Arduus arboribus,1 quondam planissima campi
Area, nunc tumulus: nam (res horrenda relatu)
Vis fera ventorum, caecis inclusa cavernis,
Expirare aliqua cupiens, luctatáque frustra
Liberiore frui coelo, cum carcere rima
Nulla fuit toto, nec pervia flatibus esset,
Extentam tumefecit humum, ceu spiritus oris
Tendere vesicam solet, aut derepta bicornis
Terga capri; tumor ille loci permansit & alti
Collis habet speciem, longóque induruit aevo.
A Hill by Pitthaean Traezen mounts uncrown’d
With Sylvan Shades, which once was level ground,
For furious Winds (a story to admire)
Pent in blind Caverns, strugling to expire;
And vainly seeking to enjoy th’ Extent
Of freer Air, the Prison wanting vent,
Puffs up the hollow Earth extended so,
As when with swelling Breath we Bladders blow.
The tumour of the place remained still.
In time grown solid, like a lofty Hill.
A parallel Instance hereto we have of later date, of a Hill not far from Puzzuolo [Puteoli] beside the Gulph of Baiae, which I my self have view’d and been upon. It is by the Natives called Monte di cenere, and was raised by an Earthquake Sept. 29. 1538. of about one hundred foot perpendicular altitude; though some make it much higher: according to Stephanus Pighius it is a Mile ascent to the top, and four Miles round at the foot: We indeed judged it not near so great. The People say it bears nothing; nothing of any use or profit I suppose they mean: else I am sure there grows Heath, Myrtle, Masticktree, and other Shrubs upon it. It is a spungy kind of Earth, and makes a great sound under a Man’s feet that stamps upon it. The same Earthquake threw up so much Earth. Stones and Ashes as quite filled up the lacus Lucrinus, so that there is nothing left of it now, but a fenny Meadow. If such Hills, I say, as these may be, and have been elevated by subterraneous Wild-fire, Flatus or Earthquakes, Si parvis liceat componere magna, if we may compare great things with small, why might not the greatest and highest Mountains in the World be raised up in like manner by a subterraneous Flatus or Wild-fire, of quantity and force sufficient to work such an effect, that is, that bears as great a proportion to the superincumbent weight and bulk to be elevated, as those under these smaller Hills did to theirs?
But we cannot doubt this may be done, when we are well assured that the like hath been done. For the greatest and highest Ridge of Mountains in the World, the Andes of Peru, have been for some hundreds of Leagues in length violently shaken, and many alterations made therein by an Earthquake that happened in the year 1646. mentioned by Kircher in his Arca Noae, from the Letters of the Jesuits. And Pliny tells us of his own knowledge, that the Alps and Appennine have often been shaken with Earthquakes: Exploratum est mihi Alpes Apenninumque saepius tremuisse, lib. 2. cap 80. Nay more then all this, we read that in the time of the Emperour Valentinian the first, there was an Earthquake that shook all the known World. Whilst this Innovator, [that is Procopius] was yet alive (saith Amm. Marcellinus lib. 26. cap. 14.) Horrendi tremores per omnem orbis ambitum grassati sunt subitò, quales nec fabulae, nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt. Paulò enim post lucis exortum denfitate praevia fulgurum acriùs vibratorum tremefacta concutitur omnis terreni stabilitas ponderis, maréque dispulsum retrò fluctibus evolutis abscessit, ut retecta voragine profundodorum species natantium multiformes limo cernerentur haerentes, valliúmque vastitates & montium, ut opinari dabatur, suspicerent radios solis quos primigenia rerum sub immensis gurgitibus amandavit, &c. that is, Horrid Earthquakes suddenly raged all the World over, the like whereto neither Fables nor true Antiquities ever acquaint us with, or make mention of. For soon after break of day redoubled smart and violent flashes of Lightning preceding, the stable and ponderous mass of the whole Earth was shaken and made to tremble; and the Sea with revolved waves was driven backwards, and forced so far to recede, that the bottom of the great Deeps and Gulfs being discovered, multiform Species of Fishes forsaken by the water were seen lying on the Mud: and those vast Valleys and Mountains which the primigenial Nature had sunk deep and concealed under immense waters (as we had reason to think) saw the Sun beams. Wherefore many Ships resting upon the dry ground, the Mariners wandring carelesly up and down through the small reliques of the waters, that they might gather up Fishes and other things with their hands; The Sea-waves, being as it were grieved with their repulse, rise up again, and making their way backward through the fervid Shallows, violently dashing against the Islands and extended Shores of the Continents, threw down and levelled numerable Edifices in Cities and where else they were found. Where see more of the effects of it. Of this Earthquake we find mention also in Zosimus and Orosius.
If this story be true, as certainly it is, we have no reason to doubt of the possibility of the Dry land being thus raised at first by subterraneous Fire. And with us agrees the learned Thomas Lydyat in his Philosophical Disquisition concerning the origine of Fountains, &c. being of opinion not only that it might be so, but that it was so. I shall give you his own words, Vbi aliud quoque summae admirationis plenum Terrae motûs atque Ignis subterranei effectum notandum venit, montium sci. generatio. And then having mentioned the raising up Islands in the Sea by subterraneous Fires, he proceeds thus, Quomodo etiam omnes montes qui uspiam sunt, unà cum ipsis terris Continentibus (quae nihil aliud sunt quàm sparsi in Oceano majores montes sive insulae) in mundi primordiis, (quando nimirum ignis quo de loquimur, in terrae visceribus à potentissimo mundi Conditore accensus est) extitisse maximè fit verisimile, mari in cava loca recedente, & terrestribus Animalibus (ejusdem Divini numinis sapientissimo consilio) habitandi locum relinquente. That is, After which manner also all the Mountains in the World, together with the Continents themselves, (which are nothing else but great Mountains or Islands scattered in the Ocean) in the beginning of the World, when the fire of which we speak was first kindled in the bowels of the Earth by the Almighty Creator, were (as it is most highly probable) originally raised up: the Sea receding into the cavities and depressed places, and by the most wise counsel of the supreme Deity leaving room for terrestrial Animals to inhabit. Then which nothing can be said more consonant to what we have written: And I was highly pleased and satisfied to find such Philosophy in so learned and judicious a Writer.
And in confirmation of this Doctrine, Strabo himself, though he had not, nor could have any knowledge at all of the prodigious effects of Gunpowder, yet makes no difficulty to affirm the possibility of raising up as well the Continents and Mountains as the Islands by Earthquakes and subterraneous Fires; toward the latter end of the first Book of his Geography discoursing thus: […] And a little after, […]. That is, For Earthquakes and Eruptions of Flatus [Blasts] or sudden tumors of the submarine Earth, or bottom of the Sea, may swell and elevate the Sea; so that not only small lumps or masses of matter, but even Islands may be raised up in the midst of it. Neither if small Islands can be raised, may not great ones too; neither may Islands be heaved up, and not Continents as well. And Sicily may as well be thought to have been thrown up out of the Deep by the force of the Aetnaean fire, and sticking together to have continued above water, as to have been a piece broken off from Italy. And the like may be said of the Islands of Lipara and Pithecusae.
Of the possibity of doing it we need not doubt, when we have sufficient proof of the thing done in lesser Islands thus heaved up in the midst of the Sea, by submarine fires. Strabo lib. 1. […]. That is, Between Thera and Therasia flames issuing out of the Sea for four days, (so that the whole Sea boil’d and burned) blew up by little and little, as if it had been raised by Machines, and composed of great lumps or masses, an Island of twelve furlongs circumference.
And Pliny tells us, that the Island Hiera near Italy, in the time of the Social War, together with the Sea it self, did burn for several days. His words are, In medio Mari Hiera insula juxta Italiam cum ipso Mari arsit per aliquot dies.
And Strabo lib. 1. reports, That about Methone in the Bay of Hermione, there was Earth raised, and as it were blown up to the height of seven Furlongs by a fiery breath or exhalation, which by day time was unaccessible by reason of heat and sulphureous slench, but smelling sweet by night, and shining so as to be seen asar off, likewise casting such a heat, as to cause the Sea to boil for five Furlongs, and to render it troubled for the space of twenty; raising up therein a Baich or Bank of Stones as big as Towers.
These Instances I alledge principally because they seem to demonstrate a possibility of the accension of fire in the Earth when it was wholly covered with Water, and had no entercourse or communion with the superiour or external Air: which is the main and most material Objection against the elevation of the dry Land at the beginning by subterraneous fires.
You will say, If the Mountains be thus heaved up by subterraneous fires, the Earth must needs be hollow all underneath them, and there must be vast Dens and Caverns disperst throughout them.
I answer, ‘Tis true indeed, so there are; as may undeniably be proved by instances. For the new Mountain we mentioned at Puteoli, that was thus raised, being of a Mile steep ascent, and four Miles round at the foot, a proportionable Cavity must be left in the Earth underneath: And the Mountain Aetna at the last Eructation alone having disgorged out of its bowels so great a flood of melted Materials, as if spread at the depth and breadth of three foot, might reach four times round the whole Circuit of the Terraqueous Globe, there must likewise an answerable Vault be left within. You will demand, How then comes it to pass, that they stand so firm, and do not founder and fall in after so many Ages. I answer, that they may stand, appears by the foresaid new-raised Mountain. For notwithstanding the Cavity in and under it, it hath stood firm and staunch, without the least sinking or subsidency, for above an hundred and fifty years: neither is there any great sinking or falling in at Aetna it self; at least in no degree answerable to its ejected matter. This assertion is confirmed by the unanimous vote and testimony of all Writers, Ancient and Modern, who have handled this Subject. But Alphonsus Borellus supposes them not to have duly considered the matter, and calculated the quantity of the ejected materials and the bulk of the Mountain, and compared them together; but to have been carried away by the prejudices and perswasions of the People, who looking upon the top of the Mountain at a distance, think it but a small thing in comparison of the ejected Sand and Ashes that covered whole Countries; and those vast Rivers of liquid stones and other ingredients, that ran down so many miles, whereas he by a moderate computation found out that the total of what the Mountain disgorged at the last eruption amounted not (as I remember) to the fourteen thousandth part of the Solidity of the whole Mountain. The reason is the strength and firmness of their Vaulture and Pillars, sufficient to support the superincumbent weight. And yet in some places there are sinkings and fallings in, which have afterwards become Valleys or Pools of Water. But as for the Cavities that are lower than the Superficies of the Ocean, the Water, where it could insinuate and make its way, hath filled them up to that height. I say where it could make its way, for that there are many empty Cavities even under the Sea it self, appears by the shaking and heating too of the very Water of the Sea in some places in Earthquakes, and raising up the borders or skirts of it, so as to drive the Water a great way back; and the raising up new Islands in the middle of the Sea; as Delos and Rhodes, and Anaphe, and Nea, and Alone, and Hiera, and Thera mentioned by Pliny, Hist lib. 2. c. 87. and Thia in his own time; and Therasia in the Aegean in Senaca’s time, which was heaved up in the sight of many Mariners then present and looking on.
I am not ignorant, that the learned Man I lately quoted, I mean Alph. Borellus, in his Book De Incendiis Aetnae, is of opinion, that the middle part, or as he calls it, the kernel of that Mountain is firm and solid, without any great caverns or vacuities, and that all those vaults and cavities in which the fire rages are near the superficial or cortical part: And derides those who fancy that Aetna, the Aeolian Islands, Lipara, Strongyle, &c. and Vesuvius do communicate by subterraneous channels and passages running under the bottom of the Sea. But saving the respect due to him for his learning and ingenuity, there is good Authority on their side; and our ratiocinations against the possibility of such a thing must give place to the clear proof of matter of fact. Iulius Ethnicus an ancient Writer, quoted by Ludovicus Vives in his Annotations upon S. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, gives us this Relation, Marco Aemilio, Lucio Aurelio Consulibus, Aetna mons terrae motu ignes super verticem latè diffudit, & ad Insulam Liparam mare efferbuit, & quibusdam adustis navibus vapore plerósque navaleis exanimavit: Piscium vim magnam exanimem dispersit, quos Liparenses avidiùs epulis adpetenteis contaminatione ventris consumpti sunt, ita ut novâ pestilentià vast arentur insulae. That is, Marcus Aemilius and Lucius Aurelius being Consuls, Mount Aetna being shaken by an Earthquake, cast forth and scattered fire from its top far and wide. At which time the Sea at the Island of Lipara was boyling hot, and some Ships being burnt most of the Seamen were stifled with the vapour: besides it dispersed abroad a power of dead fish, which the Liparensians greedily gathering up and eating, were consumed with a contagious disease in their bellies: so that the Islands were wasted with a new sort of pestii[…]ce. And Father Kircher the Jesuite, in the Preface to his Mundus Subterraneus giving a Relation of an Earthquake which shook a great part of Calabria, and made notable devastations there, which himself saw, and was in, Anno 1638. clearly demonstrates that Aetna, Stromboli, and the Mountains of Calabria, do communicate by vaults and caverns passing under the bottom of the Sea. I shall insert but one passage out of him, referring the Reader to the fore-quoted Preface for the rest. Hisce calamitatibus (saith he) dum jactamur, ego curiosiùs intuitus Strongylum, 60 ferè milliarium intercapedine dissitum, illum insolito modo furere notavi, &c. i.e. While we were tost with these calamities, I beholding curiously the Island Stromboli about 60 miles distant, observed it to rage after an unusual manner, for it appeared all filled with fire in such plenty, that it seemed to cast forth mountains of flame: a spectacle horrid to behold and formidable to the most undaunted Spirit. In the mean time there was a certain sound perceived as it were of Thunder, but by reason of the great distance from whence it came somewhat obscure, which by degrees, proceeding forward in the subterraneous conduits, grew greater and greater, till it came to the place just underneath us, [they were at Lopez by the Sea] where it shook the Earth with such a roaring or murmure and fury, that being not able to stand any longer upon our Legs, we were forced, to support our selves, to catch hold upon any shrub or twig that was near us, lest our limbs should be put out of joynt by too much shaking and concussion. At which time happened a thing worthy of immortal and eternal memory, viz. the subversion of the famous Town of S. Eusemia; which he goes about to relate. As for Vesuvius, if that be not hollow down to the very roots and foundations of it, how comes it to pass that at the times of its deflagrations it should vomit out such stoods of boiling Waters? as if we had not read of them in Histories, and been told so by our Guide when we ascended that Mountain, we must needs have perceived our selves by the mighty guls and channels in the sides thereof, it being of it self near the top so spungy and dry, that it is more likely to imbibe then to cast off much rain in the Winter time. And again, what causes the Sea to recede at those times, and that to so great a distance, that the Galleys have been laid dry in the very Haven of Naples?
Howbeit, I cannot positively assert the Mountains thus to have been raised. But yet whether without means, or by whatsoever means it were, a Receptacle for the Waters was prepared, and the dry Land and Mountains elevated, so as to cast off the Waters, on the third day, and which is wonderful, the Cavities made to receive the Waters, and the whole terra firma, or dry Land with its Mountains were so proportioned one to the other, as that the one was as much depressed below the Shores, as the other was elevated above them. And, as if the one had been taken out of the other, the Sea with all its Creeks, and Bays, and Inlets, and other Appendants was made, and is very near equal to the whole dry Land with its Promontories and Mountains, if not in Superficies, yet in bulk or dimensions, though some think in both. Which equality is still constantly maintained, notwithstanding all Inundations of Land, and Atterations of Sea; because one of these doth always nearly ballance the other, according to the vulgar Proverb we have before mention’d, What the Sea loses in one place, it gains in another. If any shall demand, How the Sea comes to be gradually depressed, and deepest about the middle part; whereas the bottom of it was in all likelihood equal while the Waters covered the whole Earth? I answer, the same Cause that raised up the Earth, whether a subterraneous fire or status, raised up also the skirts of the Sea, the ascent gradually decreasing to the middle part, where, by reason of the solidity of the Earth, or gravity of the incumbent Water, the bottom was not elevated at all. For the enclosed fire in those parts where its first accension or greatest strength was, raised up the Earth first, and cast off the Waters, and thence spreading by degrees, still elevated the Land, and drove the Waters further and further; till at length the weight of them was too great to be raised, and then the fire brake forth at the tops of the Mountains, where it found least resistance, and disperst it self in the open Air. The Waters also, where they found the bottom sandy, or yielding, made their way into all those Cavities the fire had made and left, filling them up as high as the level of the Ocean. Neither let any man imagine, that the Earth under the Water, was too soft and muddy to be in this manner raised by subterraneous fire; for I have shewn before, that the bottom of the Sea is so saddened and hardened by the weight of the incumbent Water, that the High-ways, beaten continually by Horses and Carriages, are not more firm and solid. But omitting this (which is only a conjecture) I shall discourse a little more concerning the Equality of Sea and Land.
It hath been observed by some, That where there are high Cliffs or Downs along the Shore, there the Sea adjoyning is deep; and where there are low and level Grounds, it is shallow: the depth of the Sea answering to the Elevation of the Earth above it: and as the Earth from the Shores is gradually higher and higher, to the middle and parts most remote from the Sea, as is evident by the descents of the Rivers, they requiring a constant declivity to carry them down; so the Sea likewise is proportionably deeper and deeper from the Shores to the middle. So that the rising of the Earth from the Shores to the Mid-land is answerable to the descent or declivity of the bottom of the Sea from the same shores to the Mid-Sea. This rising of the Earth from the Shores gradually to the Mid-land, is so considerable, that it is very likely the Altitude of the Earth in those Mid-land parts above the Superficies of the Sea, is greater than that of the Mountains above the leve of the adjacent Lands. To the height of the Hills above the common Superficies of the Earth do answer in Brerewood’s Opinion the extraordinary Dephts or Whirl-pools that are found in the Sea, descending beneath the ordinary bottom of the Sea, as the Hills ascend above the ordinary face of the Land. But this is but a conjecture of his, and to me it seems not very probable, because it is not likely there should be in the Sea extraordinary Depths of that vast length and extension, as those huge Ridges of Mountains that run almost quite through the Continents. And because I have observed the Waters of Rivers that slow gently, but especially of the Sea to level the bottoms of their Channels and Receptacles, as may be seen in those parts of the Sea whose bottoms are uncovered at Low-water; and in dry Lands that have been deserted by the Sea, as the Fens in the Isle of Ely, and the Craux in Provence in France, &c. which appear to be a perfect Level, as far as one can ken. Though possibly the motion of the Sea may not descend down so low as those Depths, and so may not level the bottoms of them.
But against what I have said concerning the levelling of the bottom of the Sea, it may be objected, That Mariners and Divers find no such thing, but the quite contrary, viz. That the bottom of the Sea is as unequal as the Land, sometimes ten or twelve Fathoms on one side of the Ship, and One hundred on the other, as Mr. Boyl tells us in his Relations about the bottom of the Sea, consonant whereto are the Accounts of Divers. And I have (saith my worthy Friend Dr. Talc. Robinson in one of his Letters to me) read in Voyages, of vast Rocks of Salt observ’d in some places under the Sea.
To which I answer, That I should indeed have excepted such places as are rocky, which bear a very little proportion to the Latitude and Extent of the Sea, and are for the most part not far off the Land. I my self have seen so much of the bottom of the Sea, round about the Coasts of England, and a good part of the Low-Countreys, of Italy and Sicily, that I think I may boldly pronounce in general, That where the bottom of the Sea is not rocky, but Earth, Owze or Sand, (and that is incomparably the greatest part of it) it is by the motion of the Waters, so far as the reciprocation of the Sea extends to the bottom, brought to a level; and if it should be now unequal, would in time be levelled again. By level I do not mean so as to have no declivity (for the reciprocation preserves that, the floud hindring in good measure the constant carrying down of the bottom) but only to have an equal, uniform and easie descent from the Shores to the Deeps. Now all those Reports of Divers and Navigators refer for the most part to rocky places. For Mariners seldom sound but in such places, and in shallows; and Urinators have no reason to dive where the bottom is level and sandy. And that the motion of the Waters descends to a good depth, I prove from those Plants that grow deepest in the Sea, because they all generally grow flat in manner of a Fan, and not with Branches on all sides like Trees; which is so contrived by the Providence of Nature, because the edges of them do in that posture with most ease cut the Water flowing to and fro: And should the flat side be objected to the Stream, it would be turned edgewise by the force of it; because in that site it doth least resist the motion of the Water: whereas did the Branches of those Plants grow round as in Trees, they would be thrown down backward and forward every Tide. Nay not only the herbaceous and woody submarine Plants, but even the Lithophyta themselves affect this manner of growing, if they be any thing ramose and rise to a considerable height, as I have observed in various kinds of Corals and Pori. Hence I suspect those Relations of Trees growing at the bottom of the Sea, and bringing forth Fruit there. As for the Maldiva Nut, till better information. I adhere to Garcias his Opinion, That the Trees that bare those Nuts were of old time, together with the Land on which they grew, overwhelmed by the inundations of the Sea, and there hardned in the Earth, and afterwards cast up by the working of the Sea again. Which thing is very probable; for to this day some of those Maldiva Islands are now and then drowned and swallowed up by the Sea. Further I do believe, that in the great depths of the Sea there grow no Plants at all, the bottom being too remote from the external Air; which though it may pierce the Water so low, yet I doubt whether in quantity sufficient for the vegetation of Plants. Nay, we are told, that in those deep and bottomless Seas there are no Fish neither: yet not because there are no Plants or Insects to feed them; for that they can live upon Water alone, Rondeletius his Experiment about keeping them in a Glass, doth undeniably prove; but because their Spawn would be lost in those Seas, the bottom being too cold for it to quicken there. This Answer and Discourse, though it be inserted into another Treatise, yet properly belongs to this place, to which I have therefore restored it, begging the Readers excuse for this repetition. I now proceed.
That it is consonant to the best Observations of the height of the Earth and its Mountains above the Superficies of the Sea; and of the depth of the Sea; that the one is answerable to the other. Varenius in his Geogr. witnesseth, p. 152. Caeterùm ex observata hactenus in plerisque locis profunditate Oceani manifestum est, eam fere aequalem altitudini sive elevationi montium & locorum Mediterraneorum supra littora, nimirum quantum hoec elevantur & extant supra littorum horizontem, tantum alvei maris infra eum deprimuntur; sive quantum assurgit terra à littoribus versùs mediterranea loca, tuntundem paulatim magis magìsque deprimitur usque ad medii Oceani loca, ubi plerumque maxima est profunditas. That is, From the depth of the Ocean, as far as hath been hitherto observed in most places, it is manifest that that [profundity] is near equal to the altitude or elevation of the Mediterraneous places above the Shores; that is to say, as much as these are elevated, and stand up above the Horizon of the Shores; so much are the Channels of the Seas depressed below it: or, as much as the Earth riseth from the Shores towards the Mediterraneous places; so much is it by little and little more and more depressed to the middle parts of the Ocean, where the greatest depth for the most part is.
And Brerewood in his Enquiries pertinently to our purpose, supposeth the depth of the Sea to be a great deal more than the height of the Hills above the common surface of the Earth.—For that in making estimation of the depth of the Sea, we are not to reckon and consider only the height of the Hills above the common Superficies of the Earth, but the advantage or height of all the dry Land above the Superficies of the Sea: Because the whole mass of the Earth, that now appeareth above the Waters, being taken, as it were, out of the place which the Waters now possess, must be equal to the place out of which it was taken; and consequently it seemeth, that the height or elevation of the one should answer to the depth or descending of the other. And therefore, as I said, in estimating the deepness of the Sea, we are not to consider only the erection of the Hills above the ordinary Land, but the advantage of all the dry Land above the Sea. Which latter, I mean the height of the ordinary Main Land, is in my opinion more in large Continents above the Sea, than that of the Hills is above the Land. For that the plain and common face of the dry Land, is not level or equally distant from the Center, but hath great declivity and descent towards the Sea, and acclivity or rising toward the Mid-land part, although it appear not so to the common view of the Eye, is to reason notwithstanding manifest. Because, as it is found in that part of the Earth which the Sea covereth, that it descendeth lower and lower toward the midst of the Sea; (for the Sea which touching the upper face of it is known to be level by nature, and evenly distant from the Center, is withal observed to wax deeper and deeper the further one saileth from the Shore towards the Main) Even so in that part which is uncovered the coursings and streamings of Rivers on all sides from the Mid-land parts towards the Sea (whose property we know is to slide from the higher to the lower) evidently declare so much.2 This Author with Damascen supposes, that the unevenness and irregularity, which is now seen in the Superficies of the Earth, was caused either by taking some parts out of the upper face of the Earth in sundry places to make it more hollow, and laying them in other places to make it more convex: or else (which in effect is equivalent to that) by raising up some, and depressing others to make room and receipt for the Sea: that Mutation being wrought by the Power of that Word, Let the waters be gathered into one place that the dry land may appear. This proportioning of the Cavities appointed to receive the Seas, to the protuberancy of the dry Land above the common Superficies of the Ocean, is to me a sufficient Argument, to prove, that the gathering together of the Waters into one place, was a work of counsel and design; and if not effected by the immediate Finger of God, yet at least governed and directed by him. So the Scripture affirms the place to receive the Sea, to have been prepared by God, Psalm 104. 8. Now in things of this nature, to the giving an account whereof whatever Hypothesis we can possibly invent, can be but meerly conjectural, those are to be most approved that come nearest to the Letter of Scripture, and those that […] with it to be rejected, how trim or consistent soever with themselves they may seem to be: this being as much, as when God tells us how he did make the World, for as to tell him how he should have made it.
But here it may be objected, That the present Earth looks like a heap of Rubbish and Ruines; And that there are no greater examples of confusion in Nature than Mountains singly or jointly considered; and that there appear not the least footsteps of any Art or Counsel either in the Figure and Shape, or Order and Disposition of Mountains and Rocks. Wherefore it is not likely they came so out of God’s hands; who by the Ancient Philosophers is said […], and to make all things in number, weight and measure.
To which I answer, That the present face of the Earth, with all its Mountains and Hills, its Promontories and Rocks, as rude and deformed as they appear, seems to me a very beautiful and pleasant object, and with all that variety of Hills, and Valleys, and Inequalities far more grateful to behold, than a perfectly level Country without any rising or protuberancy, to terminate the sight: As any one that hath on the one hand seen the Isle of Ely, or any the like Countrey exactly level, and extending on all sides further then one can ken, or that hath been far out at Sea, where nothing is to be seen but Sky and Water: and on the other, from the Downs of Sussex enjoyed that spatious and ravishing prospect of the Countrey on one hand, and the Sea on the other, comparing both objects, must necessarily confess.
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They are useful to Mankind in affording them convenient places for habitation, and situations of Houses and Villages; serving as Skreens to keep off the cold and nipping blasts of the Northern and Easterly Winds, and reflecting the benign and cherishing Sun-beams, and so rendring their habitations both more comfortable and chearly in Winter; and promoting the growth of Herbs and Fruit-trees, and the maturation of their Fruits in Summer. Besides, casting off the Waters they lay the Gardens, Yards and Avenues to the Houses dry and clean, and so as well more salutary as more elegant. Whereas Houses built in Plains, unless shaded with Trees, stand bleak and exposed to wind and weather; and all Winter are apt to be grievously annoyed with mire and dirt.
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A Land so distinguished into Mountains, Valleys and Plains is also most convenient for the entertainment of the various sorts of Animals, which God hath created, some whereof delight in cold, some in hot, some moist and watery, some in dry and upland places, and some of them could neither find nor gather their proper food in different Regions. Some Beasts and Birds we find live upon the highest tops of the Alps, and that all the Winter too, while they are constantly covered with Snow, as the Ibex, and Rupicapra or Chamois among Quadrupeds, and Lagopus among Birds.
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The Mountains are most proper for the putting forth of Plants; yielding the greatest variety, and the most luxuriant sorts of Vegetables, for the maintenance of the Animals proper to those places, and for Medicinal Uses, partly also for the exercise and delight of such ingenious persons as are addicted to search out and collect those Rarities, to contemplate and consider their Forms and Natures, and to admire and celebrate the Wisdom of their Creator.
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All manner of Metals, Minerals and Fossils if they could be generated in a level Earth, of which there is some question, yet should they be dug or mined for, the Delfs must necessarily be so flown with Water, (which to derive and rid away no Adits or Soughs could be made, and I much doubt whether Gins would suffice) that it would be extremely difficult and chargeable, if possible to work them at all.
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Neither are the very tops of the highest Mountains barren of Grass for the feeding and fattening of Beasts. For on the Ridges of the high Mountains of Iura and Saleve near Geneva, and those of Rhoetia or the Grisons Countrey, which are the highest of all the Alps, excepting the Vallesian and Sabaudian, there are multitudes of Kine fed in Summer time, as I my self can witness, having in my Simpling Voyages on those of Iura and Saleve observed Herds of Cattel there, and many Dairy-houses built, where I have been more than once refreshed by their Milk and Milk-Meats. Nay there are but very few, and those of the highest Summits of the Alps that keep Snow all Summer: and I was told by the Inhabitants, that one time or other, in seven or eight years space, for the most part there came a Summer that melted all the Snow that lay on them too.
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Another great use and necessity of the Mountains and Hills is for the Generation and Maintenance of Rivers and Fountains, which (in our Hypothesis, that all proceed from Rain-water) could not be without them, or but rarely. So we should have only Torrents, which would fail in Summer time, or any dry Season, and nothing to trust to, but stagnating Water reserved in Pools and Cisterns. Which how great an Inconvenience it would be, I need not take pains to shew. I say that Fountains and Rivers would be but rare were there no Mountains. For upon serious consideration I find that I was too hasty in3 conclnding, because I had observed no Fountains springing up in Plains, therefore there were, or could be absolutely none; and do now grant that there is reason to believe the Relations made of such. For the whole dry Land being but one continued Mountain, and ascending all along from the Sea to the Mid-land, as is undeniably proved by the Descent of Rivers even in plain Countries; the Water sinking into the Earth, may run under ground, and according as the Vein leads it, break out in the side of this Mountain, though the place as to outward appearance be a Plain.
I shall now add, That though it be possible that without Mountains there may be Springs, if there should be Rains, (which it is somewhat questionable were there no Mountains, whether there could be or no, at least in hot Countreys) yet is it probable, that most of those Springs we find in Plains or depressed places distant from Mountains may come along in subterraneous Channels from the next Mountains, and there break out. Monsieur Blundel related to the Parisian Academy, what device the inhabitants of the lower Austria, which is encompassed with the Mountains of Stiria, are wont to use to fill their Wells with Water; They dig in the Earth to the depth of twenty or five and twenty feet, till they come to an argilla [clammy earth] then they bore a hole in the midst of a stone about five or six inches broad, and through it bo[…]e the argilla so deep till the Waters breaks forcibly out; which Water it’s probable comes from the neighbouring Mountains in subterraneous Channels. And Cassinus observed, That in many places of the Territory of Modena and Bologna in Italy, they make themselves Wells of springing Water by the like artifice. They dig in the Earth till they come to the Water (which stagnates in common Wells) which they draw quite out. Then within this new digged Well they make two cylindrical Walls, concentrical one to another; the space or interstice between them they fill and ramm close with well wrought Argilla or Clay, to keep out the ambient Water; which done, they sink the Well deeper into the ground, and continue the inner Wall so low till the Earth underneath seems to swell by the force of the Water rising up: And lastly, they bore this Earth or Soil with a long Wimble; whereupon the Water breaks forth through the hole with a great force, so that it doth not only fill the Well, but overflows and waters the neighbouring fields with a constant stream: By this means the same Seigneur Cassini made a Fountain at the Castle of Vrbin, that cast up the water five foot high above the level of the ground. It is very probable that these waters descend by subterraneous passages from the Appennine Mountains, which are about ten miles distant. If such things may be done by Art, why may they not also by Nature? Nay, that the like are done we find by experience in the Lacus Lugeus, or Zirchnitzer-Sea in Carniola, which after it is empty of water running out at holes or pits in the bottom, (which it doth yearly in the Summer time, in the Months of May, Iune, or Iuly) in the Autumn when it rains moderately, the water spouts out of some of the forementioned pits two or three fathoms perpendicularly, but when it rains very hard and long together, especially with Thunder, then the water breaks forth with great force, not only from the foresaid pits, but likewise at a thousand other Caves and Holes, spirting several fathoms high, from some perpendicularly, from others obliquely, so that there is not a pleasanter sight then this; and in a short time fills the lake. A full description and an account of all the Phoenomena of this admirable Lake see in Philosoph Transact. Numb. 191. p. 411. &c. So we see water may be brought down from the Mountains and raised up naturally in strait Channels with that force, and to that height, as to exceed all the artificial jets in the World, if not in the altitude of the spout, yet in the bigness of the stream abundantly.
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.
But some may say, Granting there be some use and benefit of moderate Hills and Risings; what necessity is there of such extended Ridges of vast and towring Mountains, hiding their Heads among the Clouds, and seeming for Altitude to contend with the Skies? I answer there is very great use of them for repelling the Vapours exhaled by the Sun-beams in the hot Regions, and hindring their Evagations Northward, as we have already shewn, and shall not repeat. I might add hereto,
- Those long Series and Chains of Mountains are of great use for Boundaries and Limits to the Territories of Princes or Commonwealths, to secure them on those parts from sudden Incursions of Enemies. As for the rudeness and confusion of Mountains, their cragged and broken Rocks and Cliffs, and whatever other Disorder there may be among them, it may be accounted for, from the manner of their first Generation, and those other mutations they have been since obnoxious to, by Earthquakes, Eruptions of Vulcano’s, foundering and falling in of their Props and Foundations, and by time and weather too, by which not only the Earth is washed away, or blown off from the Stones, but the very Stones and Rocks themselves corroded and dissolved, as might easily be proved by Instances, could I spare time to do it.
To sum up all relating to the Division and Disposition of the Water and Earth in brief.
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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.
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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.
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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 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 Governour of all things: And we see they are accordingly excellently ordered and provided by him.
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