Discourse 3, Chapter 5. The first Question concerning the World's Dissolution, Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cause or argue a future Dissolution? Three probable Means propounded and discussed

Sect. I

THE First Question is, Whether there be any thing in Nature, which may prove and demonstrate, or probably argue and infer a future Dissolution? To which I answer, That I think there is nothing in Nature which doth necessarily demonstrate a future Dissolution: but that Position of the Peripatetick Schools may, for ought I know, be true Philosophy, Posito ordinario Dei concursu mundus posset durare in aeternum. Supposing the ordinary concourse of God [with second Causes] the World might endure for ever. But though a future Dissolution by Natural Causes, be not demonstrable; yet some possible, if not probable, Accidents there are, which, if they should happen, might infer such a dissolution. Those are Four: The possibility of 1. The Waters again overflowing and covering the Earth. 2. The Extinction of the Sun. 3. The Eruption of the Central Fire enclosed in the Earth. 4. The Driness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone, and the Eruption of all the Vulcano’s at once.

But before I treat of these, it will not be amiss, a little to consider the old Argument for the Worlds Dissolution, and that is, its daily Consenescence and Decay: which, if it can be proved, will in process of time, necessarily infer a Dissolution. For as the Apostle saith in another case, That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away, Hebr. 8. 13. That which continually wastes, will at last be quite consumed: that which daily grows weaker and weaker, will in time lose all its force. So the Age, and Stature and Strength of Man, and all other Animals, every Generation decreasing, they will in the end come to nothing. And that all these, and all other things do successively diminish and decay in all Natural Perfections and Qualities, as well as Moral, hath been the received Opinion, not only of the Vulgar, but even of Philosophers themselves from Antiquity down to our times. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 16. In plenum autem cuncto mortalium generi minorem indies mensuram staturae propemodum observatur: rarosque patribus proceriores consumente ubertatem seminum exustione; in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum. In sum; It is observed that the measure of the stature of all Mankind decreases and grows less daily: and that there are few taller then their Parents; the burning (to which the Age inclines) consuming the Luxury of the Seeds. Terra malos homines nunc educ a[…] que pusillos. Juvenal. Sat. The Earth now breeds Men bad and small. And Gellius Noct. Att. lib. 3. c. 10. Et nunc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sunt. And now, as if the World waxed old, there is a decrement or decay both of Things and Men· I might accumulate places out of the Ancients and Moderns to this purpose, but that hath been already done by others.

But this Opinion, how general soever it was formerly, was inconsiderately and without sufficient ground, taken up at first; and afterwards without due examination embraced and followed; as appears by Dr. Hakewil’s Apology, wherein it is so fundamentally confuted; that it hath since been rejected by all considerate Persons. For that Author hath at large demonstrated, that neither the pretended decay of the Heavenly Bodies in regard of Motion, Light, Heat or Influence; or of any of the Elements: neither the pretended decay of Animals, and particularly and especially of Mankind, in regard of Age and Duration, of Strength and Stature, of Arts and Wits, of Manners and Conversation, do necessarily infer any decay in the World, or any tendency to a Dissolution. For though there be at times great Changes of Weather, as long continuing Droughts, and no less lasting Rains; excessive Floods and Inundations of the Sea; prodigious Tempests and Storms of Thunder, Lightning and Hail; which seem to threaten the ruin of the World; violent and raging Winds, Spouts and Hurricanes, which turn up the Sea to the very bottom, and spread it over the Land; formidable and destructive Earthquakes, and furious Eruptions of Vulcano’s or burning Mountains, which waste the Country far and wide, overwhelming or subverting great Cities, and burying the Inhabitants in their ruins, or as the Scripture speaks, Making of a City a heap, of a defenced City a ruin. Though these and many other Changes do frequently happen, at uncertain Seasons as to us, yet are they so ordered by the wise Providence of the Almighty Creatour and Governour of the World, as nearly to balance one another, and to keep all things in an Aequilibrium; so that as it is said of the Sea, that what it gains in one place, it loses in another, it may be said proportionably of the other Elements and Meteors; That, for Example, a long Drought in one Place is compensated probably at the same time by as long a Rain in another; and at another time, the Scene being changed, by as durable a Drought in this, as lasting a Rain in that. The same may be said of violent and continuing Heats and Colds in several Places, that they have the like Vicissitudes and Changes, whereby in the whole they so balance and counterpoise one another, that neither prevails over other, but continue and carry on the World as surely and steddily, as if there were no such Contrarieties and Fights, no such Tumults and Commotions among them. The only Objection against this Opinion, is the Longaevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, and of some also (I mean the first) of the Postdiluvian. For immediately after the Flood the Age of Man did gradually decrease every Generation in great proportions? so that had it continued so to do at that rate, the Life of Man had soon came to nothing. Why it should at last settle at Threescore and ten Years, as a mean Term; and there continue so many Ages, without any further Change and Diminution, is, I confess, a Mystery too hard for me to reveal: However, there must be a great and extraordinary Change at the time of the Flood, either in the Temperature of the Air, or Quality of the Food, or in the Temper and Constitution of the Body of Man, which induced this decrement of Age. That the Temper and Constitution of the Bodies of the Antediluvians was more firm and durable than that of their Posterity after the Flood: and that this Change of Term of Life was not wholly to be attributed to Miracle, may both be demonstrated from the gradual decrease of the Age of the Postdiluvians. For had it been miraculous, why should not the Age of the very first Generation after the Flood have been reduced to that Term? And what account can we give of their holding out for some Generations against the Inconveniencies of the Air, or deteriority of Diet, but the strength and firmness of their Constitutions? which yet was originally owing to the Temperature of the Air, or Quality of their Diet, or both; seeing a Change in these (for there was no other visible Cause) did by degrees prevail against, and impair it. What influence the lying so long of the Water upon the Earth might have upon the Air and Earth, in changing them for the worse, and rendring them more unfit for the maintenance and continuance of Humane Life, I will not now dispute. But whatever might be the Cause of the Longaevity of the Antediluvians, and the contracting of the Age of the Postdiluvians, it is manifest, that the Age of these did at the last settle, as I said, at or about the Term of Threescore and ten, and hath there continued for Three thousand years without any diminution.

I proceed now to the Accidents which might possibly, in process of Time, infer a Dissolution of the World.

1. The possibility of the Water in process of Time again overflowing and covering of the Earth.

For, first of all, the Rains continually washing down and carrying away Earth from the Mountains· it is necessary, that as well the height as the bulk of them that are not wholly rocky, should answerably decrease; and that they do so, is evident in Experience. For, as I have elsewhere noted, I have been informed by a Gentleman of good Credit, that whereas the Steeple of Craich in the Peak of Derbyshire, in the memory of some old Men then living [1672.] could not have been seen from a certain Hill lying between Hopton and Wirksworth, now not only the Steeple, but a great part of the Body of the Church may from thence be seen; which comes to pass by the sinking of a Hill between the Church and the place of view: a parallel example whereto the learned Dr. Plot gives us, in a Hill between Sibbertoft and Hasleby in Northamptonshire, Hist, Nat. Stafford p. 113. And thus will they continue to do so long as there falls any Rains, and as they retain any declivity, that is, till they be levelled with the Plains.

In confirmation of this Particular, I have received from my ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Lloyd, some notable Observations of his own making concerning the Mountains of Wales; which do demonstrate that not only the looser and the lighter parts of the Mountains, as Earth, Sand, Gravel, and small Stones, may be washed down by the Rains: but the most solid and bulky Rocks themselves, by the violent descent of the Waters down their Chinks and Precipices, be in time undermined and subverted. Take them in his own words:

Vpon the reading of your Discourse of the Rains continually washing away, and carrying down Earth from the Mountains, I was put in mind of something pertinent thereto, which I have observed in the Mountains of Caernarvonshire, viz·

1. First, That generally the higher the Hills are the more steep are their Precipices and Declivities (I except the Sea-rocks) thus Moel[…]y Wydhrha, y Goîb gôtch, and twenty others that might be named, reputed the highest Hills in Wales, have the steepest Rocks of any Mountains I have seen; and that not only in their highest Cliffs, but also in most of their other Crags, till you descend to the lower Valleys: This I can ascribe to nothing else but the Rains and Snow which fall on those high Mountains, I think, in ten times the quantity they do on the lower Hills and Valleys.

2. I have observed a considerable quantity of the chips or parings (if I may so call them) of these Cliffs to lye in vast heaps at the roots of them; and these are of several sorts and materials: being in some places covered with Grass, and in others as bare as the Sea-shore: and those bare places do consist sometimes of Gravel, and an innumerable number of Rock-fragments from a pound weight to twenty, &c. and are sometimes composed of huge Stones from an hundred pound weight to several Tuns.

3. In the Valleys of Lhanberys and Nant-Phrankon, the People find it necessary to rid their Grounds often of the Stones which the Mountain floods bring down; and yet notwithstanding this care, they often lose considerable parcels of Land.

4. I affirm, That by this means not only such Mountains as consist of much Earth and small Stones, or of softer Rocks, and such as are more easily dissoluble, are thus wasted, but also the hardest Rocks in Wales; and they seem to be as weighty, and of as firm and close a texture as Marble it self. It happen’d in the Valley of Nant-Phrancon, Anno 1685. that part of a Rock of one of the impendent Cliffs, call’d […], became so undermined (doubtless by the continual Rains and subterraneous […]eins of Water occasioned by them) that losing its hold it fell down in several pieces, and in its passage down a sleep and craggy Cliff, dislodged thousands of other Stones, whereof many were intercepted e’re they came down to the Valley, but as much came down as ruin’d a small piece of Ground; and several Stones were scatter’d at least 200 yards asunder. In this Accident one great Stone, the biggest remaining piece of the broken Rock, made such a Trench in its descent, as the small Mountain rills commonly run in; and when it came down to the plain Ground, it continued its passage through a small Meadow, and a considerable Brook, and lodged it self on the other side it. From hence I gather that all the other vast Stones that lye in our mountainous Valleys, have by such Accidents as this fallen down. Vnless perhaps we may do better to refer the greatest part of them to the Vniversal Deluge. For considering there are some thousands of them in these two Valleys [of Lhanberys and Nant-Phran[…]on] whereof (for what I can learn) there are but two or three that have fallen in the memory of any Man now living; in the ordinary course of Nature we shall be compelled to allow the rest many thousands of years more then the Age of the World. So far Mr. Lloyd.

To this last Particular, and for a further account of it, may be added, That sometimes there happen strange and violent Storms and Hurricanes, wherein the Rain is driven with that sorce upon the tops and sides of the Mountains by furious and tempestuous Winds, as to do more execution upon them by breaking in pieces, tearing and throwing down Rocks and Stones, in a few days, then in the ordinary course of Nature, by the usual Weather is effected in many hundred years.

2. By reason of the abundance of Earth thus washed off the Mountains by shots of Rain, and carried down with the Floods to the Sea; about the out-lets of the Rivers, where the violent Motion of the Water ceases, setling to the bottom, and raising it up by degrees above the Surface of the Water, the Land continually gains upon, and drives back the Sea: The Egyptian Pharos or Light-house of old time stood in an Island a good distance from Land, which is now joyned to the Continent, the interjacent Fretum having been filled up by the Silt brought down by the River Nilus in the time of the Flood subsiding there. Indeed the ancient Historians do truly make the whole Land of Egypt to have been […], the Gift of the River, and by this means gained from the Sea. Seneca in the sixth Book of his Nat. Quest. chap. 26. gives this account, Aegyptus ex limo tota concrevit. Tantum enim (si Homero fides) aberat à continenti Pharos, quantum navis diurno cursu metiri plenis lata velis potest. Sed continenti admota est. Turbidus enim defluens Nilus, multumque secum limum trahens, & eum subinde apponens prioribus terris, Aegyptum annuo incremento semper ultra tulit. Inde pinguis & limosi soli est, nec ulla intervalla in se habet; sed crevit in solidum arescente limo, quo pressa erat & cedens structura, &c. that is, all Egypt is but a Concretion of Mud. For (if Homer may be believed) the Pharos was as far distant from the Continent, as a Ship with full sail could run in a days time; but now it is joyned to it. For Nilus flowing with troubled Waters brings down a great deal of Mud and Silt, and adding it to the old Land, carries on Egypt further and further still by an annual increase. Hence it is of a fat and muddy Soil, and hath no pores or cavities in it. And this Reason he gives why it is not troubled with Earthquakes. Which also may be the Reason why it hath no fresh Springs and Fountains: For though indeed Dr. Robinson doth very probably impute its want of Rain and Springs to the want of Mountains; yet because (as we shall afterwards prove) Springs may be derived from Mountains at a good distance, I know not whether all Mountains are so far remote from Egypt, as that there may be no subterraneous Channels of that length as to derive the Water even thither from them; and therefore probably one Reason of their wanting of Springs may be the density and thickness of the Soil, whereby it becomes impenetrable to the Water; and it may be, should they use the same Artifices there, which the Inhabitants of the lower Austria, and of the Territory of Modena and Bologna in Italy do, that is, dig and bore quite through this Coat of Mud till they come to a Sand or looser Earth, they might in like manner procure themselves Fountains of springing Water. Thus by reason of the great Rivers, Po, Athesis, Brenta, and others, which empty themselves into the Lagune, or Shallows about Venice in Italy, and in times of Floods bring down thither great store of Earth, those Lagune are in danger to be in time atterrated, and with the City situate in the midst of of them, added to the firm Land, they being already bare at every Ebb, only Channels maintain’d from all the neighbouring Places to the City, not without considerable Charge to the State in Engines and Labourers in some places to clear them of the Mud, wherewith otherwise they would indanger to be obstructed and choaked up; which Engines they call Cava-fango’s. Thus in the Camarg, or Isle that the River Rhosne makes near Arles in Provence, there hath been so much lately gained from the Sea, that the Watch-tower had, in the memory of some Men living 1665. been removed forward three times, as we were there informed. And it seems to me probable, that the whole Low-Countreys were thus gained from the Sea: For Varenius in his Geography tells us, That sinking a Well at Amsterdam, at near an hundred foot depth, they met with a bed or floor of Sand and Cockle-shells; whence it is evident, one would think, that of old time the bottom of the Sea lay so deep, and that that hundred foot thickness of Earth above the Sand, arose from the Sediments of the Waters of those great Rivers, the Rhine, Scheld, Maes, &c. which there abouts emptied themselves into the Sea, and in times of Floods brought down with them abundance of Earth from the upper Grounds: The same Original doubtless had that great Level of the Fens, running through the Isle of Ely, Holland in Lincolnshire, and Marshland in Norfolk. That there hath been no small quantity of Earth thus brought down, appears also in that along the Channels of most great Rivers, as for Example, the Thames and Trent in England, especially near their Mouths or Out-lets, between the Mountains and higher Grounds on each side, there are large Levels and Plains, which seem to have been originally part of the Sea, raised up, and atterrated by Earth and Silt brought down by those Rivers in great Floods.

Strabo in the first Book of his Geography […] much to this purpose; […]. And after a while, he adds, […]. That is, For this landing up and aberration of the skirts of the Sea, is for the most part about the mouths of Rivers, as about the Out-lets of Ister the places called […] and the Deserts of Scythia: about those of Phasis the Sea-coast of Colchis, which is sandy, and low, and sort: About Thermodon and Iris all Themiscyra, the Plain of the Amazons, and the most part of Sidene. And the like may be said of other Rivers. For all of them imitate the Nile, adding to the Continent or Mainland the part lying before their mouths, some more, some less: those less, that bring not down much Mud; and those more, that run a great way over soft and lose Ground, and receive many Torrents: Of which kind is the River Pyramus, which hath added a great part of its Land to Cilicia. Concerning which there is an Oracle come abroad, importing, That there will a time come in future Ages, when the River Pyramus shall carry on the Shore and Land up the Sea as far as Cyprus— So it might in time happen that the whole Sea should gradually be landed up, beginning from the Shores, if the Effusions of the Rivers, that is, the Earth and Mud they bring down did spread so wide as to be continuous. Thus far Strabo. But the Oracle he mentions, predicting the carrying on and continuation of Cilicia as far as Cyprus, and the joyning that Island to the Continent, proves false; there having not been as yet, that we hear or read of, any considerable advance made towards it, in almost 2000 years.

Now the Rain thus continually washing away, and carrying down Earth from the Mountains and higher Grounds, and raising up the Valleys near the Sea, as long as there is any descent for the Rivers, so long will they continue to run, carry forward the low Ground, and streighten the Sea; which also by its working, by reason of the declivity, easily carries down the Earth towards the lower and middle part of its Channel [alveus] and by degrees may sill it up. Monsieur Loubere in his late Voyage to Siam, takes notice of the increase of the Banks and Sands in and near the Mouths of the great Rivers of the Oriental Kingdoms, occasion’d by the Sediments brought down from the Countries by the several Streams; so that, says he, the Navigation into and up those Rivers grows more and more difficult, and may in process of time be quite interrupted. The same Observation, I believe, may be made in most of our great Europaean Rivers, wherein new Beds are rais’d, and old ones enlarged. Moreover, the Clouds still pouring down Rain upon the Earth, it will descend as far as there is any declivity; and where that fails it will stagnate, and joyning with Sea, cover first the skirts of the Earth, and so by degrees higher and higher, till the whole be covered.

To this we may add, that some assistance toward the levelling of the Mountains, may be contributed by the Courses and Catarracts of subterraneous Rivers washing away the Earth continually, and weakning their foundations, so by degrees causing them to founder, subside, and fall in. That the Mountains do daily diminish, and many of them sink; that the Valleys are raised; that the skirts of the Sea are atterrated, no man can deny. That these things must needs in process of time have a very considerable and great effect, is as evident; which what else can it be, then that we have mentioned?

Moreover, towards this levelling of the Mountains, and filling up of the Sea, the fire also contributes its Mite. For the burning Mountains or Vulcano’s, as for example Aetna and Vesuvius, vomit at times out of their Bowels such prodigious quantities of Sand and Ashes, and with that force, that they are by the Winds carried and dispersed all over the Country, nay transported over Seas into foreign and remote Regions; but let fall so copiously in the circumjacent places, as to cover the Earth to a considerable thickness; and not only so, but they also pour forth Floods of melted Stones, Minerals and other Materials, that run down as low as the Sea, and fill up the Havens, as of old one near Catana; and make Moles and Promontories or Points, as in the last Eruptions both of Aetna and Vesuvius; the Tops of these Mountains falling in and subsiding proportionably to the quantity of the ejected matter, as Borellus proves. Meeting with a quotation in Dr. Hakewil’s Apology out of Iosephus Blancanus his Book De Mundi Fabrica, I earnestly desired to get a fight of that Book, but could not procure it till the Copy of this Discourse was out of my hands and sent up to London in order to its printing, But then obtaining it, I found it so exactly consonant to my own thoughts, and to what I have here written concerning that Subject; and some Particulars occurring therein by me omitted, that I could not forbear translating the whole Discourse into English, and annexing it to this Chapter, especially because the Book is not commonly to be met with. The Discourse is first set down in his Book De locis Mathematicis Aristotelis more at large, and afterward repeated in his Book De Mundi Fabrica more briefly.

Pergratum Lectori fore existimavi, si rem s[…]itu dignissimam exposuero, &c. I thought it might be very acceptable to the Reader, if I should discover to him a thing most worthy to be known; which I have long ago, and for a long time observed, and am daily more confirmed in; especially seeing no former Writer that I know of hath published any thing concerning it. It is this, That the Superficies of the whole Earth, which is now rough and uneven by reason of Mountains and Valleys, and so only rudely Sphaerical, is daily from the very beginning of the World reducing to a per[…]t roundness, in so much that it will necessarily come to pass in a natural way, that it be one day overflown by the Sea, and rendred unhabitble.

First then, that we may clearly apprehend the Causes of this thing, we must lay down as a Foundation from Holy Writ, That the Terraqueous Globe was in the beginning endued with a more perfect Spherical Figure, that is, without any inequalities of Mountains and Valleys: and that it was wholly covered with the Sea, and so altogether unfit for Terrestrial Animals to inhabit: but it was then rendred habitable, when by the beck or command of its Creator the greatest part of the Land was translated from one place to another, whereupon here appeared the hollows of the Seas, there the heights of the Mountains: And all the Waters which before covered the face of the whole Earth receded, and flowing down filled those depressed and hollow places; and this Congregation of Waters was called the Sea. Hence some grave Authors doubt not to assert, That the Mountains were made up of that very Earth which before filled the Cavities of the Sea. Whence it follows, that the Earth as now it is, mountainous and elevated above the Waters, hath not its Natural Figure, but is in a violent state: but Nullum violentum est perpetuum. Besides the Earth being heavier then the Water, none of its parts ought to be extant and appear above its Superficies; and yet we see that the Earth is really higher than the Sea, especially the mountainous parts of it: in which respect also both Land and Water are in a violent state. Wherefore it is very convenient to the Nature of both, that they should daily return towards their ancient and primigenial state and figure, and accordingly we affirm that they do so.

Moreover, we say that the Waters, both of Rains and Rivers, are the Cause of this Restitution, as will appear by the following Observations.

First we see that Rivers do daily fret and undermine the Roots of the Mountains, so that here and there from most Mountains they cause great Ruins and Precipices, whence the Mountains appear broken: and the Earth so fallen from the Mountains the Rivers carry down to the lower places.

From these Corrosions of the Rivers proceed these […]low, but great Ruines, called, Labinae à labendo; in which some Streets, and whole Villages are precipitated into the Rivers.

2. We daily see, that the Rain-waters wash away the Superficies of the Mountains, and carry them down to the lower places. Hence it comes to pass, that the higher Mountains are also harder and more stony than the rest, by means whereof they better resist the Water. Hence also it comes to pass, that ancient Buildings in Mountains, their Foundations being by degrees discovered, prove not very durable. For which reason the Foundations of the Roman Capitol are now wholly extant above ground; which of old, at its first erection, were sunk very deep into it. This same thing all the Inhabitants of the Mountains do confirm; all saying, that this lowering of Mountains was long since known to them; for that formerly some intermediate Mountains intercepted the sight of a Castle, or Tower, situate in a more remote Mountain; which after many Years the intervenient Mountain being depressed, came clearly into view. And George Agricola is of Opinion (which I very much approve of) that the Rivers produced the Mountains and Hills in this manner. In the beginning of the World there were not so many particular divided Mountains, but only perpetual eminent Ridges of Land, not dissected into so many Valleys as we now see. So, for example, our Appennine was at first one continued even eminent Ridge of Land, not divided into any particular Mountains and Hills by intervening Valleys, as now it is: but that after the Rivers began to flow down from the top of it, by little and little fretting and corroding the Ground, they made Valleys, and daily more and more; and by this means the whole Apennine came to be divided into many Hills and Mountains.

3. In Plains we see the directly contrary happens: for the Plains are daily more and more elevated, because the Waters do let fall in the plain and hollow places the Earth they brought down with them from the Mountains. Hence we see that ancient Buildings in such places are almost wholly buried in the ground. So in Rome, at the foot of the Capitoline Mountain, we see the Triumphal Arch of Septimius almost wholly overwhelmed in the Earth: and every-where in ancient Cities many Gates and Doors of Houses almost landed up, little thereof being extant above ground.

From which it appears, that this sinking and demersion of Buildings into the Earth is a manifest sign of their Antiquity, which is so much the greater, by how much the deeper they are sunk. So, for example, at Bononia in Italy, many of the ancient Gates of the City, which the Bolognese call Torresotti, are very deeply sunk, which is a certain argument of their Antiquity, and thence it appears to be true that Histories relate, that they were built in the time of S. Petronius, about 1200 Years ago. But here it is to be noted, that other things agreeing, those are deeper depressed that are built in lower places than those in higher, for the reason above-said. So at Bononia, that old Port called, Il Torresotto di S. Georgio, is deeplier buried, or landed up, than that which is called, Il Torresotto di Stra Castilione, because that is situated in a lower place, and therefore the Earth is more easily raised up about it.

4. The same is affirmed by Architects, who when they dig their Foundations, do every-where in plain places first of all remove the Earth which they call Commota [loose or shaken] which is mixt with Fragments of Wood, Iron, Rubbish, Coyns, ancient Urns, and other things; which when it is thrown out, they come to another sort of Earth that hath never been stirred, but is solid, compact, and not mixt with any heterogeneous things, especially artificial. That moved [Commota] and impure Earth, is it which the Waters have by little and little brought down from the higher to the more depressed places, which is not every-where of equal depth. But now because in the Mountains there is no where found such moved or new Earth, as is plain from the Experience of Architects, it is manifest that the Mountains do by no means grow or encrease, as some dream.

5. Our Observation is proved from that Art which is now much practised of elevating and landing up depressed places by the Waters of Rivers, and depressing the higher by running the Water over them.

The same things happen about the Sea, for whereas the bottom of the Sea is more depressed than the Superficies of the Earth; and all the great Rivers empty themselves into the Sea, and bring in with them a great quantity of Earth and Sand, there must needs be great Banks or Floors of Earth raised up about the Sea-shores, near the mouths of Rivers, whereby the Shores must necessarily be much promoted and carried forward into the Sea, and so gain upon it, and compel it to recede.

This may be proved first by the Authority of Aristotle, lib. 1. Meteor. cap. De permutatione terrae ac maris; and that of the ancient Geographers and Historians. To omit that Proof from Egypt; Aristotle’s second example of this landing up of the Sea, is the Region of Ammonia, whose Lower and Maritime place (saith he) it’s clear, were by this landing up first made Pools and Fens, and in process of time these Pools were dryed up, and raised to be firm Land, by Earth brought down. A third example is that of the Maeotis palus, whose skirts are so grown up by what the Rivers bring down, that the Waters will not carry any thing so great Ships, as they would have done sixty Years ago. A fourth is the Thracian Bosphorus, which for brevity’s sake may be seen in him. Add hereto in the fifth place, the Testimony of Pliny, who tells us, that much new Land hath been added to the Earth, not only brought in by the Rivers, but deserted by the Sea.

So the Sea hath receded ten Miles from the Port of Ambracia, and five from that of Athens, and in several other places more or less. What he adds out of Strabo, concerning the River Pyramus is already entred.

6. Neither are later and nearer Experiments wanting. Of old time Ravenna stood upon the break of the Sea-shore, which is now by reason of the landing up the Shallows […]ar distant from it. The Sea washed the Walls of Pad[…], which is now Twenty five Miles remote therefrom. In fine, our Rhene of Bologna, though it […]e but a small Torrent, yet in a few Years since it hath been by an artificial Cut let into the Po, it hath so filled it up, and obstructed its Channel with Sand and Mud, that it hath much endamaged the neighboaring Fields. Seeing then by these various […]ggerations of Sand and Salt, the Sea is daily cut short, and driven back, and its Basin or R[…]ceptable straitned, and the bottom […], it will necessarily come to pass […] that it will begin to overflow; as […] in many places, for example, […] and Holland Shores, […] forced to erect and […] long and high Banks and […] of the Sea.

Therefore […] manner, that Earth which no[…] malces […] Mountains, being by the Water little by little brought down […]nto the […] is the Cause why the Seu […] overflows the […] Globe of the Earth by the affusion of the Waters, will be again rendred unhabitable, as at first it was in the beginning of the World; and the Earth and Water will return to their primitive state and figure, in which they ought naturally to rest.

Hence we may deduce some Consectaries worthy to be known; viz. That the World, or at least the Earth, was not endued with that Figure which we now see; neither can the World endure for ever. For if this mountainous Figure had been in it from Eternity, all those protuberancies of the Mountains had been long since eaten away and wasted or consumed by the Waters. Nor can this World be Eternal; because, as we have proved· in process of time it will be reduced to a perfect rotundity, and be overflown by the Sea; whereupon it will become un[…]abitable, and Mankind must necessarily perish. Wherefore unless that Deluge were prevented by the […] which the Holy Scriptures mention the World would […] by Water. Long after I had committed these […] writing. I met with Philo Iud[…]u[…] […] book De Mundeo· wherein […] ouches this matter but ob[…]cure[…] and in a very […]ew words·

Thus far Blancanus, whose Sentiments and Observations concerning this matter thus punctually concurring and according with mine, to my great wonder and satisfaction, I could not but think that the Conclusion hath a high degree of probability. Only he takes no notice, that in compensation of what the Rivers gain from the Sea about their Outlets, the Sea may gain from the Land by undermining and washing away the Shores that are not rocky, (as we see it doth in our own Country) perhaps as much as it loses, according to the Vulgar Proverb before remembred. However, all contributes towards the filling up of the Sea, and bringing on an Inundation, as I shall afterwards shew.

But it may be objected, That if the Waters will thus naturally and necessarily in process of time again overflow and cover the Earth, how can God’s Promise and Covenant be made good, Gen. 9. 11. That there should not any more be a Flood to destroy the Earth.

To which I answer, 1. That though this would follow in a natural way, yet the power of God may interpose to prevent it, and so make good his Promise. 2. Though it might come to pass in the Course of Nature, yet would it be after so many Ages, that it is not at all likely the World should last so long: but the Conflagration or Destruction of it by Fire, predicted by the Scriptures, will certainly prevent it. 3. Possibly there may be something in Nature which may obviate this Event, though to us at present unknown, which I am the more inclinable to believe, because the Earth doth not hasten so fast towards it as some of the Ancients imagined, and as the activity of such Causes might seem to require, as I have already intimated.

Varenius in his Geography putting the Question, Whether the Ocean may again come to cover all the Earth, and make an Universal Deluge; answers, That we may conceive a way how this may naturally come to pass. The manner thus; Supposing that the Sea by its continual working doth undermine and wash away the Shores and Cliffs that are not rocky, and carry the Earth thereof down towards the middle, or deepest parts of its Channel, and so by degrees fill it up. By doing this perpetually, it may, in a long succession of Time, carry all away, and it self cover the whole Earth. That it doth thus subvert and wash away the Shores in many places is in experience true. About Dort in Holland and Dullart in Friesland, and in Zealand many Villages, some say Three hundred, have been drown’d by the encroachments of the Sea, as some of their Towers and Steeples still extant above the Waters do testifie. On the Tuscan shore, Kircher tells us, That not far from Ligorn he himself had observed a whole City under Water, that had been in former times drown’d by the Inundation of the Sea. And over against Puteoli in the Sinus of Baia, he tells us, That in the bottom of the Sea, there are not only Houses, but the Traces and Footsteps of the Streets of some City manifestly discernable. And in the County of Suffolk, almost the whole Town of Donewich, with the adjacent Lands, hath been undermined and devoured by the Sea.

This washing away of the Shores is, I conceive, in great measure to be attributed to the forementioned streightning and cutting short of the Sea, by the Earth and Si[…]t that in the times of Floods are brought down into it by the Rivers. For the Vulgar have a Proverbial Tradition, That what the Sea loses in one place, it gains in another. And both together do very handsomly make out and explain, how the Earth in a natural way, may be reduced to its primitive state in the Creation, when the Waters covered the Land. But this according to the […] proceedings of Nature, would not come to pass in many Ages, I might say, in Ages of Ages: Nay, some think, that those vast Ridges and Chains of Mountains, which run through the middle of the Continents, are by reason of their great height, weight and solidity, too great a Morsel ever to be devoured by the Jaws of the Sea. But whether they be or not, I need not dispute, though I incline to the Negative, because this is not the dissolution the Apostle here speaks of, which must be by Fire.

But I must not here dissemble an Objection I see may be made, and that is, That the Superficies of the Earth is so far from being depressed, that it is continually elevated. For in ancient Buildings, we see the Earth raised high above the foot of them. So the Pantheon at Rome, which was at first ascended up to by many [eight] Steps, is now descended down to by as many. The Basis and whole Pedestal of Trajan’s Pillar there was buried in the Earth.

Dr. Tancred Robinson in the year 1683. observ’d in some places, the Walls of old Rome, to lye Thirty and Forty Foot under Ground; so that he thinks the greater part of the Remains of that famous Ancient City is still buried, and undiscovered; the prodigious heaps of Ruins and Rubbish inclosed within the Vineyards and Gardens being not half dig’d up or search’t, as they might be, the tops of Pillars peeping up and down. And in our own Country we find many Ancient Roman Pavements at some depth under Ground My Learned and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edward Loyd, not long since inform’d of one, that himself had seen buried deep in the Church-yard at Wychester in Glocestershire. Nay, the Earth in time will grow over and bury the Bodies of great Timber Trees, that have been fallen, and lye long upon it; which is made one great reason, that such great numbers (even wh[…], Woods) of Subterraneous Trees are frequently met with, and dug up at vast depths in the Spanish and Dutch Netherlands, as well as in many places of this Island of Great Britain.

To which I answer, as to Buildings, 1. The Ruins and Rubbish of the Cities wherein they stood, might be conceived to bury them as deep as they now lye under ground. And by this means it’s likely the Roman Pavements we find, might come to be covered to that height we mentioned. For that the places where they occur, were anciently Roman Towns subverted and ruined, may easily be proved; as particularly in this we mention’d, from the Termination Chester; whatever Town or Village hath that addition to its Name, having been anciently a Roman Town or Camp: Chester seeming to be nothing but Castra.

2. It is to be consider’d, That weighty Buildings do in time overcome the resistance of the Foundation, unless it be a solid Rock; and sink into the ground.

Nay, the very soft Water, lying long upon the bottoms of the Sea or Pools, doth so compress and sadden them by its weight, that the very Roads that are continually beaten with Horses and Carriages, are not so firm and sad: And in the Sea, the nearer you dig to the Low Water-Mark; still the sadder and firmer it is: and it’s probable still, the further the sadder; which seems to be confirmed by the strong fixing of Anchors. [This firmness of the Sand, by the weight of the incumbent Water, the People inhabiting near the Sea are so sensible of, that I have seen them boldly ride through the Water cross a Channel three Miles broad, before the Tide was out, when in some places it reacht to the Horses Belly.] A semblance whereof, we have in Ponds, which being newly digg’d, the Water that runs into them, sinks soon into the Earth, and they become dry again, till after some time, by often filling, the Earth becomes so solid, through the weight of the Water, that they leak no more, but hold Water up to the brink. Wittie Scarborough Spaw, p. 86.

What force a gentle, if continual pressure hath, we may understand also by the Roots of Trees, which we see will sometimes pierce through the Chinks of Stone Walls, and in time make great Cracks and Rifts in them; nay, will get under their very Foundations. The tender Roots of Herbs overcome the resistance of the ground, and make their way through Clay or Gravel. By the by, we may here take Notice, that one reason why plowing, harrowing, sitting, or any comminution of the Earth, renders it more fruitful, is, because the Roots of Grass, Corn, and other Herbs can, with more facility, creep abroad, and multiply their Fibres in the light and loose Earth.

That the rotting of Grass, and other Herbs upon the ground, may in some places raise the Superficies of it, I will not deny; that […], […]n Gardens and Enclosures, where the Ground is rank, and no Cattel are admitted […] eat off the Fog or long Grass: but elsewhere, the raising of the Superficies of the Faith is very little and inconsiderable; and none at all, unless in level Grounds, which have but little declivity: For otherwise the Soyl would by this time have come to be of a very great depth, which we find to be but shallow. Nor do I think, that so much as the Trunks of fall’n Trees, are by this means covered; but rather, that they sink by their own weight, in time overcoming the resistance of the Earth, which without much difficulty yields, being soaked and softned by the Rains insinuating into it, and keeping it continually most in Winter-time. But if these Buildings be situate in Valleys, it is clear, that the Earth brought down from the Mountains by Rain, may serve to land them up. Again, the Superficies of the Earth may be raised near the Sea Coast, by the continual blowing up of Sand by the Winds. This happens often in Norfolk, and in Cornwall, where I observed a fair Church, viz. that of the Parish called Lalant, which is the Mother Church to St. Ives, and above two Miles distant from the Sea, almost covered with the Sand; little being extant above it, but the Steeple and Ridge of the Roof. Nay, a great part of St. Ives itself lies buried in the Sand: and I was told there, that in one Night there had been a whole Street of Houses so covered with Sand, that in the Morning they were fain to dig their way out of their Houses through it. All along the Western Shoar of Wales, there are great Hills of Sand thus blown up by the Wind. We observed also upon the Coast of Flanders and Holland, the like sandy Hills, or Downs, from which Westerly Winds drive the Sand a great way into the Country. But there are not many places liable to this Accident, viz. where the bottom of the Sea is sandy, and where the Wind most frequently blows from off the Sea; where the Wind sets from the Land toward the Sea this happens not; where it is indifferent, it must in reason carry off as much as it brings on, unless other Causes hinder.

Sect. II

II. THE possibility of the Sun’s extinction. Of which Accident I shall give an Account in Dr. More’s words, in the last Chapter of his Treatise of the Immortality of the Soul. This (saith he) though it may seem a Panick Fear at first sight; yet if the matter be throughly examined, there will appear no contemptible Reasons that may induce Men to suspect, that it may at last fall out, there having been at certain times such near Offers in Nature towards this sad Accident already. Pliny speaks of it as a thing not unfrequent, that there should be, Prodigiosi & longiores Solis defectus, qualis occiso Dictatore Caesare & Antoniano bello, totius anni pollore continuo, Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 30. Prodigious and lasting defects of the Sun, such as happened when Caesar the Dictator was slain; and in the War with Anthony, when it was continually pale and gloomy for a whole Year. The like happened in Iustinian’s time, as Cedrenus writes; when for a whole Year together the Sun was of a very dim and duskish Hue, as if he had been in a perpetual Eclipse: And in the time of Irene the Empress, it was so dark for seventeen days together, that the Ships lost their way in the Sea, and were ready to run one against another, as Theophanes reports. But the late accurate Discovery of the Spots of the Sun by Scheiner, and the appearing and disappearing of Fixt Stars and Comets, and the excursions of these last, do argue it more than possible, that after some vast Periods of Time, the Sun may be so inextricably inveloped by the Maculae, that he may quite lose his Light; and then you may easily guess what would become of the Inhabitants of the Earth. For without his vivisick heat, neither could the Earth put forth any Vegetables for their sustenance; neither if it could, would they be able to bear the extremity of the Cold, which must needs be more rigorous, and that perpetually, than it is now under the Poles in Winter time. But this accident, tho’ it would indeed extinguish all Life, yet being quite contrary to a Dissolution by Fire, of which the Apostle speaks, I shall pass it over without further consideration, and proceed to a Third.

Sect. III

III. THE Possibility of the Eruption of the Central Fire, if any such there be, inclosed in the Earth. It is the Hypothesis of Monsieur des Cartes, that the Earth was originally a Star, or great Globe of Fire, like the Sun, or one of the Fixt Stars, situate in the Center of a Vortex continually whirling round with it. That by degrees it was covered over, or incrustated with Maculae, arising on its Surface, like the Scum on a boyling Pot, which still increasing and growing thicker and thicker, the Star losing its light and activity, and consequently the motion of the Celestial Vortex about it growing more weak, languid, and unable to resist the vigorous incroaehments of the neighbouring Vortex of the Sun; it was at last drawn in, and wholly absorpt by it, and forced to comply with its motion, and make one in the Quire of the Sun’s Satellites. This whole Hypothesis I do utterly disallow and reject. Neither did the Author himself (if we may believe him) think it ture, that the Earth was thus generated. For he saith, Quinimo ad res naturales meliùs explicandas, earum causas altiùs hic repetam quàm ipsas unquam extitisse existimem. Non enim dubium est, quin mundus ab initio fuerit creatus cum omni sua perfectione, ità ut in eo & Sol, & Terra, & Luna, & Stellae extiterint— Hoc fides Christiana nos docet; hócque etiam ratio naturalis planè persuadet. Attendendo enim ad immensam Dei potentiam, non possumus existimare illum unquam quidquam fecisse, quod non omnibus suis numeris fuerit absolutum. That is, Moreover, for the better explicating of Natural Things, I shall bring them from higher or more remote Causes than I think they ever had. For there is no doubt, but the World was originally created in its full perfection, so that in it were contained both Sun and Moon, and Earth and Stars, &c. For this the Christian Faith teacheth us, and this also Natural Reason doth plainly persuade; for attending to the immense Power of God, we cannot think that he ever made any thing that was not complete in all points. But thô he did not believe that the Earth was generated, or formed according to his Hypothesis, yet surely he was of Opinion, that it is at present such a Body as he represented it after its perfect Formation, viz. with a Fire in the middle, and so many several Crusts or Coats inclosing it: else would he have given us a mere Figment or Romance instead of a Body of Philosophy.

But tho’ I do reject the Hypothesis; yet the being of a Central Fire in the Earth is not, so far as I understand, any way repugnant to Reason or Scripture. For first of all, the Scripture represents Hell as a Lake of Fire, Mark 9. 43, 44, &c. Revel. 20. 10, 14, 15. and likewise as a low place beneath the Earth. So Pslam 86. 13. and Deut. 32. 22. it is called the nethermost hell. Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath. 2. Many of the Ancients understand that Article of the Creed; He descended into Hell, of our Saviour’s Descent into that local Hell beneath the Earth, where he trimphed over the Devil, and all the Powers of Darkness. And particularly Irenaeus interprets that saying of our Saviour, That the Son of man should be three days in the heart of the earth, of his being three days in the middle of the Earth, which could not be meant (saith he) of the Sepulchre, because that was hewen out of a Rock in its Superficies. 3. It is a received Opinion among the Divines of the Church of Rome, that Hell is about the Center of the Earth: insomuch as some of them have been solicitous to demonstrate that there is room enough to receive all the Damned, by giving us the Dimensions thereof.

Neither is it repugnant to the History of the Creation in Genesis. For tho’ indeed Moses doth mention only Water and Earth, as the component parts of this Body; yet doth he not assert that the Earth is a simple, uniform, homogeneous Body; as neither do we, when we say, Vpon the face of the earth, or the like. For the Earth, we see, is a Mass made up of a multitude of different Species of Bodies, Metals, Minerals, Stones, and other Fossils, Sand, Clay, Marle, Chalk, &c. which do all agree in that they are consistent and solid more or less, and are in that respect contradistinguished to Water; and together compound one Mass, which we call Earth. Whether the interior parts of the Earth be made up of so great a variety of different Bodies, is to us altogether unknown. For tho’ it be observed by Colliers, that the Beds of Coals lie one way, and do always dip towards the East, let them go never so deep; so that, would it quit cost, and were it not for the Water, they say, they might pursue the Bed of Coals to the very Center of the Earth, the Coals never failing or coming to an end that way; yet that is but a rash and ungrounded Conjecture. For what is the depth of the profoundest Mines, were they a Mile deep, to the Semidiameter of the Earth? not as one to four thousand. Comparing this Observation of Dipping with my Notes about other Mines, I find that the Veins or Beds of all generally run East and West, and dip towards the East. Of which what Account or Reason can we give, but the motion of the Earth from West to East? I know some say, that the Veins, for Example, of Tin and Silver, dip to the North, tho’ they confess they run East and West, which is a thing I cannot understand, the Veins of those Metals being narrow things. Sir Tho. Willoughby, in his fore-mentioned Letter writes thus,—“I have talked with some of my Colliers about the lying of the Coal, and find, that generally the Basset end (as they call it) lies West, and runs deeper toward the East, allowing about twenty Yards in length to gain one in depth; but sometimes they decline a little from this posture; for mine lie almost South-West, and North-East. They always sink to the East more or less. There may therefore, for ought we know, be Fire about the Center of the Earth, as well as any other Body, if it can find a Pabulum, or Fuel there to maintain it. And why may it not? since the Fires in those subterraneous Caverns of Aetna, Vesuvius, Stromboli, Hecla, and other burning Mountains or Vulcano’s, have found wherewith to feed them for Thousands of Years. And as there are at some, tho’ uncertain Periods of Time, violent Eruptions of Fire from the Craters of those Mountains, and mighty Streams of melted Materials poured forth from thence: so why may not this Central Fire in the Earth, (if any such there be) receiving accidentally extraordinary supplies of convenient Fuel, either from some inflammable Matter within, or from without, rend the thick exterior Cortex which imprisons it, or finding some Vents and Issues break forth and overflow the whole Superficies of the Earth, and burn up all things. This is not impossible, and we have seen some Phaenomena in Nature which bid fair towards a Probability of it. For what should be the reason of new Stars appearing and disappearing again; as that noted one in Cassiopeia, which at first shone with as great a lustre as Venus, and then by degrees diminishing, after some two Years vanish’d quite away? but that by great supplies of combustible Matter, the internal Fire suddenly increasing in quantity and force, either found, or made its way through the Cracks or Vents of the Maculae which inclosed it, and in an instant, as it were, overflowed the whole surface of the Star, whence proceeded that illustrious Light; which afterwards again gradually decayed, its supply failing. Whereas other newly appearing Stars, which either have a constant supply of Matter, or where the Fire hath quite dissolved the Maculae, and made them comply with its motion, have endured for a long time, as that which now shines in the Neck of Cygnus, which appears and disappears at certain Intervals.

But because it is not demonstrable that there is any such Central Fire in the Earth, I propose the eruption thereof rather as a possible than probable means of a Conflagration: and proceed to the last means whereby it may naturally be effected; and that is:

Sect. IV

IV. THE Dryness and Inflammability of the Earth under the Torrid Zone, with the eruption of the Vulcano’s to set it on fire. Those that hold the Inclination of the Equator to the Ecliptick daily to diminish, so that after the Revolutions of some Ages they will jump and consent, tell us, that the Sunbeams lying perpendicularly and constantly on the parts under the Equator, the Ground thereabout must needs be extremely parch’d and rendred apt for Inflammation. But for my part I own no such Decrement of Inclination. And the best Mathematicians of our Age deny that there hath been any since the eldest Observations that are come down to us. For tho’ indeed Ptolomy and Hipparchus do make it more than we find it by above twenty Minutes, yet that Difference is not so considerable, but that it may well be imputed to the Difference of Instruments, or Observations in point of Exactness. So that not having decreased for Eighteen hundred Years past, there is not the least ground for Conjecture, that it will alter in Eighteen hundred Years to come, should the World last so long. And yet if there were such a Diminution, it would not conduce much (so far as I can see) to the bringing on of a Conflagration. For tho’ the Earth would be extremely dried, and perchance thereby rendred more inflammable; yet the Air being by the same Heat as much rarified, would contain but few nitrous Particles, and so be inept to maintain the Fire, which, we see, cannot live without them: It being much deaded by the Sun shining upon it; and burning very remisly in Summer time, and hot Weather: For this reason in Southern Countries, in extraordinary hot Seasons, the Air scarce sufficeth for Respiration. To the clearing up of this, let us a little consider what Fire is. It seems to consist of three different sorts of parts. 1. An extremely thin and subtil Body, whose Particles are in a very vehement and rapid motion. 2. (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 ‘fore-mentioned 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 their 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, Oyl, 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: and in that, where and when the Air is more charged with them. as in cold Countries, and cold Weather, the Fire rages most: That likewise it cannot be continued without an unctuous Pabulum or Fewel, I appeal to the Experience of all Men.

Now then in the rarified Air in the Torrid Zone, the nitrous Particles being proportionably scattered and thin set, the Fire that might be kindled there would burn but very languidly and remisly, as we said just now: And so the Eruptions of Vulcano’s, if any such happened, would not be like to do half the Execution there that they would do in cold Countries. And yet I never read of any spreading Conflagration caused by the Eruptions of any Vulcano’s, either in hot Countries, or in cold. They usually cast out abundance of thick Smoak like Clouds darkning the Air: and likewise Ashes and Stones, sometimes of a vast bigness; and some of them, as Vesuvius, Floods of Water; others, (as Aetna) Rivers of melted Materials, running down many Miles: as for the Flames that issue out of their Mouths at such times, they are but transient, and mounting upwards, seldom set any thing on fire.

But not to insist upon this, I do affirm, that there hath not as yet been, nor for the future can be any such drying or parching of the Earth under the Torrid Zone, as some may imagine. That there hath not yet been I appeal to Experience, the Countries lying under the Course of the Sun, being at this day as fertile as ever they were, and wanting no more Moisture now than of old they did; having as constant and plentiful Rains in their Seasons as they then had. That they shall for the future suffer any more Drought than they have heretofore done, there is no reason to believe or imagine, the Face of the Earth being not altered, nor naturally alterable, as to the main, more at present than it was heretofore. I shall now add the Reason, why I think there can be no such Ex[…]iccation of the Earth in those parts. It’s true indeed, were there nothing to hinder them, the Vapours exhaled by the Sunbeams in those hot Regions, would be cast off to the North, and to the South, a great way, and not fall down in Rain there, but toward the Poles; But the long and continued Ridges or Chains of exceeding high Mountains are so disposed by the great and wise Creator of the World, as, at least in our Continent, to run East and West, as Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius well observes, such are Atlas, Taurus, and the Alps, to name no more: They are, I say, thus disposed as if it were on purpose to obviate and stop the Evagation of the Vapours Northward, and reflect them back again, so that they must needs be condensed, and fall upon the Countries out of which they were elevated. And on the South-side, being near the Sea, it is likely that the Wind, blowing for the most part from thence, hinders their excursion that way. This I speak by presumption, because in our Country for at least three quarters of the Year the Wind blows from the great Atlantick Ocean: which was taken notice of by Iulius Caesar in the Fifth of his Commentaries, De Bello Gallico. Corus ventus, qui magnam partem omnis temporis in his locis flare consuevit.

As for any Desiccation of the Sea, I hold that by mere natural Causes to be impossible, unless we could suppose a Transmutation of Principles or simple Bodies, which for Reasons alledged in a former Discourse I cannot allow. I was then, and am still of Opinion, that God Almighty did at first create a certain and determinate number of Principles, or variously figured Corpuscles, intransmutable by the force of any natural Agent, even Fire itself, (which can only separate the Parts of heterogeneous Bodies) yet not an equal number of each kind of these Principles, but of some abundantly more, as of Water, Earth, Air, Aether; and of others fewer, as of Oyl, Salt, Metals, Minerals, &c. Now that there may be some Bodies indivisible by Fire, is, I think, demonstrable. For how doth, or can Fire be conceived to divide, one can hardly imagine any other way than by its small parts, by reason of their violent Agitation insinuating themselves into compound Bodies, and separating their parts; which allowing, yet still there is a term of Magnitude, below which it cannot divide, viz. it cannot divide a Body into smaller parts than those whereof itself is compounded. For taking, suppose, one least Part of Fire, ‘tis clear that it cannot insinuate itself into a Body as little or less than itself: and what is true of one is true of all: I say, we can imagine no other way than this, unless perchance by a violent stroke or shock, the parts of the Body to be divided may be put into so impetuous a motion as to fall in sunder of themselves into lesser Particles than those of the impellent Body are, which I will not suppose at present. Now it is possible, that the Principles of some other simple Bodies may be as small as the Particles of Fire. But however that be, it is enough, if the Principles of simple Bodies be by reason of their perfect solidity naturally indivisible. Such a simple Body, I suppose, Water separated from all Heterogeneous Mixtures to be: and consequently the same quantity thereof that was at first created, doth still remain, and will continue always in despight of all natural Agents, unless it pleases the Omnipotent Creator to dissolve it. And therefore there can be no Desiccation of the Seas, unless by turning all its Water into Vapour, and suspending it in the Air, which to do, what an immense and long-continuing Fire would be requisite? to the maintenance whereof all the inflammable Materials near the Superficies of the Earth would not afford Fuel enough. The Sun, we see, is so far from doing it, that it hath not made one step towards it these four thousand Years, there being in all likelihood as great a quantity of Water in the Ocean now as was immediately after the Flood: and consequently there would probably remain as much in it, should the World last four thousand Years longer.

This Fixedness and Intransmutability of Principles secures the Universe from Dissolution by the prevailing of one Element over another, and turning it into its own Nature; which otherwise it would be in continual danger of. It secures likewise the perpetuity of all the Species in the World, many of which, if their Principles were transmutable, might by such a change be quite lost: And lastly bars the Production or Creation of any new Species, as in the forementioned Treatise I have shewn.

---

← Discourse 3, Chapter 4. The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers, and · Contents · Discourse 3, Chapter 6. Containing an Answer to the Second Question, Whether →