waters beneath by heat, rent this crust, which falling down into the abyss, caused the universal flood, and at the same time, by the inequality of the fragments, formed the mountains of the earth as we now see them.

“Not satisfied with these themes, he derived from the sacred scriptures, and from heathen authorities, prophetic views of the future revolutions of the globe; gave a terrific description of the final conflagration, and proved that a new heaven, and a new earth will rise out of a second chaos, after which will follow the blessed millenium."

This was called, and is known to the present day as the "Sacred Theory," and as absurd, and utterly void of all foundation as it appears at the present time, it was received in that day with great applause. King Charles II. commanded it to be translated out of the Latin, in which it was written, into English. Addison eulogised it in Latin verses; Steele praised it in the Spectator, and Warton ranked its author among the "first for understanding, judgment, imagination and memory." These encomiums show that Burnet, though ignorant of geology, was no ordinary writer, and that it was his fine taste, and his inventive genius that caught the admiration of men, who, though judges of these qualities, knew nothing of the science about which he wrote.

Woodward's Theory. In 1695, another celebrated theory of the earth was laid before the public. It was entitled "An Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies, especially Minerals; as also of the Sea, Rivers and Springs, with an account of the Universal Deluge, and of the effects it had on the Earth. By Dr. Woodward, Professor of Medicine at the University of Cambridge."

Professor Brande thinks that Woodward must be considered the first geological theorist who professed to have minutely examined the crust of the earth, and to have founded his system on the facts thus developed. He made geological tours into different parts of England, and examined strata, and collected specimens with a view to illustrate his intended work. He also appears to have been the first who drew up a series of geological inquiries, which he sent to his friends abroad for the purpose of obtaining more extensive information on these subjects.

From these circumstances it might have been expected

that Woodward's views would have been more sound and enlarged than any of his predecessors or contemporaries; but it was the fashion of that day to form theories rather than to state facts, and he fell into this common error.

His theory supposes that the whole terrestrial globe fell in pieces and was dissolved by the waters of the flood, and that the strata of the earth settled down from this promiscuous mass. In corroboration of this view, he insisted that marine bodies, as shells, are lodged in the strata according to the order of gravity, the heavier shells in stone, and the lighter ones in chalk, and so of the rest. But this doctrine was immediately contradicted by the fact, that fossil bodies are often, however, mixed, the heavy with the light, in the same stratum.

Although Woodward's Theory is not founded on any grounds, even of plausibility, still his book contains many important facts, and in this respect he was greatly in the advance of any of his contemporaries.

Whiston's Theory. The next famous work of this school, and equally characteristic of that period, was that of Whiston. Its title was, "A New Theory of the earth wherein the Creation of the World in six days; the Universal Deluge, and the General Conflagration, as laid down in the Holy Scriptures, are shewn to be perfectly agreeable to reason and philosophy." Published in 1696.

Whiston was originally a disciple of Burnet, and adopted his views, until Sir Isaac Newton showed there was no probability that the earth's axis had changed its direction, and consequently that the cause of perpetual spring before the flood, as assumed by Burnet, was without foundation, on which this part of his master's system was relinquished.

It seems to have been a principal point in all the geological theories of that day, to account for the general deluge by the action of some extraordinary natural cause. In conformity to this fashion, Whiston in the first place shows how this earth was originally a comet, which being modified, or re-modelled, was brought into its present shape. The great heat which the earth retained, owing to its igneous origin, inflamed the passions of the whole antediluvian race, so that "every imagination_of_the thoughts of man's heart was evil continually." The awful catastrophe which swept this wicked race, with the

exception of Noah and his family-from the face of the earth, was occasioned by the train of a comet, which passing near the earth, was condensed upon it in the form of a deluge of waters.

It is hardly necessary to say that such a supposition is without a single circumstance in favor of its probability, and therefore, being entirely hypothetical, is unworthy of arguments either for or against it.

Whiston was the first who proposed that the first book of Genesis should be interpreted differently from its ordinary acceptation, so that it should not be heretical to believe that the earth had existed for an indefinite period, before the creation of animals, and man. He had the art to throw an air of truth or probability over the most whimsical and improbable assumptions, and by absorbing the mind of the reader with mathematical calculations, to make him assent to propositions, which in themselves were utterly false.

Theory of Leibnitz. Leibnitz was one of the most profound mathematicians of his time. His theory was published in 1680, and is another curious specimen of imaginary cosmogony. He supposed that this globe was originally a luminous burning mass, and that from the time of the creation it had been gradually cooling. When the water which surrounded it in the form of steam, became condensed by the cooling of the earth, then the sea was formed, which at first entirely surrounded it in every part, and was of such depth as to cover the highest mountains. Further consolidation of the earth by cooling, produced rents, which opening into caverns beneath the crust, admitted a part of the universal ocean, thus leaving a portion of the earth dry land, preparatory to the creation of man, and for his habitation. He imagined, also, that the temperature of the earth was continually diminishing, and that the level of the sea was constantly sinking. The first idea was considered as entirely groundless by succeeding geologists, but recently the doctrine of subterranean heat has been embraced by several respectable naturalists, and is now the prevailing foundation of the theories of earthquakes and volcanoes. The gradual sinking of the sea, is a doctrine which has had many strong advocates, and is still supposed to have been proved by various tests. But it will be seen in the progress of this volume, that facts have decided against this hypothesis.

We might occupy our whole volume with the different theories which have been proposed, to account for the present appearances of this earth, but we must close this part of our subject, by an epitome of those of Buffon, and Kepler, and with a short account of the Neptunian and Plutonian doctrines.

Buffon's Theory. This is principally an extension of that of Leibnitz. He adds another comet, which by a violent blow upon the sun, struck off the mass of which our earth is composed in a liquid state, and with the earth, all the other planets which composed our system.

From such suppositions, Buffon was enabled to assume data, by which he arrived at several important conclusions. Thus by estimating the heat of the sun (the earth being originally of the same temperature) and comparing it with the present heat of the earth, it could be told) by assuming a rate of cooling) how long it had taken to cool down thus far. Then as the other planets had come from the sun at the same time with the earth, it could be calculated by the same rules how many ages it still required to cool the larger ones, so as to admit of their being inhabited, and how far the smaller ones were now frozen, so as to have destroyed all animal life.

He accounts for the spherical form of the earth and other planets from their being set in motion while in a semi-fluid state. With Leibnitz, Buffon supposed that the ocean once enveloped the whole earth, covering the highest mountains, and hence the appearance of shells far above the level of the sea. The water afterwards ran into caverns which opened into the earth, and thus the ocean subsided to its present level. Soon after Buffon's theory was published, he received an official letter from the Faculty of Theology, at Paris, dated January, 1751, stating that some of his propositions were reprehensible, and contrary to the creed of the Church. One of these propositions were as follows. "The waters of the sea have produced the mountains and valleys of the land-the waters of the Heavens reducing all to a level, will at last deliver all, over to the sea, which successively prevailing over the land, will leave dry, new continents like those which we inhabit." The objectionable doctrine seems to have been that in the opinion of Buffon, the present mountains and valleys of the earth are due to secondary causes,

and that the same causes will destroy all the continents, hills, and valleys, and re-produce new ones, and so on perpetually, while the scripture doctrine warns us that there shall be an end of all created things, &c.

Buffon was invited to a conference with the Faculty in order to make an explanation, or rather a recantation of his errors. To this he submitted, and having satisfied that body of his Orthodoxy in a written instrument, called his "Declaration," he was required to publish the same in the next edition of his work. This declaration begins thus. "I declare, that I had no intention of contradicting the text of the Scriptures;-that I believe most firmly all therein related about the creation, both as to the order of time and matter of fact; and I abandon every thing in my book respecting the formation of the earth, and generally all which may be contrary to the narrative of Moses," &c.

Kepler's Theory. Kepler, one of the profoundest mathematicians and astronomers the world has ever seen, offered a theory of the earth more singular and whimsical than any of his contemporaries, or predecessors. His notions, indeed are so odd, and void of common sense, that it might be supposed he intended to ridicule his brother theorists, by going beyond them in improbabilities, rather than to offer the world his sober opinions.

Kepler supposed, or pretended to suppose, that the earth contained a circulating vital fluid, and was possessed of living powers—and that a process of assimilation goes on in it as well as in other animals. Every particle of matter, according to him, is alive, and possesses volition and instinct; hence these particles attract and repel each other according to their several sympathies, or antipathies. Thus the particles of water will repel those of oil because they have an antipathy to each other, but each fluid will readily unite with another portion of the same kind because the particles possess mutual sympathies. Each kind of mineral substance is capable of converting masses of other matter into its own peculiar kind, as animals convert their aliment into blood. The burning mountains are the respiratory organs of the globe; and the slates are the organs of secretion, as the glands are those of the animal. The slates decompose the waters of the ocean, in order to prepare its elements to produce earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The metallic veins in the strata