pofe in fuch numerous burÿi'rig places ; -How ' many ages would*
have been requriite to render them fo very frequent, and how-
many more to raife front their level the hilld and eminences,.,
under the bafès, or in ' the :heârts!:'ôf which the bohes lie in*
heaps?’ And in what age dan tve imagine that thofe countries-
were inhabited*by’a‘ nation,1 that pve-eiciftéd the fondation o f
the marine'hills; and iflandsf which in*our dajft are feen in the
Adriafick ?
i
I 'am far fr&rh venturrng-’io-give my opinion- about the origin
o f fo ftVaitgé a phenomenon;- and ibould indeed be quite at a
Iofs h ow to give it, as every conjecture, that I can think of;
is eÿpôfed to“-finarifwerable -objeftionsi I f I .could; like foma
who hâve treated fimilar fubjeôs, attributed all the organifed foffils.
.to a ' lüfüs httü roe f by* following' the facred footfteps o f the venc-
rable ignorance o f the fchools; I. might difpatch the explication
' o f this or-any othèr phenomenon, in a few words;- only by faying
they were effects o f the flood, Volcano’s, or earthquakes;.
Notwithftanding the good philofbphy, and phyfical' obfervations
o f this age, there are ftill fome, who,, in treating, o f a point of
natural hiftory, either give toomuch fcope to a. warm, or prejudiced
imagination, or follow implicitly the ftate and unphilo-
fophieal dodtrinesof the thirteenth, çen-tury ;. but I am not willing
tçvpuî. myfelf among, theft ,qunj her,: in order to.ihorten dif-
cuftions. I knpyv. well, that, hyr,haftily forming,, or adopting,
fyftems, philofopher$ often, wrong theft own genius, as- vy.ell!
as the truth, and,, on the. other hand, am convinced, that the
author o f nature is. not capricious in his works, and that the
found philofophers o f pur. times laugh at plaftick powers, and
! archetypal ideas, or ftich like fcholaftick barbarifms.
I think,
■■I think, that, in treating of extraordinary phenomena, hard
to be explained, and liable to difficulties, on all fides, the beft
method that-can be taken by any perfon who u the iirft to
write . purpofely concerning them, ,-is to relate fimply, and to
defcribe, with the ntoft .^crupujoqs and .-exaft precifton, every
-thipg.he has fecn-or obferved on the'fuhjeCl., ,,Every body is at
.liberty, afterwards, to explain, them his own way, either according
to the fy items o f others, - or by fome new- bvpothefis
formed on purpofe. For my part, I am perfectly convinced,
that I have not the ncceffiify data for a latisfaétory explanation,
and therefore will not hazard a conjefture concerning the ancient
origin of the Iilyric foiiil hones,; . but at the, lame time , am very
ready to attend to any perfon who will undertake,, to iolve my
,-doubts,; T.hefe, foflll bones,, are,, in my opinion,., one., o f .the
moll important objects about.-which the learned cuiiofity o f the
naturalifts can he employed ; and it were to be wifhed, that
fome o f them, .led by genius, would give,us an account how
far, precifely . thofe ftrata reach over all Dalmatia, and .the illands
-of the Levant. ,
• O f the Nature o f the Marble, and PetrifaSlions.
The foflll bones, enclofed in the lapideous earth before de-
Tcfibed, are not the’-only lithològical ctìrió'fity ó f';the iflatid o f
■Chbfd and Ofero, and thofe ddjfeent to if.! : The nature o f the
marble, of which they arèalrnoft hvhollycompdfed from the top
to the bottom, merits particular attention. They are differently
organifed, and 'the tompòhenf paris°qf- the various ftrata
are alfo combined with fome divémìy'; and fome-times a fmàll
diffimilitude may be obferved between the' parts o f th'd fame
ftratum, at any cònfidèrahlè diftancé the one froth the^òth'efr
M m m 2 but