know, arc maffifellly-produced, either by-volcano’s, which haver
burnt in almoft every region o f our Globe j or by the fea,'
which in part ages covered it altogether, or alternatively ; or
by the lea and volcanois at the fame time. * And it appears not
improbable, that the moil: ancient protuberances of our globe
were much more vail and regular, though quite different from
the ftru&ure o f thole we now fee.
Concerning the other ideas of Bourguet, who after having-
eftabliihed obfervations bylino meansi'exa<ft, imagined by way
o f .corollaries the pail, ftate o f the'earth, and found the pre-
cife time, o f-th e deluge,' (as i f there had been but one} and
then pretended'!to. forfee | the fubfequent alterations and tranf"
formationsahat are to happen in it, 1 think it needlefs to take
any . further notice. ,=Syftems> and theories referable hitherto,
andi are like to refemble in time coming, (till.a fufficient number
o f good observations are made) unripe fruit, which fpoils
in a fliort time. That of Bourguet feems to have found more
partifans then it deferved, and feveral o f them have gained
themfelves: no: honour by adopting it. It was fufficient, indeed,
to flay: in their chambers, and to theorife at their eafe,
on good geographical maps, concerning the truth o f the propofition
* In the eelebrated mountain of Boha fituated 'in the Veronefc territory,
the cp-exifts(ice pf the.. ie^ and of anc ient volcanos is mapifeftly ¡cell. In our
times, that is in thebe^ining^of this century, the ifland or rock of Santerini
was railed out o f the-bottom, of the fea by a volcano,, Iii the valley HMfjil
betweeniV-ice!.iza:;and Verona; the Tides’ o f ’ ¿he hill fliew the ftrata alternately
formed of the fpoils of the fea, and o f vulcanic eructations and the petrified
ihelis, that are found there,, are often tinged with black and drenched
in bitumen, and the largeft ojlrarita lie involved in the lava and are full of it.
pofition that the fd e s o f the large vallies, as well as thofe. of, the
fo r e s o f the fea, correfpond with one another ; an'd I who have
taken the trouble to examine many o f them, am perfuaded,
that neither the fd es o f the fea fo r e s, nor thofe o f th'e .large-, valties,
confantly correfpond with one another.
The data of the iilands o f Cherfo and Ofero ate very regularly
formed. They pafs from one hill to another with a kind
of undulation, which probably has been, nay .doubtkls has been,
the work o f a vail Ocean. The ifland is too old, ,and’has
undergone too great a number o f changes, as well as the reft
o f the globe, for us to form any certain judgment concerning
its fuperficies. It is certain, however, that no veftige now
remains o f the ancient - fuperficies, as even the order o f the
organization is altered in the inland parts, as well as on the
fea coaft. The rain waters, the fubterraneousa cavities, the
abforptions, and fometimes more fubitaneous agents,; have imade
great ruins. The waves waffi away and dfcilroy fome o f the
littoral hills ; and hence the obfervation o f the ftrata that remain
expofed to the eye t on the exterior part o f the ifland,
are enough to embarrafs any ffiafty fabricator o f fyftems. Some
o f them are inclined towards the fea, and, from root to, root
o f the hilb, defcribe arches bending outwards : but this direction
is not conilant. Here and there, contiguous to the
arches bending outwards, other arches are feen, which bend;
in a contrary fenfe, inwards, marlifeftly oppofing themfelves
to the waves.'with a kind o f pride, The explanation o f this
faft is, however, not difficult, though it might feem contradictory.
T h e littoral hills in thofe parts, particularly thofe o f
Ofero, are formed o f marble ftrata, the one difpofed above the
other in fuch a manner, as refembles, in large, the ftru&ure
o f