78 YffeN A T * J R A L H I S T O R Y '
the fea now proftrate at thé foot and mountains* was’ raifed
and enabled to roverflow the higheft hills and afterwards gradually
laid down to reft m- it-s ufual bed. r T ias is a part of naturafbaftory
too e^tenfive to* be thoroughlydifcuffed here, let it fuflcetahin t,
what may one dine or other, perhaps, be proved to thöfatisfas£ttön'of
the curious;) I advance it only as a conjedure at prefent, that it being
determined . to extirpatethe human race, except one family, bgroyejtti
flowing the earth with water, the fea was the appointed iarifrument
o f deftru«aion j that in order to raifefhe Sea to a fufficiertt height,
the bottom, the bed, the qhanels of the fea, were to be lifted up, and
the wrinkles o f the earth finoothed; that when the divine decree was
accomplilhed, the .lame, firft, almighty eaufe, which conduced the
Waters to their nepeflaiy height, withdrew that power which occa-
fiqned the eleyatjon, and the chanek of the lea retreated again to
their wonted level: - - - -B u t this Return;was not "uniform, exaéfc*
and unjverfel hi .all parts of the world* but general, andi'Éïfeiént
to all the purpofes of animal and vegetable life j confequently* far
the greateft part o f the up-lifted bottom, returned to the place from
whence it came ), part refted in it s mofl elevated ftation, hence-the
lands, pebbles, and fhclls, on the higheft hills j part funk fomewhat,
tho fbme hundred yards fhort o f it’afbrmer depreffion, as was the cafe
at St. Agnes hill, and part funk till it came within a few feet of the
common level o f the fea, whence the pebbles*’ fands, and fhingle
of Por nanvon elifls, and places which exhibit the like remarkable
phenomena, arc found fo near full-fca mark.
This method a f railing thé fea watèrs*föas to deluge the earth,
will appear at firft fight* I imagine, too. operofe and unnatural to
be chofen by an all-wife agent) it may be fo* but; jet hè enlarge
our conceptions, let it be considered, that the higheft mountians are
no greater prominencies from the furface o f dur globe, than the duft
upon a globe of one foot diameter; that the .fe irho deeper than the
furrows, nor the mountains higher above the earth* than the ridges in a
Iheet of paper. Suppofing then thefe furrows to contain a fufficiency
o f water, and a determined refolution to make that water overwhelm
the ridges of this paper for awhile) would it not prefently
occur, and feem the eafieft and moft eligible method to raife thefe
furrows fo as that the möifture contained might overflow fuch ridges,
and. afterwards, by letting them drop again, to reftore both the
ridges and furrows to their firft intended) fituation ? The diligent
enquirer (befides the feafibility of this method, and the egre-
gious.abfurdities of arrabyfs, apertures, difruftions o f the J.hell, and the
Hke, which are the infuperable difficulties of all other fchemes for fup-
plying water fufficient to deluge the whole earth) will recoiled; a
great variety of phenomena in the prefent ftrudure of the earth,
which
m C ° R N W A L L . 79
which will ferve to elucidate and eftablifh this hypothefis. -
£ t dfor aCCOUnÜng f j g e r e n t levels in Which we find
h e jh k ;«may not.he awifs tofay fomething of their origin, h J g h t,™ ™ ^
^ j f P™Portlon that height bears to the diameter of the g g l
T ^ ^ ^ a m ^ tp e rh a p s ^ m e exeufeWe, b e e a u feW
^mifica l theoafis hav;e.reprefente4 Mountains as of hideous height
. deforming the^ph* unfit to proeegdfrom the hand of God, 2 d
qnly fop m m of? the »antediluvian world. I fbaft not
here detain the reader with-the various opinions of the learned on
m , t b e ^ &npk 9nd brief ac-
S r ! nW£ bel\ fuit M appear to the candid mofl agree,
abte to the ordin^^e^erarions of nature. . 6
I J ^ ntains ^ y be divided (as-fends have been before) into natural
^ d fedmoui, or jjrtg primawa},,and thofe o f a later date. The
factitious,;^ cfoer the, hidden - effééts of earthquakes, (or the more
throw up fiieh quantities of WÊÈMil and aihes, ^ rai&. firft heaps, then-kills, den moun-
t o : rThfefe aro riot what Lwquld treat o f heret othe queftion
as the Alps, the Appennines* the Andes*
and mountains were, generated,, and came to. exceedfo
much ip height the adjacent lapds;
.rrfoefo.it be granted* that the materials, or elements of which our ^ “ "ftif
K ? that the princlP~
f or É | i a^d fluid bodies exifted at the fame time but dif at * * in i
perfed) that the ftony particles were intermixed with earth both dif-
g W i water that thefire dnd air alfo were included in the general
toafs. T W a s the firft ftate of our glob©, the chaos of the more leam-
C part of the;h^then world* confirmed by the Mofaieal account of
the creation:* and agreeable to the appearances of natural bodies, where
we find earth mdofed m ftone, one fort of ftone in another, theftrata
divided by fofores fomp, lighte^ftrata underneath, and feme hea- •
vier above g | thefe P M the little diforderly mifplacings • which
C° ; ? ? ,but from a feafs including the unconneöed
parts of fuch a variety of bodies. - When things were to be reduced D-ided and
mto order, -the folids were preadapted by thé divine power to form “ “
tiie foundation, or, die ftiffnings p i may fo fay) o f the globe j ftones
nxed tnemfelves, by their own gravitation in the loweft parts of the
the rp.ee f t
earth.