OF
BY G. H. TOULMIN, Ml. D
BOSTONJOSIAH P.   E NDU M,
1854.








I NTRO DUCTION,
IN writing upon. a subject extensive and important
in its nature, so nearly interesting to every denonmination of men, and upon w7hich nothing satisfactory
has hitherto been offered to the world, the Author is
sensible that he has engaged himself in an arduous
und.ertalring. At a period when a liberality of sentiment predominates; when men, emerging from  obscurity, eagerly relinquish the errors and prejudices of
their ancestors, something  on the present subject
seemed absolutely necessary to give still greater consistency to th  reasonigs and speculations of mankind.
To impress us with an adequate idea of the nature
and extent of animal and vegetable life, the continual
fluctuation of things, the antiquity and duration of
the extended senres of existence, is the object of the
succeeding disquisition. Its intention will however
be still mnore essentially answered, if while obviating
the erroneous conclusions which too universally prevail, in respect to the antiquity of surrounding objects,
it gives a newa and clearer insiht into the nature of
existence.
We have sought for truth, not in. the opinions of
mankind, but in every step have been guided by plain
sense and simple matter of fact. Nor can there exist
a doubt, that, by thus giving a scope to cool and lib



itX I N T R 0   U Ci T              1uC    o N.
eral investigation, the intterests of the human species
have been essentially consulted.  To what ptlurose
can it beX that the errors of dai  ages  should. cramp
the reasomni g-s of menl who live in a time whe-in everything is so muich reverssed,'Trutrh nleve injre.ls  ankind. Ignorance, obscurity, and super'stiti        on aseo,
en-gender the evils that disturb society.  in this inqui
ry wee have  then attempted to trace, not from reasonias purely metaphysical, but foin th-e most tudonbet-b
ed factse trhe remote existence ofani  animl  a   - vegtable
lifen and of the world itself.  How far such inte-ntion
h;as been. anssweered is left to the re-ader's, determ1tinta-.
lion
Here it must however be confessed that,  ndep ed-,eno f the considerticns already  enumerated  the
Atithor  has in view  other objects, n'eary conrnetet
with  the design of this periormnance.  The ba ref tl
and glooi my influence of Gothic barbarismnl  and superstition upon the understanding s and  lorals of  malkind, have been perhaps too  sparingly touached upon.
The disagreeable effects of m  istaken zeal and opinions, indeed, can scarcely be placed in too strikn g a
point of view,  In short, the manners of society have
been, and are still, most materially injured by circumstances,  whh'ich thet outcry of foly would deem essential to the existence of society itself,
Happy then shall he esteem  himself, if the few
succeeding observations have but a tendency to shake
the fixed prejudices of his fellow creatures: to asssnage
the remnaining' turbulence of ignorance and error, adn
thus to smooth the way to that refinement which essentially contributes to the peace, safety, and welfaire
of the'human species.




PUBLISSHES PREFACE.
THE author of the " Antiquity and Duration of the World')
and of the " Eternity of the Universe,;  was among- the first so
to reason correctly of the properties of matter as to lay the foundation of the SCINCE oF GE.OLOGY.  Reasoning forom those facts
which accident had disclosed, as to the com position of the face
of the earth, he reared in his capacious mind the noble structure
of the "; Antiquity and Duration of the Wortld   and finally asserted its ETERNITY I   The beauty of that structure consists in
the circumstance that the architect has nowhere resorted to the
phantasmal aid of supernatural power; but, like a trule SON oF
SCIENCE, has made his foundation of the substantial realities of
existing things.  Words to him were nrot/hig.g, unless they referred
him to something to be seen, felt, and reasoned upon.
Since the tim.e at which Mr. Toulmint wrote, the SCENCc o)F
GEOLOGr has made great progress; but, boundless as matter ilself, it will be the source of never ceasing discoveries, and ever
exist in the character of an  nation of fcts and theories. The
Geologist of this day may go so far in assertion as to warranlt all
the  nemclusions drawn by our author'but to speak of the primary
growth of planets in. a positive tone is not yet to be warranted.
Mr, Toulmin seems to rest upon their' EIRITtY. thnt they alwayI'
were nearly what they now are atnd that changs on the surfac.
form their only cange's.
An ingenious author of a Twork about a cenCtury old, uder the
title of i; Telliamedd' concltuding that wa tter is a comlumon parent
of fixed matter, accounts for the growth of planets upon that
principle, and their final ignition and exhaustion as SUns.: Telliamred"  is a most useful book to be read after the works of
Toulmin.
Discoveries on other grounds, such as the polarity of light and




eV             P t  B 1. I SE S 1I E 3A1  S P    t E F A 0 E.
heat, that heat or fire is a concentration of motion; that all liqfuids
as well as s;,lids  may be heated to combustion by this concentra.
lion of motioni  go to support the conclusion th.at a sunt is a planet
of imnense size, with its atmosphere in a state of combustion,
from its and nature and rapid central ml otion.
The inquiries of Toulmia are confined to the visible ctang'es
on the suritce of the earth; and, happily, he -was not so blind as
to attribute he whole to one fabled universal deluge. HeariLng
of discoveries of houses, trees, ships, and other waorks of nature
and of art, at variousi and great depths in the earth   seeing dis
ferent strata of different kinids of natter regularly placed one over
the other to any depth that might be penetrated  hearing of isl
ands rising and sinking in the ocean through volcanic means;
seeing the beds of rivers changed, the sea retiring  from some
places arnd encroaching on others; seeing' and hearing of such
changes on the face of the earth, he attributes the whole to one
regular and natural power, and proclaims its perpetuity.  In matter and its motions he discovers the causes of all the changes he
beholds, sees it to be of necessity what it is; and,  watiing' no ex,
terior or designing aid to superintend its changes and operatiions,
he proclaims its self-reguiating power. If he finlds exhatusing
fires in the bowels of the earth, he perceives a cortin.nal concretionm on its surface, and proclaims that exhaustion in one part is
but addition in another, making, in- the agngregate, no perceptible
diffterenee in its size.  Sinkings of surfhce fill up internal ex.
haustions~ and internal exhaustions supply the chasms made by
the sinking  of surfaces, All is motion   all i ehange; but all is
aggregately the same. Every distinct strata has been a surIface
and every particle  like a portion of the centre and of the surface. Every part of the surface has been alternately the bed of
the sea, a proof of which is exhibited i. the marine strata found
at various depths in that part of the earth whitch is now dry land;
for these strata could not have been ifonrmed by any singl  though
universal, d eluge.
It is common,- even with Geologists, to attribute the phenoinena
and disorders of the surface of the earth to such a dlelum-ue as
the Jewishb book fables, but that one deluge will not accounlt for
the diterirent strata to be seen, and for the ancient rem'tins of na



B L  S H        E   S  P  E FACE.              ii
ture and. art found at such various depths in the earth.  The sciences of Geology  uld Astronomy must be united to account for
such phenomena, the one considering the earth as a substance,
its qualities, &e., the other its motions and the influences of other
planets upon it.
The writings of Mr. Touhmin will always bear to be read, and
alike delight and instruct. The subject will be interesting to all
future generatiols of mankind, and for the purpose of preservation it is desirable that their circulation be extensive, They have
been comparatively in a suppressed state for nealy forty years;
for it is not to be supposed but that edition after edition of such
works would have been sold if they had been printed.
RICHARD CA)  LILE,
Dorch.ester Gaoe, (EBg,,) September  10, 1824t








SECTION L
MANlINDL fix contradictory dates to the first existence of the
wolld; their confused ideas as to the origin of it. Fabulous
first parents; a lireal descent traced f-rom them. The task of
commenting upon ridiculous opinions declined.  Reasons whyl
misltaken opinions are countelnanced.  The real philosopher
above the censures of the wor!d.,  Superstiton in10compatible
wvith sound moralitySECTION IL
PLA.  of carrying on the inquiry. Fleeting traditions of mrankind
considered.  Mexicans;  rude effrlts towards registering their
ideas, Fluctuation of human society. Learning' of the Greeks
and Pommans in danger of perishing. Mechanical arts essentially dependent upon literature. Pyramrids of Eg'ypt and writteln'nountai-s of Arabia  monuments of an enli htened people.
Europeans; their barbarous impressions.  Clnhiese and Inlian
pretensions to antiquity. JRude sketches of a creation among'
thte Gentoos; their chroinology.  Rajah Prickut: history of India, written by a Bramin a.t his request.  Barbarous nations hiat
subverted the Roman Empire   their crude iotions of antquity
persevered in.
SECTION tIL
ExISTNP;  records  their limited antiquity.  Art of writing, subject to unspealable finctuation. Nations, wi hout wrix'enl  traces'
sink into oblivion. Conclusions from  lradii ion. i Hurman- species; no time to be assignled to the beginniig of their existence~
SECTION IV,
NATURAL facts essential t t to t is inuairs., anld vegetlales., 
thleir vestices in di.ffrent species of stl ne anld otlher mattier 
the little u1s'e made of sutcch appearances  iheir impnnortance 1i
philosophy.  Isle of Caldey; its rema rkl.t le limestolne. Iron
and coal 0    their origin. Slow production of vegelable soil;  the




X                         C 0 N T E N'T S.
riti of siofrnlar earth-s.  Vestes  orf lon-g extiaitse  volcanoes, everywhere met with.  islmci.d of iscla fountded oi lava:,
Ierna-rkable a..piea.ra. ces near a eoa'vent in Ita ly,
SEaTION V.
YOLCANo.e: th'-e ktnowled e of their operal.o: s x51y(t   ni cessary, —Prdlig'iou-s qlatl tity of na.tter 1htrowi  out by an.f er-ption of
/JEitla   A  oini., —}. iarges  quantity d' is1chasrg)ed n1 n tke p1ovmice of
Pe u.  IstiAtlds ofc Azores rise, fro- n the bottom)- of t;e seas. Sir —
ilar o0cc0al0enaes at  aIitnla.. A stone f-tlg'by at eri.t)itoa to a
ren-rtarkalble di-sta'Rce:..    laereiane'n t ailf  Potrnpei7 overwheslmen'
by er0uptios of V esuvius,  Appea-ralces belov' the surface of:
the ea.rth at Bruges.  City' of M]odelna... cur1ious beds of -matter
m-et with i. its neighlborhood. The. ue    oft such n matm'al fia:ts
SECTION V I
GEtr iKS  ROMrtna  Ts Ergyptians, and AsiatloS' relefictions conieemringl
th      Cote  te             o tie    he - world   sbiecr tob gradtt}a  thir, aiiox
rldI deca,. a     is -tell  ats  b  als  hey proiduce,.  Itmportax-l
relvluO.tions o-f aottu.e >ith.terito little unde-rstood.
S:-CTIUON VII.
THE ptrecedingr  arnd suoCee-eemii    t ficts whtiy selectede friom: a m-tltitl.eo  o o tf olhelrs   still les bsto   a ai.eiled  t  than the reasonain-'s
thsey suest,  Derbys: ire  itst natural  prod uctions,  Dad ey.
Moo r; desrtip-tion of i t satdy stoilei cl.ay  li et  toie   - ancd lava,
Petrif i-ed crocodite dis-cveredd.  Lim estone var iegated. w;ith
im'aress ions of sea, fi hes,  Siagelda.r referenee of sucha  facts to
aatliquity,  -Bes of argillaceous stone     an. coal   occur int: so1me
districts:v'er beds5 of sandv stone, clay,, itimestone, anid  at1va:.
swtallowed up bvy earthquakes in the neitio hbooo  of Darley-t
Moor,  Remaias 1o itf lad  vegetabkles petrified   in arlgoliaceous-t
s3 1t  e 5 a proof of a Ion'  series of veg etaytionu
SECTION  1'VI1.,ONCLUS t0ns drawtti frrom the preceding fai cts  Thte ]hum-ian. speies' perhaps neiver Lmaterially more or less n.tml-rous  than at
p-resent; their bo)es met v itha  i thie IRock of Gibraltar,  Sti-re
i.ar rappeara.nces i  Dalriatiar Rema ins  of an e'lephat petri-,
fied irn Flitntshilre-    Other such occaurrences in dilferent parts of
Europe.  Stone  its gradutal formaion;   - brou.g'ht in testimony'
of a vast rsuccesion of events,  The infi h ence of supcerstition.,
SECTION  IX..'~sARtiE, litestone, ch'alk, &c,; supporsed to be perodtets of se
a;niimaIs adt ve';ables.t' Ot e Ir  -iids of stone aind eart.h  contee;ures concerning them-.  Substanes changed  petrify      i i'l1
waters.  Emperor of tGenranry  his curiosi'ty  ca.uses piles of'
wood to be drawt1   out of the Dab       rogress    petdfa cti




CONTENTS'                               xi
SECTION X.
ERRONEous conjectures of malkind,  Mineral substances; how
produced; their ores scattered in fragments by earthquakesj
constantly forming in fissures and caverns of rocks.'he fissures and caverns surrounded by matter replete with animal
impressions. Air and water; their fluidity to what owiig.-~
Quicksilver congealed by cold.  Fluctuating state of air. Wa
ter productive of earth; enters largely into the composition of
solid bodies.
SECTION XI.
ALL existing substances gradually formed.  Mountains' their
elevations; their constituent parts gradually formed, and in
time decay.  No modification  of existence  exempt from
change. Nature subject to perpetual revoludions; her forms
ever exist equally numerous.
SECTION XI1.
Ttni  disordered face of nature accounted for,  Earthquakes;
their influences.  Lisbon destroyed; mines in Derbyshire affected by the same convulsion.  Earthquake at Jamaica;  ort
Royal sunk; the adjacent country violently agitated.  Pico of
the Moluccas swallowed up.  Many of the vast mountains of
the Andes (isappetar. Vestiges of earthquakes everywhere
visible;'furnishing ideas of an amazing succession of events,
Transmutation of substances further considered.
SECTION XIII.
REIFLEcCTONS concerning the ocean; deposites everywhere its
productions;  changes situation; overwhelms many habitable
parts of the  lobe  leaves districts it once occupied, that become scenes of vegetation.  Causes that bring about these
revolutions.
SECTION XIV.
CH.aN:E suspected to take place in the latitudes of the countries 
its suplpoled efect upon the ocean. Tropical productions found
petrified. in the northern. reygions. The probable effects of such
a change if once admitted.  Marine productions enumerated 
many countries constituted of such productions. Astonishing
quantity of shells met with in Touraine.  Fossil shells, fishes,
&c., proved to be remains of animals; no testimony of an universal inundation.  Islands; reflections concerning thenm.
Continents; have been buried ia and have emerged from  the
ocean. Observations on the Islands of the South Sea.
SECTION XV.
INSTANCES of seas changing their stations; ntay be observed by
inhabitants of sea-coasts. Seaports formerly celebraited, now




xii                     CONT ENTS.
forty nmiles removed from the sea. Port of Vineta overwhelmed
by the Baltic.  Encroachments of the sea on the land of Norway. A citadel of the Romans buried in the ocean. Estates
of the Earl of Godwin covered by an inundation. Dreadful de,
vastalions in the neighborhood of Dost and Dullart. Half of
Friezland overwhelmed by the sea. Traditions conerning the
Atlantic islantd   Stories of uiiversal inundations; not iounded
in fact. Melancholy effects resulting from credulity in Europe.
SECTION XVI,
TROPICA.L productions found in great abundance petrified ia
northern regions. Tropical cpillary plants and ferns; elephants crocodiles, sharks; tropical shell-fish, &c. all petrified
in northern parts of Europe generated, lived, and died ina the
districts where their petrifactions occur. Reflections concerning such appearances.
SECTION XVII.
ENpnEss succession of events reverted to. Maitter nowhere at
rest. Lands and seas composed of particles in eternal fluctuation. Formation of the various substances in nature  their
transmutations.
SECTION XVIIT
CONCLUSIONS concerning animals vegetables, and fossils. Rev.olutions that the globe is subject to from  volcanoes' earthquakes, &c., &c. Generation, decay, petrifaction. and other
tIransmutations of animals and vegetables. Changes produced
by the operation of the ocean,
SECTION XIX,
NAT.noN without written observations; their limited knowledget
Others possessed of written tracts; profit but little by this advantage. Errors industriously propagated; their effects upon
society.  Inhabitants of a celebrated portion of the globe;
their contracted notions as to the worlds antiquity; many of
them influenced by superstition; enemies to liberal'nvestigaa
ation. Nature immutable in her operations. Existence of the
human species, of boundless antiquityv
SECTION XX.
CAusE of some erroneou conclus   ions of mankind. Infinite fiuen
tuation of beinlgs and events.  Existing substances; their
perpetual changes one into another.  Order and uniformity
preserved throughout the whole of nature. Magnificence of
the world; no argument against its eternal existence; the
strongiest testimony in favor of it. All the parts of natur ever
have and will exist,




ANTIQUIJT   AND DURATION
OF
THE I OLD
SECTION  I.
THE tradittions cone g   an  rginal formation
of things have ever been connected with the various
opinions of mankind.  Nor exists there any people
without some confused ideas as to the circumstances
of the world, and Nature's first existence.
Thrown into the mysterious scenes of life, passing
themselves, through the state of infancy to the different stages of their being, it became unatural for
mankind to dive into the boundless ocean of inquiry,
in search of the infancy of worlds.  Unequal  however to thie task of reasoning pertinently, on a matter of
such intricate investigation, they heedlessly adopt, the
reigning principles. Unfortunately, the oral traditions
of the unpolished, and the written tracts of the civilized parts of the human species, in tlhse particulars,
have an equal pretension to refinement. Descending
to the minutest circumstances, the sages of various
countries fix with certainty the epoch of 1te ext.raordinary birth; and in doing this, they diametrically
contradict one another.




~2          THITE ANTIQUITY AND
Witht  gravity can  they  tell us the place where
TNature took first her origin; intinmately are they acquainted with the actors in the scene.  They know
the duration, the little incidents of their lives.  They
draw  from  circumstances of their conduct the most
important conclusions, and they trace their own lineal
descent from their first imaginary parents. In short,
these events are fixed. either in the traditions or the
written histories of their respective countries' with a
chronological precision.
Nor is it to be wondered at, if the strangest incon -
sistencies occur in all these narrations, Fabricated in
the rude infancy of society, they contradict, in an uncommon degree, the plainest and most simple truths
of nature. And the sensible inquirer, from  a thousand sources, is sufficiently convinced of the little dependence, which otght to be placed upon rude contradictory assertions.'The vague stories, then,  f -nations concerning the
origin of worlds, should be ranked but amtong the
grossest errors of mankind.   They only  serve to
show us tlhe operations of the human mind in a barbarous age, the superstitious folly that predominated.
How disagreeable then would be the task of a tedious
comment upon the dreamls and superstitions of illiterate barbarians 
Content, in the course of the succeeding observations, to place the matter in its just point of view, I
decline the unnecessary task of canvassing the particulars of ridiculous opinions, however unliversally rece'ived.
Here let me observe, that this s done out of a principle widely different from  -that which actuates the




DURIATION OF THZE WORL,                 S3
mass of writers. Staggered with the idea of contradicting notions so generally adopted, and which long
have been disguised under the mask of an elevated
authority; possessed  of some gothic and prevailing
ideas, that the essential security for virtue and good
morals is universal ignorance and stlperstition; perhlaps inluenced not a little by the dread of the censures of the prejudiced part of mankind, whose very
censure and. disapprobation, if they reflect anythintr,
reflect distinguished lustre; in short, to avoid ima.ginary stains upon their character, men,  otherwise sensible, and even liberal in their sentiments; upon these
occasions giveo o the errors of delusion too ready an
assent.  They sufer themselves to be carried away,
at the expense of reason and sound judgment, by the
torrent of heriditary folly, and the vuilgar prejudices.
But the case is very different with the real philosophe.  Regardless of the voice of falsehood and. of
folly, he listens with rapture to that of nature and of
truth, utnder whatever circumstances they may be cornealed,  HIe is well convinced that men are invariably
virtuous, in proportion as they have clear perceptions
of things; that the true principles of morals neither
can be practiced, enforced, nor untderstood, in   a  ge
of barbarism  and superstition; that the human species, in such ineli ible circumstances, mtistake the real
objects of happiness or virtue; and, so ftr fromn  protecting or enlivening the moment of existence, precipitate themselves into gloomy melancholy or headlong
destruction. In short, hte is most full.v satisfied, that
nothing can be either beattifutl or est.im.able, which
has not for its basis the solid foundatio'ns of nature
and of truth.




4               Flz   NrTHE ANTIQUITY AND
SSC'TION  UTo
TnIsu have I industriously avoided c ommnentig
minutely upon the opinions of this or that country, in
respect to an original formation of things; and in doing this, have deviated from a prevailing custom. To
investigate a subject in the simple track of reason and
of nature, has scarcely been esteemed sufficient.  Solicitous formally to confute the doctrines of others,
which nlight seem  to clash with their own, writers
have too often sacrificed the perspicuity of their subject to tedious and uninteresting controversy.
Mankind, indeed, when once possessed of notions
though of the most absurd nature, are apt to think
themselves injured and  eglected, by passing in silence their respective opinions.  But I think it will be
readily granted me, that some opinions are best treated with contempt.
When men obviously forsake the simplest truths of
nature-when they become bigotedly attached to a
favorite system, or to some reingnilg superstiotion what
arguments can counteract their obstinacy! what energy of truth or reason enforce conviction   To point
out their absurdities, but rivets them- in their errors;
seriously to confute them, is a fruitless labor.
The antiquity of the world, of animated nature,
and the extended scenes of existence, I shall, then,
without further ceremony, endeavor to investigate,
From the obscure lights of human tradition,-and
From an attentive examination of the various productions, which nature has presentet to our inspectioan
In this division of our subject into distinct heads,




DUitATION OF THE WO{RLD.                 t
it seems nYecessary to direct our first'atttention to the
fleeting traditions, the testimonoy of the human species.  Let us then inquire into the manner of receiving such testimony, or such traditions, fron  distant
ages.
The arts of all others unquestionably the most important those of registering ideas through the miedium:
of literary characters, and thus coveying interesting
facts to posterlity would seem, from  limited observations, to have had their origin in the.East, Yet the
reasonings throughout this inquiry will make -us hesitate in determining whether this has really been the
case. At all events, it must evidently appear to a per.son who has been accustomed to examine into human,ature,  with  n attentive and, penetrating- we,  that
these valuable acquisitions could not at any time. in
any country, nor among any collection of individuals,
have possibly been attained until after a long series of
civilized exertions   And when such civilizatiot once
is attained, to what unspeakable fluctuations is it subject! 3Many ages are men knit together in society,
before considerable improvements of any sort take
place; but ere the refinement of registering ideas, peraps an essential cause of maan's superiority in the
scale of nature, can ever be supposed to have had
existence, the arts of social life must have been emiinently advan)ced
In proof of this, the Mexicans, who ha d gone some
considerable length in many of the arts of polished
society, had yet made no farther progress in the art
of writing, than that of delineating, with various colored feathers, the objets which they w ishe  d to represent.




.6          9     iTH.RE ANTIQUITY AND
What  then can we possibly expect to know. with
any certainty, of history or antiquity ere this epoch.?
Knowledge derived from written observations, by the
intelligent mlanl is received with the utmost diffidence
and caution.  But the accounts of things which flow
from  a distant tradition are well known  to be the
most glaringly absurd, and to bring scarce aglimmer"
ing of truth to remote descendants~
Here then, evidently; is seen the impossibility of
coming at any essential knowledge of the matter in
question, from the source of human tradition.
But, independent of that absolute necessity of an
extended civilization, to give even the minutest origin
to the art of writing or registering of ideas, a little
knowledge of the world is sufficient to convince us,
that human. society has been, and is still, in a continued revolution.  Empires rise and fall brarbarism and
civilization, knowledge and superstition, riches and
poverty, alternately succeed  each other. Is it possible then for us, from a limited experience, to fix with
assurance,  what events have happened, may or -may
not be expected'   Can we, amid daily revolutions,
look backwards or forwards for but a few nrilions of
years, and fix with the shadow  of probability the
state of arts and sciences, or of human, society at such
periods?  And what, let me ask, are millions of years,
compared with the endless periods of eternal duration?
The literary advances of the present day may fade,
from incidents totally unforeseen.. Our boasted civilization, at some future period, may no longer exist. It
is well known that the learning  of the G(reeks and
Roman: as was in danger of entirely perishing, by the
inundations of barbarous nations. Fortunatelyb how"




xDURATION  OF'THE WORLUI D
ever, somre few monuments of their literary aceomplishments have been preserved to us. Yet, had these
convulsions continued a little longer —-had  the-y been
but a little more violent, should we have known wlhat
had passed among those celebrated nations, even. a
few centuries before us, and in the vicinity of our native country'  The Romans and the Greeks were but
of yesterday, and we, by the merest accident in the
world, know a few of their transactions.
That the mechanical arts depend essentially rupon
the state of literary refinement, will be readily granted.
Could a people, then, be deprived of the latter without
a considerable decay of the former? Yet, when slight
circumstances of improvement accidentally spring up
among a barbarous people, it is natural for fable and
tradition to ascribe to them  a much later origin thuan
the true one.
Sutch, then, are the very slippery foundations for the
inconsistent arguments of those, who, tunTIing their
attention to the momientary transactions of Greece
and Rome, lose sight of the transactions of every surrounding nati.on, and of the uni.form and unldeviating
operations of nature.
Were I, horwever, in the least disposed to pay any
sort of deference to the dreams of surrounding nations,
or to lay a stress upon reasonings drawn from the testimony of the ignorant part of mankind; did I even
so much as expect to meet with anything in thle ssmall
est degree satisfactory, as to the antiquity of the world,
the human species, or a long continued succession of
events, from such a channel, which nation, let me ask,
of those at present existing, out of thle vast assemblage, has the greatest claim  to so distinguished an
attentioxn  1




8.        ~TH-lS ANTIQUITY  ANDt
How insupera.ble the difficulty even to answer this
simple question  or to fix upon the society of men.
whose written observations lavre survived the wreck
of tilme, or whose records are of the h'ighest antiquity!
Nor, indeed. is it at all essential to our purpose that
we should do so.  The dispute, could it be absolutely
determined, has not the smallest reference to the ob~
ject of our inquliry, the real antiquity of the human
speces  It never can be other than matter of curiosity, and that curiosity.could only point out to us a
collection of individuals, who had an early pretension
to extended refinement.  Antecedet to t hem, other
nations mi.ght, however, still have existed, whvose civiization and whose literature had been absorbed, or
swallowed up, in the convulsions and revolutions of
the world,
The pyramids of Egypt, and the written mountains
of Arabia, were monuments of once an enlightened
people; yet neither do we fully understand the inscriptions upon the former, nor the hieroglyphics upon
the latter.  In all probability these may have a still
juster claim  to antiquity than any written books or
records that are extant. But how strongly must the
flutility of having recourse, on the subject of real antiquity, to the records of mankind appear, since (as
it will be the business of this inquiry to demonstrate)
the very materials of the pyramids, the written rocks
themselves, and even. the mountains upon which such
engravings are visible, have each of them  been as
regularly and progressively formted as were the engravers 3
Th en what are we to think of those Europeans with
whom modern annals have made us acquainted   How




DU       A TION 0F THE W  ORLD              9
li ited have been their knowledge and understandings! I-tfow inexpressibly absurd the oarbarous inmpressions that they have received!  In short, trivial
circumstances alone have turned their eyes and undistinguishable  credulity to channels, from  vwhen-ce
nothing satsfactory can possibly be derived.
The Chinese who have long been established in a
beautiful and regular society, hlave records of that
ancient date, which ought to have staggered such prevailing and such ill-grounded pretensions.  M'.any of
these, indeed, would appear to extend (as it las been
-repeatedly suggested) to an antiquity altogether uni
fatholmable.
Yet thtough the Chinese may seei to have the most
undisputed claim to this remote refine ent, recent observations, and those of a nature the most truly aun'
thentic, have strongly attracted  distinguished  and
merited attention to other Eastern nations.  Writers
of credit and distinction, whose partiuilar situations
in the'East Indies gave the n  access to such intelligence, had long opened to us the nnquestionable antiquity of the people of that country.  Circumstances
have, however, recently transpired, which hold out
lights still more interesting.
The translation of the Gentoo0   lavws evidenly carries so curious a subject, to what some are disposed to
call a singular extent.  Yet such limited antiquity
can never surprise any but those who, from  the general nature of things, hlave not previously been pr.epared to look for some such.sincident.
The judicious translator of these interesting tracts,
struck with the scenes in which hle had been long and
* By Mr Halfhea.




10            TAi E ANTI Qu IT Y AND
intimately conversant, in his preliminary treatise has
made some pertinent observations.
r The Hindoos, as well as the Chinese," sa's he,
"' have ever laid claim to an antiquity infinitely mrore
remote than is authorized by the belief of the rest of
mankinLd   It is certain, however, that these two nations have been acquainted with letters from a very
early period, and that their annals have never  been
disturbed or destroyed by any known revolution. And
though we mlay come to the perusal of their records,
armed with every argument, and fortified even to prejudice against the admission of their pretensions, and
at the same time placing the most implicit reliance
upon the chronology as generally received;  yet their
plausible accounts of those remote ages, and their
undeviating confidence in their own assertions, never
can fail to make some impression, and that in proportion as we gain a clearer insight.
"T uspiClons of a like nature are not totally without
foundation, even in the Western world;. and the conscientious scruples of the historiographer of Mount
AEtna, (as mentioned in a late publication,*) will alwrays be of some waeight in the scale of philosophy~"
Like the rest of mankind, the Gentoos, too, have
rude sketches of a creation. Their fabulous and extravagant narrative obtains among them the most implicit credit, notwithstanding it is evidently replete
witht glaring absurdities.
Though already  I have expressed a fixed determination of avoiding a formal comment upon such vague
and ridiculous opinions, yet a simple narrative of the
notions of these people may serve as a parallel to the
B Brydone's Tour.




DURATION OF THtE WORLD.t,               1.
notions of others.  And, indeed, of all the absurd and
imaginary systems with which we are acquainted, i)
respect to this subject, it carries with it full as much
the face of probability.
Accordng to th eir notions, after the earth and the
heavens were formed, a creature wao produced called
Burmha.  It was this most extraordinary personage
that manufactured mankindl together wilth the iHumerable beasts, birds, vegetables, &c.
The inhabitants of India; however, aspire to a
much more elevated station in the scale of existence
than other nations. whom  they style the reprobate
part of the -human species.  The most distinguished.
of their tribes came from  the mo.uth and from  the
arms of BuIrmha; tihe rest were the Gffsprin;g of his
thighs and of his feet!
Thtus then., are they positive, and as clear as we,
in the existence of things which, in fact, never had
existence.
T-hese people reckon the duration of the world by
four distinct periods.  They admit in the calculation
of its age seven millions two hundred and five thousand years.
It is needless to say  that contjecture must unavoidably have taken place in this enumeration; yet we
cannot here sufficiently admire the sagacity of men,
who, in a point the most truly interesting, approach
something nearer to nature and sublimity, than the
vain and superstitious inhabitants of the WTestern
hemisphere,
" Rajah  Pricktltt,' continues our author, " who,
though ranked as a modern in the records of India,
is yet known to have lived over four thousand years




12              THE ANTIQUITY AND
ago, was no less anxious than modern philosophers
are, to pierce thtrough the obscurity of time, and to
trace the progress of the world from its infancy. At
his instigation, a work was composed by a learned
Bramin, containing the history of India through the
preceding periods, with the succession of the several
Rajahs, and the duration of their reigns.  This curious history still subsists, divided into twelve books
and three thousalnd and twenty chapters."
How  singuTlar, then, must all this appear to men
whose ideas are cramped by the fetters of superstition! who have been  taught from  their infancy to
believe, that Nature is but in the very dawn of her
existence; and that a few thousand years are the utmost extent of her duration; in short, who, incapable
of taling any extended views whatever, dream  but
of those unmeaneinig incidents that have momentarily
preceded their ow n! No sooner, indeed, are they informed that a history still exists, composed upwards
of four thousand years ago, and tha t  t traces mankind upwards through millions of years, than instantly
they revolt at the idea; and, placing a confidence in
the dreams of their ignorant predecessors, are insensible to the voice of reason, ad to the simplest operations of nature. A very small portion of reason and
reflection, one might have thought, should have corvinced mankind that millions of years are but as
moments in duration; that the events that are daily
obvious, are but the ordinary incidents that ever have
happened, and ever will happen. Yet still is it echoed
by the barbarous nations that trilumphed over the
more refined civilization of Greece and Roome, tthat
nature lasts but for a time, and that she has had but




DURA T ON OF THE WORLD  13
a beginning, as it were, of yesterday. Indeed, so clear
are tfhey about these fiundamental points, that they are
perfectly well acquainted even with the very years
and days of her origin, and prophetically do they
dream  about the entire dissolution of the existence
of nature!
How  gladly., then, would an ignorant and superstitious part of the human species impose upon the
understandings of the rest I   How  strenuous their
exertions to degrade, to debase mankind! Fain would
they persuade us, that nature is but of some thousand
years' dllration; that the only human actors in existence have been. a few surrounding- ations, a part of
therm trnflingly civilized, and others totally absorbed
in the grossest ignorance and barbarismi   some, indeed, possessed of undigested records, others altogether devoid of themn  and all of whose records, actions,
and ideas, have but recently dawned upon their own,
Can, then, such reasoners possibly be said to have
any pretension to right reason?  How blind to the
nature of their own existence   Howt totally deprived
of any sort of notion, either as to their relative situation in life, or the eternal revolutions of beings and
events!




1A4             TIlE ANTIQIITY AND
SLECTION ILg
HowErvER high the European, the Egyptian: the in.
dian, the Chinese, the Asiatic, or in short any existing
records may seem  to extend, when compared with
notions which generally prevail, in spite of everything
that is reasonable or consistent: yet I flatter myself
the unprejudiced inquirer will have been sufficiently
convinced, both from what has already been said, and
from  his own observations, that hunatan.,testimony or
tradition,  even granting them  their utmost latitude,
are bnt of the most limited extent; that it is only in
the advanced state of refinement, that the art of writing could, at any time, or in any country, possibly
have taken its origin  and that this valuable acquisition, important as it is, is subject to the most unispealkable fluctuations.
In short, it does but in a temporary and imperfect
manner preserve the fleeting actions of mankind,   and
make them, as it were, t  fobr a moment survive themselves. The innumerable ages of tarbarism and ignorance, the nmultiplied successions of the unrecorded
part of the human species, emerge not from  their
oblivion.  No more traces of their existence remain to
us, tha nif they had never existed.  Themselves, the
place, the time, the circumstances of their passage,
are forever lost to the reasonings, and to the contemplation of mankind,
Important land decisive as such trains of reason. ing
certainly are, they seem not, as I can recollect, to have
been suffiiently. attetded to.  From  the m  however,




DURATION OF THEF WORLD.                15
may be inferred, and without the smallest hazard of
plausible contradiction, circumstances of the most
truly philosophical nature: in lshort independent of
every other consideration, what distinguished light do
they not throw'upon the real antiquity of the world,
and of the human race! For, though beyond momentary periods everything lies hid in undistinguished
darkness; yet is there room  for reason's operation.
She announces, without the shadow of hesitation, that
the human species, and the other branches of animated
nature,  tiuctuating in their increase and decrease,
their barbarism  and refinement, actually may have
flourished, amid the unceasing revolutions of nature,
through endless periods of existence.
SECTION IV.
HAVING stufficiently shown the extreme folly of expecting anything in the least to our purpose from all
that has been written by those who have inconsistently been called the ancient part of mankind, either as
to the circumstances of their own, or the world's first
existence; and having demonstrated the very limited
extent of human tradition, allowing it even its utmrost
latitude, I come to the second, and indeed the imnport"
ant part of our inquiry: the lights that may be received from an attentive examination of surrounding
objects.
But, in every part of that branch of natural knowledge, which olr i noulirv obliges us to have recourse




16            lTHE ANTIQUITY AN]D
to, we ca.xnot, without astonishment, reflect, that the.most important truths seem  never to have be^nu sufficietly known or illustrated.  Moderns al.one, and
those of ou r immediate predecessors arid contemporaries, have indeed possessed themselves of facts of an
interesting nature; though perhaps nothing can be
possibly conceived more vague and undecisive, than
the little us they have made of them.
The vestiges, for instance, of the animals and vegetables, both of the land and sea, have been met with
within the contexture of every species of stone, and
other matter, constituting the various countries of the
world. Yet what just conclusions have we been able
to draw from such singular appearances? What have
the more enlightened done, from  xwhom  rore might
have been expected, but gazed with wonder and a.dmiration, and confessed themselves bewildered in a
labyrinth of doubt and uncertainty?  In short, the
clear and simple inferences that might have been deduced, have been lost amid the dreams of system and
of superstition.
"In the Isle of Caldey, and elsewhere, about Tenby: in Pembrokeshire, the fishes of the sea have been
found in solid marble, on the face of the broken sea
cliffsb four hundred yards below the uipper surface- of
the rocks. Nor were they only observed on the face
of these rocks; but even more or less throughout the
whole mass or extent of them.
T Tphis s anifest from divers parts of the rocks
which have been hLewn  down by work-men for making lime, and from  other pieces casually f Il.en friso
the cliffs'.", RBnv




DUR  TION OF THE WOR DL,                 1
In stone too, of a totally diflerent nature from mar —
ble or limestone, the vegetable impressions, and the
remains of land animals, are everywh.ere obvious.
Atnd, what is equally singular, coal nowhere, anid iron
probably nIever occurs, but in the beds of matter that
are thus impressed with such land ainmals an d vegetables.  In. short, "Since it appears evident that all
the beds of stone and clay, accompanying coal, universally abound with vegetable forms, it seems to indicate tihat coals were originally derived from  the
vegetables thus enveloped in the stone or clay; and
we nay say as much of the origin of iroin, or the
same beds invariably produce iron stonee." 
How  universal, then, is the existence of such curious occurrences!  How decisive and important the
philosophy that they suggest! The appearance of
animal impressions within the contexture of every
species of stone, demonstratively indicates the progressive formation, not only of stone in general, but
of the various countries of the world. It is unnecessary to comment any farther, in. this place, upon. the
preceding facts; it is the object of the succeeding observations, to give an adequate sIetch of the irportant operations of nature, and of the eternal fluctuation
of things.
It is necessary, however, to premise, that to speculative minds, natural facts, in a variety of instances,
have ever suggested their antiquity.  Yet, whether
from  the limited extent of natural observations, or
from. that diffidence which ingenuous men sometimes
find in entertaining ideas subversive of the general
l hitehurst,




18              THE ANTIQUITY AND
opinions, most certain it is. that the very facts that
suggested stuch antiquity seeie  to have been but little
inderstood, either as to the philosophy they  unavoidably confirmed, or that equally interesting succession
of time, which cool disquisition might have brought
them to supports
Out of the varietv of facts that thus convey more
extended reasonings than would at first appear, let us
mention those which were sometime ago candidly offered to the world by an author of credit. " Such
facts, however curious in themselves> will ever be
found but of limited and insiusnificant antiquity. Yet
when taken in a philosophical point of view, rwhen
brought in support of reasonings of an extended and
interesting nature, they most undoubtedly become of
the very first importance; and even throw the strongest light, both upon natural knowledge and upon the
whole system of things.
Speaking of the lava of Mount Autna, it is observed,
" That the surface of that black and barren matter,
in process of time, becomes the most fertile earth nnaginable. But thtat the period required to bring it to
its utmost perfection may be judged of, when a district of vast extent is yet covered with a very scanty
soil, though inentioned by Diodorus Siculus, and the
ancie-t Sicilian. writers, to have burst from x  Etna in
the time of the second Punic war, when Syracuse
was besieged by the Romans, This is a space of two
thousand years; and in all probability, it will require
some hundreds of years yet, before the earth is rich
epough to render it of any use to the proprietors  But: Brydone's Tour,




DU TRA T.0 N 0'   H E W   OIt L b.       19
what shall we say to a pit sunk near Jaci, of a great
depth?  They pierced through seven distinct lavas,
one over the other, the surfaces of which were parallel, and most of them covered with a thick bed of fine
rich earth.  The eruption which formed the lowest of
these, if we may be allowed to reason from  analogy,
must have flowed from the mountain ateast le fourt een
thousand years ago,"
The same author ingeniously observes, " That the
progress and form ation of this fertile soil is possbly
as follows: The lava being a very porous substance,
easily catches the dust that is carried about by the
wind, which at first only yields a kind of moss; this
rotting and by degrees increasing the soil, sonm  small
meagc'e vegetables are next produced, which, rotting
in their turn, are likewise converted into soil,"
What is the proportion of a few  thousand years,
compared with the endless periods of eternal existence,
-thle unbounded revolution of events, -that vast succession of time and of incidents, which it is the object
of this inquiry to illustrate?
Independent then of the trifling consideration of so
limited a period., wae have in the present instance a
curious specimen of the gradual production of a vegetable soil or earth, It matters not whether nature is
directly uniform in the time or in the mode of producing such a soil.  We have at present only calmly to
contemplate the quantity of similar earth that is met
with in the world   It will hereafter be demonstrated,
that Nature, as she was progressive in the production
of an earth at   tna, and in similar districts, so is she
progressive in the production of every species of substance and earth existing.  Impressed with such ideas




20              11THE ANTIQUITY AND
how  strikingly must we see the true      i'mportaanue of
such natural facts, their singular refrence both to philosophy and antiquity!
Taken in any other1 point orf vew, the preceding
observations at'2Etna only prove, and that in a very
limited degree, the antiquity of a single mountain;
that mountain- as well as its eruption, the effect of
uniform operations —-the gradual product of time and
of natural c auses and but a mnere firewoorkl: compared
wxith the burrning moantains of the Andes.
I. Condamine it is stated was the first naturalist
who entered -ito a pertinent discnssion of su.zbject
of volcanoes. Among other ingenious observations,
he tells us,   That it is impossible for any one who has
attentively examined the production.s of VesUlviliS, ot
to be satisfied of a perfect resemblance between themn
and those he will meet  with at every stepm in his wvayv
fi-on. Naples to   o Rome, fro   Rome to Viterbo from
Rome0 to Loretto, &.
It t then necessarily follows, that all this part of
Italy has been 9uined by volcanoes. Those plains now
so smilfing and fertile in olive trees, mulberry trees,
and vines', like the hills at present aboutt Vesuvius
have like them been overspread with  IurnDing intindations, and bear as they do,'ot only within but on
their srface, infallible marks of fiery torrents whose
waves are  ow  fixed and consolidated.
WTlhen I see,' contiunues he.  1 on an elevated plane,
a circular basin surrounded with calcined rocks; the
verdure with which the neighboring fields are covered
imposes not upon me; I instantly perceive the ruins
of an ancient volcano.
" In short, I look upon the Appennines as a chain




DURATION OF THE WORLD.                  2'
of volcanoes- like that of the Cordilleras of Peru and
Chili, which run from.North to South the whole length
of South America.
Itl is not therefore in Italy alone that tihe vestig6es
of calciIa tion and vitrification are to be met with;
but also in places where  volcanoes have never Len
supposed to have existed."
It has silce howvever become a fact well known to
naturalists, that calcined rocks, plimicestone,  and
lava, the undoubted vestiges of all volcanoes, have
everywhere presented. In short., nin.muerable are the
specimens of the remote existence of extinguished
eruptions as well in this island as in France Germany, North America, thle West Indies, the late discovered Islands in the South Seas, and in every district
of the world,
If it, is not criminal, then, in these days of ignorance as to such matters, to speak in the language of
reason. and philosophy, volcanoes in any particular
district are but of momrentry existence. The fleeting
children of Na. ture, they have t       ris  their progress, their extinction.  Their influence is important,
thei.r remans are almost everywhere'visible their
existence perhaps universal
n.  the inexplicabl  lapse and in the advance of
time;to the ignorait and to the wondering world
their issuing flames ever have been  and ever  ill
continue  to be, matter of surprise.
Sir William Hamilto  in  his observations on MIount
Vesuvils, has mentioned facts of a nature very similar to those already suggested...As some of these,
however, carry with them the stamp of antiquity, impress us with somse urious ideas as to the singular in




22             2THE ANTIQUITY ANfluence of -olc,. oes, and what is still of far greae
cotnsequenlce aild nearer to the purpose, afi)rd. us a
specirmen of the progression of nituire in thle itoRatiot of her productions, and thus still better prepare
fus or the extended views that are to be taken, they
ai- bv tno meat s untworthoy our attention.
bIt would requilre,' says Sir Willian. m          "Ya
years of close application to give a proper anrld tril ly
philosophical accotunt of the volcatles i.:, thie n-eighborhood of Naples; blit I-am  slre.rich an  histor
might be givell supported by deinr'stratmtior, s would
destroy every system  hitherto upon the s-tabject.  We
have ar. opportluitv of see.ing, votlca(noes uin all their
different states.  I have been this summer in the lIlandc of isehia; it is about eighteen rmies ro-tud, an)d
its whole base is lava.  The great moutntarin  in it 
near as high as Vesuv'ils., I am convincexia   was thrown
Bp by degrees.
rA  celebrated physician.," contin es he, in another
part of his workl, " now living at Naples, in the introduction of his account of the eruption- of YVesvius:?
has observed, that Hear a conve lt of Domini ca  Fri —
ars some years ago, ins sinking a wiel at the depth of
a htndred feet, a lava was discovered, and soon after
that antother, so that in less than the depth of three
hutmndred feet the lavas of four  eruptions were founds
From te situatioin of this convent it is clear beyond
a doubt, that  the lavas proceeded firon the  mouttain
called Sommaa, as they are quite Out of the reach of
any existihg volcano.
"From  these Cir cuimstanees,"   says Sir.William
C fand fron repeatedt otervations I have atade in the
neighborhood of Yesuvins  I am  sure that to virgin




Dr  R A T ON OF THEI W VtORLT.           23
earth is to be found; and that all is composed of different beds of erupted matter even to a great depth
below the level of the sea."
Independent, then, of -every prospect that volcanoes
thus lon  ago extinguished must unavoidably present,
we have here onte more a curious specimen of that
truly pertinae t and interesting train. of reasoning,
which aIternate layers of vegetable earth. gradually
formed out of substances of a nature totally dififrent,
or that islands, mountains, or countries of lava covered with vast beds of such vegetable soil. unavoidably suggest;  Another curious: scene presented from
the preceding facts, and which ought not to escape us,
is the present position of the sea; that element evidently does occupy a widely different situation in
respect to  theis contirnet, from what it did in remote
anitiquity.
SECTION V.:As some very interesting changes are most un-.
doubtedly efiected by the eruptions of volcanoes; as
the effects th ey produce upon the globe itself will
hereafter be brotught to support other obser vations in
the succeeding part of this inquiry; as such natural
faets are even in themselves  abundantly entertaining;
and as it is esse tially necessary that we should be
impressed with arn adequate idea of their general and
important influet.ce it may not be amiss to menation




24:8           THE ANTIQUIT:Y AND
some few cir cumstances selected from  the rnultitude
of those that have been recorded by authors both ancient and modemrn
" In 1669, after a dreadful eruption of Etna, and
while the fact was recent, Alphonsus Borellus, a very
learned mathematician of Pisa  went into Sicily to
survey what 2Etna had done; and he says that the
quantity of matter thrown out at that timne, uponr siur
vey, amounted to 93,830,750 cubical paces; so that
had it been extended in length upon the surfice of the
earth, it would have reached farther thtan 93,000,000
of such-paces, wbich is more than four times the circuit of the wh.ole earth, taking a thousand paces to a
mile. It is true that all this matter was not liquid
fire, but iln part sand, stone, gravel, &ce  However,
he computes that 6,300,000 paces of this matter were
liquid fire, and formed a river sometimes two miles
broad, according to his computation; but according to
the observations of others who also viewed it, the torent of fire was six or seven miles broad, and sometimes twenty or thirty yards deep, and it forced its
way into the sea near one mile preseving  itself alive
in the midst of the waters.   He likewise observes,
that   a stone fifteen f et feet long was flng out of the
mouth of the pit to a mile distance, and when it fellI
it came fron  such a height and with such violence
that it buried itself in the ground eight feet deep^ 
However astonishing the matter thrown out by the
above eruption may appear, a still greater quantity
is stated to have been discharged from  a volcano in
Peru.    In the year 1600, a shower of ashes and
B limiv.




DURATION OF THE  WORLD.                  25
sand. covered all the land thirty leagues one way, and
forty leagues another round about Arequepa, from six
feet to eight or nine inches deep."9 -
" In the year 1628 one of the islands of the Azores,
uear the Island of St. Michael, rose up from  the bottomn of the sea, which in that place was three hundred
and twenty yards deep;  and this island, which was
raised in fifteen days, is nine miles long, four miles
and a half in breadth, and rises three hundred and
sixty feet above the water."t
On the 20th November, 1720, a subterraneous fire
burst out of the sea near Tercera, one of the Azores,
which threw up such a vast quantity of stones, &c,>
in the space of thirty days, as formed an island about
six miles in diameter, and nearly round.  Prodigious
quantities of pumice-stone and half-broiled fish were
found floating on the sea for many leagues around the
Islaid." T'Another example of the same kind happened at
Manilla, one of the Philippine islands, in 170.  This
eruption was attended with violent earthquak;es, to
which that island, as well as the rest of the Philippines, is very much subject."~' IIn the year 1631 a stone was thrown twelve miles
fon: the crater of Vesuvius, and fell upon the Marqui of Louro's hou8se which it set on fire." I
" The eruptions of Vesuvius, i  the year 79, overwhelmed the two famous cities of Herculaneum and
Dr.'Hooke's Posth. And see these and a variety of similar facts
eollected by Whiteihrst.
t Sir William Hamilton
Philosophical TraLnsactions.
{ Rev Mr. Michell's Observations on Earthquakes.
II Sir Williamn  amilton.
3.




26            T THE AN TIQU TY AND
Pompeii, by a shower of stones, cinders, ashes, san d
&C.   and totally covered themr  many feet deep as the
people were sitting at the theatre. Herculaneum  is
said to have been situate about four miles from  the
crater, and Pompeii at the distance of six miles; yet
the latter appears to have been covered by that dreadfui eruption ten or fifteen feet deep, and the former,
by that and subsequent eruptions, lies buried sixty or
seventy feet deep."'
Such, then, are the singular, and such the exteeded
influences of volcanoes! Yet however interesting such
speculations are, or whatever lights they may seen  to
throw upon the subject of natural knowledge or antiquity, I shaii soon proceed to offer facts, whichl
from the reasonings they unavoidably suggest wiill be
found, to be of still higher importance.
Let us, however, premise some ifeNw circunmstances
ere e enter into the real and serious discussion of
the subject of this inquiry. The facts which I shall
mentio  n olthis occasion are but a secondary nature;
and. indeed the scenes are situated upon the surface
of countries, which countries themselves, it will be
clearly demonstrated, were as regularly formed and
are subject to as gradual decay as any man. vegetable, or animal tDhat  evser had  tence.e     I would th}en
wish it to be understood that I have been induced to
give these simple facts a place in this inquiry, as
simplicity will ever be found the best introductiont to
every species of speculation, and as some appearances occur, whose importance and gen.eral truth will
be hereafter unavoidably confirmed,
Burnet's Sacred History.




DUTRAT ON OF T H E WOR  L  27
" At the mouth of the River Ness. near Brrnges, i
Flanders, fifty feet below  the surface of the earth, are
found great qlantities of trees lyi g as close to each
otier as they do ti t a wood: the truntks the branclhes
and thle leaves are in sucht perfect preservat.ionl that
the particular kiilnd of each tree mauy i.nstantly )e distinguished.  Abot t five hundred years ago this veryground was known to ehave been covered mwith th}e sea.;
nor is there any history or tradition of its -aving  been
dry ground, which we cannot have the sm allest doubt
must have been the case.", |
4'At the city too of Mlodena, and about fout miles
arolund it, wherever it is duag wehen the workien arrive at the depth of sixty-three feet, they come to a
bed of chalk, which they bore with the auger five
feet deep. They then wtithdraw from  the pit before
the auger is removed,  and upon its extraction, the
water bursts up through the aperture with great force
and violence, and quickly fills this new made well,
which continues fill, and is affected neither by rains
nor droughts.  But that which is remarkable in this
operation is the layers of earth as we descend.  Alt
the depth of fourteen feet are found the' ruins of an
ancient city, paved streets, houses, floors, and differcnt pieces of mosaic.  Under this is found a solid
earth that would induce one to think had cnever been
removed: how ever, under it is found a soft oozy earth
made tip of vegetables, and twenty-six feet below the
surface, large trees entire, such as wainut-trees with
the walnuts still sticking on the stemn  and their leaves
and branches inm exact preservation. At the depth of
V id. Hist. Naturelle par Brafon.




~28        aTHE ANTiqUITY AND
twenty-eight feet a soft chalk is found, mixed with a
vast quantity of shells, and this bed is eleven feet
thick,  Under this vegetables are found again with.
leaves and branches as before: and thus aiternately,
chalk and vegetable earth to the depth. of sixty-three
feet. These are the layers wherever the workmen
attempt to bore; while in many of them  they find
bones, pieces of iron, and bits of charcoal.," 
These familiar descriptions scarce need any comment.  The narratives themselves sufficiently arouse
the imagination, and human curiosity is excited by
the curious prospects which such facts unavoidably
suggest. A few observations I must however venture
to make.
W      ee see  then, in the first of these instances, t a
country covered with the sea but a few centuries ago,
and which had once afforded all the beauties of a
landscape-had even been the seat of large forests.
So strange a revolution appears, however, to have
been an operation of nature by no means iirregular
The sea, after retaining its place for some cousiderable time, and forming a prodigious depth of water, as
is evident from  the land buried beneath its productions) once mnore gradually forsakes its station; and
the vestiges of its dominion hasten, as it were, to hide
themselves from  the eyes of the superficial observer.
The spot puts on a new face; it becomes the seat of a
luxuriant vegetation, fitted once more for anmal existence, and prepared, in the slow and unerring progress of time, for a repeated exhibition of scenes'
See, Goldsmith's History of the Earth, and see also the same
acts described by Ray and Buffon.
Page 27




DURATION OF TsHE WOR LD                    29
which to limited observation appear astonishing and'nncommon.
In the instance, however, at Aodena, is presented
a very different prospect,  A district in the middle of
Italy  age after age, would seem to have been alternately overwhelmed and deserted by the sea; one
revolution following another in a multiplied. succession.  And though such overflowings must have continued but for a short duration; yet, in each instance
variety of substances were slowly and successively
formed. In short, the production of vegetable soils,
similar to those of Etna, is strikingly conspicuous;
as well as a sketch of Nature's regular progression, in
the formation of beds of chalk shells, and other such
similar productlions.
Comparatively then speaking, secondary as sall such
operations most certainly wre, they yet will, I flatter
myself, have the happy effect of gradually preparing
the mind for what is now to follow.
SECTION Vi
A  FEW  reflections it may not, however, be anmss
previously to oferi.  They seem  to be naturally suggested from  the whole of the preceding facts; yet
their truth will be still more obviously confirmed in
the sequel of this inquiry.  In short, the celebrated
Greeks and Romans, the Egyptians, the Chinese, the
Indians, the other Asiatics, together with the animals
f




30              THE ANTIQUITY AND
and vegetables contemporary with themselves, have
existed upon the surface of countries, whose very
deepest recesses everywhere exhibit the most obvious
scenes of past and universal anim-ation, and of slowr
progressive  and uniform  formation, and which   in
common with the rest of the globe, have equally participated in the most striking and interesting revolutions; revolutions indeed so sensibly important so
universally diffused, and so incontrovertibly authentic, that we cannot without astonishment reflect, that
they seem hitherto to have evaded the scrutiny and
curiosity of mankind.
Upon all the natural facts which have hitherto been
enumerated, let me once more generally observe, that
they have been mentioned principally to lead us on in
that regular train of reasoning, which it is absolutely
necessary to pursue, in the subject that we have undertaken to illustrate; though, at the same timne, they
may have curiously pointed out in some few instances
a limited succession of events, yet still it is far more
essentially necessary and more pertinent to the subject of real philosophy, that they have afforded us a
simple specimen of some important and uniform operations, and have very clearly suggested the gradual
progression  of nature, in the formation and production
of a vast variety of substances.




DURATION  OF T14E WORLD.                 3.
SIECTION   ~I.
HIxTHETvO, by the most gradual steps, I have traced
the curious object of our inquiry; and it must, I hope,
have been sufficiently evident, that appearances in
Nature, though stamped with distinguished expressions, were no otherwise in tended than as introductory to more extensive and interesting disquisitions,
or as miniature outlines of what it is now  my wish
more strikingly to demonstrate.
Yet, upon all the facts that I have hitherto and
shall hereafter adduce, let me make this necessary
observation, that, thou gh such facts may seem, in a
variety of instances, singular and curious in themselves, the  are by no means mentioned on account
of that singularity, and shouldd be still less regarded
than those more extended reasonings which they will
be found ultimately to suggest.
In short, what are in themselves a few natural facts
purely local, or minute circumstances attending particular districts; when we are possessed of a philosophy that strikingly convinces us of the universality
of their existence; and that brings every species of
substance, every surrounding object, and every district of the world, in equal confirmation of its authenticity?
The mofutainous parts of Derbyshire may serve to
present us with. a fair specimen of facts, from whence
the clearest and soundest reasonings unquestionably
flow.  Indeed, the opportunities of tracing in this
district with accuracy, the internal structure of the
earth, are such as are not everywhere to be met with.




THE ANTIQUITY AND
Fron  the monuments here existing, what striking
proofs are exhibited of that succession of time, which,
while it overturns the trifling and ill-directed pursuits
of mtodern antiquarians, gives a new and forcible impression of every surrounding object! With as much
brevity and clearness as possible, I shall fiaithfully relate the state of some of the natural fcts here alluded
to, and wxhich consist of such vast beds of various
matter, regularly and successively formed. as cannot
fail to carry  alon-g with them the desired impressions.
The first bed that presents in the district of Darley
Moorl   h is that of a coarse sandy kind of stone, whbich
extends to the depth of one hundred and twenty
yards.  This is succeeded by a black, clayish composition, indurated, and in a measure petrified by time,
equally deep as the former.  Then comes a body of
limestone, the depth of fifty yards, and, what is singular, the remains of a petrified crocodile, an amphibious animal, have been here discovered. t  Next
succeeds a matter of black stone, or nmarble, resembling lava, the depth of sixteen yards.  Another bed
of limestone the depth of about fifty yards, is again
incumbent tupon black stone the depth of forty-six
yards.  This is again  succeeded by limestone  the
depth of sixty yards.  Once more succeeds the same
]black stone, the depth  of twtenty-two vya-ds.  And
this is ifllowed by limestone which has not yet been
penetrated.
An d the limestone in all these instances resembles
limestone in general; and, however singlar ig    t may
See Whiitehurst's Inquiry, &e., and see his Sections of the
Strata of Derbyshire.
-- By iMr. Wa tson; of BakewelL.




DURATION OF THE W   RLDO                 33:app)ear, all the beds are variegated with innumierable
i:npressions of sea fishes.
Such is ain nimperfect view of an extraordinary state
of facts, and but a specimen of scenes, which, if an
opportu-ity of examination were afforded, would be
fo.und to be by no means uicommon.
Ought not then such circtmstanres forever to convince  us how  litptle we know, how  nmperfctl;y we
have reasoned, how obstinate   e  have been in siup
porting the mnost false and improbable conclusions?
In the present instance, a depth exceeding four
hundred arnd eighty-four yards of various mattter, it
is most obvious, has been gradually foirmed by the
hand of Natutre, through the eternal lapse of time.
Antiquity is sufficiently vindicated by the mere recital of such incidents, and will be still farther corroborated by others, of a nature equally singular,
which we are now prepared to mention. Yet a few
observations on those separate beds already enumerated, though they can add but little to the force of the
testimony, may, in the meantime, serve to amuse and
perhaps elucidate te  matter.
The first bed is that of the coarse, sandy stone,
which  from the attrition of its particles, rounded as
stones upon the sea-beach, would seem to have been
produced by the action either of rivers or of the ocean,
circumstances of time and situation having changed
it into its present massy consistency. That the ex.tensive bed of clay has been the regular work of time,
is also evident from its situation, being placed over
the first bed of limestone, in which animal impressions are observable,  and more particularly the distinguished one of the crocodile.  The various beds of




34             TH E ANT IQUITY AN D
limestone and of black stone which follow, present a
singular and extended prospect of antiquity. That
the limestone in every instance has been formed by
the operation of the ocean, cannot be disputed. The
shell-fishes of that element are discernible in every
separate mass.
In regard to the matter reselmbling lava, some curious circlumstances ought to be atte-nded to.  It is insinuated between the beds of limestone, all of whose
fractures and fissures (in many of which minerals are
contained) correspond precisely with each other, not-.. withstanding the black marble or stone existing betweren themn ulnfractured, and   na ffected  with  the
convulsions that occasioned such fractures. It would.
then seem to follow, that the matter resembling lava,
had flowed laterally from  a volcano that had never
made its appearance above the surface of the earth,
and which had been prevented from  ascending by the
vast incumbent weight.  A  variety of other circumstances seem  strongly to corroborate this supposition.
Among the rest, the beds of the matter resembling
lava are not equally thick, nor do they extend equally
far; and the clay upon which they are situated, appears, in some instances, burnt as much as anl earthea.
pot or bricklc
We shall now proceed to other appearances in this
mountainous country, that demand equal attention
This district, like every other, has undergone at various periods, such violent agitations froo    earthquakes
and other similar convulsions of nature, as at first can
scarcely be credited, but which will afiord no longer':      i See Whitehnrst's Coniectures upon this lava..




D TRA.TION OF THIE WORLtD                35S
matter of surprise when we hereafter shall have occasionr to mention their universal and imnportant influ leenCe.
The separate beds we h ave already described, prevail thrgout a vast extent  of country, and appear,
in many districts, to hlave been fractured in the most
curious and singuhlar manner; nay, in sotme places8
huge masses of them seem to have been entirely swalltowed up.
It even appears next to a demonstration, that other
iummense beds had formerly been incumbent on the
sandy stone, the first of those beds that I have so particularly mentioned in the facts of Darley Moor; *
and it is highly probable that they have disappeared
in some of those dreadful convulsions which have
disordered this whole mass of matter.
Indeed, when the miners have occasion to dig inl
the adjacent valleys, they often find them  filled up
with fragments of those superior beds which appear
to have been wanting.  But, what is more decisively
convincing, wherever this sandy stone, already taken
notice of, is observed to dip,t it is actually covered
with some hundred yards of clay, coal, and argillaceous stone, which last is of a brownish color, atnd
when applied to repair the roads, soon. returns to its
primitive clay.  And all these separate beds, except
the coal, (which, by-the-by, itvariably is generated in
similr situations,) contain figured ston-es, representing
a great variety of vegetables, or, more properly speaking, the imrpressions of themn-as reeds of various
See page 32,
See Whitehurst's Seotiones &c.,




36'        T HE AN TIQUI T Y A ND
kinds, jointed at difflerent distances, ferns, cors, grass
and many other species of the vegetable kilngdomrn.>
Then what vast scenes of vegetationl   What happy
and  long continued settlements must such districts
have afforded for the existence of men and other ani
mals    The comnposition of thee indeed, subject to a
hasty putrefaction, dissolution, and decay, but serves
to increase the general mass of matter. And thus such
vestiges, though often met with, are yet less frequently
so than thoe other branches of animated nature,
S' ECTION  VIII
T a  knowledge of such facts may perhaps' induce
us to change as well. our general notions of nature, as
of antiquity.   No longer are we to regard the loftiest
mountains as of original and permanent existence.
Formed, as well as ourselves, by gradual processes,
they are subject to the most regular changes.  At one
period they rear their lofty sunmits to the skies; at
another no longer exist.  Thus is every production of
nature unstable, and sibject to perpetual variations.
Nor do such vast revolutions testify only a boundless
lapse of time.  Other important and instructive les~
sons they hold up to the contemplation of mantkind.
Substances that we meet with. the farthest from  the: Prodigious varietv of such curious productions are in different
muselums throughout the whole of Europe




D' I AT I'  0 N  0 F T Hl     W 0  R L D   37
surface of the earth, carry with themn  the visible impressionrs of animated exi.stence, anld of progressive
or gradual f6rmlation.
In shorty that the world should have thus been agitated in unobserved confusion, is the most unnatural
of suppositions   On every such occasion the human.
species evidently must have been present.  Nor is it
by any mneans reasonable to supposez that mankind
have existed in any considerable detgree more numerous at any one period than at another.  Ever have
they fiuctuated in their population, or increase and
decrease, either as1 art or nature have afforded them,more or less of the means of subsistence.
t'hat vegetables and fishes were in being in t1-he
very remotest antiquity  their obvious remains in
every species of stone, at the very bottoms of mo)untains. and in each country of the globe, strikingly demonstrate.  And of the equally remote existence of
animals in, general, circutmstances may be brought
which are unquestionably cotnclusive,
The existence of' vegetables and fishes, already explained, would have been the strongest pr(eslumptive
proofs of this; but we also find t-hat in each quarter
of the world the remains of' the human species, and
those of a vast variety of animals, are everywhere
met with in a fossil state,.
IThe situations in which these sometimes occur, bespeak the most decisive and distinguished antiqulity.
The bones of the hulman species, for irnstance, have
been found petrified in grreat abInldance at a consijderable depth in  the  lock of (Gibraltar.i   Tiihoulgh
a See spelciens of suc: i. i. he BIrilish Mluselun,




38               T HE ANTI Q UIT    AN D
chan:red into stone, the the rnillttes t p arts of the fhumanl
skeleton t r ar    once to be dil st'igis}-cd.   The bo.es
of the head, tie teeth, those of the arns, and of every
distinct mem-bert  are perfectly visible     p Appearan-ces
similar to those of Gibraltar, as well as the bones of
a variety of animals, have also been discovered in the
Tocks of Dalmiatia ont the eastern coast of the Adriatic.  Not mtany years ago two larg;e teeth ianda part
of the trunk of' an elephant were lme it with, tran8sm'lnted into stotne, in a -lead mine in F1 lintshire; fortytwo yards below the surface of the earth.  Other such
remains of elephants have been discovered in different
districts il England, and throulghout varitous parts of
Europe.-'  In short, instances of' the bo0es of a.nimals
petrified or changed into stone, have everywIh-ere    presented themlselves.
Mutch might be said on the petrified sta.te in whiich
these boines as well as other substances are ret  with.
The slow a.dvance of petrifa.ction in many instances,
and the surprising progress that various substances
hai.ve neverthleless made towards it, af.ord pertla-ps the
most ample field for speculatit o.
The va st rocks, the miountamiS  of stone-?  th:e inmn
moense districts of such  substance; in slhot, every
species and every particle of stone o0r petSfied0  matter
existinl, dlemonstrably appear to ha.ve been gradually
and progressivetly    generated.  That stone has not
originally tb een in that petrified or hardented state, in
whtich it is at presen    t met wth. variou's circm......st.an.es
suffiientlty convin.ce us.
In the yvery'  middle, for instance,  of the largest
0' See specimeis _ the Bnits.h Museum.




DURATION  OF THE  W ORI, Do 
bodies of marble and limestone, and those, too at. the
greatest distance from  the surface of the eartuh one
may plainly observe impressions of the animals of the
sea.  In immense masses of' stone, of a very different
quality either from  marble or limestone  vegetable
productions are no less conspicuous.
The fatcts already suggested, sufticiently support
our assertions; and. indeed, were it necessary, innumuerable are the proofs which might still be adduced,
Let us; then, once more repeat, that at the greatest
depth we ever yet have been able to descend below
the surifkce of the earth, one may plainly discern the
remains of the vegetables and animals of the land
and. sea, enveloped in the substance of rocks.
What astonishing prospects! What  a mazef antiquity does all this present!  Conception itself is unequal to the contemplation.  Yet what argumentst
what proofs, what facts can make an impression upon
men that are prejudiced and superstitious   Taught
to domineer it over nature, truth, and reason, they
will not admit their light, but are callous to conviction
upon every such occasion. Lasting enemies to good
sense, strangers in speculation, and too often in practice  to what is real virtue and morality; at mortal
variance with everything that is mild and amiable in
iife, they eternally oppose both their own happiness,
that of mankind, and the real interests of society.




40             %THE ANTIQUITY AND
IT may not be here improper to observe, that, fro
the chemical resemblance of the matter constitutmg
the limestone and marble, with that of the testaceous
matter of shell-fish in general, and the plants or productions of the coral kind; from  the rapid generation
of these last, froma   the immenlse beds and districts of
shell-fish. that everywhere present themselves; and
from such substances uniformly oecurring in the contexture of' these kinds of stone, it. has with some reason been conjectured that marble, limestone, and the
calcareous matter in general, derive their originl from
animated productions, and  become thus difiSrently
nodified  by combinatiotns that we are but little acquainted with, hardened by time, and diversified by
circumstances of situation. Specimens indeed of limestone are frequently met with, composed of nothing
else but testaceous matter, plants of the coral kind, or
shtells compacted together~  Concerning the other species of stone anrd earth, it might with equal justice be
conjectured that their existence is necessarily dependent iupon the decay of animals and vegetables. Daily
experience convinces us of earths generated in this
manner.  And the wrecks or the impressions of land
vegetables and animals are visible, at the centres of
the largest rocks.
It is, however, by no means necessary) in this part
of our inquiry, absolutely to decide upon a matter of
such curious speculation.  It is sufficient for our pres



)DURATION OF THE WOR LD,                41:
ent purpose to demonstrate,  that every species of
stone, let its kind be what it may, indispuftably takes
its form in the gradulal succession of time;
As to the change of a variety of substances into
stone by means of petrifying waters, and their singular reference to antiq.uity, interesting lights might be
thrown out, could we, in the different instances, but
demonstrate the exact time of the process,  eTphat
such changes often advance exceedingly.slow, needc
not be insisted upon.
The late. Emperor of Germany, in order to satisfy
his curiosity in so important a particular, having first
obtained permission from  the Grand Signior, caused
some piles of wood to be drawn up, on whichl- the
bridge that Traljau had thrown over the Danube had
been ftounded. They examined very attentively these
wooden piles, and observed that the petrifaction was
advanced no more than thre;e-fourths of an inch in
fifteen hundred and sonme odd yea'rs.  From this circumstance they concluded, that a piece of wood of
equal thickness, and forty feet in length, would be
petrified an inch in twenty ages, and would employ,
to arrive at its total transmutation, 96,000 years.  As
trees have been taken up petrified, whose ttrunks were
amore thai- fortV feet hio h, and their thickness in proportion, people may judge, say they, of the time that
they htave been thrown down or buried.
This reasoning is, however f ar from  being conclusive,  In certain circumstances and situations, petrifction may be supposed to advance in a manner
totally different, and with much greater rapidity than
it does in the waters of the Danube; yet the fact is
remarkable, and a thousand parallel instances may be




42              THE ANTIQUITY AND
produced.  It is, indeed, a matter worthy of observation, that the quantity of earthy particles in the waters that are possessed of a petrifying power in the
highest degree, is but very inconsiderable, a-nd that
the process of petrifaction, in stuch cases, nmust utnavoidably be conducted in a gradual, slowx and uniiform
manner.
2 ECTION X.
YET whatever extended notions of antiquity the
gradual or progressive formation of earth, stone, and
a variety of bodies must have unavoidably sungested
there is another process of nature not less interesting,
and which, indeed, is equally pertinent to the subject
upon which I am  treatingt
The minerals, then, themselves appear to be by no
means primary productions of nature. Long has it
been erroneously conjectured by mankind, (ever subject to delusion!) that the earths, the stones, the minerals, were originally created such as they are foulnd
and that they thus continued permanent and immuttable. Surrounded by an immensity of matter; their
own substance but a trifling modification of a small
part of that immensity; coming to and.forsaking their
present state of being by a gradual progression,  one
might have thought that the human species should
have extended that analogy. Why have they thus
assumed to themselves properties so totally distinct
from every species of existence, and from  that mass




D U  ATION  OF Ti E WOnRL,                 43
of matter, of which, thoulwh indeed a pa;rt, theya are
yet so insinjitlfilcant a proportion?Like every other being,  and like every species of
substance with w   hich we are a acquainted, thle mnlertals
themselves take their origin in the gradual succession
of time by processes of nature with which  we are by
no means famniliar.  Their ores: indeed: are sometimes
met with, scattered  by fragments in beds of earth
horizontal or inelined; yet these are far from being
the places of their origin.  They have been conveyed
into those sitlations by the earthqitakes and convulsions,  whicih   it will hereafter be detmonst a ted
have ever agitated the globe.  The fissures and the
caverns of rocks are the gjeat workhouses, where n.lature carries on schl curious operations.  And even
those very caverns and fissures, wvhich thus produce
the minerals, are themselves formed, and everywl-htere
surrounded. with immense masses of matter, replete
with the impressions of every  species of animated
nature, and carrying themselves, in their very constructi.on;, undeniable proofs of the most progressive,
slow, and uniform formation.
The mineral particles, distilled from such surrounding rocks, are contitnually crystallizing and increasing
in quantity.
In short, let us finally repeat, that the fissures of
rocks, the bottoms and. sides of caverns, daily i.crust;
with every species of muineral substance.
Concerning the properties of air and water, hitherto
little has been said.  Fluidity, indeed, or, more properly speaking, fluid bodies. are to be considered as
solids melted  by heat,.  Those solids, it is evident,
participate of the natutre  and are as progressively




44              THE ANTIQUITY AND
formaed, as an-y other body whatever.  That fluidity
is in most cases the effect of heatL needs nrot to be insisted upon.  There is seace any substance which
cannot, by heat, be brought into a fluid state. (Atuicksilver itself has beea congealed, when exposed to a
certain deree of cold.  In short, daily  experience
convinces us of the fluctuation and continmled generation of air; and,. like other species of matter, the
waters theimselves undergo eternal changes and revoiu.tiosns.  Experiments have been made that vwould
eem to demonstrate, that a, very considerable production of earth may be obtained frnom   ater by means
of a peculiar exposure to heat.  But wh a.t occasion is
there to insist upon a ci.rcu.mstan~ce of an aambiguou-s
natuare'   A Qumid tha t may be reduced t'o a solid, that.
circulates in unceasing fluctuaition,  that enters into
the composition of most bodies cannot be conceivet 
without being continually destroyed and'regenera'teed
SECTION XL
FROei the observationi s that have already preceded,
and from those which are still to follow. it will  flatter myse9lf  be suffliiently delmonstrated, that earthsi
stones, and minerals, are as m-uch the regriular product
of time a     od of nature, as any aniala  or wvgetable
being that exists.
The globe itself then would appear to us to be principally constituted of earth, stone atid mineral siub



iDURATION-A  OF TIE WORLD               45
stances.  At al  events, miatter or the constituent
particles of the worldd and of every species of existing
substance. has be en and is still in a rapid revolution,
Yet, as the greatest depth w-e have ever descended
is bu t very ifncollsiderable;  andas mere supposition,
however well supported by reason and analogy, still
leaves the mind in a state of suspense; and, as natural facts alone, and.:such as are wrell. founded and
obvious to the senses, can bring us to an absolute
certaintyvmd conviiction, let us for a moment turn otur
attention to the elevatios   to to the mountains of the
world.
Of these the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Andies
rnerit a    distinguished   consideration,  The Andes, parti. eularly, ext. ending nearly the wvhole, leng-th of' Sotril
America, are elevated in some places upwards of
thre.e milesh above the level of the sea.
The summits, the centres, the bottoms of such
mountains' are merely constituted but of those very
substances that have so pa rticularly engaged our attention.
Their earths, their stones, their minerals, are like
the ea.rths, the stones, the minerals of every other
district.  Tihe earths and stones, more particularly.
have, within th.eir contexture, all the distintuishimg
appearances of animal or vegetable im pressions, or
of regular formation.
Thus then are mountains principally constituted of
earths and stones, whie it has been most decisively
demonstrated, that those very earths and Stones themselves have been gradually and previously constitutedc
Like a house that is formed of different materials,
the raterials were previously formed by INature' an-t
8,




46            TI H E ANTIQUITY AND
as the house decays, so do the mountains. Nor are
the substances of which iountains, an.d the world
itself are composed7 exempt fronm  perpetual cbhaLge
and variation in their'composition. IIn short, ftles
is the search for a modification of existence permnt ent
and immuinta ble 
And yet, totwithstanding miatter evei thus is agitated, —and naxture changes for-ims,- her formas do ali
exist.  Though  men are seen to die, or chantge existelnce, the hulman species flourish in eternal beirng. 
SECTION XTJ
HNofi ougtht that appearance of the world, which is
erroneously called the disordered  face  of nature, to
escape our attention.  The sttupendons rod.hs, the
moluntailns as it were cloven asunder, thle shores of
the ocean impending, the adjoinng  waters m.n-nthom
able, are bu't so ma'ny striking' monuments of those
dreadful convulsions whic}h have ever cagitated the
globe. And whoever seriously considers the violent
ffects of earthqualkes recordea  in thes various annals
of manikind, or those which, have more recently occurred, net er can be surprised at the ruins and confufsion everywhere visible.::n he earthqluake which destroyed Lisbon, in the
yea.r. 7t55, the moua n  of Arrabeda, Estretta Ju



DURATION OF THE WORLD.                  47
lio, Maarvan, and Cintra, being some of the largest in
Portugal, were impetuously shaken as it were to the
very foundations; some of them were opened at their
su1mmits, split, and rent in a wonderful manner, and
huge masses of them were thrown down into the adjacent valleys.'"A. Afine stone quay, where the merchants landed
their goods, where, at that time about three thousand
people were assembled for safety, was turned bottomupwards; and it appears that the water, where the
quay stood, is now an hundred fathoms deep. A seaport, called St. Ubals, was entirely swallowed up,
people and all. In Morocco the earth opened, and
swallowed up a village, with all its inhabitants, to
the nuxmber of ten thousand persons, together awitih
their cattle of' all sorts, as camels, horses, horned cattle, &^,  and soon after the earth closed again in the
same manner as before.  The famous city of Tasso
was wholly swallowed utp, no remains being left. One
side of the Sarjon hills was rent in two; one side of
which fell upon a large town where there  waas the fanous sanctuary of their prophet known by the name
of Mula Teris, and the other side of the same hill fell
upon another lar e town, and both towns and inhabitants were all buried under the hill.  The earthquake
was more terrible in Ba rbary than at Portugal. At
mequiLnez, that part of the city where the Jews resided, was entirely swallowed up, and all the people
of that sect, being about four thousand in. number,
perished, except seven or eight.  And, however singular it cmay appear, it is an undoubted fact that at
the very time of this earthquake at Lisbon, the people
working in the mines of Derbyshire, were greatly




48            THE ANTIQUITY AND
alarmed by agitations of that district, and with explosions, as it were, of catnon." ~,
"In the year 1692, a great part of Port Royal, in
Jamaica, was sunk by an earthquake, and remains
covered. by the water several fathoms deep; on the
north side, more than a thousand acres of land sunk.
Some mounutains along the river, betwixt Spanish
Town and Sixteen Mile Walk, were joined together;
and others so thrown on heaps, that people were compelled to go by Guanaboa to Sixteen Mile Wallk   At
Yellows, a great mountain split and fell into the level,
and covered several settlements. Another plantation
was removed half a mile from the place where it formerIy stood.  In Clarendon precinct, the earth gaped
prodigiously, and all over the island there were many
thousands of openings.  But in the mountains are
said to have been the most violent shakes; indeed,
they are strangely torn and rent, insomuch that they
seem  to be of different shapes now from what they
were, especially the Blue and other highest mountains,
which seem to have been the greatest sufferers; and
a large high mountain,  near Port Morant, about a
day's journey over, is said to be quite swallowed up,
and in the place where it stood. there is nOW  a great
lake. The Blue and its neighboring mountains used
to afford a fine green prospect; now, one half of them
at least, seem to be wholly deprived. of their natural
verdure. There one nay see where the tops of the
great mountains have fallen, sweeping down all the
LSee Whitehurst, where these, and a variety of such instances
are selected  and see Philosophical Tran'sactions.




DUR ATION OF THE WORL.D  49
trees and eTverythin1g in their way, and maling a path
quite from tihe top to the bottom:'. "'
" The Pico in the Moluccas, accointed of equal
height with that of Teneriffe, was sunk by an earthquake, and quite swallowed up into the earth, and a
lake was left n i ts place.' t
In the year 1646  many of those vast mountailns,
the Andes, disappeared, and were totally lost."t
Iin short, the vestiges of such violent operations
present themselves in every district of the world, and
are the strongest testimony of an unbounded succession of evelnts.
What idea can we have of that time, which has
thus afforded an universal existence to incidents, that
make their dreadful appearance so rarely in the limited span of human existence?
Such, thelr  are nature's operations  And one
more let us say that, as the vegetables rise and fall
and men exist and die, the earths are formed, and
vary  in. their natures.  They sometimes change to
stone; the stone again is decomposed by air, or worn
away by time and friction.  Or; all are swallowed, in
the bowels of the earth.and changed by fire, or by'nature's hidden operations.
Philosophical Transactions,
f Dr. Hookes Posth,
Dr. Hookeo




5 0        THE   ANTIQUITY AND
SECTION XIII.
THus have I taken a general survey of an extensive
part of -nature. And her uniform  progression, in the
fomation and decay of every species of existing substance, is far too obvious to be any longer insisted
upon.  But, in a variety of instances, we have, however, observed, that the productions of the ocean have
been met with  in the most stupendous masses of
rocks.  From  what has already been suggested, we
mutst ulnavoidably be convinced that the ocean has
been stationary in districts where it now  is nrot, for
periods altogether inconceivable, and has there deposited, in great abundance, its vast productions.  But,
having gradually forsaken its former situation, sceaes
of vegetation have then taken place, of perhaps an
equal duration.
And from  some of the facts already mentioned, we
have been induced to suspect that its advances and
retreats havre been repeated in a-multiplied succession.
Our attention, then, necessarily seems attracted to
circumstances of a truly  interesting nattire.  And
while, in the remainder of this disquisition, the superficial part of the globe is alone the scene     o our
speculation, never ought we to forget that the vegetables, the animals, the stones, the earths, the minerals,
and; in short, every existing substance, equaally participate of gradual formation, and real dissolut tion0 or
transmutation. Such reasonings alone will ever be
found essential to sound philosophy, and the true
knowledge of antiquity.




DUBRATION OF THE WOIRL,-D                   1
I shall now proceed to give rmy opinion concerning
thei singular influence of the ocean  less desirous to
demonstrate a succession of time, than still farther to
confirm what has already been said  and to give an
idea of the uniform operations of iature, whiceh seem.
hitherto to have beenz blt little attended to.
Struck with the indellible marks of past itmxidations everywhere visible, a multitude of writers have
attemspted to account for such appearances.  Labor"
ngs, however, to establish complex theories, or fettered
by som e reigning superstition, so far from clearing up
the matter, they seem only to have involved it in still
greater obscurity.
In regard to these important operations of nature,
simplicity shotld take place of elaborate systenm
Collected in the vast extent of the ocean, the waters, by their continual agitation, have produced the
greatest changes on the surface of the earth.  T'he
marine productions everywhere mfet with, and which
can only be the wxork of the seas, sufficiently convince us that they have occupied successively every
part of the globe.
Thus, then, may the boundless ocean be viewed in
the light of a river  whose waters are constantly.
changing their direction.  Except, indeed, with this
di:ibrence, that the rivers, though  they  gradually
change their ancient channels, yet such change is minute, and. confined to a particular district and portion
of time: whereas, in the case of the ocean, the chlange
is imm1 ense, and of the most important nature;  n.the
great lapse of time, its waters successively, though
irregularly, occupy and desert every part of the world.
T'he currents of this element would. even appear, in.
Sk




062              MISUT.HE ANTIQUITY AND
some few instances, to have hollowed valleys, and to
have raised hills, which, in their winding's correspond
with. each other.  And, such are the changes of earth
into water, and water into land, that we may be confidently assured such alterations as have been, still
are, and ever will be made.
What follows then, from  this undoubted state of
facts?  The charming seats of vegetation, the nui
merous islands of the world, the vast continen-ts themselvesl in the course of time, will exist no longer as
such; but, immersed in the waters of the ocean i will
undergo the most inexpressible alterations.
That restless element, on the other hand, gradually
forsaking its ancient boundaries, will leave the districts it now covers prepared for scenes of luxuriant
vegetation,- for the happy settlements of succeeding
generations!
Nor are there wanting causes, unquestionably adequate to bring about this astonishing change.  In
short, our ideas once sufficiently elevated and cleared,
in respect to the important object of inquiry, other
diffculties will be easily surlmounted.
Variety of circumstances, then, are continually but
gradually conspiring to effect the ea's slow, but no
less certain, change of' station.
Among the most essential of these, mray be enumerated,
The vast alterations perpetually made upon the
surface of the world, by earthquakes and volcanoes.
The agitation of the waters of the ocean, from
whatever cause.
The discharge  of different substances from  the
mouths of a multiplicity of rapid rivers.




DURATION 1OF THE WO RLD )                 3
The constant generation of marine product ions
both vegetable and aninmal.
Shores washed away by the seas continually beat —
ing against them.
In short, whatever thus obstructs, or gives a:}:eer
passage to the waters of the ocean, insensibly  occasions the retreat or advance of that elementl
Elevating the mind to remote antiquity, grantig
that there Itave been periods of time suficientty extemsirve, it cainot be denied but that such causes are
amply sufficient to produce the eftects, however unmcommon, that have hitherto,  and sha-l hereafter couno
mand our attentioLa
They accotunt very satisfactorily for the appearance
of shells, of sea-fishes, of coral, of limestone,  and
other marine productions, constituting the suotumits
and bottoms of the highiest mountains, and other vast
portions of the terrestrial globe.
SECTION XIV,
IT is necessary here to observe that scen  alterat'ion'
as to the situation of  countries, or the position of t.he
axis of the world, has of late bet l suspected actualtly
to ta e place.  A few modern philosophers have eveI
been induced    hto  hi   t  thk tat  this circurnstance  alne
could have altered the position of the sera an'd h:ave
produced those extraordinary effects whlich are everwhere observable.  Yet, shotuld we evei be in tduced
5a




15' 4           THEi ANTIQUITY AND
to grant the existence of such a change, it must be
allowed to be of a slow and gradtual progression, and
certainly t1houghl silent and unobserved by the scrutiny of mankisnd it may be conceived to protd.ce great
and imuportant effects. Yet even then it could only
conspire with those numerous and interesting' influ
ences already enumeerated.
It is however perhaps somewhat doubtftul, whether
this change, which they contend for, has or has not
taken place. At all events, the alteration seems to be
of a nature that as yet admits not of demoustration 
and till such proof is actually brought, it will be ever
received with distrust by men. who found, their reasoings  upona no other basis thlan that of un:deniable
faets.
The vast variety of productions, hoowever, similar
to those  nor met with only between the tropics, that
have been discovered petrified in northern latitudes,
(occurringg too, in stone and other matter, constituting
theb countries of such colder regions; and in situations
where innumerable circumstances demonstrate, that
the animals and vegetables, of which they are the remains, have been generated, lived, and died, in the
very districts vwhere such petrifiations are at present
found,) give a very considerable strength to this opinion.  They would seem, indeed, to con:vince us that
a change in the position of the axis of the earth has
taken place, and  the same causes continuing, will
take place, fron  some unobserved operations of nature. 
Were such a change once admitted, the consequences may absolutelyr  have been, that the couttries
which are situated at present under the scorching




DU R ATION OF T iHE WOR L D  5'
rays of the sun, at periods remote may hav-e obtained
another situation, an-d may be conceived to have constituted the polar regions of the world.  And dthat the
inhospitable regions, on the other hand, now covered.
with a deep and lasting snow, in their trn mnay have
equally luxuriated in all the felicity of more happy
and wrarmer climes.
Yet whether this cause, granting it to exist, shou-ld
be received as equatly essential among the many ohb
vious ones already mentioned, is much to be disputed.
Could we even be clear in our determinationl whether
it operates powerfully, thoughl slowly or not at alt in
changing the situation of the waters, it would perhaps
be found by no means consequential,
For the fiacts which are the fillest proofs of the
sea's perpetual advance upon the dry land, are of' the
most striking nature.  They impress us with prospects truly astonishing; and convince us sufficientlyi
that thle sme rpowers at present exist, which,  silent
as the lapse of time, have already produced slow, but
universal effects.
Enormous quantities of shells of every kind, corals,
sea-fish,1 limestone, marbie,  chalk ccalcareous earth,
beds, and even deserts of sand, with other numerous
remains of mnarine prodtictions, are met with in every
quarter of tie globe, in some measure constituting
the countries of the world itself.
The truth of these assertions cannot be disputed:
this inquiry has already afforded repeated proofs: yet
out of those innumerable facts that minght still be adduced, it may not perhaps be amiss to select one as a
still farther coorrhoration.
In Touraine, a province of France upwards of a




56             THE ANTIQUITY AND
hundred and eiht miles from  the sea, throughout a
district of eighty square miles, eight or nine feet below  the surface they come to a bed of shell-marle,
constituted chiefly of oysters and other marine productions. These shells are found to extend, in many
districts to an aunknown depth, but, upon the whole,
at least to the depth of eighteen feet; and will be
found to amount, upon the most limited computation,
to a hundred and forty millions of cubic fathors of
shells, mostly decayed and broken into fraggments7.
That such curious and familiar objects are, unixversally, the genuine offspring of the sea, will be readily
acknowledged,  The shells and fishes in some districts are still found to retain their marine matter,
though much decayed.  But of the prodigious quantity of shells transmuted into stone, soume are fotnd
whole, others broken, many bored through by an anirmal well known to prey upon the living fish; and
they htave the sa. e effects, used chemically, medi~
cally, and in agriculture, as those taken immediately
from the ocean.
Th'e  hell-fish. of the same kind are of all sizes,
some youlng and others old. They form distinct beds
of oysters, cockles, &c.
Their samallest articulations may be remarked, and
even the pearls are observed that the living aninal
produtced U. Te teeth too of manly of the fishes are in
such a state, as sufficiently to convince us that they
have been made use of, alnd consequently that they
belonget d to animnals that once were   alive.  The appearanlce of the limestone rocks upot tops of m1ounLI. de Reaunmur.




DURATION OF THE WO  I RL 5R7
tains. and in the various districts of the world, is no
less conl.usive.
And that all this has not been occasioned, as has
been vulgarly conceived, by any universal inundation
of the oceans is demonstrable, both from  the fishes
petrified in the beds of limestone, wxhich seem to be
in the places where they have been generated, lived,
and died, forming distinct beds of oysters, cockles,
&co, and oftentimes deposited with as much regularity
as beds of living shell-fish are in any part of the sea;.and from  the various marine  prodtctions, which, in
a variety of instances, are separated by immense beds
of vegetable and other matter.
Such are undisputed monulments of a singular succession of events! such the proofs that the sea is by
no means stationary       They indeed seem to prove to
us, beyond all mianner of controversy, that this etle
ment, at repeated an d difierent periods,' has exercised
everywhere its dominion t
Nature testifies this by a variety of diferent instances.  Circeunstances render it evident thatt many
of the islands of the world have, one time or another,
been the highest land of adjoining continents; and it
is not improbable that those continents themselves as
it has already been suggested, alternately have been
buried, and have eamerged fiom the ocean.  Fron  this
reasoning, then, it follows th th  the various islands of
the globe, as they  ave many of them been joined to
some other cotntry, so will they at future periods exist o10 longer as islands. Either the sea departing'will
leave them portions of adjoining continents, or  by its
certain though slow  advances, immerse them  in its
restless waters.




58..3 THE ANT IQUITY AND
A curious ci.rcumstance it may not'be amiss here to
men-tiol though not with anty kinjd of view  to confirn the preceding reasonings, as they stand in no sort
of need of confirmation from  facts that are not am.biguous. Thre whole of the islands of the South Sea
would seem  to have constituted one vast aggregate.
Without the possibility of communicationl the inhabitants of Otaheite and New Zealand, separated by the
sea 2000 miles from  each other, have, nevertheless,
been foand to speak nearly the sanme langutage.
SECTION XV.
Fi-EE Rlet me observe, that in these transitions the
seas in some instances are seen to forsake their ancient stations with rapidity; in others, and, indeed,
much more commonly, by the most gradual retreat;
and wher  te te waters of the deep have been well
known to rage, they now leave districts prepared for
the. beautiful scenes of vegetation.
On other occcasons the ocean is observed to obtain
the superiority, either by a slow and certain approach,
or by bursting in at once, and overwhelming' everything in one undistinguished ruil.
The various desertions here suggested are sensibly
discerned by those who border upon the sea-coast.
Throughou t the whole of Europe, towns celebrated




'DTU At   1r 0 N 0 F T H E WO  R T.L D    59
as 1te most distingui shed sea-ports, at present are met
with tiirty or forty miles distant from the ocean,  To
specifr particular instances of these deserted places,
is altogether unnecessary.  In short, the histories and
traditions of every country abound with such remark-I
able appearances.
On the other hand. within the memory of men~
whose situations afford them  an opportunity of' making such observations, the gradual encroachment of
this element is equally observable   and though those
advances are often. of the slowest nature, yet in the
course of time it may easily be conceived that elects
of the first importance must, from the continuance of
such encroachments, inevitably take place.
The Baltic, for instance, has destroyed. and overwhelmed, among many others, the famous port of Vineta, and covered, by slow degrees, a large portion of
Pomerania.
In the same manner, the sea washing the coast
of Norwtay, is well knlown to  have detached several
little islands from the nmain land, and is still making
daily depredations upon the continent.
The German ocean encroaching by degrees upon
the shores of Holland, near Cattt overwhelmed the
ruins of an a.ncient citadel of the Rornals, which had
formerly been built upon that coast, and which is now
actually under the water.
Such are instances of  tile sea's gradual encroac1hment I It now remains to give a few examples of' its
more suddetn advances.  In the reign of' Heni-try the
First, tilhat element overflowed, wi.th a sudden alnd
alarming inundation, the extensive estates of the Earl




60              THE ANTIQUITY  AN )
of Godwin,; and has formed that ba.nk distinguished
even to this dav by by te name of t he. Godw in Sands.
Two hu-.ndred and fifty years are passed since a
similar eruption drow ned, in the territtory of D)ort. an
hundred thoutsand persons, a a   a still greater number
in the neighborhood of Dullart.
A melancholy inundation, it is universally known,
buried in modern times, with a vast rapidity, the half
of Friestland   Not more than sixty years ago, the
church  steeples of eighteen villages, near MIardike,
testified to the unhappy event.  They then appeared
above the surface of the sea, but have since yielded
to the force of the waves.
It may not be amiss in this enlimeration  of facts,
thus testiying t he sea's important and rapid encroachments, to make some mention of that acco'unt, which
has been delivered by Plato of the Atlantic land.  hi
his detail of the particulars relating to the country in
question, he lets us know that they were handed  down
to him by the celebrated Solon.  That distinguished.
sage of antiquity had travelled into.Egypt, atnd received his intelligence of the matter from an obscure
tradition of the Egypttan priests.  The world has
long regarded the whole of thi.s singular narrative as
an ingenious fable; but the circumstatnces so recently
enumerated give tus the greatest reason to prestume
that something of a similar nature actually may have
taken place.
NA similar catastrophe happened about a century and a half
ago to a large tract of land about eighteen miles north friom Aber
deen. iai the parish of Tervie, when the greatest part was covered.
by the sea. ad the rest witth drifting sand. The writer of this
has at difiereat times walked on the top of the walls of thie chulrch
~nist,,i at a other  tim.es the wlhoe was compl.etely buried ia sand.




DURATION OF THE WORLDo                    6
A considerable time is past says Plato,  since the
land of Alauntes was in being.  It wa  as large as
Asia-Minor and Syria united, and was situated near
the pillars of Hercules in the Atlantic ocean,.  The
imagination of the poetical philosopher exults in the
description of those nutmerous advantages,  which the
inhabitants so long enjoyed in that charmting region.
This felicity, together with their distinguished refinement, terminated,  however, by a dreadful and unexpected inundation;t for the sea, suddenly forsaking
its ancient stationt at once overwhelmed the country,
and drowned all its inhabitants.  At present, not even
the smallest vestige of such a land is anywhere to be
met with.
The inundations of the ocean that have been esteemed universal, and. recorded in the traditions or
various annals of mankind,  would seem here to solicit
some attention. Partial encroachments of the sea,
which have ever existed. must alone have given r1ise
to these vague and inconsistent narrations.  In an u ncultivated age, when men were ignorant of the established laws of nature, every little incident was exaggerated and might have been sufficient to have given
birth to tlhe most absurd and incredible conjecturesc
See his Ti'amus.
A similar event also happened within the last two centuIries
Capt. Forbisher in1 1578, in returning from Davis Streig'hts8 where
he had been searching for a North West Passagoet fell in with an
Island 25 leagues lon', lat. 57t N.. Ion. 32 W, Where hle.found
two harbors, and a fruitful chamnpaZig'n country, woodyv,  &. The
same Island was agoain seen by James Hale, in 1606. T'he place
is. tow known by every navigator going to the Davis Streights, by
the name of lte Sunk Land. No trace of it is now to be found. 
but sand is frequently thrown on the ship cs deks fro  the heavy
sea which generall y rolls over the place, although no sounding's
can be found.




62            TIT H EsE A. N T    U I T Y AN Pi
The insuficilency of the water of the ocean to cover
the whole earth; the unnatural supposition of a great
and interesting part of nature being once destroyed;
the inconsistent manner in which all such stories are
ever related, impress us with insurmountable increr
dulityo  In short, they never can be received, never
can be thought reconcilable to reason by the sensible
and enlightened part of the h.rman species.
In the place, then, of commenting upon ffabulotus
stories, the effusions of ignorance and error, may it
iot be full as well to give some general hints, which
may forever caution mankind from being easily captivated with similar delusions?
Let us separate circumstances, that are of an improper nature, from the narrations of remote or distant
history.  Whenever we entertain ourselves with the
transactions of the past times, never should we ente
upon themt  but with the firmest persuasion, that the
incidents which glaringly contradict the established
laws of nature are but the dreams and erroneous conclusions of men involved in bbabarism and. obscurity.
Is it possible, without an eye to this. to peruse with
any kind of advantage the ancient errors of mankind?
Our immuediate predecessors were firmly and universally persuaded of the real existence of the merest
phantoms of imagination.  To enumerate the many
instances of their folly, would be but a painful task.
The intelligent indeed, feel themselves hurt by such
narrations.  To conceive himself allied to a species
capable of such glaring misconceptions, can, in faict,
never beflattering to a man endued. with. superior reason and sensibility. Let us, however, select an historical. circuimstance from the multitude of those that




TDUR ATIO  N OF  T HE WOI LD.          63
reflect satire antd disgrace upon human nature   The
unbounded influence of sorcery and witchcraft was
never once disputed among our almost immediate ancestors; and it is a well-known fact that a number of
the human species, in these days scarcely to be credited) fell victims to such groundless superstitions "Were
men, however, ignorant and credulous enough in the
present age to assert with confidence  te   ral existence of suc  imaginary beings, the natives of Epurope
at least have acquired just discernment sufficient to
see the nature of such delusion.  But why do those
very Europeans still so far countenance folly as to
give an unlimited credit to similar fables and absurdities of antiquity?  Are the present natives of Europe
any worse for being a little wiser than their ancestors?
And can it at at this day injure the morals of society,
or the interests of mankind, to make them still a little
wiser than they are; to divest them of a part of their
folly, and to prevent them  from  falling again into
groundless and false suppositions, tending to destroy,
or, at least, to set them at variance with one another?
These last observations are unquestionably true,
yet however true, might in this place have ben etirely omitted,  In short, fabulous stories and circui.stances glarinlgly contradicting the established laws of
nature, can only be received by those'who blindly
receive anything. Such  a  aare incapable of distinguishing the links of probability, eagerly embrace the
wonderful in every narrationr   The beautiful siplicity of  ature a nd I tth solicits in  ain.their attenfox!.




64              THE ANTIQUITY AND
SECTION XV1
IT would, however. be lnpardonable in me to onit
mentiooning SOne circlumstances of a widely different
and of a more interesting nature.  What appear to be
the undoubted remains of tropical productions, both
of the animal and vegetable kind, whose former existence evidently seems to have depended upon the sut's
dircti influence have been discovered petrified in high.
nortlern latitudes where  such stones. and petrifactions as I have before nientioned, are so abundait, as
even in  soe measure. to constitute imrmen se districts
and portions of the countries where they are at present found.  Within  the contexturee for instatce, of
prodigiouls miasses of stone ftroughout the northern
regions of Elrope, te9 impressions of plants are observable.  These plants are: chiefly of the capillary
kind, but sometires of a peculiar species of fern, both
Twell known to be similar t the prese t natives of the
tropical regions. 
Reains  of elephants an  crocodiles changed into
stione  have been discovered in England, Germany,
&c., as aSO  have tahe teeth of sharks; and a vast variety of shell  ad other fishe present themselves, impressed upon stoines, in the various parts of Europ%,
which, at present nowhere exist but in the East and
West Indies, and other such tropical situations.  Arnd
all these appearances of vcegetahbes, animals, and
fishes found remote from their native reginons,'ae a: 
Manly such specimens are in the cabinets of the cnriousg




BDUJATION  OF THE WORLDo                 65
companied with a variety of eircumstances which'suif
ficiently indicate that they were generated, lived, and
died, in the very distriCts where their petrifactions ae
at present discove.red.
In short, how r these productions ever could come
into those northern situations, may well excite our
astonishmenti   They would -seem  iDdeed, almost decisive, to establish the reasonings previously suggested, in respect to a change in the latitudes of countries.
At all events, those climates must originally have
been suited to the nature of the. existence  of such animals and vegetables. 1If, thenm  these circ.mstances
should be thought conchlsive in proving that an alteration in the position of the axis of the world has
taken place, they at least hold up, and that in the
most striking point of view, some strange transitions
through which each district most unquestionably has
passed, in the inexplicable duration of time.
SECTION XV~IL
SUec, theng are the re v e olutions that take place upon
the superficial parts of the earth.! And though i n
tracing these nmore minute operations,'we rhave by no
means been solicitous to demonstrate an uninterrupted
succession of events, yet, I flatter mnyself what has
been sugg ested upon that subject may have made the
desired impressiona  Let us however once more revert
to that elevated species of philosophy, whose essen




66         ~THE ANTIQUITY AND
tial truths absorb every less important considerationi
What is it to us how the climates change, and countries alter situations, oro how the seas forsake their
stations, when we are most undoubtedly convinced
that matter nowhere is at rest; that the -very seas, the
countries, and the world itself are composed of particles in. eternal fluctuation.
These immultable truths should never be forgot:That animals and vegetables flourish and decay; that
earths are formed by slow. degrees; that they, too,
change by time; that stone is formed, is decomposed,
or altered in its composition; that mountains now are
elevated, now depressed  that nature lives in motion.
SECTION X~VI.L
]0RoM the whole of these facts it must then decisively appear,
That not one single substance in nature is either
permanent or primary.
That the animals, the vegetables, the earth, the
stones, the minerals, alike take their origin in the
gradual progress of time; and in its unceasing succession are alike exposed to innumerable transmutations.
That the globe itself from a multitude of causes' is
subject to the most slow but interesting revolutions.
That it undergoes incredible changes from heat and
cold, volcanoes and earthquales.




DURATION OF THE WORLDo                   67
That vast alterations are perpetually made by the
decay, generation, petrifaction, and other transmutations of vegetables and animals.
That the sea is continually altering the very face
of the earth.
That in the eternal lapse of time it alternately encroacles upon the dry land, takes it fron, and aga
restores it to its inhabitants.
And that gradual, but obvious influence, occasion
those numerous, yet partial inundations, that have
been found to make such deep and lasting impressions, and which have existed in every countryy and
left behind them  the most visibe  marks of ruin and.
devastatiohn
SEOTION XIX.
IT is needless to multiply facts any fartfher, in proof
of a succession of events of an amazing duration..In
this inquiry an extnsive field has been opened for
speeulation  F}acts of a singular nature are placed in
a light in which they seem  not hitherto to have been
vieweda  A.n  of common observationD  who freely
exercises the powers of his reason on the general appearance of things, will now  be more equal to the
task of this important investigation.
Let it then sufice to offer a Tfewg general observations on the subject, easily deducible fronr what has
already been said.  Every circumstance, then, every




684        THE ANTIQUITY A:ND
tain of just reasoning on the facts related  in my
humble apprehension, declare the human species, all
animal and vegetable ife, and the whole scene of nature to be of a very different antiquity from what has
hitherto been apprehended. We have seen for  hat
Teason anything satisfactory on the subject is out of
the reach of human tradition; and enjoying' so shor
an existence, is it to be wondered at if our notions of
time itself are become urprisingly contracted t?   0
famliiar'toon li fe are the istances of ob-vios --
Ionsstrency j   Ought we then to be much surprised,
if in the genera  belief of mankind we meet with
something erroneous?  One part. of the hIaan species are without ev e  the possibility of colAint at any
other knowledge than that which is obtainedb by oral
tradition, or by their own immnediate exlper-eneo Iggnorant of the arts of registering ideas, whoe nations
are without any written books, hieroglyphics, or other
standing memorials whatever~  Because t.hey are not
benefitted in these respects as we are, the contracted
and prjudiced among us are in  ome   degree disposed
to degrade them. firo  the rank of human tnaure.
Many nations  t is trte, are differently circumstanced; they have written observations.  But of
whhat nature are they?   v-oluinious tracts whose.
contents ar  aabsrdities, that are greedily devoured
by an undiscermnig multitude 
As t the ines;tiable fe  endued with sulperior
abilities, who write in a rational and consi'Stent manner, and whose clear discernments and sound understandings raise them above the ordinary level of mankind,  how  are they requited     Ignorance discovers
not the truth of their observations; and because they




URATrION OF THE WORLD                   69
dIifer from  the ignorant, they expose themselves to
the censure of the greatest part of the world.
Do they then profit essentially by the advantages
they possess'  Elaborate fabricators of what have
been erroneously esteemed unquestionable standards
of refinement, seen either to have mistaken the interestsI or to have intentionally imposed upon the senses
of mankind. Instead of giving vigor to their judgments, do they not labor to render them incapable of
judginog, and  spread a gloomy influence  over the
whole conduct of their lives?  The dupes of the artfices of system  and of superstition,  what peaceable
and spotless mortals  what valuable members of society! what virtuous models of perfection!  Should
such qualifications., such delusions, characterise the
statesmnen or the monarchs of the world, ought twe to
be surprised if, blind to the real interests of society,
they prove the tyrants or gothic rulers of mrankind.
Unhappy, trutly  is the lot of men that chance to be
directed by those who, in the momentous circumn
stances of life, are incapable to direct themselves.
What pains are there not taken to stop the inlets of,all knowledge, to blind or confuse mankind   Effectially deceived, do not the greatest part of them thank
their imaginary benefactors?  Do they not, too, frequently pay the greater deferenee to men in proportion
as they propagate absurdities!  And is it seriously
thought that deceiving mankind is the real interest of
society?  Granting that a small portion of the hulman
species be actually benefitted by obscurity, do they
think that the rest participate in the advantage? Can
men, thus artfully blindfolded, trace the windings of
nature'  Can w'e, short sighted of ourselves, and




T0        THRE ANTI Q UITY AND
hoodwinked by others, make any progress in philosophical researchesa?  Can xwe  amid such coiifuslon
of ideas, though possessed of thet disposition, accomplish the purpose of doing justice either to oareselves
or to our fellow' creatures?  is it possible for us, unT
der such wretched ciremllsttnces, to distinguish what
is really right or wrong-to fix with precision the
boundaries of morality?'he inhabitants of a celebtated portion of the globe
style themselves the rational, the civilized, the intelligent of mankind. Yet, with all their'boasted knowledge, are they  not absutrd enough to confine the
existence of the world, and its vast appendages, the
ulbounded scenes of nature, to the trifling limits of a
few thousand years?  They have gazed at the written motlnuments of the East, at the hieroglyphies, and
the pyramids of Egypt.  They  have adopted, as
wonders of antiquity, the labors of men that existed
but a few centtries before themselves.  The records
of immediate predecessors, they have made the bounds
of antiquity.  Children of a day, they have given but
a day to the existence of nature.
Prejudices, too, which they are discerning enough
to censure in others, lord it over their finer tunderstandings.  They laugh at the errors and gross superstiions of the  est of  the world; yet, inexcusably,
are they captivated with similar delusions.  Enemies
to liberal investigation, when the result of it seems to
contradict their favored opilions, they condemn often
without exatination, the labors of the sensible alnd
discerning.   1 Thuis do they discottra'e tshe iitelle it
members of society; whose superior merit their prej'tldices suffer them not to discern.    hey insist  upon it




DU i ATION OF   TH E WO 0LD  71
that the animals, the vegetables, the human species,
the world itself, with all the magnificent scenes of
nature, are but of soitme thousand years exist ence
Unwilliag to depart from such degrading and unwarrantable conctusions, they are even disposed to censure those'ho  indi ate the cause of natuare anld of
truth. Inn-umerable are the monuments of the extensive in:fltence of:fo'ly,: ad of the weakness and limited reach of' hlnlan  understanding 
In the circle of existence, in vain do we seek for
the beginning of things.:  How absurd and   fruitless
every recourse to calculation on the subject of:anitiquIty!   1The stretch of huniaan conception necessarily
fails us  a multiplied series of:numbers, of which we
ca:nnot possibly have any idea, unavoidably leaves
the matter removed at an utnlirnited distance,
In shor t ourselves:, our Ivese and cleulations, are
but points in time and i nature I:"Is there not:then: somes reason for us to suspecte
wfhat in these days rarely einters into the imagination
of anty man,
That there h:as eve: been a succession of events
something s1imilar to what is continually observed 
That. nature must, through edless periods of duration, have acted by laws fixed and immutable 3:Tlhat the human speciess have had, and will have,
an uriform and ifinite existence 1




72            THE ANTIQUITY A N D
SECTION XX0
HAYIiNG thus endeavored to give an insight into the
nature of things  and having adduced variety of facts
and reasonings to obviate the contracted notions too
universally prevailing, it may not now  be anmiss to
make some general observations which the nature of
our subject unavoidably leads us to. In as explicit a
manner, then, as possible, I shall endeavor to show
some of the causes why the bulk of mankind have
ever received improper notions both of themselves and
of the objects everywhere surrounding them.
By nature man is evidently impressed with an attachment to his own species, of the warmest kind
This stamp??of nature's hand is, indeed  inseparable
from  life. Actuated by its influence, we cultivate
everything that seems to have a tendency to make
mankind happy~ Yet, in every trivial instanc, under
various disguises, this principle is too often found to
degenerate into one more immnediately selfish and contracted: and in this view it has justly been considered
as the first and most important spring of almost every
action,
It is this prevailing love of self which has separated
man at so vast a distance from the beautiful works of
uature; which has raised him, in imagination, to a,
high and lofty station in the scale of existence. As
any one of the undistinguished mass of people, for
what purpose everything exists?  The general ans
wer is, that everything was created for our particular
use aind accoumodation  In I  this manner the world




DURATION OF THE WORLD.                 73
itself has been viewed in the erroneous light of a mansion, fitted up for the general preservation. of  nimal
and vegetable life. In short, the whole magnificent
scene of things is daily and confidently asserted to be
ultimately intended for the peculiar convenience of
mankind. Thus do the bulk of the human species
vauntingly elevate themselves above the innumerable
existences that surround them.
As far as possible the philosopher shouid steer clear
of circumstances   which mislead and  fascinate the
judgment.  Let us, then  forsake this beaten track;
again let us venture to surmise that such immense
portions of matter, as worlds and their varied modifications of animation, have ever existed. If it be necessary that worlds, vegetables, and animals, should
exist why not alwavys     Here it is however, necessary to repeat that the natural objects with which we
are everywvhere surrounded, when duly attended to,
seem strongly to point out that one substance changes
into another; that the particles of matter, constituting
every species of existing substance, so far from being
at rest, fluctuate in continual revolution; and that
though men, animals vegetables, earths, stones, minerals, ever have and will exist, yet they do continually vary in their constituent parts.
Independent of the absolute certainty that things
change one into another, there is not a particle of existing substance which may not seem  to have itself
participated of animal or vegetable life, or to have
been, derived from  mratter thus previously animated I
The reasonings of this inquiry incline us to think so.
The marble, the chalk, the limestone, and the calcareous substance in general, evidentiv appear to derive




74           7THE ANTIQUITY AND
their origin from  testaceous matter, or the shells of
marine animaIls and from products of the cooral kind.
The stones, earths, and clays, of a different quality
from the calcareous, would appear, from  various circumstances and impressions, to be the genuine offspring of land animals and  vegetables.  Mrineral
substances, it is needless to repeat, are derived from
rocks, where the matter they are composed of first
exudes, and in process of time digests, and is brought
to perfection;  the rocks theselves being progressively foriised from  the spoils of'vegetables and ani:mals.
Animal and vegetable existence then seem  absolntely
necessary to the production of the varrius slibstances
that are met with, while those very substances are
equlally necessary to such animationo Thus will it
be found that the different part of nature are mutually dependent on and resolvable one into another.
Yet. a mid all these fluctuations and events; amid
the eternal transmutation or changes of one thing into
another, an unerring uniformity is preserved throughout the whole of nature. Tha tthe particles of matter entering into the composition of earths, animals,
and vegetables, form  immutably similar productions,
a permanency and sameness in the different qtualities
of earths vegetables, and animals, sufficieatly dyeonstrate.   What difference, let me ask, is there between
the composition of the animals and vvegetables of today, and of those of the remotest period, ullder similar circumstances of climate and situation m    The
earths, mineral particles, waters, and materials entering into their compositions, vary not in their natureSo
For though earth s, minerals, and waters themselves




DR AT I O   0 F THE gWOr L   75
are gradually formed, and in. time gradually decay,
yet are there others reproduced with all their qualities,
The revolutions of society,-the contention of natrons, —the downflatl of empires —extinguish not the
human species.  Nor are the animals and vegetables
of the extended scenes of nature in any degree threatened with total extermination. It is true, extraordlnary operations of nature at times partially affect
their existence, but tumultuous scenes of devastation
and calamity are usually succeeded by serene and
happy periods of tranquillityi that compensate for destruction, and give ample scope to fertility and population     How incompatible with reason  is  t to sluppose that nature, whose every operation is stamped
with wisdom  and consistency, should give a fatal
blow to he own existencer and in some imeasure   extinguish herself in the annihilation and destruction of
animation I
The continuta formation and decay of every existing substance, the unceasing circulation of matter that
has been so copiously explained, produces no disorder.
Innumerable beings exult in their existence but for a
day, then droop, and change the mode of that existence; yet do they each of then leave their different
forms and species equally numerous and floirishing.
A continual waste in every part is necessary to the
incessajnt repairs of the whole,  The closest sympathy and connection is preserved throughout the entire
system  of things; and each part or member of the
universe, in performing its proper offices, operates both
to its own preservation and to that of the whole.
Nor is the magnificence so universal and apparent-.
the beautiful order and disposition of the several iarts




'76     THE ANTIQUITY OF THE WORLpD
that compose the stupendous whole-any objection to
an unbounded suceession of events.  So fari indeed,
from  being an objection, they might undoubtedly be
brought as the strongest confirmation of such a doctrine. Is it not far easier to conceive things to exist
as they are and to contain eternal order and regular
disposition within themselves, than to have recourse
to more magnificent causes, which, after all, must be
allowed to be eternal and self-existent   WV ere magnificence an objection to an eternal duration of things,
is it reasonable to increase that magnificelcc to remove the objection  If something always has existed, or must have been eternal, why not pay a deferene to the magnificent and beautiful objects of whose
existence we are certain  why not grant eternity to
nature?
The world, the universe itself, are composed of
moveable particles, qualified for eternal agitation. if
then, numerous modifications of matter thus exist; if
events similar to those already described, daily do
take place, what in the nature of things should hinder
such events from having always happened?
Nature is invariably the same, her laws eternal and
imumutable. Substances that seem inanimate are yet
perpetually in action, admit of changes regular and
uniform: and as the vegetables rise and fall, and men
exist and die, thus they have ever done, and ever
will do.