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BY IRA HILL, A. M.

f Study Nature; nature is a friend of truth" Young.

c^ofCc

Ealttntot*:

PUBLISHED BY N. G. MAXWELL.

John />. Toy, print.
1823.

>tfs-

DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-seventh day of August,
*********** in the forty-eighth year of the Independence of the United
* oU AT * * States of America, Ira Hill, of the said district, hath deposi-

fgaSemtf ted in this office» the tit,e of a book» the rigbt whereof he
w claims as athor, in the words following, to wit:

"An Abstract of a New Theory of the Formation of the Earth, &c By
Ira Hill. A. M. 'Study nature; nature is a friend to truth.— YoungS"

In conformity to an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled
"An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps
charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during
the times therein mentioned;" and also the act, entitled, "An act supple-
mentary to the act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by
securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprie-
tors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending
the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching his-
torical and other prints *"

PHILIP MOORE,
Clerk of the District of Maryland,

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON.

Without even your own consent, and
without any other claims to your notice than
those arising from an admiration of your vir-
tues, I have ventured to place your name in
the front of a work, the result of those hours
of leisure that have been snatched from a la-
borious employment; a work that has for many
years occupied my solitary studies. Retired
as you now are from the desolating tempest of
a military and the scarcely less exhausting
commotions of political life, I can but flatter
myself, that this intrusion will be pardoned —
I can but flatter myself, that while the hand of
the American Cincinnatus cultivates that soil
which he formerly so gloriously and so success-
fully defended by his sword, he will rejoice to
find so many spontaneous testimonies furnished
by nature to the truth of the divine records,
as are grouped together in the pages of this
Volume, all leading to one grand result, that the
Divine Being whom we both worship, is alike
consistent in his works and in his word.

Vi DEDICATION.

That your countrymen may properly esti-
mate your virtues, and testify their sense of
services so important, by claiming for their
candidate the first honours in the gift of a free
people, is the sincere wish of your unknown
friend and countryman,

THE AUTHOR.

Contents.

Formation of the Earth, ----- 13^
First Proof of Revolutions on the surface of the

Globe, - - - - - - - -31

Proofs that these Revolutions have been Sudden, 35
The Position of the various Strata of Rocks,

Shells, and Alluvion, ----- 37

The Formation of the various Strata, 41
The various colours of Marble, - - - -44
Veins of Primitive Rocks perforating the Strata of

secondary ones, ------ 45

The Mines of Salt, 47

The Caverns in the Earth, - - - - 49

Of Lands which have sunk, 50
The many Islands which have arisen from the

Ocean, 51

Of Earthquakes, - . - - - - - 53

Of Volcanoes, 54

Of Mountains, - - - - - - -55

Of the Masses of Shells deposited on the sides of

Mountains, ------ ~ 57

Of the Ocean receding from the Lands, - 58

Alluvial Formations, - - - - 60

Of the Alluvial Deposits made by the General

Deluge, - - -'- - - -67

Of Inundations subsequent to the General Deluge, 82

The Flood of Oxyges, ib.

Flood in Ethiopia, - - - - - - 84

Vlll CONTENTS.

Of the Deucaleon Flood, - . . 86
A Flood was produced by the rise of the north-
east part of North America, 88
The Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, 99
The Susquehannah, - - - - - 102
Of the Prairies of North America, - - 120
Of the Saltness of the Ocean, and of many Lakes, 123
Change of Climate, &c. - 126
Of the situation of the Mountains, Seas, and De-
serts, on the eastern hemisphere, - - 132
Of the properties and motions of the Atmosphere. 133

Of the Rainbow, 146

Longevity of the Antedeluvians, - - 147

Of the appearance of our Continent, - - 152

Of the unheal thful state of our Continent, - 155

Of the Insects, Vegetation, &c. of America, - 159

The Tides, - - - - - - - 164

Sir Isaac Newton's Theory of the Tides, - 168

Explanation of the cause of the Tides, - - 185
The causes which produce changes in the degrees

of pressure of the atmosphere, - 190-

PREFACE.

In giving the following brief sketch of his
views of the formation of the earth, rocks,
mountains, &c. the author is influenced by va-
rious motives.

He considers the study of nature of un-
limited importance to every person, for in all
the works of God, his glorious attributes are
displayed; and if we but understand the lan-
guage in which the volume of nature is written,
we can at all times draw the richest instruc-
tions from every page.

We believe there is nothing in the works of
God which contradicts his holy word, or there
is nothing in the works of nature, but what
perfectly coincides with scripture, and the only
cause of the great difficulty in reconciling na-
tural philosophy to scripture is our ignorance
of one or the other of them.

The sceptic, the deist, or atheist, in pos-
session of a few arguments, which he does not
rightly comprehend, commences an attack on
the word of God, which he is as ignorant of,
1*

& PREFACE.

as he is of true philosophy. He assails such
as are totally unacquainted with philosophy,
and they are often obliged to retire from the
field, because they have no weapons to defend
themselves.

The infidel selects natural events recorded
in scripture as arguments against the truth of
the sacred volume, and if he cannot reconcile
what he' now sees with what he there reads, he
condemns the whole as a forgery or an imposi-
tion upon mankind.

There is perhaps no fact recorded in scrip-
ture, which has been more successfully per-
verted to confound the multitude, than that of
the universal deluge. The infidel says, "That
it is a natural impossibility for the waters to
cover all the high mountains; and the God of na-
ture cannot work natural impossibilities." And
if the waters could have been made to rise so
high, where have they receded to?"

To remove many such difficulties is one ob-
ject of the author.

The general mass of community, not being
accustomed to read geological publications, and
such works in general being voluminous, and
frequently written in language which they can-
not comprehend, the common classes of com-
munity on which the infidel makes his attacks,
are unwilling to commence so arduous a task;

PREFACE. XI

as to peruse extensive publications, filled with
terms and phrases of which they are totally
ignorant. Therefore, the author has endea-
voured to give his ideas, in as brief and plain
a manner as possible, that the work may not
be too long for their perusal, nor too intricate
for their comprehension.

The theory he claims as an original one, and
it is with humble deference to the learned and
scientific that he submits it to an enlightened
public.

The most of the ideas contained in this work,
have been submitted to the examination of
those who are an honour to their country, and
a blessing to the age which is illuminated by
the splendour of their talents. They did not
condemn them. A§ this theory was formed
from observation, and not from perusing the
works of the learned geologists, they advised,
"That the facts recorded by Cuvier, Hutton,
Werner, Playfair, &c. should be examined
before the work should be submitted to public
examination. Those authors have been atten-
tively perused, and the numerous facts which
they have collected, go so directly to strengthen
the position we have taken, that it is with con-
fidence that an abstract of the theory is brought
to public view.

Xll PREFACE.

Drs. Samuel K. Jennings, and James Gray,
whose philosophical and theological researches,
are well known in this city, are' the only per-
sons in this part of the United States wrho
have been made acquainted with the principles
on which the theory is founded, and with the
facts which are introduced to prove the pre-
mises correct. These learned gentlemen ap-
prove of the work, and recommend its publi-
cation.

The theory of which this work is an abstract,
has been written a number of years, the prin-
cipal heads of which were submitted to the ex-
amination of several of the distinguished lite-
rati of the northern section of our country.
On my arrival here, I had the pleasure of pe-
rusing a work just published by Dr. H. BL
Hayden, of this city, which, though we were
entirely strangers to each other, and never
heard of each other's views on the subject, goes
almost directly to prove my theory, and de-
monstrates, as far as the nature of the subject
will admit, the effects of the causes, which we
attempt to explain. The numerous facts which
he has collected, have thrown much light on
our subject of which I have availed myself in
a number of instances, and to his valuable
work I respectfully refer my readers for

PREFACE, Xlll

more proofs of the correctness of my theory,
than the limits of mine will permit me to notice.

The author is well aware of the many diffi-
culties attending the introduction of a work of
this kind; a work which is in a degree oppos-
ed to the publications of many who have been
ranked among the great men of the earth, but
he is confident that truth, however plain may
be her apparel and humble her appearance,
will prevail.

Though systems of geology almost without
number have been sent forth into tbe world,
some of which darken more than they enlighten
the mind, and instead of guiding the votaries
of science to the temple of truth, bewilder
them in the labyrinths of error, yet most of
the theories have been useful. They have ex-
cited the human mind to inquiries, induced
many to enter the extensive field of research,
and have been the cause of many important
discoveries.

Facts are the materials out of which theories
are to be formed and supported. These mate-
rials may be so mutilated and changed, as to
form a theory of almost any shape; but that
theory must be best which is raised from the
most simple facts, and supported by such as
are gathered from the remotest parts of the
earth. If we can construct an edifice of the

XIV PREFACE.

materials brought from the four quarters of the
globe, and from the different isles of the ocean,
and without alteration have them all unite as
if wrought by the most skilful hand — Such an
edifice will remain unshaken, however strong
may be the force of prejudice, or violent the
blasts of vain and false philosophy. Facts like
witnesses have been tortured to testify in op-
position to each other, and often in opposition
'to reason and truth. But if they will rise vo-
luntarily and simply affirm in unison with each
other, ought they not to be believed? If the
relics and alluvia of Siberia, and of the other
extensive section of Asia, voluntarily unite and
testify with those of Africa, and the many
which exist in Europe, and all appear in per-
fect harmony with the numerous phenomena of
America, though contrary to theories formed
from the facts of a small province, or kingdom,
ought we not to believe? If the remains of ma-
rine and land animals, which are found on
plains and mountains, and those which are im-
beded in masses of solid rocks, come forth,
with the bones of antedeluvian men, which are
found in our own country; if all of these, with
various other phenomena which have obstructed
the progress of geological inquiry, be not only
removed, but join in support of our theory,
who will not be convinced of its correctness?

PREFACE. XV

In a work so limited, it cannot be expect-
ed that we shall prove to a demonstration all
propositions which may be advanced, but we
calculate to give some substantial facts in proof
of every statement.

We will take the word of God for our guide,
reason and philosophy for our attendants, and
supported by the m^ny facts which have been
brought to light, we trust to the candour of an
enlightened public, and bid defiance to the
ridicule of the sceptic, the scoffs of the theo-
rist, the frowns of7 the superstitious, and the
malice of the atheist.

The envious critic whose life is devoted to
poisoning or destroying the fruits of others' la-
bours, may writhe his hydra folds round every
word, yet in an enlightened public we have con-
fidence, and the public is the tribunal to which
we are willing to submit the publication.

FORMATION

In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth.* The heaven here referred
to, was doubtless the shining worlds which
range the unlimited fields of ether, and which
are so many grand theatres in which the glo-
rious attributes of Deity are displayed. In
the numbers of brilliant spheres, which then
adorned the skies, we believe were included
our sun, and all the planets which revolve
around this splendid centre, except the earth
and moon. But, since the period when God
commanded the earth to appear, other planets,
both primary and secondary, may have been
created, and at the Almighty's command,
more may spring into existence, and become
the abodes of intelligence. Millions of splen-

Gen. i. i.

did systems may have adorned the heavens,
and experienced the munificence of an all-wise
Creator, and bountiful Benefactor, for myri-
ads of centuries, before the Author of univer-
sal nature saw fit in his providence to form
the sphere on which we live. From the word
of God, we learn, that the heavens were cre-
ated before the earth,* and no reference is
given as to the space of time which intervened
before our planet assumed its form.

The earth was without form and void.\
This is indicative of the state in which the
matter composing our earth existed, before
God moulded it to be a habitable world.
The matter which composes our sphere, then
existed in a chaotic state, floating in the ex-
panse of ether, unaffected by the laws of
gravitation.

When God gave to this matter laws, which
bound one particle to another, they rushed
together, and a sphere was formed. The
denser particles were most attracted, moved
fastest towards the centre of the agitated
mass, and propelled the lighter towards the
surface. The particles composing the water
being of less density than those of the earth,
were forced towards the surface and covered

* God created the heaven and the earth* Gen i. 1.
t Gen. i. 2.

the face of the globe. Darkness was on the
face of the deep* The deep here alluded to
could have been nothing but the expanse of
waters which covered our sphere, and there
being no light, we must conclude that the at-
mosphere, which is the medium of light, was
not formed, or existed in so turbid a state, as
not to admit the rays of light.

The spirit of God moved upon the face of
the water s.\ This passage clearly shows,
that our planet was then covered with water.
It is rational to conclude, that the atmosphere
at that time was not so completely formed as
to be transparent. The particles composing
the fluid that surrounds the globe, were min-
gled witH the denser ones, when our sphere
was formed, or when the matter composing
it consolidated. Then by the pressure of
denser ones they were forced to rise. The
aqueous particles were first propelled to cover
the solid parts of the earth, and the aeriform
substances, according to their densities, em-
braced the waters without, as the waters en-
closed the solids within.

And God said, Let there be light; and there
was light.% At that time the atmosphere
had become so divested of opaque particles,

* Geo. i. 2. t Ibid. i Gen, i. 3.

as to admit the rays of the sun to the surface
of the earth. But it appears that the atmos-
phere did not for some time become so clear
or transparent as to admit the feebler light of
the stars. For, some time after God said, Let
there he light, which was emitted from the
gun, he caused the stars to shine.*

This would have been the case, had our
globe and its garments been formed in the
manner we have stated. A length of time
would have been required for the finer parti-
cles, which compose our atmosphere, to be
separated from the grosser ones, which are in
the earth and on its surface. It is rational to
suppose, that the atmosphere for some time
would be loaded with vapours that the re-
flected light of the planets, and the twinkling
rays of the stars, could not reach the surface
of the earth; but the more copious beams of
the sun would sooner perforate the vapours,
and give day to half the sphere, as now we
are not deprived of his light, though our
hemisphere it thickly shrouded in clouds.

Thus far do reason and revelation perfectly
coincide; and further still does the sacred
Word prove the accuracy of the positions we
have taken. That the earth was first covered
with waters, appears evident from the ninth

* Gen. i. 14.

verse of the history of the creation. — And
God said, Let the waters under the heavens be
gathered together in one place; — and God call-
ed the dry land earth* and the gathering toge-
ther of the waters called he seas.*

When the earth by the command of the
Almighty, was fashioned to a sphere, there
were no rocks nor stones in the whole con-
fused mass. This appears from many facts,
and from reason. Many rocks contain animal
and vegetable remains. f The various species
whose relics are deposited in rocks, must have
had an existence previous to the existence of
the rocks in their present form. If the rocks
were formed when the world was, these ani-
mals must have lived before the world was
created. Animal and vegetable remains are
found only in rocks termed secondary. That
those denominated primitive, though they
contain no relics, were not formed as they
now exist, when the world was created, ap-
pears from reason.

If matter, when in a chaotic state, possessed
power of attraction sufficient to form rocks,
those rocks would have attracted more mat-

* Gen. i. 9.

t Animal and vegetable remains being so frequently found in solid
masses of rocks, in almost every section of the world; and so frequent-
ly mentioned by ail geologists, that it is unnecessary to make any
direct reference to prove what cau be doubted by none.

ter to them, the attraction would have in-
creased in proportion to the matter consoli-
dated, a world would have been formed im-
mediately; and all the rocks would have been
precipitated to the centre of the globe. There-
fore, if the primitive rocks existed before the
law was given, which binds one particle to
another, the rocks being denser than the
earthy particles, would leave the latter nearer
the surface, and no primitive rocks would be
found near the circumference of our globe.
But immense masses of primitive rocks are
found not only on lighter particles beneath the
earth's surface, but even on the surface, and
they crown the summits of the highest moun-
tains. These could not have been their situ-
ation, had they existed in their present state
when the globe was summoned to appear as
an habitation for the living. Therefore, we
shall conclude that no rocks were formed when
the world was, but that the denser particles
were nearer the centre, and the rarer pro-
pelled towards the surface, and the whole
covered with water as with a mantle, and the
still rarer particles which compose the at-
mosphere, united above to warm, protect, and
enlighten the whole.

Having premised the manner in which we
conceive it pleased the Almighty to fashion

our world, when he called it from chaos, it
remains to point out the various causes which
he employed as his agents, to produce the
many effects now witnessed in every country
on the globe.

All the elements are servants of God. They
all have laws by which they are regulated,
and bounds to which they are limited; beyond
which they never pass, but by his supreme
command. God works by means in the na-
tural as well as in the moral world. When
he had formed the world by his laws, when
darkness was on the face of the deep, when
the spirit of the Lord moved on the face of the
waters, when he would cause the dry land to
appear, the means which the great Architect
of nature would employ to accomplish so great
a work must be worthy of the attention of all.
Water, fire, and air,* are the agents by
which the Almighty carries on his wonderful
operation on our sphere. In the different
combinations, and motions of these servants of
God, we are to look for the causes of all the
effects and catastrophes which our planet has
experienced. The water and air, encompass-
ing the solid parts of the earth, equally affect-

* In the word air we comprehend the various gassss which are
found to unite in the atmosphere. As our object is to give a brief view
of our theory, in a manner that can be comprehended by all, we shall
avoid running into chymical minuti<e.

ed its surface, that we cannot conceive that
either one, or both of these could have pro-
duced the great effects which we witness in the
solid parts of the earth, in every section of
country which has been explored.

Then it is to heat or fire that we are to look
for thegiowerful agent which has often revolu-
tionized our world, raised lands from beneath
the ocean, elevated mountains, formed many of
the rocks and caused the surface of our globe
to assume so different an appearance, from
what it bore when the Lord commanded the
dry land to appear. Water and air have pro-
duced some changes on the surface of the earth,
to which we shall occasionally refer, but as fire
has been the most active agent, in bringing
about the revolutions which are visible to every
inquiring mind that surveys the works of na-
ture, to that we shall assign the principal
effects which appear, and by that we shall at-
tempt to account for many of the phenomena
which have excited the attention of the philo-
sophic world.

When we survey the surface of our planet
we cannot indulge a thought, but it has under-
gone many great, and important changes. The
rocks, the mountains, the hills, and vallies^
the plains, and the ocean itself, declare iu
The changes wrought by water and air, have

been small, compared to those which are the
effects of fire. Water and air continue their
operations daily, in depressing mountains, and
elevating vallies. The shattered state of rocks,
precipices, and mountains, declares that what
gave them their positions, was sudden, violent,
and from beneath. This cause was fire.

Heat causes matter to expand, and if once
excited will increase in power till it forces its
wray to a rarer medium. When the world was
fashioned, the concussion of particles of matter
in consolidating would produce heat. This
heat generated, perhaps, several miles beneath
the bed of the ocean by its own force, prepared
combustion around its focal point, and bound
by a thick covering of earth and water, must
have acquired an immense power before it
could raise its incumbent load. The matter
which was most exposed to this vast furnace
of nature, became liquified. When the ocean
of fire within hacj acquired strength to elevate
the mass above, the bottom of the ocean was
raised to mountainous heights, and the liqui-
fied matter, as it was exposed to water and
air, consolidated into masses of what are deno-
minated primitive rocks. Thus were formed
the masses of granite, which are the basis of
the most elevated lands, which crown the sum-
mits of the highest mountains, and are scatter-

ed in precipices, and in less fragments over
various parts of the earth. As the bottom of
the ocean was raised, and the rarified parti-
cles ascended into the atmosphere, the waters
rushed into the vast abyss, and mountains,
hills, and plains, were supported on the shat-
tered arches. Thus the waters were gather-
ed together, and thus the dry land was made
to appear.

Rocks have been formed by three different
processes of nature.

1st. Those denominated primitive, were
formed by heat, as has been stated, when the
matter was so exposed to internal fires as to
become liquified.

2nd. Those ranked under the appellation
of secondary rocks, or such as contain the
relics of animals or vegetables, were formed
by particles becoming denser than water set-
tling to the bottom of the ocean, and long re-
maining there in a quiescent state, consolidated
into massive strata,* Shells of fishes, and

* Many substances denominated solids will float for a length of time
in the water, and then sink. The matter composing such bodies are
of a greater weight than the same bulk of water, but they are buoyed
up by the air which is contained in the pores. The action of water
on the particles, contracts them and expels the air, that the surface is
diminished, and not containing a sufficient quantity of the fluid rarer
than the water to support it, the body, according to the laws of gra-
vitation, is drawn to the bottom of the water. Water in some bodies,
as ib ice in the spring, expels the air by pressing into the pores, and

even fishes themselves become embodied in
these strata before they were raised from
the bed of the ocean.

3d. Are those which are formed in the earth
by similar particles of matter coming hi con-
tact, by agency of water, or otherwise, long re-
maining at rest till particle adheres to particle,
and rocks are formed. Of such are the petri-
factions found in the earth, and several spe-
cies of sand, stone, &c*

The rocks which contain marine relics, ve-
getables, and even the remains of land ani-
mals, will first demand our attention.

That these were formed in the bottom of the
ocean, appears evident from the many facts
which we have on record, and from those
which must have fallen under the observation
of every person.

In the lowest stratum of secondary rocks are
found no remains but those of fishes, or of

then the body is of more weight than the same extent of water, and it
sinks. Hence green timber, while the pores are filled with sap, is
heavier than when the moisture is expelled by rarifection, and the
pores are filled with. air.

* The process carried on by nature in petrifactions is curious, and
simple as are all her works. As one particle of matter is removed
by decay, or putrefaction in any animal or vegetable body at rest,
where water continues to bring lime, or any calcarious particles,
the place of the particle removed, is instantly occupied by the stony
substance that the whole body retains its figure, though the substance
is wholly changed. Hence are frequently found stones of exact simi-
litude of plants, trees, reptiles, &c. and even the human frame, while
reposing in the grave, has undergone this material change.

aquatic animals, and these remains are very
different from any which are now known to
exist. The changes which our planet has ex-
perienced, have produced changes in the spe-
cies of animals, which were destined to inhabit
the lands, or dwell beneath the waters. This
appears evident from the fact, that the remains
of many animals have been found, which bear
but little resemblance to the same species at
the present time, and many have been disco-
vered, whose species and even genus have be-
come extinct.

The organic remains found in the oldest
secondary rocks, differ more from existing
species than remains found in rocks of more
recent formation.* This induces us to believe
that the changes and catastrophes to which
our world has been subject, have, by changing
the properties or motions of the elements, pro-

* "Amidst these changes of the general fluid," says Ctjyier, "it
must have been almost impossible for the same kind cf animals to
have lived — nor did they do so in fact. Their species, and even gen-
era, change with the strata, and although the same species occasion-
ally recur at small distances, it is generally the case, that the shells of
the ancient strata have forms peculiar to themselves; that they gradu-
ally disappear, till they are not to be seen at all in the recent strata,
still less in the existing seas, in which indeed we never discover their
corresponding species, and where several species of their genera are
not to be found. Thai, on the contrary, the shells of the recent, re-
semble, as it respects the genus, those which exist in the sea; and that
in the last formed and loosest of these strata, there are some species,
which the eye of the most expert naturalist cannot distinguish from
those which at present inhabit the ocean." — Page 35.

«/=

duced essential changes in the form, constitu-
tions, and habits of the animal creation.

The organic remains found in the most an-
cient secondary rocks, are wholly of the marine
kind, and from their shape we are induced to
believe, that when they lived they were in
their rudest state. These inhabited the wa-
ters before the Lord commanded the dry land
to appear. We are led to this belief by the
fact, that no remains of land animals, nor of
vegetables, are found in the strata containing
these relics.

Before the first lands were raised from the
ocean, there were no currents in the waters as
there now are. This will be hereafter ex-
plained. Then the waters were not agitated
by the winds, tides, nor tempests, as they now
are. Then the inhabitants of the waters had
no tides nor currents to encounter as they now
have. They remained in a quiescent state,
died, their remains settled to the bottom of
the ocean, there undisturbed by any agitation
of the waters, their relics petrified,* or cover-

* It is a well known fact, that in caves where there is no circulation
of air, that many petrifactions are found. Likewise in graves, which
are filled with water impregnated with lime, where there is no cur-
rent, the human body has in a few years been converted into solid
marble. It is evident, that if there were no tides nor waves in the
ocean, the same process would be carried on at the bottom, and it
cannot be surprising that we find masses of secondary rocks some
hundred feet in thickness.

26 -

ed by other particles cemented into rocks. —
When, by internal fires, the solid foundations
of the deep were elevated to be the abode of
nobler animals, these relics were projected far
from the depths where they had long reposed,
and crown the summits of our hills and moun-
tains. When dry land appeared, which was
the Eastern continent, currents in the ocean in
a degree commenced. Rivers began to flow,
winds begau to agitate the surface of the
waters, and the tides moved regularly to and
from the new born land. The waters were
kept in motion to a greater depth near the
continent than at a distance from the shore.
Then the inhabitants of the deep were forced
to oppose the currents; they were impelled to
greater action, and their strength, shape, and
motions were formed for the sphere which they
were destined to fill. Then many species,
and perhaps genera, became extinct * Among
the numerous remains which wTere deposited
prior to this period, no appearance of land
animals nor of vegetable have been discovered,
and there are no vestiges of aquatic animals
or fishes, whose shape would indicate that they
had ever been engaged in stemming the rapid
currents of tides or rivers. f

* Vide Cuvier, from page 118 to 129.

f That a change should be effected in the animal creation, by cur-
rents, &c. caay appear doubtful on a partial view of this subject. But

The Eastern continent, or a greater part of
it, and perhaps much more than what now re-
mains above the waters, was raised when God
commanded the seas to retire. Then vegeta-
tion was caused to grow, and animals designed
for the use and convenience of man were cre-
ated. As vegetables were torn from the soil,
and as animals died, some of each were trans-
ported by rivers to the ocean. These remains
were borne by marine currents to various dis-
tances from the land, settled, mingled with
other matter, and cemented into rocks.

When there was but one continent, the
marine currents were different from their pre-
sent courses. Then the waters were raised*
highest near the coasts, and flowed to the east
from the eastern shores of Asia and Africa,
and to the west from the western coasts of Af-
rica and Europe. These currents transported
to different distances in the ocean the deposits
which rivers committed to their charge; and as
they moved from the continent, their velocity

when we reflect that no other change but that of climate will produce
a great change in animal shape and economy, we must believe that a
change in climate, in food, in exercise, in the air and water would have
a much greater effect. Those animals which were incapable of such a
change perished, and such species as could endure this metamorphosis
and subsequent catastrophes, have extended their lineage to the pre-
sent time. Fishes which have been the inmates of salt water, and
removed to fresh, experience an essential change in their forms and
habits. See Dr. Samuel Mitchill, Notes on Cuvier, p. 331,

diminished-, and the remains they bore set-
tled at different distances from the shore
according to their densities. As these currents
returned towards the continent twice each day
the debris and remains they carried from the
land, could not be transported round the
globe. The waters remained nearly at rest on
the side of the earth opposite to the continent.
Thus continued the grand process of nature
in forming rocks, for the support of lands and
mountains, for the benefit of future generations,
till one thousand six hundred and fifty years
after man was created, when the Almighty, in
justice, caused a still greater change to be ef-
fected on the surface of our planet. The old
continent groaned under the burden of iniqui-
ty. That Being whose all penetrating eye be-
holds the actions and thoughts of all, would
suffer no longer such vices to prevail. To his
faithful servant he revealed his will, and pro-
vided means for the preservation of those who
were to re-people the world. To accomplish
this work of justice, and to render our planet
a more extensive theatre, in which his glorious
attributes were to be displayed, God caused a
new continent to appear. Again, He com-
missioned his servant fire to exert his strength
far beneath the bed of the ocean. While Noah
was building the Ark, the fire was gathering

power to accomplish his wonderful task. When
the chosen few were in safety, when the ap-
pointed time arrived for nature to be confound-
ed, the command was given for a new conti-
nent to appear. The greater part of America
arose. The ascensions produced the universal
deluge, as will be hereafter clearly elucidated.
This produced a residence for millions of in-
telligent beings, and occasioned changes in
the economy, and order of the elements, and
no less revolution in the formation and dura-
tion of the animal and vegetable kingdom.
Since that period when most of AmerX&
emerged from the deep, the north-eastern part
of our continent has been raised, and produced
a deluge similar, though less extensive than
that in which all flesh suffered. Other like
catastrophes have taken place in our world at
various periods, which will claim our attention
m their proper places.

Having briefly introduced our theory of the
formation of the earth, rocks, mountains, &c,
we will attempt to bring facts to prove that
the premises we have assumed are correct.
But in giving merely an abstract of a theory it
cannot be expected that we should introduce all
the facts which have been brought to light by
the ingenious and enterprising Geologists. A
simple relation of facts, which go directly to
3*

prove the correctness of our theory, would af-
ford matter for volumes. Therefore, we shall
have recourse but to few, and to such as are
most generally known.

In commencing with the proofs to establish
our theory, we are induced to make use of some
preliminary remarks of the illustrious Cuvier.
"When the traveller passes through those fer-
tile plains where gently flowing streams nour-
ish in their course an abundant vegetation, and
where the soil is inhabited by a numerous popu-
lation, adorned with flourishing villages, opu-
lent cities, and superb monuments, is never
disturbed except by the ravages of war, and
tke oppression of tyrants, he is not led to sus-
pect that nature has also had her intestine
wars, and that the surface of our globe has
been much convulsed by successive revolutions,
and various catastrophes. But his ideas
change as soon as he digs into that soil which
presents such a peaceful aspect, or ascends the
hills which border on the plains, and they be-
gin to embrace the full extent and grandeur of
those ancient events to which I have alluded;
when he climbs the more elevated chains whose
base is skirted by these first hills, or when, by
following the beds of descending torrents, he

penetrates into their interior structure, which
is thus laid open to his inspection." Cuvier's
Theory, p. 30.

FIRST PROOF OF REVOLUTIONS ON THE
SURFACE OF THE GLOBE.

The lowest and most level parts of the earth,
when penetrated to any great depth, exhibit
nothing but horizontal strata, composed of cu-
rious substances, and containing almost all of
them innumerable marine productions. Simi-
lar strata, with the same kind of productions,
compose the hills even to a great height.
Sometimes the shells are so numerous as to
constitute the entire body of the stratum. They
are almost every where in such a perfect state
of preservation, that even the smallest of them
retain their most delicate parts, their sharpest
ridges, and their finest and tenderest processes.
They are found in elevations far above the
level of every part of the ocean, and in places
to which the sea could not be conveyed by any
existing cause. They are not only enclosed in
loose sand, but are often incrusted and pene-
trated on all sides by the hardest stones.
Every part of the earth, every hemisphere,
every continent, every island of any size, ex-
hibits the same phenomena. We are there-

fore forcibly led to believe, not only that the
sea has at one period or another covered all
our plains, but that it must have remained
there a long time, and in a state of tranquility;
which circumstance was necessary for the for-
mation of deposits so extensive, so thick, in part
so solid, and containing exuvice so perfectly
preserved.

The time is past for ignorance to assert that
these remains of organized bodies are mere
lusus naturce; productions, generated in the
womb of the earth by its own created powers.
A nice and scrupulous comparison of their
forms, of their contexture, and frequently
even of their composition, cannot detect the
slightest difference between these shells and
the shells which still inhabit the sea. They
have therefore once lived in the sea, and been
deposited by it, the sea must consequently have
rested in the places where the depositions have
taken place. Hence it is evident that the ba«
sin or reservoir, containing the sea, has under-
gone some change at least, either in extent or
in situation or in both. Such is the result of
the very first search and of the most superficial
observation.

The traces of revolutions become still more
apparent and decisive when we ascend a little
higher, and approach nearer to the foot of the

great chain of mountains. There are still
found many beds of shells, some of these are
even larger and more solid; the shells are quite
as numerous and as entirely preserved, but
they are not of the same species with those
which were found in less elevated regions.
The strata which contain them are less hori-
zontal. They have various degrees of inclina-
tion, and, are sometimes situated vertically.
While in the plains and low hills it was neces-
sary to dig deep in order to detect the succes-
sion of the strata, here we perceive them by
means of the vallies which time or violence has
produced, and which disclose their edges to the
eye of the observer. At the bottom of these
declivities, huge masses of their debris are col-
lected, and form round hills, the height of which
is augmented by the operation of every thaw
and every storm.

These inclined, or vertical strata, which form
the ridges of the secondary mountains, do not
rest on the horizontal strata of the hills which
are situated at their base and serve as their first
steps, but on the contrary are situated under-
neath them. The latter are placed on the de-
clivity of the former. When we dig through
the horizontal strata, in the neighbourhood of
the inclined strata, the inclined strata are in-
variably found below. Nay, sometimes when

the inclined strata are not too much elevated
their summit is surmounted by horizontal strata.
The inclined strata are therefore more ancient
than the horizontal strata. And as they must
necessarily have been formed in a horizontal
position they have been subsequently shifted
into their inclined or vertical position, and that
too before the horizontal strata were placed
above them.

Thus the sea, previous to the formation of
the horizontal strata, had formed others, which
by some means have been broken, lifted" up,
and overturned in a thousand different ways.
There had therefore been also at least one
change in the basin of that sea-which preceded
ours, it had also experienced at least one revo-
lution; and as several of these inclined strata
which it had formed first, are elevated above
the level of the horizontal strata which have
succeeded and which surrounds them, this re-
volution, while it gave them the present incli-
nation, had also caused them to project above
the level of the sea, so as to form islands, or at
least rocks and inequalities, and this must have
happened, whether one of their ridges was lift-
ed above the water, or the depression of the
opposite edge caused the water to subside.
This is the second result, not less obvious, nor
less clearly demonstrated than the first, to

every one who will take the trouble of studying
carefully the remains by which it is illustrated
and proved.

PROOFS THAT THESE REVOLUTIONS HAVE
BEEN SUDDEN.

These repeated irruptions and retreats of
the sea have neither been slow nor gradual;
most of the catastrophes which have oc-
casioned them have been sudden; and this is
easily proved, especially with regard to
last of them, the traces of which are most con-
spicuous. In the northern regions it has left
the carcases of some large quadrupeds, which
the ice had arrested, and which are preserved
to this day with their skin, their hair, and their
flesh. If they had not been frozen as soon as
killed, they must quickly have been decom-
posed by putrefaction. But this eternal frost
could not have taken possession of the regions
which these animals inhabited, except by the
same cause which destroyed them;* this cause

* The two most remarkable phenomena of this kind, and which
must forever banish all idea of a slow and gradual revolution, are the
rhinoceros discovered in 1771 s in the banks of Vilhoid, and the elephant
recently found by Mr. Adams near the mouth of the Lena This
last retained its flesh and skin, on which were hair of two kinds; one
short, fine, and crisped, resembling wool, and the other like long
bristles. The flesh was still in such high preservation, that it vas
e%ten by dogs.— Cuxrier,p. 37, note.

therefore must have been as sudden as its
effect.

The breaking to pieces and overturning the
strata, which happened in former catastro-
phes, show plainly enough that they were
sudden and violent like the last; and the heaps
of debris and rounded pebbles which are found
in various places among the solid strata, de-
monstrate the vast force of the motions excited
in the mass of waters by these overturnings. —
Life has therefore been often disturbed on this
earth by terrible events. Calamities which at
their commencement moved and overturned to
a great depth the entire outer crust of the
globe, but which, since these first commotions,
have uniformly acted at less depth, and less
generally. Numberless living beings have been
the victims of the catastrophes; some have
been destroyed by sudden inundations; others
"have been laid dry in consequence of the bot-
tom of the seas being instantaneously elevated.
Their races even have become extinct, and
have left no memorial of them except some
small fragments, which the naturalists can
scarcely recognize."

Such is the opinion of the illustrious Cu-
vikk, and thus far, had he been labouring to
proVe and establish the theory we have
adopted, he could not have laboured more

conclusively to the point; and we shall attempt,
from the premises we have chosen, to show
the causes of the revolutions and catastrophes
which he has so distinctly proved to have taken
place.

PROOF I.

The Position of the various Strata ofRocTcSy
Shells, and Jllluvion.

That the theory we have adopted is correct,
we will first attempt to prove from the posi-
tion of the strata of rocks, &e. which appear
on or near the surface of the earth.

The rocks composing the base, the sides,
and even the summits of mountains, clearly
testify in favour of our theory.

Such a similarity exists in the positions of
rocks in all countries which have been ex-
plored, that we cannot doubt but they were
all elevated by the same or similar causes, if
not at the same time.

On plains the strata are horizontal. In
many low plains the strata have never been
raised, but remain as they were formed in the
bottom of the ocean. When, by the revolu-
tions, the waters receded, as will be hereafter
explained, what once was the foundations of
the deep was left dry.
4

These strata have been covered by the de-
bris from the mountains, and by the alluvion
which has been brought upon them by cur-
rents and inundations. The bases of more
elevated plains, were raised from the deep
by the heat which operated equally on the va-
rious parts, that they were raised perpendicu-
larly.

The summits of mountains are the places
under whieh the greatest force was exerted,
and these are the places where the fire burst
forth to light; hence they were elevated to a
greater height. ;

The strata composing the sides of the moun-
tains, are inclined to a plane of the horizon in
various degrees, in proportion to the height of
the mountains, and the steepness of the preci-
pice which they compose. Some of the strata
are perpendicular, while others are nearly ho-
rizontal, and the strata are found, in all de-
grees of inclination, between these two points.

If we suppose a force to be exerted beneath
a horizontal plain, the whole plain is; raised,
but the force concentrating into certain points,
elevates them more than in others, it is easy to
conceive that the strata would be inclined in
proportion to the height to which the point
was elevated. This is the situation of the po-

sition of the strata composing the sides of
mountains*

These strata near the base of the mountains,
dip beneath the horizontal strata of the plain,
which proves, as Cuvier observes, that th?
inclined strata are of more ancient formation
than those of the plains. The strata of the
plains, or those which cover the inclined ones,
were formed after the mountains were raised,
by currents which flowed to the sides and even
summits of most of the mountains.

Beneath the strata of secondary rocks, the
primitive are deposited. These were formed,
as has been stated, by the matter becoming
liquefied by the heat which raised the land,
and when the heat subsided, they consolidated
into extensive masses, and in general retained
the position in which they were formed beneath
the secondary ones.* But these primitive

* The greater the degree of heat is to which matter is exposed,
when it becomes liquefied, the harder or more dense the body is when
it becomes a solid, and more heat is required to i educe a solid to a
fluid the second than the first time. Hence lead, iron, &c. by fre-
quent melting, become harder. Hence, the lower strata of primi-
tive rocks being- exposed to greater heat when the matter composing
them was liquefied, are found to be harder.

In Ohio, and the other western states, in boring wells for salt water,
the miners judge ot their distance from the bottom of the rock, beneath
which salt water is found by the density of the rock. Near the bot-
tom, the rock is so hard that their implements have scarcely any effect
upon it. Here the rocks were not elevated by so sudden a force as to
break or remove them from the position in which they were formed,
and the lowest having experienced the greatest degree of heat, is
found to be the most dense.

rocks are found to crown the summits of moun-
tains, more particularly those of the highest
class. When the strata which were formed
horizontally in the bed of the sea were eleva-
ted, they could not cover a greater surface
than they had covered when they were formed;
hence they could not cover the sides and sum-
mits of mountains. They must have been se-
parated, and in the places where most force
was exerted, the divisions would be made. Be-
neath the summits of mountains the forces con-
centrated; here the rents were made, and
here the matter composing the primitive rocks
was elevated to the greatest height.

In some few places the strata of secondary
rocks have been discovered below the masses
of primitive ones. In those places, the force
which elevated them was so great, that the
strata, when elevated, were inverted.

In many instances, masses of primitive rocks
have, by earthquakes, by frosts, tempests, &c.
been loosened from their seats on the summits
of mountains, and have been precipitated down
the precipices, and at last rest on strata of se-
condary ones. In other instances, immense
masses of primitive rocks have been borne in
ice and currents, far from the situations in
which they were first deposited. It is ration-
al to conclude, that in such explosions as those

which elevated mountains and continents, vast
fragments of mountains would be projected
to a great distance, and when they descen-
ded, they must have rested on strata of secon-
dary rocks. Hence wTe have a cause for the
appearance of many clefts, and eminences of
rocks, reposing on plains far distant from
mountains and of congenial strata.* If in such
explosions as are witnessed in iEtna, rocks of
hundreds of pounds in weight are thrown
miles into the country, what might we not ex-
pect from an eruption which raised the An-
des, Cordilleries, the Alleghany and Stony
mountains?

PROOF II.

The formation of the various Strata.

The strata of secondary rocks are of differ-
ent thickness.

Parallel interstices separate one stratum from
another, which evidently shows that they were
interrupted in their formation, or that petri-
faction was from some cause prevented, and

* From the appearances of precipices, or fragments of mountains
on plains far remote from ranges of mountains, and from the situation
of many small islands and rocks near the coasts of continents, and oi
larger islands, the ancient poets, doubtlessly, derived the idea of times
-when gods contended in mortal strife, and mountains were the wea-
pons oi warfare.
4#

£2

when it again commenced, the new stratum did
not adhere to the preceding. The upper strata .
in general are thinner than the lower, or they
increase in thickness as we descend. The last
formed strata are composed of coarser parti-
cles, and have more sand blended with them
than those of more ancient formation.

As we descend to considerable depth into a
quarry, we find the marble better, and in
masses much thicker than towards the surface.
On the Eastern continent, the strata of se-
condary rocks are not only finer, but exist in
much thicker layers than any that have been
discovered in the new world, and they are not
covered by so many thin strata as they are in
America.

The solid masses of marble of great thick-
ness, from which the magnificent monuments of
antiquity were fashioned, were formed in the
bed of the ocean before any dry land was caus-
ed to appear* Then the waters were not agi-
tated to interrupt the regular process of nature.
Then there were no debris, and sands from
mountains, conveyed to the ocean and deposi-
ted in the strata. Hence, the marble formed
previous to the waters being gathered toge-
ther, is finer, and exists in more extensive mas-
ses. But when from the land's arising, currents
were formed, and earthquakes commenced, pe-

trifaction was interrupted, and when the wa-
ters from any cause were agitated to the bot-
tom, there terminated the thickness of the then
forming stratum. When a calm again com-
menced, then commenced a new stratum. As
more lands arose, more violent were the tem-
pests, more forcible the currents, more fre-
quent the earthquakes, more sand and debris
were conveyed to the oceans; and thinner and
of coarser materials are the strata which were
formed.*

The force which elevated these strata was- so
violent, that in many places, especially in moun-
tains, where its strength was most exerted,
they were broken, and it is not uncommon to
find them in a perpendicular direction from
what they were formed, and even in an invert-
ed position. On opposite sides of mountains
the strata are inclined in different directions.
On the west of ranges of mountains the lower

* In none of the quarries which have been opened in America, have
been found such sound and solid strata of marble, as have been taken
from the quarries of Upper Egypt; but we have no reason to donbt,
if our quarries were wrought to a sufficient depth, but that as fine
stone could be found, as adorn the temples of the old world. Before
we can arrive to marble of the same quality as theirs, we must break
through or remove the strata which were formed in our section of the
world, after the Eastern continent was raised from the deep, before
our part of the world was summoned to appear. Many quarries, which
have been partially explored, may contain some of the marble which
was formed previous to dry land's appearing; but such are in situa-
tions in which they were so much exposed to the convulsions which
raised them, that the blocks are generally in a broken state.

edges of the strata dip to the west, while on
the east they uniformly dip to the east, which
shows that the force which caused them to rise,
broke forth in the summits of the mountains.

PROOF III.

The various Colours of Marble.

The various colours and shades of marble
coincide with our views of this subject. The
clouded clearly indicates a small degree of mo-
tion in the water, while the matter composing
the strata existed in a paste like substance, not
easily broken, but capable of being agitated by
a small motion of the incumbent fluid. The
white marble was formed in situations to which
none but similar particles were conveyed.
Those quarries from which marble is taken va-
riegated with various colours, had their forma-
tion in situations where the shells of various
kinds of fishes, in different degrees of decay
were collected. The entirely black marble
received its existence in positions similar to the
white, but where particles in a different state
of preservation, or degrees of decay, were col-
lected and deposited. Frequently in blocks of
marble, which are generally white, are found
places of considerable extent of a different
colour. These spots are composed of exuviw7

which united in the water in the form of a scum/
floated or were driven by gentle breezes on the
surface, till mixing with other particles, they
became of greater density than the waters set-
tled to the bottom of the ocean, rested on a
stratum of marble which had not often been
visited by such guests, adhered to its surface,
were soon covered by succeeding particles of
the same colour as the rocks on which they
reposed, and there rested till the genius and
industry of man have brought them to view.*

PROOF IV.

Veins of primitive Rocks perforating the
strata of secondary ones.

In almost every stratum of secondary rocks
in our country, and doubtless* in every part of
the world, are to be found veins of primitive
rocks, running and branching like veins in va-
rious directions. In all respects they resemble
in their courses and windings such as would be
formed by melted metal diffused through long

* The marble of America contains more such spots than that of the
eastern continent. Many light particles washed from the lands in the
old world, collected on the ocean, were carried by the regular tides
from the shores, and driven by the umarying winds wmch then pre-
vailed, to where America was destined to appear; there th- current
subsiding, they settled, and remained till elevated in rocks to form the
basis of our plains and mountains.

interstices. Some of these veins are of vast
extent and thickness.

By the theory we have embraced, the cause
of these phenomena is easily illustrated.

When the fire beneath the many strata of
secondary rocks imbedded at the bottom of the
deep, raged to such a degree as to liquefy the
matter near the incumbent strata, but had not
acquired force to raise the firm foundations of
the oceans, innumerable rents were made in
the secondary strata; and the matter which had
been converted to a fluid in the vast furnace of
nature was forced upwards, and in every di-
rection where rents or interstices had been
made. These veins when at such a distance
from the flaming gulf as to lose their heat, con-
solidated into matter more dense than the rocks
through which they had flowed. When the
fire had acquired sufficient force to elevate its
massive covering, all was raised together, and
these veins, not only in broken and cragged
clifts, but in the smooth and polished marble,
and even in the stones in the streets, bear tes-
timony of the correctness of our theory.*

* No clearer illustration of the formation of variegated marble
and interstices, can be given, than is to be seen in the pillars of the
Capitol at Washington. The stone is composed almost wholly of
pebbles of every colour, size, and shape, except square, cemented
by matter as hard as themselves. In various places, veins of white

PROOF V.

The Mines of Salt.

The mines of salt, which are found in va-
rious countries, are proofs of the correctness of
our theory.

While the fire was raging beneath the bed of
the ocean, and had not acquired strength to
spring to light, as openings were made in the
barrier which divided the raging element be-
neath from the briny flood above, the waters

primitive stone run through the pillars, entirely separating the
pebbles, or breaking some and separating others.

The formation of the pillars of the Capitol leads to the following
conclusions.

1. Every pebble of which they are composed being rounded,
renders it evident, that all of them were rolled a great distance by
a current, before they rested in the place where they were ce-
mented.

2. They must have been cemented into a solid mass, before the,.
interstices of primitive, which appear in them, found places ther<^
for if they had not been firmly united, some of them would not
have been broken in the centre, rather than separate one from
another.

3. Great force must have been employed to reud in various
directions a solid stratum, so dense as that small pebbles would
split before the matter uniting them would give way.

4. The matter which filled the interstices or rents that were
made through the stratum, must have been in a liquid state when it
entered and filled these rents; for they turn in so many direc-
tions, and wind in so minute channels and veins, that no solid matter
could have been diffused so far. .

From these conclusions we infer, that the pebb -es composing the mar-
ble of the pillars ot the Capitol were deposited where they cemented,
before America was raised from the ocea.i; that the force which rais-
ed .them, broke the stratum in various directions, and that the matter

, 48

flowed into the burning caverns, the aqueous
particles were dissipated in vapours, and the
saline only remained to close the fissures, and
bar the flames from light.

When the bottom of the deep arose, the
masses of salt which had been formed and con-
fined, as has been stated, were elevated with
the strata, and many of which have been ex-
plored for the benefit of man.

'which was liquefied by heat beneath, was forced into the iuterstices, and
appears in the white veins which so beautifully variegate the whole mass.

When the first lands which we have supposed to be the eastern
continent arose, innumerable fragments of rocks must have covered
the surface. These, like other materials, were by tempests and
streams rolled to the ocean. The currents of the ocean as has been
stated, and will be explained, moved to the east and west from the
land. The bottom of the ocean when it remained unbroken, was a
^olid rock. These stones by a regular current would be rolled to a
great distance; and were the bounds of the eastern continent no more
extensive tha» they now are, it is not inconsistent to suppose, that the
pebbles which form the firm and elegant pillars of the Capito! of FheB
America, were driven by the laws of nature from realms ong
shrouded in the gloomy clouds of despotism.

The pillars forming the Giant Cause-way, in Ireland, which have
excited so much attention, were formed in the same manner as the
veins of primitive rocks in those of the secondary class, with this
exception. The veins in rocks were formed by liquid matter being
pressed between solids; but when the fire beneath the bed of the
ocean, before it raised its incumbent load, made rents through
the strata, and masses of liquid matter from beneath were propell-
ed into the ocran above, they suddenly cooling, formed those re-
gular columns which have so much astonished the world. Matter
in a solid state does not occupy so large a space as when in a fluid.
When the matter composing the pillars of the Giant Cause- way was
cooled in the water, it must have contracted, and this contraction pro-
duced the numerous interstices which formed into regular pillars the „
vast torrent which was propelled from the raging furnace of nature.

Springs and rills filtrating through these
veins break out into the vales impregnated with
the useful mineral.*

PROOF VI.
The Caverns in the Earth.

The many and vast cavities in the earth are
ready witnesses in our favour.

When the. mountains arose, vast spaces were
formed between the fragments of the strata*

* On reflection it will not appear inconsistent to suppose that in
some places where rents were made in the bottom of the ocean, the
waters would flow into them, while in others the liquid matter from
beneath would he propelled into the ocean. If a direct rent was
made from the fire beneath to the water above, extending as low, as
to the liquefied matter, the raging ocean beneath would be urged to rise
with such a violence, that the one above oould not descend, as was the
case in the Giant Cause-way, and in several other places where similar
pillars have been found.

But if a rent or fissure was made in an irregular direction from
the flaming mass beneath to the waters of the ocean, the fluid below
would not press upwards with such force as to prevent the waters from
descending. Into such interstices the waters rushed to form the salt
mines which are found in almost every section of the globe.

If such rents were made, and the waters flowed in, the force of
the heat would be diminished; that when the fire had acquired
strength to burst to light, and raise all above it, in such places less
power would be exerted, and to a less height would the lands be
raised.

No salt mines have ever been discovered on elevated grounds, but
uniformly in depressions of the original strata. In many places allu-
vial formations may rise into eminences on these mines, but they have
never been discovered but in depressions of that part of the earth
which was first raised.

We believe that there is one extensive range of salt running through

Such as are above the level of the ocean, or
have no communication with it, still remain
vacant unless filled with alluvion.*

PROOF VII.
Of Lands which have sunk.

Islands and parts of continents which have
sunk in various periods of the world, clearly
prove that there are immense caverns beneath
the continents and islands.

When the dry land appeared, mountains,
islands, &c. were supported by the arches
formed by broken strata, resting on the sides
of the abyss from whence they arose. If these
arches are not sufficiently firm to resist the
hand of time, or the shocks of earthquakes,
their incumbent burdens press them to the
dreary caverns from whence they emerge.

It is not uncommon for large extents of high
country to sink during an earthquake, and
many cities in such convulsions have sunh to be

the United States, from north-east to south-west, commencing near
Lake Ontario, and that there are many collateral brandies extending
from this.

* In every country which has been explored, many caves have heen
discovered, some extending several miles in various directions, all
manifesting that they were formed by vast convulsions of nature.
That there are many which are below the surface of the ocean and
filled with water, we will attempt to show, when we treat of the tides.

seen no more,* These catastrophes could not
have taken place were there not vast cavities
below the surface of the earth. During an
earthquake, large caverns have opened from
which waters have rushed in torrents, which
proves that many of these caverns are filled by
the ocean.

PROOF VIII.

The many Islands which have arisen from
the ocean.

Since events have been recorded, many
islands have been known to arise from the seas
and oceans. These have been raised by fire,,
which after continuing to rage, and emit
smoke and vapour for various periods, has
been extinguished. Some of these islands have
disappeared, others remain apparently firm
to the present time.

If islands have been raised in this manner
why should it appear incredible, that greater

* No low lands, nor cities which are situated on plains of small ele-
vation, have ever been swallowed up by an earthquake. Low plains,
as has been observed, rest not on arches, or broken fragments of rocks,
but on the foundation which was formed in the bed of the ocean, and
has been left dry by the subsidence of the waters; and then enriched
by alluvial deposits from the mountains.

Some pretend that the density of the earth is constantly in creasing
as we descend from its surface. Of such theorists we would inquire
where cities, plains, and mountains, have retired to, when during an
earthquake they have sunk from our view?

fire at greater depths should have existed, and
acquiring greater force should raise masses
equal to the most extensive mountains, and even
continents? Mountains have been elevated
from plains, and have withstood, for centuries,
the ravages of time and the convulsions of na-
ture, and why may not continents be raised and
supported in the same manner?

When the continents were projected from
the deep, and the force of the heat had subsi-
ded, those parts which were not firmly sup-
ported, sunk again to the caverns from whence
they were raised. The only traces which now
remain of them are seas and gulfs, and the
islands whose surfaces are but just above the
waters. If they had been firmly supported
they would have intercepted the course of the
clouds.*

* We are convinced that the West India islands were parts of the
range of mountains which united the Andes to the Alleghany moun-
tains.

When the fire which raised our continent subsided , that portion of
the range of mountains which extended on the east of the Carribbean
sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and reached as far to the north, as where
now the Alleghany mountains terminate in the state of Mississippi,
had not so firm a foundation as it had to the south and north, and sunk
in a great degree into the abyss from which it was projected. When
the agitation of the waters ceased, and the ocean subsided, many parts
of the range remained above the surface of the seas, and now appear
in the group ot islands between North and South America. The basis
of East Florida is a part of the fallen mountain. The summits of this
range are now covered with an alluvion, which will be hereafter ex*
plained, and which gives great fertility to the lands*

PROOF IX.
Of Earthquakes.

Earthquakes speak loudly in favour of our
theory. The air which fills the vast cavities,
formed by broken rocks, above the surface of
the waters, becomes so rarefied that it must
have vent. As it expands, and striving for
liberty, causes islands, mountains, and even
continents, to tremble to their centre, and when
it bursts its bounds, ^desolation marks its pro-
gress," and whole cities and provinces are
swallowed in the yawning gulfs which it opens
in its progress. Promontories, capes, and
islands, which are pendent over the abyss from
which they were raised, and are supported only
by being united with strata resting on a firm
foundation, are by the shocks of nature sever-
ed from the parts which have for ages upheld
them, and they sink to appear no more.*

* Pliny describes an earthquake which swallowed up thirteen cities
in Asia Minor, in one night. The many accounts which we have of
earthquakes, both in ancient and modern times, clearly evince that
there are vast cavities in the earth in innumerable places, even under
the foundations of the ocean. Some most eligible sites for cities have
been entirely abandoned, on account of their being so subject to earth-
quakes. These were situated near some cavities which were formed
when the lands appeared. Earthquakes are not so frequent nor vio-
lent as in ancient days. By the depression of lands, cavities have been

PROOF X.

Volcanoes.

Volcanoes prove the irresistible force of fire
when Jong confined in caverns, and that there
is combustion in the solid parts of our globe, to
feed and support this devouring element. Vol-
canoes, or such as exist at the present time>
have their origin near the surface of the earth,
compared to those which caused the continents
to rise. The present exist but in the mass
which was raised by former ones, or in the
combustion which was collected and buried
during the general deluge.*

lessened; and by the rarefaction of the air in these caverns much has
been expelled which produced former convulsions, that now subterra-
nean pressure is not so great.

* It ma)* not be improper to notice here the objections which have
been made to the theory of primitive rocks being volcanic productions.
The principal ground of objection is, -'Primitive rocks have no resem«
blance to Ia\a which is wholly volcanic." Neither have brick, earthern,
or glass, a resemblance of lava, yet it cannot be denied, but their pre-
sent solid state is produced by heat. In decomposing particles of
matter by heat, and suffering them to consolidate, much depends as to.
their appearance on the situation of the matter when fusion com-
mences, and on the manner of its cooling.

Lava is thrown in a state of fluidity into the atmosphere or water,
and by the sudden transition from heat to cold, is left light and porous.
I3ut the primitive rocks consolidated in a very different state. They
were mostly covered by strata of secondary rocks which secured them
in a great degree from the influence of water and air. They must
have been a long time in becoming cool. They existed in such masses
that merely by pressure, when in a fluid state, they would be render-
ed compact. The lava by being exposed to the air, when in fusion,
throws off many particles which are retained by the primitive rocks*

PROOF XL

Of Mountains.

The situation of mountains clearly indicate^
that they were formed in the manner we have
described. They generally exist in ranges of
vast extent, with others, of less magnitude, ex-
tending from them in various angles. The
branches of the principal ranges diminish in
height as they extend from the main ridge. —
This, we readily perceive, would be their sit-
uation, if they were elevated by fire from be-
neath. Where the principal rent was made,
the force of the fire would concentrate, and

The surface of those primitive rocks, which appear on the summits of
mountains, and were exposed to the influence of the atmosphere, may
have heen porous like lava; but the constant operations of frosts and
tempests, for revolving centuries would have smoothed the rougher
parts, and even loosened and washed away many particles from the
solid mass.

The various densities and colours of primitive rocks were occasioned
by the position of the matter composing them, relative to the heat
which reduced it to solids. Some rocks were so remote from the fur-
nace that the sands and flinty particles were not liquefied, but became so.
infused with- the ascending vapours, that they adhered in solid masses.
While others were heated to such a degree that all the particles were
reduced to the same compact substance. We will venture to hazard
the conjecture, that the subterranean walls which have been discover-
ed in the state of Georgia, and which have excited great wonder, and
speculation among the curious, were formed by the liquid matter which
flowed from the masses of primitive rocks, before they had time to
cool and become solid. That the stones composing these walls are
Basaltic many are ready to admit. They are of the same materials
as the pillars in the Giant's Cause-way, and many others in va*.
rious parts of Europe. Those of Europe were formed by the liquefied

elevate the edges of the crater to the greatest
height. Lateral branches would project from
this in different directions.

In some general ranges, are found depres-
sions, plains, or vallies, of great extent. In
such places, the rocks and fragments beneath
did not afford sufficient foundation to support
such a cumbrous burden; and part of the
range settled in the abyss from whence it came
to light. Such depressions were at first cov-
ered with waters, forming bays or lakes, which
in process of ages were filled with debris from
the mountains, or by alluvion, brought to them
by torrents and subsequent floods. In almost
every country are some mountains, which rise
in forms of pyramids unconnected with any
range. Some of these have arisen in the man-
ner of one in Mexico in the last century, and
have assumed their present regular forms, by
storms washing the debris from their summits
and sides, and leaving deposits near their base.

matter being raised perpendicularly, and contracting as it suddenly
cooled, left interstices between the columns. But the flaming mass
which flowed from the mountains, aud formed the mysterious walls^
flowed in a horizontal direction; and instead of bursting from the
flaming abyss into the water, forced its way through the .alluvial de-
posits. As the particles contracted in cooling, eh i neks and interstices
were formed, similar to those in the cause wa>s in Europe, except
running in horizontal directions. These interstices in a succession of
ages have been filled by various mineral deposits, brought b\ streams
from the alluvion, that have corroded in a degree the surface of the
stones, and given them the appearance of cement.

Others have assumed their present form by the
sinking of the lands around them, while they
alone rested on foundations which could not be
shaken. But many of the solitary cliffs, and
even some distinguished by the appellations of
mountains, are but fragments of general ran-
ges, projected to their present station by that
vast explosion, which must have convulsed the
earth to its centre.

PROOF XII.

Of the masses of Shells deposited on the sides
of Mountains.

We introduce the masses of shells, which
have been discovered on the sides of moun-
tains in almost every country, as proofs in
favour of our theory.

That the deposits of shells on our plains,
and on many of the mountains, were made by
currents and floods, we will attempt to show in
treating of alluvial deposits; but many that are
situated high on our mountains, must be ac-
counted for in a different manner.

They were reposing on the bottom of the
ocean, not having experienced a sufficient de-
gree.of decay to cement into rocks, when the
firm foundations of the deep were broken up,
and were raised from their native element,

with the bed on which they reposed, and re-
main as lasting monuments of the dreadful con-
vulsions which our planet has experienced.*

PROOF XIII.
Of the Ocean receding from the Lands.

It is evident, that at some remote period of
the world, the ocean has receded from the land,
leaving dry great extents of country, over
which for ages the waves unmolested rolled.
Of such are the extensive table lands in Sibe-
ria, in the south west part of the United States,
and in various other parts of the world.

That there have been as many as three such
declensions of the ocean, appears from the
number of these horizontal plains, rising one
above another as we depart from the ocean.
The ascent from one to another is abrupt,
which shows that the subsidence of the waters
was sudden. Marks of the waves on rocks
far above the rise of the ocean at the present
time, as clearly indicate the retiring of the

* From the perfect state of many of these shells, we cannot doubt
but they were enjoying: life at the time when they were transported to
the places they now occupy. It is probable they were not in such vast
heaps in the bottom of the ocean as they now are. But tliose which
were elevated nearer the summits of the mountains,were washed down
by the retiring waves or subsequent tempests, to the places in which
they now are found »

waters. Since records have been kept, we
have no proofs of the waters receding from
their former bounds.

In harbours, the waters have maintained
their height for many centuries. As they have
not diminished for more than twenty centuries,
we must conclude that the cause of their dimi-
nution has ceased to operate.

When lands were raised, as has been stated^
the waters flowed in to fill the cavities from
whence they were raised; hence a depression
in the ocean would be equal to the quantity of
matter raised from beneath, and remained
above the surface of the waters. When the
lands arose, the waters would be propelled to
and cover the adjacent shores, and when the
repelling cause no longer existed, the waters
would retire from the lands on which they had
been driven, and leave exposed to the air
much that had been enclosed in their bosom.

If we estimate the matter in America, which
is above the level*of the ocean, at five millions of
cubic miles, and the whole surface of the ocean
at one hundred and sixty millions of square
miles, when our continent was raised, five mil-
lions of cubic miles of water were received into
the cavities which were left vacant by the as-
cension of America. By this supposition, the
waters in the ocean would subside one hundred

and sixty-five perpendicular feet, leaving lands
dry on the eastern continent which had pre-
viously been covered to that depth. But the
whole of America was not elevated at the same
time, therefore so great a subsidence in the wa-
ters has not taken place at any one time. But
when lands have been projected from the
deep, when the agitation has subsided, the
waters have receded from the shores, which
accounts for the diminution of the waters at
various periods. Whenever a large extent of
land has been raised, the ocean has declined
in proportion to the matter elevated, and when
islands or parts of continents have sunk, the
ocean has been raised in the same proportion.

PROOF XIV.
Alluvial Formations.

The alluvial formations, and the various
species of relics which they contain, afford
abundant proofs, that the resolutions and ca-
tastrophes which our world has experienced,
wtre the effects of the causes we have de-
scribed.

From facts recorded by many able and in-
genious writers, we cannot doubt but the con-
tinents have several times been partially, and
once totally covered by waters, and that the

currents which covered them were violent,
and flowed in different directions.

The alluvial deposits on the eastern conti-
nent, clearly show that the waters which
drowned the old world, flowed from the south-
west to the north-east; and Dr. H. H. Hayden,
in his excellent geological publication has as
clearly shown, that tire currents which formed
most of our alluvial soils, flowed from the north-
east to the south-west

That the waters which drowned the world,
should flow in opposite directions, may appear
inconsistent at the first view of the subject,
but on an impartial examination, there will be
no room for doubt.

We will first attempt to explain more fully
the cause of the universal deluge, show the
courses which the waters would naturally flow
from such a cause, and the effects which they
would have on the surface of the earth; then
we will endeavour to explain the causes of the
subsequent floods, which partially inundated
the world.

The universal deluge, as has been stated,
was caused by the rising of America from the
ocean.

At this important crisis, when the founda-
tions of the ocean were raised, and when, as
the inspired historian has most elegantly ex-
6

pressed it, The fountains of the great deep
were broken up, the waters must have retired
in great agitation to the east and west, from
the sides of the rising continent.

The length of America being nearly from
north to south, from the eastern side, the wa-
ters would be rolled to Europe and Africa, and
from the western side, they would be driven to
Asia. South America extending farther to
the east than North America, would gve the
current which was to overspread the eastern
continent, a direction to the north of east. —
This current bore with violence the shells and
fishes of the ocean, to the plains and moun-
tains of Europe, and the vegetables of Europe
and Africa, to the eastern parts of Asia. There
the current was met by that which flowed to
the west from the western coast of America. —
There each current was stopped in its destruc-
tive career by opposing each other; and there
immense deposits were made, as will be here-
after explained.

When the fountains of the great deep were
broken up, and the oce: n above rushed in con-
tact with ihe flaming ocean beneath, the eva-
poration must have been immense.

The winds, before this, as we shall show,
moved unmolested from east to west, round
the globe. Then on a sudden they were eb-

Structed by the towering burning mountains.
They rolled back, as if astonished at the new
phenomenon, ladened with the vapours of a
boiling ocean. Violent must have been the
conflict between the hot subterranean and the
cool ethereal particles. The clouds, in their
sublime evolutions, moved in the direction of
the waters, to the east and west from Ame-
rica.

They met in awful array over the old
world. There they discharged their burdens.
There the vapours condensed; and no language
could be more expressive of the dreadful tor-
rents that then descended, than that which
was dictated from above, and which declares,
that the windows of heaven were opened.
Forty days were these vapours descending.—
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon
the earth, and all the high hills that were
under the whole heavens were covered. And
the rain ceased. But an hundred and fifty
times did the earth revolve in her cumbrous
mantle, before the waters retired to the ca-
verns from whence our continent arose.

•And God made a wind to pass over the
earth, and the waters assuaged.

Here the Almighty made use of natural
means to assuage the waters, and the means
are perfectly consistent to reason, and agree

^64

with the positions we have taken. The winds
blew in a direction opposite to the courses in
which the waves and clouds had moved, when
sent with overwhelming ruin to that guilty
land. While the waves and clouds were exe-
cuting their commission, the atmosphere there
became cold, damp and dense. While here,
the air was in a great degree rarefied by heat
from the flaming abyss within, and from the
burning mountains without. It is as natural
for the colder atmosphere to flow to warmer
regions,, as for water ta descend an inclined
plane. The current of air towards this conti-
nent hastened the return of the waters.

Let us pause for a moment, and reflect on
the situation of this new born continent, and
the state of the waters, when they returned
from completing the works of divine justice ou
a guilty world. There they were accumula-
ted upwards of four miles in height, to cover
the highest mountains in Asia. Here were ca-
vities of equal extent with our continent, and
of a depth, equal to the height of our moun-
tains, burning, and literally thirsting for the
returning waves. The waters rolled back as
in triumph, accelerated by the pressing winds,
and loaded with the spoils of a conquered
world. The huge frame of the elephant, the
mammoth, and the numerous species of animals

which had revelled on the plains of the east-
ern hemisphere, borne on the same surges with
wretched fallen man, for whose sake all nature
mourned, together with the carcases of the
monsters of the deep, were brought as trophies
of victory to fertilize our shores. The vege-
tables and seeds of Europe, Asia, and Africa,
were brought to adorn our youthful world. —
When the conquering and conquered hosts re-
turned, imagination fails in attempting to form
a picture of the skeleton of this now blooming
land.

From the southern extremity of South Ame-
rica, as far to the north as the Alleghany and
Stony mountains extend, were naked burning
rocks, in some places towering above the
clouds, resting on fragments of broken rocks
pendent over caverns deeper than mortal eye
could fathom. In some places, the foundations
of mountains sinking beneath cumbrous loads,
which plunge to lasting oblivion in the gloomy
abyss which is open to receive them. Thus
sunk the extensive range, whose highest sum-
mits now are seen in. the clusters of islands,
between the Americas. The waves returning
in mountainous heights, were borne far over
the lands, and dashed against the sides of the
lofty mountains. The steam issuing from the
caverns, and the rocks supporting the conti-
6*

nent, prevented the waters from sinking sud-
denly into the veins and cavities of the earth;
but in surge after surge they rolled over our
plains. The fleshy parts of the numerous
species of animals which were brought from
the old world, were dissolved, or torn from
the solids which were scattered along our
shores, and even over onr highest plains* The
muscular parts of the larger species, as the
mammoth, whale, &c. longer bound the bones
together, that in some places the bones of such
animals have been found nearly entire.™
The smaller species, and even some of those
whose magnitude almost exceeds the bounds of
human conception, were broken against the
naked cliffs, and, in detached pieces, were de-
posited iii innumerable places in the new
world. Hence we have the cause of the in-
dividual bones of the ekphant, and of the nu-
merous species which inhabited the old world,
mingled with those of the monsters of the
deep, being found along our shores, and bu-
ried beneath our alluvion, many hundred miles
from the present bounds of the ocean.

PROOF XV,

Of the Alluvial Deposits made by the General
Deluge.

There is no criterion by which we can bet-
ter judge of the direction in which the currents
flowed, than by the alluvial deposits which
they made. In tracing the courses of the cur-
rents, by which the alluvial formations were
made, it is necessary, first, to observe in what
situations deposits would be made by violent
currents*

1st. If a current flows directly against a
mountain, and is not of sufficient height to pass
the summit, the alluvion will be placed at the
base of the mountain on the side opposed to
the current.

2d. If the current is of sufficient depth to
pass over the hill or mountain, the alluvion
will be deposited at the base and on the sides
of the hills or mountains, opposite to those
which were presented to the current.

3d. If a current flows obliquely against a
mountain, and passes by, and the land is over-
flowed on the opposite side, there will be a
calm, and the alluvion will be deposited there.

4th. If two currents meet from opposite di-
rections, of equal force, the deposits will be
made at and near the point of contact*

5th* If two currents meet in oblique direc-
tions, the alluvion will be deposited in an an-
gular point, half way between the two cur-
rents, had they passed uninterrupted.

With these propositions, which are easily
demonstrated by the laws of motion, the va-
rious alluvial deposits can be accounted for, if
the currents flowed in the directions we have
stated.

1st. The currents that overflowed Europe
and Africa, came from the south-west, as has
been stated, and was of sufficient depth
to overtop the mountains.. Hence, the
western coasts of those quarters of the world,
were stripped of their coverings, left naked
and bold, while the alluvia were deposited on
the east and north east of the mountains. —
This is the state of these countries. The cur-
rent moved with such force and velocity, that
rocks were torn from the mountains, and left
in countries remote from their native strata.
Hence, the rocks from the Alps and other
mountains are found embedded in the alluvia
many hundred miles distant. The current
had force to burst through the solid earth, and
excavate vast seap and gulphs. Hence, Eng-
land was severed from France, and Ireland
from Scotland and England, as the rocks and
clefts on either side bear incontrovertible

testimony that they were once united. When
the current rushed over the Norwegian Alps,
it excavated the bed of the Baltic sea; when it
passed the Alpines, it formed the gulf of Ve-
nice; from the high lands in England and Scot-
land it rushed, and bare away the soil which
filled the space now occupied by the North sea;
from the summits of the Carpathian moun-
tains it rolled, and formed the basins for the
Black and Azof seas; from the Lybian moun-
tains, the channel of the Red oca was formed.
In rushing from the summits of Taurus and
Caucasus, the Caspian sea was formed. From
the mountains of the moon it flowed to exca-
vate the sea of Arabia. It rolled over the
Gaut mountains, and made the bed for the sea
of Bengal. Many tracts of land, now islands,
were torn from the main land by the same ir-
resistible current, Madagascar was rent from
Caifraria, Ceylon from Hindostan, and many
other seas and channels were formed at the
same eventful crisis.*

*By this hypothesis we are induced to believe, that the eastern
continent before the deluge was much more extensive than it now is.
When the beds of the seas were excavated, they were much more
extensive than they now are. This will appear when we treat more
particularly of the alluvial deposits. We believe and shall attempt to
prove, that the Mediterranean sea was formed by the subsidence of
that part of the earth. We believe many chasms were formed by the
current we have described, and that the same have since been filled
by alluvia. Of such, we believe, there were a number in France,
made by the waters precipitating from the Pyrenees. These were

As the currents from America flowed over
Europe laden with the shells of the ocean,
many of these were deposited where eddies
and calms were formed by projecting moun-
tains. Most of the vegetables of Europe were
borne by the surges to the eastern parts of
Asia. But whole forests were buried in Eu-
rope. In England and Ireland subterranean
forests are common. These forests are pros-
trated to the east, or north of east, and are
Covered to a great depth with marine shells,
and various other deposits. They are in such
a situation, as the currents we have described
would leave them. But such of the vegetables

filled as the waters returned, as will be explained, and by which the
many strata of alluvia near Paris can be accounted for. By this theory
the cause of Europe's being more cut up by seas and bays, than other
parts of the world can be explained. The mountains in Europe lay
more opposed to the current than those of Africa or the interior of
Asia. In Asia and Africa, the principal ranges of mountains run from
nearly east to west, or about in direction with the current, that the
waters did not pour over them with such force, as they did over those
which lay from south to north. If reliance can be placed on the reports
of travellers, there is not a mountain on the eastern continent, west of
those in Kamtschatka, but has a gulf or a sea on the east or north
east side of it, or an extensive alluvion, bearing evident marks of
their once being a cavity for a lake or sea. There are none on the
west of such mountains. The sea of Ochotsk, was formed by the
current which moved to the west from America, and precipitating
from the mountains of Kamtschatka. The barriers over which the
waters rushed to form the Yellow sea, were the mountains in
China, those to form the Gulf of Siam, Aye re in Malaya, those to
form the Chinese sea, were in Cochin China. The mountains of
Sumatra, made the water wear the Straits of Malacca, and separated
the island from the mainj those of Arabia formed the Persian gulfc

both of Europe and Africa, as were not instant-
ly covered, were conveyed to the eastern parts
of Asia, and when the two currents which en-
compassed the globe there met, they both were
stopped, and there the greatest deposits were
made. The masses of vegetable mould, seve-
ral hundred feet in thickness, in China, bear
witness of these deposits. And the extensive
strata of coal found in alluvion in those regions,
are no less subtantial testimony than the
former.*

As the waters returned from the eastern
parts of Asia, when God caused a wind to
assuage them, they moved over Europe
with less velocity than they did when they
destroyed every animal and every green thing.
In their return, far greater deposits were made
than when they advanced. The waters were

* It is believed, that the numerous strata of coal, which are found
in almost every country on the globe, are formed of the vegetable
productions of the antedeluvian world. These productions were col-
lected in extensive masses by the whirling currents, were jammed and
dashed in pieces by the tumultuous waves, were overwhelmed br
Surges loaded with shells, sand, and clay, sunk in the earth, and un-
dergoing a degree of fermentation, were converted from wood, bark,
iand leaves, to their present state. Though forests have been discovered
far beneath the surface of the earth, which were doubtless buried at
the same time, yet remain entire. This does not prove but coal may
have been formed as has been stated, and whole timber preserved
its primitive properties. Where forests were swept down and co»
vered in an instant; where separate trees were surrounded by solid
earth, or exuviae they would be far less liable to undergo any chemical
change, than if they had been bruised and beaten into one almost solid
mass,

loaded with soil. Many of the caverns which
were made by their former rapid motions, were
lessened, or wholly filled.* Much of the ani-
mal and vegetable remains which were swept to
the east, were now returned towards the west,
and where the velocity of the waters was
retarded, or a calm or eddy produced by op-
posing mountains, deposits were made. Coal
mines are found in every nation of Europe.
In some places the strata are horizontal, in
others they have different degrees of inclina-
tion, depending solely on the situation of the
surface on which they rested.

Marie and gypsum are likewise found in al-
most every section of the world. These like-
wise are the deposits of the deluge. Shells^
and other animal remains, gathered by the
wayes in extensive masses, as were the vegeta-
bles, were broken and pulverized by the whirl-
ing eddies, settled in heaps and strata when
the waters subsided, and condensed into their
present state, by a similar process as formed
the coal. Thus gypsum was formed.

The remains of which marie was composed,
were less exposed to the dashing of currents
against rocks; they were preserved in a more
perfect state.

* That the basins of the Black sea, sea ot" Azof, and of the Caspian
sea, were much larger than they now are, all travellers agree.

Strata of coal are often found mingled with
gypsum, the union took place, while this matter
composing them was tossed to and fro by the
waves.

. Strata of coal are found reposing on beds of
gypsum. There the animal remains forming
the gypsum had been conveyed and settled in
the calm, or were swallowed in a vortex, before
the vegetable mass was transported to its des-
tined rest. Gypsum is found resting on strata
of coal. Here the order of deposits was but
inverted.

Some strata of lime-stone may have been
formed in a similar manner. Beds of shells,
by these currents, were collected and deposi-
ted, not only on plains and vallies, but even on
the sides and summits of the highest mountains
in the old world. Many strata of alluvion may
have been formed by the currents and coun-
ter currents during the deluge.

Lakes of fresh water, which for centuries
had been making deposits, were instantly
filled with salt water remains. Channels of
rivers were stopped up, and the cavities in
the mountains were filled with the animal and
vegetable remains, which the agitated waters
had reduced to an undistinguished mass. The
remains of man, of the lion, tiger, hyena, and
the fell monsters of land and sea, found one
7

common grave. Thus the face of nature was
completely changed, and the old world was
literally destroyed. The carcases of the animals
of Africa and Europe, were transported to the
north and east of Asia, while the returning
current brought the animals of Asia to Europe,
Africa, and America. The fishes which have
been known to inhabit only the waters near the
coasts of the Sandwich islands, were transpor-
ted half the circumference of the globe, and
even round from the east to Europe and Ame-
rica, where their remains are now found, to
the admiration of the curious.

We will again follow the course of the re-
turning current to America, and trace its ef-
fects over our plains, and among the moun-
tains. Here we are to expect to find the al-
luvion differently located from what it was on
the eastern continent. There the first depo-
sits were made by a current which flowed
above the mountains, which left its burdens, as
well as excavated the earth on the sides oppo-
site to the one which resisted its fury.* When

* It is evident that a torrent of water, when it is precipitated from
a mountain as from a dam, Mould make large excavations in the earth,
where the force of the water was exerted or opposed. When the plain
or valley was filled with water as high as the summit of the mountain,
and the current continued to flow in the same direction, it would no
longer beat upon the earth; and that section of the water protected
by the mountain would be at rest; there the soil and exuvice, wliich
had been borne over the mountains, would settle, and there we should

the waters arrived at our continent, the
mountains presented an insuperable barrier
to the waves. Surge propelled surge near
to the summits. Vast quantities of the ani-
mal and vegetable remains of the old world
were brought to our lands. Extensive drifts
of timber, the productions of Europe, Asia,
and Africa, were forced high on the mountains;
succeeding surges covered them with soil and
the shells of fishes; and wherever these depo-
sits were made, are now to be discovered rich
mines of coal. Some of these drifts were bu-
ried on the plains where eddies were produced
by opposing mountains.

expect to find thick alluvial formations. By these deposits, as well as
by the returning current, the bounds of the seas, &c. formed by the
currents have been much diminished. We find that uniformly, be-
tween the seas and gulfs we have mentioned, and the mountains, there
are deep alluvial formations. On both sides of hills and mountains
not so high as to obstruct the waters in their return, are extensive al-
luvial formations. At the base of some mountains there is no allu-
vion. This is the case in regard to the mountains on the south-east
coast of Africa. There the soil which was carried over the moun-
tains, was swept away by the current which flowed from the Cape of
Good Hope to the north-east. Perhaps no place will more clearly elu-
cidate the effect of these counter currents, than the peninsula of Hin-
dostan. There the waters pouring over the Gaut mountains, formed
the sea of Bengal. When the basin was filled as high as the tops of
the mountains, that alluvion began to be deposited; the current flow-
ing by cape Comorin to the north-east, prevented the alluvion from
extending to the east near the southern part. The current kept open
the straits between Ceylon and the main, and moving to the north-
east, left a wider space to be filled with alluvion on the east of the
mountains, in the centre of Hindostan.

The remains of the larger animals, are
more generally found on the plains or in the
vallies. If they were left on the sides of
mountains, they would be liable to be washed,
by rains and tempests, with the soil, to lower
situations, while the masses of vegetables, many
miles in extent, would resist the force of show-
ers, and retain, by their irregularities, the soil
that covered them.

Many of the ruins of the old world, are now
far beneath our continent, and even beneath,
the strata which form its base.

After the first dashing of the waves had
subsided, currents were formed into the
gloomy caverns from whence our continent
arose. As vortices were formed wherever
openings were presented, we must conclude,
that immense quantities of exuvice were drawn
into their devouring jaws.*

But it will be inquired, "How the numerous
remains of animals were conveyed to the west
of the Alleghany mountains and deposited in the
vale of the Mississippi, and through the western
states, if the mountains proved an insuperable
barrier to the returning waves?" That there

* Such is the celebrated vortex of Scylla. The waters which are
swallowed there, are conveyed in rents, beneath the ocean to where
the burning caverns of iEtna turn them to vapour, and throw them
forth in clouds from its flaming crater.

are more animal and vegetable remains to the
west, than to the east of the Alleghany moun-
tains, is a fact too well authenticated to admit
of a solitary doubt, and a fact, which, on ex«
amination, goes directly to prove the state-
ments we have made.

It has been stated, that the north-east part
of North America was not raised from the
ocean, when that part ascended which pro-
duced the general deluge.

When the old world was destroyed, Ameri-
ca, as far as the Andes, the Alleghany and
Stony mountains extend, was made to appear.
The Alleghany range terminates in about forty
eight degrees north. The Stony mountains
extend to nearly seventy degrees. All that
part of the continent which lies north of the
lakes, and the river St. Lawrence at the time
of the deluge, was in the bed of the ocean.
The Alleghany mountains extending from
south-west to north-east, and the Stony moun-
tains from south-east to north-west, and the
Alleghany terminating nearly two thousand
miles short of the Stony mountains, presented
a coast running from south-east to north-west
nearly four thousand miles in extent, and in
the most favourable situation for the reception
of the waves and relics, which were rolled
from the north part of Asia, which was then
7*

the most populous and fertile part of the
earth.

The Alleghany and Stony mountains ap-
proach each other towards the south; they
received the currents from Asia as in a fun-
nel; and perhaps no part of the world was
more affected by the deluge than this section
of our country.

The accumulation of animals and vegetables
which were driven between these mountains^
were constantly raised, as their barriers to the
east and west approached each other, till the
whole current was obstructed by the surges
which flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. Here
were no rents through the strata to suffer
the waters to flow into the cavities below the
dry land.

The masses of timber were strewed over the
sides of the mountains; the remains of the
mammoth, the elephant, and of man were de-
posited there, and strata of ♦solid earth, many
feet in thickness, rested upon them, from which
the labour of man and the washing of rivers
are almost daily bringing them to light.

The strata of coal which are found on the
mountains, were formed by the drifts of timber
which were deposited there.

The various quarries of gypsum were loca-

ted there, as in other places which have been
mentioned.

There being more deposits to the west than
to the east of the Alleghany mountains, is a
proof that many remains which were brought
to our eastern shores were swallowed by the
vortices, which conveyed them to the dreary
abyss from whence our continent was thrown.

From the premises we have assumed, the
way to the causes of the following effects is
easy and plain.

1st. The cause of the ascent to the summit
of our mountains and cliffs on the east side,
being regular and easy, while the west are
precipitate and bold.

The current that returned to the eastern
part of this continent, having flowed over the
extensive plains of Asia, Europe, and Africa,
was loaded with much more soil and relics,
than that which flowed across the Pacific
ocean. The former having performed more
than half its course over mountains and vallies,
broken by the violence of torrents from the
windows of heaven, and from the fountains
of the great deep; the latter had rolled an
equal distance through the Great Pacific,
scarcely interrupted in any part of its career
by opposing lands. Hence, more alluvion was
brought to our coasts from the east than from

the west, and was thrown over our plains, and
even to the summits of many of our mountains.

2d. The cause of the capes on the east of
America, and west of Europe and Africa, be-
ing uniformly turned southerly; while those on
other coasts? are as regularly inclined in an
opposite direction.

The alluvial formations at the capes, were
made when the waters returned from the de-
struction of the old world; and the waves roll-
ing over the solid parts of the capes, deposited
the alluvion on the south-west of the promon-
tories. The other current returning in an op-
posite direction, formed the alluvion of the
capes, on the north-east sides of the moun-
tains.

3d. Why some islands are thickly covered
with rich alluvion, while others are left with
scarcely soil sufficient to support the smallest
growth of vegetation.

The islands in the great southern ocean,
most of those in the Pacific, and many in high
latitudes to the north, are almost wholly desti*
tute of soil. These islands being scattered in
extensive oceans, not defended by any conside-
rable mountain from the fury of the waves,
were divested of the soil by the currents pass-
ing rapidly over them, when flowing in both
directions.

But the islands situated near the coasts,
and defended by the mountains of the conti-
nent, are in general distinguished by a deep
and fertile soil. Such are Madagascar, Cey-
lon, and many others which were equally
defended. The islands near the coasts, east
and south east of Asia, have, from the earliest
ages, been noted for their rich and luxuriant
soil. Where these islands are situated, trie
currents which encompassed the globe came
in contact, and here they deposited much of
their burdens. On these islands, coal in
abundance is found, and vegetable mould seems
inexhaustible.

While the islands of Austral Asia are fer-
tile in the extreme, many of the islands of
Polynesia, situated in the same latitude, are
barren and desolate**

* The Sandwich isles, and several individual clusters in the Paci*
fie, are represented as fertile. But it is generally believed by navi-
gators, that such islands are volcanic productions, are of recent for-
mation, compared with many others, and have doubtless arisen
since the deluge. Thus they retain all the debris of their own moun-
tains, which renders them abundantly productive. Islands have been
formed by two different operations of nature, or of nature's agents—
by internal fires, and the coral. The latter in their works are slow
and steady, the former is instantaneous,

PROOF XVI.

Of Inundations subsequent to the General
Deluge.

We have on record accounts of three floods,
which partially inundated the globe several
eenturies after the general calamity, when all
flesh suffered, and every green thing was de-
stroyed.

Partial inundations may have been occasion-
ed by the subsidence of lands as well as by their
elevation. A part of a continent, or a large
island settling into the deep abyss from which
it arose, would agitate the waters, and propel
the surges over the adjacent lands. When
lands are depressed into the deep, the waters
will not return to their former bounds, but will
be raised in proportion to the quantity of
matter which has been depressed.

The Flood of Oxyges.

Four hundred and fifty-two years after God
saw fit to drown the old world, the flood of
Oxyges took place.

The situation of the world at that time was
such, that large islands may have arisen, or a
great part of a continent may have submerged,
and no account of the catastrophe be transmit-

ted to posterity, or no more of the effects than
fell under the immediate observation of a few
individuals.

The greater part of space occupied by the
waves of the Mediterranean, if we may judge
from the observations of enlightened and
inquiring travellers, bears evident marks of
once being covered with land, and that by
some convulsion of nature, it has been in-
volved in the waters. By the subsidence of a
small part of the land which filled that exten-
sive basin, the waters would have been driven
over the south-east part of Europe, and west
part of Asia, and the affrighted survivors
would not surmise from what cause the waters
were put in motion. What effects that flood
had on the adjacent countries in Africa, and
on the west of those in Europe, is not known;
and it is more than probable, that those sec-
tions of the world were not inhabited.

From the few accounts we have of that cala-
mity, and from the situation of the countries
which were overflowed, we are induced to be-
lieve that the flood of Oxyges was occasioned
by the submersion of the lands, formerly occu-
pying a part of the channel now covered by
the Mediterranean; and that no lands but
those bordering on the coasts of that sea, ex-
perienced any inconvenience from the event.

84*

Flood in Ethiopia.

One hundred and eighty-eight years after
the flood of Oxy^es, an inundation took place
in Ethiopia, and we have no account of this
flood in any other part of the world.

The prophet Isaiah alludes to this catas-
trophe, when in speaking of the country, Ethi-
opia, he calls it, The country iphose lands the
rivers have spoiled.

The Chronicle of Axium is the most ancient
repository of the antiquities of that country, a
book considered as first in authority after the
Holy Scriptures; it says, that Ethiopia was
laid waste by a flood, and the face of the
country much changed and deformed, so that
it was denominated (Jure JMidre, or the coun-
try laid waste. Other historians speak of this
flood in Eihiopia also, and it must have been
well known in the times of Isaiah.

The situation of Ethiopia is remote from any
ocean, and could not have been directly over-
flowed by the agitation of waters, occasioned
by either the elevation or submersion of land.
But the elevation of lands by a secondary
cause, could have produced the flood here
spoken of. It is evident, from the account we
have of that event, that it was not produced
by the waves of the ocean, but by the rise of

rivers; and we cannot conceive that rivers in
that warm climate, would have arisen above
their usual periodical height, but by an unu-
sual fail of rain. Then why should more rain
be poured out upon that country? at that parti-
cular time, than in any period since, or be-
fore, except at the universal deluge? Singular
effects must arise from singular causes*

When from the position of the sun in the
ecliptic, in regard to the mountains of Ethio-
pia, the current of air is brought in an oblique
direction against them, the vapours which are
brought by this current are condensed against
the sides of the mountains, and cause their pe-
riodical rains. These rains raise the Nile,
and other rivers in Africa.

Then may we not indulge the conjecture,
that at the period when New7 Holland was
summoned to appear, that the vapours which
arose from the ocean, when the waves were
repelled by the fire which had force to elevate
so extensive a country, were borne by the re-
gular trade winds to Africa, and there conden-
sing as they inclined against the mountains,
were the cause of the rivers spoiling the
lands.

New Holland is situated so remote from
Africa, that the agitation of the waters occa-
sioned by its ascension, would have so much
8

subsided before they reached the east coast of
Africa, that they would not have inundated
that part of the world. Besides, the vast ex-
tent of ocean to the south-east and west from
New Holland, offered a free passage to the
water, that no country was essentially injured
by the rolling surges.

Of the Deucaleon Flood.

Eighty-six years after the flood in Ethiopia,
that of Deucaleon happened.

It is not dou'Jted by travellers, but that Af-
rica once extended farther to the north than it
now does; and that that part which extended
from cape Bon to cape Razat, has settled in
the ocean at some unknown period. When
that section of land descended, the waters
were repelled, and flowed in a direct line to
Thessaly, and deluged that country. This was
the Deucaleon flood, and this was the cause of
that inundation,

Many other partial floods, of which we have
no account, may have taken place in othercoun-
tries, and assisted in the alluvial formations,
which begin to attract the attention of the cu-
rious and learned, and which will open an ex-
tensive field to geological inquiry Such in-
undations may have assailed districts; and

none be left to report the calamity. Many
barbarous tribes may have been buried beneath
a flood, and no monument of their existence
remain.

If the dry land was caused to appear, as has
been stated, and various parts of the earth
have been elevated at different periods, we
must expect that great changes have taken
place on their surface since their ascension.

Before vegetation commenced its growth,
when the soil was not bound by roots, nor de-
fended by leaves and brambles, storms would
carry much soil and debris from the mountains,
and deposit them in the vallies and abysses
between the broken cliffs. When rivers began
to flow, they formed lakes and ponds in val-
lies, which continued to rise, till, overflowing,
or bursting their barriers, they rushed to
others, and with accumulated force, opened a
passage to the ocean. By such operations of
the elements, fragments of mountains have
been undermined, and precipitated from ele-
vated stations, have broken, and thrown in-
ferior rocks to great distances from where
they were first deposited. As water filtra-
ted through chinks of rocks and mountains to
form springs, by degrees it has worn away the
foundations of incumbent strata, which settled
into the caverns, and occasioned many depres-

sions in the sides and summits of mountains.
Rivers have changed their courses, and in
forming new channels, have deposited more
alluvion in the still waters where they disem-
bogued. Vegetable mould has in many places
been borne by currents, and left on lower soils,
where now various strata are distinctly seen.

When fire, the servant of the Most High^
had performed his office in raising lands for
the habitation of the nobler animals, the water
and air commenced their operations to mould
and polish them for the comforts and conveni-
ences of his creatures. These operations are
daily continued, and though they may prove
injurious to some, yet they increase the hap-
piness of the general whole.

#
JL Flood ivas produced by the rise of the north-

east part of North America.

It may be considered presumption to intro-
duce arguments to prove a position founded on
conjecture. But when witnesses, collected
from various directions, voluntarily rise and tes-
tify to a fact, we cannot be so sceptical as not
to listen to their testimony, though we have no
records, and but a ray of tradition to support
us.

Such is the case as it regards the flood which
we believe has taken place in North America,

long since the general deluge, and the subse-
quent floods which we have mentioned, and
which partially inundated the globe.

We believe that this flood was occasioned
by the rise of the north-east part of America,
whieh lies north and north-east of the great
chain of lakes, including Labrador, New-Bri-
tain, North and South Wales, and all the re-
gions from the termination of the Stony Moun-
tains, to where the Alleghany range disappears
near the river St. Lawrence.

The reasons we have to induce us to be-
lieve that such a flood or event Jhas taken
place, are,

First. The whole strata of rocks, and ranges
of mountains, south and south-west of this
section of the continent, extend nearly from
north to south; and the strata and mountains
north and north-east of the lakes have no
appearance of ever having been united with
the more southern ranges, and uniformly run
from east to west.

Second. In that part of the continent re-
cently raised from the ocean, there are no al-
luvial deposits, which would have been as
numero; s and as great there as in any other
part of America, if that section had been as
long above the bed of the ocean, and conse-

quently been subject to the same currents and
inundations.

Third. By the rise of that part of America,
a flood would have been occasioned, which in
its progress would have formed an alluvion^
perfectly coinciding with the various strata
found in the more southern parts of North
America.

Fourth. The Aborigines of North America
have traditions of a flood, which more resem-
bles the one we have mentioned, than the
general deluge.

With such grounds for our conjectures, we
will proceed to examine the effects which such
a flood would have on our continent, and com-
pare them with those which are known to exist.

Labrador and Greenland, extending many
degrees to the east of that part of the conti-
nent which was first raised, in their ascension
would have propelled the waters of the At-
lantic to the south in great agitation, and like-
wise would have poured an irresistible current
over most of the lands of the United States.

When the last raised section united to the
one which had been formerly elevated, there
would be appearances of chasms or fissures.
This is the appearance along the whole
line of lakes, from Ontario to Slave Lake, and
even down the St. Lawrence and M'Kenzie's

Rivers from the Atlantic to the Arctic
Ocean.

M'Kenzie, Hearne, and others, who have
traversed the dreary wilds north and north-
west of the lakes, coincide in describing the
face of the country as almost entirely destitute
of alluvion, and state that in many places to
a vast extent nothing appears but naked rocks.
If this section of the continent had been as
long exposed to frosts and tempests as the
others, there would have been sufficient de-
bris and soil to support vegetation.

When that section of country was elevated,
the waters which covered it, rushed to the
south and south-east, and swept by their tu-
multuous surges, the soil and all loose parti-
■ cles from the surface, and transported them to
more southern regions. As the sea flowed
from the elevated surface, and precipitated
against the lands which had been raised be-
fore, it would make vast cavities, and trans-
port the soil and even rocks to a distance from
where they had been located. The basins of
the great chain, of lakes were chiefly formed
and fashioned by this current, and the matter
which was swept from their beds is now wit-
nessed in the vast banks of alluvion to the
south of their present bounds. In some parts
of the lakes, the waters are represented as al-

most unfathomable. In such places, the sound-
ing was attempted between the strata of the
two sections raised at different periods.—
Doubtless many such chasms exist through the
basins of the whole chain of lakes.

Dr. S. L. Mitchill, to whom we are indebt-
ed for many facts in geology, informs us, that
along the south coasts of the lakes there are so
many marine remains, that it cannot be doubt-
ed but for a long time the salt waters rolled
their proud waves there. This period was
before the north-east section of our country
was elevated.

It is likewise the opinion of the same learned
Doctor, and of others, whose names do honour
to science, that the whole extent of flat coun-
try round the lakes, was, for many centuries,
covered by waters forming an inland sea; and
that this sea continued to rise till it overflowed
the lands in various places, wore channels
through the mountains, and rushed to the At-
lantic ocean. Hence, the breaches through
the mountains, in which the Hudson, Susque-
hannah, Delaware, &c. flow, were formed.

We beg leave to differ from this opinion in
some respects. If the inland sea existed as
they suppose, and it continued to rise regu-
larly for a length of time, till it overflowed the
mountains, the barriers must have been of the

same height in all the places where breaches
were made, or they would not have been over-
flowed at the same time. The mountains are
not of the same height in these various places,
therefore could not have been overflowed at
the same time by a regular rise of the sea;
for, when the waters surmounted the moun-
tains where they were the lowest, at that place
the waters would flow off, a channel would be
formed, so that the sea would not rise higher,
and but one breach would be made. If the
sea had first burst over the high lands, where
the Hudson, or any one of the other rivers now
flows, there must have been a depression of
the waters in that place, and all the waters
in the sea would have inclined to that place,
and the pressure in other places would have
been diminished, that no more rents could
have been made from this sea.

But the rents must have been made by a
sudden rise of the waters, and by a pressure
so violent, that the solid strata of the moun-
tains, where the rivers now flow, were torn
asunder at the same time. This sudden rise
and irresistible pressure, were the effects of
the rise of that part of America north of the
lakes.

Previous to this inundation, the situation of
North America was very different from what it

is at the present time. The ocean extended
much nearer to the bases of the mountains
than at present, so that most of the plains along
the coasts of the Atlantic were then covered
by the waters of the deep. The gulf of Mex-
ico then covered a great part of the Floridas,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, &c. On the
north- r*est of the Alleghany range of moun-
tains, there was an extensive sea-coast from
Nova Scotia to the northern termination of the
Stony mountains. Rivers flowed from the
north-west sides of the Alleghany mountains
into this ocean. The higher plains and sides
of mountains were covered with forests. The
continent had become the abode of many spe-
cies of the brute creation, and man had found
a residence here.

The effects of the flood we have mentioned,
are to be traced in the various windings of our
sea coast, in the bays, rivers, and alluvial for-
mations in every part of our country*

When the northern lands arose, from La-
brador and Greenland, a heavy current was
sent to the south in the Atlantic, which flowed
along our coasts. From the more western re-
gions, a torrent which swept over the lands
was sent forth. The current which flowed
down the ocean being unobstructed by barri-
ers; preceded the one which rolled over the

lands: and where these two currents met along
the coasts, alluvial deposits were made.

When the torrents poured over the moun-
tains, between New Brunswick and Maine on
the south-east, and Canada on the north-west,
it excavated most of the basin of the bay of
Fundy. Nova Scotia rested on strata not to
be shaken. When the current which rushed
over the lands came in contact with that of the
ocean, the extensive sand banks, south and
south-east of Nova Scotia were formed. The
torrent moved over the New England states in
awful grandeur, rolling rucks from the moun-
tains, and driving them in broken fragments
along the plains. Hence we have a cause of
the many rounded stones being strewed over
that part of the continent; and likewise the
cause of there being but little soil, and allu-
vial deposits in the north east parts of the
Union. South of Massachusetts, Rhode Isl-
and, and Connecticut, the torrent which rolled
over the land encountered, nearly at right an-
gles, the swelling ones which moved along the
ocean. Long Island is the effect of their junc-
tion; and the sand banks south of cape Malabar
are the deposits made by that part of the cur-
rent which flowed over the east parts of Mas-
sachusetts, and was obstructed by the ocean.

Hence, we hav^ a cause of the alluvion of
Long Island, being composed chiefly of round-
ed pebbles. That a heavy current flowed
from the east to the west, along the ocean
south of New England, at the time Long Island
was formed, appears from this* The island
not extending 30 far to the east as the main
land, shows that a force from the east, more
powerful than from the north, urged the soil and
remains, which were borne by the currents
further to the west, than if the current from
the north had been resisted by an ocean in
tranquillity.

In the tract of country through which Con-
necticut river flows, are the vestiges of many
small lakes, which have been partially filled by
alluvion. These were filled at the period
above alluded to, and the channels of many
smaller rivers were covered, and that in which
the grand Connecticut rolls his waves, was
then formed.

In various parts of New England, large
stones and rocks have been found in alluvion,
many miles from the strata to which they evi-
dently once belonged. These were moved at
the same time that the lakes were filled.

The current of the ocean overspread all the
low lands of the Atlantic states, and was
enjoying uninterrupted dominion where our

largest cities, delightful plantations, and lux-
uriant farms, now appear. But suddenly its
regal sway, its imperial authority, was attack-
ed. The waters which had been confined be-
yond the mountains, as if ambitious of a no-
bler sway, now burst the bounds that had
confined them, and with an irresistible impe-
tuosity rushed to attack the ocean, which had
extended beyond his natural domains, and pre-
sumed to assault th^ mountains.

The majestic Hudson elated by the conquest
of the firm barriers that confined him, armed
with the soil and fragments of the mountains
he had conquered, in awful grandeur, over-
spreading the country, dared dispute the power
of the ocean. Accelerated by the numerous
auxiliaries from the mountains, and strength-
ened by arming himself with every rock that
opposed his passage, the ocean himself retired
at his approach.

But from the attack of the powerful Hud-
son, who moved from the mountains of free-
dom, the tyrant ocean would have held his
dominion over the most luxuriant parts of the
middle and southern states. He would have
extended Long island to the highlands of Jer-
sey, and destined the site of the emporium of
the new world to be a stagnant marsh or a
barren plain. But Hudson turned the proud
9

currents of the ocean to the south, removed
the sands and rocks which would have united
the island to the maine, and preserved a har-
bour unequalled in the world.

The alluvion on which the city of New-York
is situated was formed at the time when the
Hudson rushed to the ocean. It was opposed
by a current from the east. The river then
overspread all the flat country, and bearing
debris, stones, and rocks in its current, when
obstructed in a degree by the current of the
ocean which flowed through the sound, it de-
posited much of its burden in the angular
point between the currents. But most of the
debris, stones, &c. which were brought from
the mountains by the Hudson were deposited
on the Jersey shore, and appear in the exten-
sive alluvion which forms the southern part of
that state. The current of the ocean inclined
that of the Hudson to the west, and both being
obstructed, the alluvion was formed to the west
of the channel of the Hudson.

The greater part of the state of New-York
at that time was inundated. The extensive
plains of alluvion were then formed, and to
that event it owes the fertility of its soil.

The alluvion on which Troy and Lansing-
burg have their delightful situations, was
formed by the soil, brought by the Mohawk

river, and when its current was obstructed by
the Hudson the deposits were made on the east
side of the latter. There is not a plain or valley,
lake or river, or alluvial formation in the state
of New York, which has fallen under the
author's observation, but bears testimony in
favour of this inundation having taken place.
The various strata through which is cut the
Grand Canal, the pride of America, the im-
mortal glory of its projectors, bear incontro-
vertible proofs that such revolutions have
taken place.

The Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers.

After the current of the ocean had been
checked in its progress to the west by the
violent attack of the Hudson, it began again to
encroach on the bdunds destined to be the
abodes of intelligence. Then the overwhelm-
ing torrent which rushed through the breach
formed for the Delaware, assailed the ambi-
tious tyrant, and rescued from his desolating
power delightful and fertile regions.

The debris brought from the mountains and
high lands by this noble river, were deposited
along its sides, when the force of the current
was lessened by its coming in contact with the
ocean, But most deposits were made on the

100

east of the river, or bay, where the force was
affected by the current of the Hudson and the
ocean. The current in the ocean began to in-
cline to the west after it was propelled to the
south by the Hudson. The force of the Hud-
son and that of the ocean then were united;
and when that of the Delaware rushed in con-
tact with them they were both again driven to
the south. Between these currents most de-
posits would be made, and directly between
them the extensive alluvia in the south part of
New Jersey were formed.

The large estuaries or bays at the mouth of
our rivers were not formed, as some have ima-
gined, by the streams wearing away the solid
earth, but by the force of the currents pre-
venting debris from settling there.

The current of the Delaware was so rapid
that it maintained its course to the ocean, and
swept the soil which was borne in its waters to
southern regions. Where eddies were pro-
duced by counter currents, deposits would be
made. Between the Delaware and the tor-
rent which then rushed down the channel of
the Schuylkill, was formed the deep and ex-
tensive alluvion on which Philadelphia is
situated.*

* Our limits will not admit of our mentioning the various remains
which hs ve heefi found deep in the earth in the places we pass.
Therefore, it must suffice to say that m all of the alluvia which we

101

The torrent of the Delaware, like that of
the Hudson, overflowed a vast extent of coun-
try, and the whole current, blended with that
of the ocean, moved to the south. Many
less streams from the mountain on the west,
rushed to this general current, which inclined
the collateral streams to the south, from where
they would have flowed, had they been un-
interrupted; and the general current from the
north, drove the soil which the streams from
the west brought from the mountains, to the
south of the channels. Hence, we have a
cause of the banks of alluvion, on all the riv-
ers which flow from the west into the large
bays or ocean, being deposited on the south
of the channels. The streams, which now are
small, at that time were extensive and power-
ful torrents, as their channels indicate; and
where now are dry and fertile vallies, then
flowed majestic rivers.

The soil and debris which the Brandywine
brought down its channel, was driven to the
south by the general current of the Delaware,
and formed the delightful situation on which
Wilmington stands. South of Wilmington,
where Christiana creek now creeps along,

name, timber of various kinds, animal remains, &c. have been found
at various depths from ten to one hundred feet from the surface; and
the various strata of earth are sueh that none can doubt but they have
been dejmsited by currents*

102

flowed a large river, and the burdens which
it bore were deposited to form those fertile
flats south of the borough, and even the plea-
sant heights where Newcastle is situated. —
Many other streams flowed into the Delaware
bay, on the south of every one of which are al-
luvial deposits.

The Susquehannah*

As the God of Nature never formed a no-
bler stream, or one which is capable of being
converted to more important uses, than the
Susquehannah, it is to be expected that such a
river would weigh much either in favour or
against our theory. Not only the river in its
course, but the extensive alluvial deposits
which cover the country through which it
flows, declare that they owe their existence to
a cause similar to the one described.

This noble river rescued from the gloomy
embrace of the ocean, millions of acres which
now are adorned by rich harvests, pleasant
villages, and magnificent cities.

Before the ocean was met by the Susque-
hannah, he had recovered from the shocks ex-
perienced from the Hudson and the Delaware,
and was again pressing his forces towards the
mountains. Had this noble river been an ex-

103

perienced warrior, standing on the top of the
Alleghany, surrounded by invincible legions,
and marked the foe of freedom marching to
defile, by his footsteps, the holy sanctuary of
Jiberty, he could not have moved more effec-
tually to repel the baleful intruder. As the
accumulated force of the Susquehannah ap-
proached, the current of the ocean was again
driven from the shores, and turned to the
south.

Between the floods of the Delaware and the
Susquehannah, was deposited the alluvion,
which forms a great part of the state of Dela-
ware, the eastern section of Maryland, and
the counties of Virginia which lie on the
east of the Chesapeake bay. The Susque-
hannah, augmented by a thousand streams, and
accelerated by precipitating from the moun-
tains, moved with such impetuous force, as not
only to turn the current of the ocean, but to
preserve from alluvial deposits the space now
occupied by the waters of the Chesapeake.

The rivers which flowed from the mountains
at the west, laden with soil, rushed to the east,
and were prevented from depositing their bur-
dens in the basin of the bay, by being instantly
swallowed and borne away by the irresistible
current of the Susquehannah.

104

To the streams which flowed into the bay
from the west, are we indebted for the rich
and extensive alluvial formations which extend
through the centre of Maryland. When these
rivers came in contact with the general cur-
rent from the north, they were checked in
their career. As their velocity was retarded,
their burdens were deposited; and the whole
plains being covered by waters having a mo-
tion to the south, alluvion was formed on the
south of the principal channels of the rivers.

As innumerable streams laden with various
kinds of soil, which they had torn from the hills
and mountains from which they flowed, rushed
from various directions into the common cur-
rent, we must expect that many eddies and
counter currents would be produced; to these
we are indebted for the pleasing variety, the
agreeable elevations and depressions of our
alluvial formations.*

* Here permit us to notice an error in regard to alluvial strata,
which generally pervades society. Many have attempted to calcu-
late the age of the world by these strata* They suppose that a num-
ber of centuries would be required to form one stratum, that this
stratum must remain as long before it would be covered with a suffi-
cient growth of vegetation to form another, and thus they continue to
calculate, proving from these ludicrous premises, that the world must
have existed tor millions of centuries. All the strata of alluvia may
have been iormed in as many hours as they calculate millions of
years.

If, as we have supposed, a section of a continent or island was cover-
ed by water, that many streams from various directions, and flowing

105

More alluvial deposits were made along the
course of the Susquehannah than on any river
in the United States, which flows into the At-
lantic; and, according to our theory, the cause
is obvious. The Susquehannah forms a chan-
nel nearer to the mountains, than any other
river in the United States which flows from
the north to the Atlantic. The currents and
debris from the mountains, were obstructed in
their ccurse by the current of the Susquehan-
nah, and united their forces with that majestic
stream, while the Delaware, Hudson, &c. were
supplied only by streams which were of short
extent. Hence, Connecticut river has less al-
luvion than the Hudson, the Hudson less than
the Delaware, and the Delaware less than the
Susquehanna.

That the torrrent which rushed down the
channel of the Susquehannah was more power-
through different soils should rush into that water, and there he ob-
structed or turned by a superior current, strata of different kinds would
be immediately formed. For instance, the alluvial formations around
Baltimore, and more instructive ones are not on the globe. When
this part of the country was covered by water, if one torrent had passed
through a sandy soil when obstructed, a stratum of spnd would be
formed. Another flowing into the same waters passed a clayey soil
that would have a stratum of clay, and so were formed all the various
strata which have induced so much speculation. In some countries
hundreds of strata are formed, where there is but one in another,
IVlany of our strata of alluvia are irregularly inclined, some form a
curve, all depending on the situation of the bottom of the waters into
which the streams flowed.

106

fill than any river to the east, appears from
the larger bay which it preserved from allu-
vial deposits, and the uniform course which
the current maintained to the south. The
streams which poured into this current could
not alter its direction.

Much alluvion was formed when the Poto-
mac was interrupted by the current which
rolled down the bay. Between the streams
of the Potomac, and that which then rushed
down the East Branch, the elegant site of the
Capital was formed.

At this time, the valley west of the Blue
Ridge was filled with water, and the Shen-
andoah acquired strength to force a passage
through that lofty range.

Most of the alluvial deposits on the west of
the Chesapeake were made by the debris
which the Potomac, York, and Rappahannock,
brought from the mountains.

When the James river, as if ambitious to
share in the conquest of the Susquehannah, pre-
cipitated to the general current, the attack
was so violent, that the current of the Chesa-
peake was turned to the east, notwithstanding
the pressure of the ocean. Hence was caused
the abrupt termination of the bay on the south,
and hence the cause of the channel to this bay

107

running in a different direction from the bay
itself.

The alluvion formed by the James river was
deposited south of that stream; and the force
of the current in the Chesapeake, or Susque-
hannah, and that of the ocean, was so much
obstructed by this stream, that the alluvion
was not conveyed to a great distance from its
union with the bay; it was deposited before it
arrived to the Dismal swamp. That extent
of low land is but a faint picture of what most
of the Atlantic states would have been, had
not the recent flood made extensive deposits
along our coast. The soil wrhich was brought
by the Susquehannah and its branches from the
mountains being deposited, and James river
retarding the current which flowed along the
coast, the alluvion which that river bore in its
surges, was not swept so far to the south as
that of other streams; and the Dismal swamp
between North Carolina and Virginia, remains
a gloomy witness in support of our theory.

The Roanoke, with its floods, preserved
from alluvion Albermarle sound.

The Tar and Neuse defended the space now
covered by the waters of Pamlico sound.

After the Susquehannah and James river
had exerted their force in repelling the cur-
rent of the ocean from our shores, none of the

108

rivers to the south had force to resist its vio-
lence.

The current which had been pressed among
the mountains had in a great degree lost its
force before it arrived among the mountains in
the south of Virginia, and the Carolinas, so that
when it burst passages to the ocean, it did not
flow with such impetuosity as in the more
northern states.

From Pamlico sound, where the Tar and
Neuse exerted their strength, the current of
the ocean inclined to the west. Along the
coast of the Carolinas and Georgia, from the
situation of the ranges of the mountains, the
rivers had but small effect on the surges of the
ocean.

The Apalachian and Cumberland ranges of
mountains, running nearly in the same direc-
tion as the currents flowed, were not so much
exposed to their fury as the same ridges fur-
ther to the north, where they incline to the
east, and present their sides to the force of
the waves.

These mountains were an insuperable bar-
rier on the east, to the immense current which
rolled down the vale of the Mississippi. When
this current passed the southern bounds of the
Alleghany mountains, it met the triumphant
surges of the Atlantic. The current which

109

pushed down the vale of the Mississippi,
turned the force of the ocean again to the south
and south-east. On the coast of Georgia the
waves of the ocean were first opposed by the
flood which pressed through the interior of
North America; and there the coast, which is
alluvial, is again turned to the south. The al-
luvion of East Florida was formed at that time;
That peninsula lies directly between the two
currents, or where they came in contact with
each other, and where the most soil would be
deposited.

The West India islands, being situated be-
tween these currents, received much of their
luxuriant soil at the time of this flood.

But the states bordering on the Gulf of Mex-
ico, were most affected by it, and even they
owe most of their formation to the current
which rushed down the vale of the Missis-
sippi. The waters of the gulf w7ere raised to
a great height by the pressure of the flood in
the Atlantic. When they were attacked by
the force, which rushed down from the north
on the west of the mountains, the vast alluvinl
deposits wThich form the greater part of those
states were made.

In the alluvial formations north of the Gulf
of Mexico, various remains are found, which
clearly prove that that branch of the ocean
10

110

once extended far to the north of its present
bounds.

In Opelousas, west of the Mississippi, a hu-
man scull and many other bones, were found at
the depth of thirty feet below the surface of
the earth. The bones of an elephant were
found in the same place.

These bones were deposited there by the
returning waves of the deluge, and the strata
of alluvion were spread over them by later in-
undations, more particularly by that which we
have last described.

In Alabama, fifteen or twenty feet below the
surface, is a stratum where wood is found of
various kinds, partially decayed. "Beneath
this and a concomitant body of clay and soft
lime-stone, is a substance resembling the grass
on the margin of the ocean, and accompanied
by numerous marine shells."

Where the grass and marine shells are de-
posited, was the shore of the ocean before the
last flood. The wood felled by the current
from the north, was transported to the south,
till it met the waves of the ocean, and then was
overwhelmed and covered by the soil which
rushed m the torrent down the Mississippi,

"Charcoal and ashes were found fifty feet
below the surface, near Elkton, at the head of
the Chesapeake. There was also a parcel of

Ill

burned brands, or species of wood, charred at
one end, and found at the same depth. These
were birch and beech, and though soft, suffi-
ciently to be ascertained and distinguished. —
On many of the pieces there were marks of
edged tools, and of their being split by human
hands." These deposits were brought to
their present situation by the waves of the
general deluge, and were covered by the de-
bris which the surges brought from the moun-
tains, as they rolled back from their first im-
pulse; and they were still secluded deeper
from light, by the alluvion which the Susque-
hannah brought upon them when it forced a
passage through the mountains.

These deposits may have been the effects of
the inhabitants who peopled this part of the
continent previous to the last inundation, which
must have been totally destructive to all who
had their residence in vallies or on the plains.

The petrified bones of a whale were found
near the mouth of the Patuxent. The carcase
of this animal must have been brought by the
returning waters of the general deluge.

It appears, from various and most respectable
sources, that in Virginia, and other of the
southern states, at the distance of an hundred
miles from the ocean, far beneath the surface
of the earth, are many marine deposits. The

112

shells of fishes, the bones of sharks, whales
and other monsters of the deep, are frequently
brought to light in digging ditches and sinking
well in that part of the country. These were
conveyed there by the waves, when they re-
turned from completing the work of destruc-
tion in the old world.

When streams descended from the moun-
tains, the debris was thrown over these vic-
tims of the deluge. When the inundation
rushed from the north, these remains were bu-
ried still deeper from the light of heaven.

In the stratum of coal in Rhode island is
seen a mass of vegetable productions, trans-
ported from the old world by the current,
which in its return flowed over the New Eng-
land states, and when it was met by the sur-
ges of the ocean, the force of the current aba-
ted, and there the mass of vegetation found a
residence. The last flood was opposed in the
same place in a similar manner, and left a stra-
tum of alluvion above this consolidated mass of
vegetation.^

* It is well known that the coal mines opened in our country, do
not afford coal so pure, or free of earth, as those in the eastern conti-
nent. The cause, from our theory, is obvious. The matter compo-
sing the coal brought from the eastern hemisphere, was more exposed
to the fury of the waves than that which was deposited near the plains
on which it grew. That which was transported here in waves min-
gled wan sand and mould, when deposited was agitated by the cur-
rents, and became perforated with earthy particles.

113

The mines of coal which have been disco-
vered near Pittsburgh, and various places
along the Alleghany range, are but lightly co-
vered with soil, though some parts of the
strata dip deep in the mountains. The vege-
tables, or vegetable mass which formed these
strata of coal, was brought, as has been ob-
served, by the returning current of the deluge;
and many of these deposits were fixed so high
on the mountains, as not to be affected by the
subsequent flood.* Parts of the mountains on
whose sides these deposits were made, have.,
by the decay or revolutions of ages, been un-
dermined, and they have fallen on the strata of
vegetables which adhered to them.

The delightful situation of our Capitol, at
Washington, is as instructive to an inquiring

* Coal, possessing properties so different from what is discovered
in the growth of vegetation at the present era, will doubtless induce
some to believe that it is not formed of vegetables. But we would ob-
serve, and shall attempt to prove, that there have been great and es- -
sential changes in the climate on the surface of our sphere. Thecon-
stitution and form of the various species of the brute creation have
changed; man has changed in many respects, and vegetation is more
immediately affected by the climate than any of the animal creation.
Vegetation, before the deluge and the change of seasons, possessed
various properties which it does not now possess. Plants and trees
of the torrid zone, are very different from those of the temperate
and frigid, and when there was no variation in the seasons, it must be
expected that vegetation would be very different from what it is when
subject to alternate changes from cold to heat. If vegetation, before
the deluge, possessed more of the pitchy substance than it now does,
as it is rational to suppose it did, the various properties of the coal are
easily accounted for.

10*

114

mind, as we trust it will ever be eminent for
the wisdom and piety by which our national
concerns are conducted.

"Capitol Hill is more than eighty feet above
tide-water. Digging has shown that all the
strata are horizontal; and the pebbles and
stones mingled with the sands, are rounded, as
if rolled by water.

"Under this mass of alluvial materials, or-
ganic remains exist. They lie in a stratum of
muddy clay. Trunks and branches of trees
are found in abundance, at the depth of fifty-
four feet under the surface of Capitol Hill;
frequently the wood is black, and so as to re-
semble coal, and is mingled with pyrites."

The base on which the above mentioned re-
mains were found, was the surface of the
ground before the last inundation. The fifty-
four feet of solid earth above them, was
brought by the accumulated current of the Po-
tomac, when it forced a passage through the
mountains, and was opposed by the waters of
the Chesapeake, and those which rushed down
the East Branch at the same time, and which
have been described.

Alluvial deposits beneath Philadelphia, are
similar to those at Washington, and were
formed by the same cause. New York
stands on similar deposits, and all sites near

115

the junction of large rivers, have but little va-
riation in the strata on which they rest.

In the vale of the Mississippi, or west of the
Alleghany mountains, is a rich and extensive
field for geological inquiry.

Far beneath the surface, below many strata
of alluvia, have been discovered the bones of
the human race, promiscuously scattered
where once was the surface of the earth. Re-
mains of various lower species of the animal
creation, are mingled with the lords of this
lower world. Nearer the surface, are likewise
found remains of man, of various species of
the brute creation, timber in an entire state,
parts of chimnies, and various utensils, which
were designed for religious or domestic use.

The lower stratum of bones, or relics, were
brought to their present places of rest by the
waters of the deluge as we have noticed. The
upper stratum was formed by the recent flood,
which w7e have attempted to explain. That
the timber or trees which are buried in allu-
vion, were buried by the cause which over-
threw them, appears evident from these facts.
They have bark, leaves, and even fruit upon
them. Had they been prostrated by a tem-
pest, and lain on the surface of the earth till
covered by decayed vegetables, or the increase
of soil, the fruit, leaves, bark, and even the

116

wood itself would have been destroyed, or
worn marks of decay. The subterranean for-
ests of Europe, were swept down and buried
by the torrents of the general deluge; the
trees in America which are found entire, were
buried by a similar, though a subsequent
cause.

That the remains of chimnies, and various
implements which have been brought to light
by the washing of rivers, and by digging, were
instantly covered, appears from many facts.
Had they not been instantly covered, they
WTould have worn more marks of decay than are
now stamped upon them. By the washing of
the soil, by common tempests, many centuries
would have been required to cover some re-
mains, now deeply buried in our country, and
even the remains themselves would have moul-
dered away, before a sufficiency of soil could
have been formed to cover them.

Many rivers once flowed in our country,
which do not now appear, nor are their cour-
ses to be traced but by marks here and there
impressed on the rocks, which must have
been made by a long continuance of regular
currents.

We have stated that before the last inunda-
tion, many rivers flowed from the north-west
of the Alleghany, into an ocean which covered

117

the north-east part of North America. The
traces of these rivers are discovered in many
places on the rocks near the lakes.

When rents were made through the moun-
tains, and by alluvial deposits on the south of
the lakes the surface was raised, the channels
of the former rivers being filled, the courses of
the rivers were directed to the southward.

The channels of the Ohio, and its numerous
auxiliaries, were formed after the late inunda-
tion, and they marked their courses where the
least obstructions were presented. It appears
that their channels have not long existed, by
the numerous remains that are seen in the
sides of the channels their waters have formed.
The majestic Mississippi commenced his
course after the rich alluvial formations were
made between the Alleghany and Stony moun-
tains. This appears in the whole course of
the channel of that noble river, and from the
situation of the alluvial deposits, which it is
evident that that stream has recently made.
No river in either hemisphere, has its alluvia
deposited like the Mississippi.*

After the principal alluvial formations were
made as we have described, and the grounds
began to be covered with vegetation, when

* The reader is referred to Dr. H. H. Uayden's ingenious and able
publication on that subject.

118

evaporation and rains increased, new rivers
began to flow. Then streams entered vallies,
and formed lakes. Other rivers wore chan-
nels to the same reservoirs; they rose, till
overflowing or breaking their bounds in the
lowest or most tenable places, they rushed to
the ocean. These causes have produced great
changes in the appearance of the surface of
our country.

The numerous small lakes which are so
delightful in the north-west part of the state
of New York, are formed in this manner.
These lakes were once more extensive than
they now are. As the streams which form the
out-lets to these lakes wore their channels
deeper, the waters of the lakes would decline;
which has evidently been the case with most
of the small lakes in our country.

Lake Champlain once covered lands several
hundred feet above the present surface of its
waters. It continued to rise, till overflowing
its bounds to the north, it found a passage to
the river St. Lawrence; and as the channel of
the Sorel was deepened, the lake lowered to
its present bounds.

Our limits will not permit us to describe
more places which bear evident marks of the
revolution we have mentioned. In almost
every part of our country, abundance of such

119

marks at»e to be found. The sides of our
mountains, the beds of our lakes, the channels
of our rivers, the plains and vallies, rocks and
precipices, and even the stones and pebbles in
language which cannot be doubted, nor mis-
construed, all testify of this catastrophe.

All the Indians in North America have a
tradition of a flood which they say "overflow-
ed the lands and drowned the whole world,
except the highest mountains. To these re-
treats some Indians fled and were saved from
the raging floods." Might not this with more
propriety be referred to the flood just described
than to the one in which all flesh suffered, and
from which none but Noah and his family es-
caped?

The query may arise, "when did this catas-
trophe happen?" We have no data from
wThich we can decide in what year or century
this great revolution took place. But would
it be inconsistent to suppose, that when the
sun was darkened, when the rocks were cleft,
when the veil of the temple was rent in twain,
when the astonished heathen philosopher ex-
claimed, "The world is coming to an end, or
the God of Nature suffers." When the Son
of Righteousness was crucified, would it be in-
consistent to suppose, that at that eventful

ISO

crisis, when fear and consternation pervaded
the world, that this great event occurred?

PROOF XVII.

Of the Prairies of North America*

Most of the extensive flats or meadows in
our country, west of the Alleghany mountains,
were formed by the flood from the north. —
T<iese natural meadows are, in general, desti-
tute of every species of vegetation except
grass. In some of them are elevations of land,
which are covered by a heavy growth of tim-
ber.

Some of the prairies, or meadows, may
have been divested of timber by fires, which
have been frequently put to them; but those
which have rises of timber-lands in them,
could not have been formed by fire; for the
higher lands would have been as much ex-
posed to the fury of that element as the lovver
surface, and all the timber on the elevations
would have been destroyed.

Most of the prairies are of alluvial forma-
tions. This appears from the many animal
and vegetable remains which have been found
far below their surface. Below a thick stra-
tum of vegetable mould, sand, gravel, and
rounded pebbles are found, which proves that

121

lakes, or arms of a sea or ocean, once rested
there.

The basins of these lakes were formed when
the country was overflowed from the north.—
In many places, by the projections of the
mountains, or by counter currents, eddies to
a great extent were formed. By the constant
whirls of the waters, the surface of the
ground became excavated; so that when the
floods subsided, lakes remained in these ba-
sins. The elevations now covered by trees,
were islands in these lakes. As the lands be-
came covered with vegetation, and streams
began to flow, some of which were channels to
the small lakes, the waters rose, and overflow-
ing their bounds, formed channels, which have
drained off the waters from the basins, which
now are enriched by a thick vegetable mould,
which was deposited there by the streams
which previously flowed into them. They re-
mained lakes so long, that all the seeds of ve-
getation, which had been transported to them
had decayed. The seeds of various grasses
first took root in them, and grew so luxuriant,
that the seeds which subsequently were borne
there received no growth.

The largest prairies in North America, are
west of the Mississippi. There mure exten-
sive eddies would have been produced. The
11

123

Stoiiy mountains were the western barrier to the
flood. Where ridges of that range projected
to the east, on the south would be an eddy;
and in such situations the prairies are found,
and extend in proportion to the projection of
the mountain.

In this manner the lower prairies were form-
ed. They became covered with grass. This
grass, when dry and fired, is so powerful a
combustion, that nothing can resist the confla-
gration. These flames, in many of the prai-
ries, have, by destroying the timber on higher
lands, produced a secondary kind, more eleva-
ted, not so level, nor of so rich a mould, and
the alluvial strata of which they are formed,
are variously inclined, and differing much from
the strata of the prairies formed in the basins
of lakes.

The extensive open plains, called Pampas^
in South America, are flats, from which the
waters retired at the recession of the ocean, or
where the bottom of the deep was raised un-
broken. These plains are so impregnated with
saline particles, that no vegetables, except a
kind of marine grass, grows upon them.

These Pampas are so level, that there are
no streams to bear away the salt particles, and
their situations are so far from the mountains,
that no soil nor debris is transported to them

123

by storms and tempests; and not having been
inundated since the waters retired, no alluvion
has covered them. They have remained cen-
tury after century, enriched by the decay of
their own productions.

The late flood from the north, being ob-
structed by the ocean which flowed into, and
filled the Gulf of Mexico, did not affect the
south part of America in any great degree.
The waters were propelled to the northern
provinces of South America, and alluvial de-
posits were made there; but the more southern
parts experienced no other effects, or none
greater than a small subsidence of the waters,
when they retired to the caverns beneath the
newly formed section of our continent.

PROOF XVIIL

Of the saltness of the Ocean, and of many
Lakes.

The saltness of the ocean, and the situation
of the salt lakes, will prove the correctness of
our theory.

When our world was moulded to a sphere,
the saline particles were equally diffused
through the whole mass of matter composing
our world. The ocean was then less salt than it
now is. When the lands were elevated, and

124

the streams began to flow, the particles of salt
were washed from the soil, and from vegeta.
tion, and conveyed to the ocean, or to some
other reservoir.

The aqueous particles were raised by eva-
poration, and the salt remained where it had
been deposited. By this process of nature,
the ocean has constantly been growing Salter.

The truth of this will appear, when we ex-
amine the situation of the lakes, whose waters
are impregnated with salt.

We have no account of any lake on either
continent, or on any island, into which rivers
flow, and from which there is no channel to
convey the waters to other reservoirs, but what
is salt; and we know not a collection of water,
which has streams flowing from it, that is so
impregnated with salt as to render it percepti-
ble to the taste, or visible in a chymical opera-
tion. We except in this, the lakes and ponds,
which have the saline particles mingled with
their waters by springs which have filtrated
through mines of salt.

On both hemispheres are lakes which have
no outlets, situated in the same latitude as
those which have streams flowing from them;
and though in the same soil, yet the former are
uniformly salt, and the latter fresh.

125

When a quantity of water flows into a valley
surrounded by hills, and if it does not evapo-
rate as fast as it flows into the depression, it
must in time overflow its bounds and rush to
the ocean. If at certain seasons more evapo-
rates than flows into the valley at the same sea-
son, the valley becomes dry, and is covered
with water when more waters flow in the ri-
vers than the heat of the sun raises in vapour.
Such are the morasses which are wet in the
spring and autumn, and are dry in the sunir
mer; and, it is only in these depressions in
which waters conveyed by streams are equal to
the evaporation that lakes and seas without out-
lets exist. This is the situation of the Caspian^
and Aral seas, of lake Moravi, lake Nor, and
several others in the old world, and of lake
Titticaca, Salt lake, one of the lakes in the
city of Mexico, and several more in the south-
ern part of our continent. These lakes and
seas having no streams issuing from them, re-
tain the salt which is brought to them by rivers
and torrents.

But, in North America, or in that part of
it which was washed by the last mentioned in-
undation, not a solitary lake of the above de-
scription exists, while in South America, and
on the eastern continent they are numerous.
The basins of lakes and seas in the old world,
11*

126

were formed by the flood as has been observ-
ed, and where there is one whose situation and
surface are such, that an equilibrium is form-
ed between the received waters, and emitted
vapour, there salt water is found; but, in that
part of North America which experienced a se-
cond inundation, the floods filled the beds of
lakes, and burst a passage for their future col-
lection of water to roll to the ocean. In South
America no second flood has prevailed, to form
channels for the lakes to discharge their wa-
ters, and there they remain accumulating salt,
in the same manner as those in the old world.**

PROOF XIX.

Change of Climate, 8{c.

As testimony in favour of our system, we
introduce the change in the temperature of cli-
mate in the old world, since records have been
kept.

That the climate on the eastern continent,
or in Turkey, Arabia, Italy, France, England,
and Germany, is warmer now than it was se-

* Mexico was but little affected by the late flood, from the same
causes as South America, and in Mexico are salt lakes. The two lakes
in the city of Mexico, prove as far as the subject will admit, that
salt lakes are formed in the manner we ha\e stated. The upper lake
in Mexico is fresh, a stream flows from that to another, which has
no outlet, the former is fresh, the latter is salt

127

veral centuries ago, appears evident from many
authentic accounts.

The author of the book of Job, who proba-
bly was Moses, wrote upwards of thirty- three
centuries ago. Th£ country in which he wrote,
was Midia, at the east end of the Mediterra-
nean sea, in north latitude thirty degrees. In
describing the cold, the author observes, "Hast
thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
or hast thou seen the treasures of hail? Out of
whose womb came the ice, and the hoarfrost of
heaven who has engendered it? The waters
are hid as with a stone, and the face of the
deep is frozen P

The seasons then in that country must have
been much more severe than they now are; for
in that place for several centuries, there has
been no ice, frost, nor snow.

The degrees of heat in Farenheit's thermo-
meter, in which large bodies of water are froz-
en, is about twenty-five degrees, and this is to
continue many days. Therefore, in the land
of Midia in the days of Moses, the extreme
of cold must have been about twenty-five de-
grees.

David, about four centuries after Moses,
gives us a description of what he considers as a
cold winter: "He giveth snow like wool. He
scatter eth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casU

128

eth forth ice like morsels. Who can stand
before his cold?"

This the poet describes as the extreme of
cold in this warm climate. At thirty-one de.
grees of Farenheit's thermometer such effects
are produced. Hence, in four centuries, there
was a difference of six degrees in the tempera-
ture of the climate in that country, in the ex-
treme of winter. Now, in Palestine, or Mi-
dia, the climate is so warm that neither snow
nor ice is known.

From meteorological observations made in
countries of about the same temperature as Pa-
lestine, as in Cairo in Egypt, the mean tem-
perature of the severest week is forty-nine de-
grees, which mftkes a variation in the tempe-
rature from the days of Moses to the present
time, twenty-four degrees.

The climate in Italy is found to be very dif-
ferent now, from what it was eighteen centu-
ries ago. Virgil informs us, that the rivers
were frozen over, as an event which was com-
monly to be expected. The place where Vir-
gil wrote, was in forty-one degrees north lati-
tude. Pliny, Juvenal, and Aelian, speak of
snow and ice as being common. Now, no
ice is seen in the rivers of Italy, and where
snows usually fell, no frost is known.

129

A similar change has taken place in the
north part of Turkey. At Constantinople, and
round the Black sea, the change in the tem-
perature of the climate has been as great as in
Italy. Ovid informs us, that he saw the Black
sea frozen over, that he walked upon it, and
that oxen and carriages passed over it. Tourne-
fit informs us, that in the days of Constantine,
the straits of Bizantium were frozen over, and
that in 401 the Black sea was covered for
twenty days together. In lf>07, the Turks
were astonished to see some ice at Constanti-
nople. At the present time, nothing of the
kind is known in that part of the world.

The same alteration has been observed in
the Alps, in Switzerland, France, and Ger-
many The passage of the Alps by Hannibal,
which filled the astonished world with admira-
tion, is now in the midst of winter a journey
attended with but few inconveniencies on ac-
count of the severity of the weather. The
troops of Julius Csesar nearly perished by the
cold in Gaul, where now no frost nor snow is
seen.

Diodorus Siculus says, "That the Rhine,
and Rhone were frozen," and we have many
other accounts which leave no doubt but the
climate in the south and south-east parts of
Europe, south-west part of Asia, and north

130

part of Africa, is seventeen or eighteen de-
grees warmer now than eighteen centuries
ago*

In Africa are many channels of rivers en-
tirely dry, in which majestic streams formerly
rolled to the ocean. In Asia, rivers are re-
ported to have sunk into channels far less than
t'sey formerly filled. And, in both Africa and
Asia, where once wrere extensive luxuriant
fields, are now parched, barren deserts, over
which roll oceans of sand.

That the deserts have extended their bounds
on the eastern continent, is evident. Palmyra
was situated in a fertile valley, though sur-
rounded by barren sands. Carthage had
her verdant meadows, pleasant groves, and
fertile fields; and, where are they? They are
buried beneath heaps of burning sands. Her
fountains, her aqueducts and harbours, have
been filled and buried by the tempests of
sand which rolled from the desert. Mo-
dern discoveries have opened to light the
remains of magnificent cities to the west of
Egypt, over which for centuries the camel and
dromedary have travelled, guided by the com-
pass, as nothing of an earthly nature, but an

* For the above ideas and many more which clearly prove that a
change in the temperature of climate has taken place on the eastern
continent, the reader is referred to Dr. S. Williams's notes on that
phenomenon.

181

ocean of sand meets the longing eye. There
must be a cause for these wonderful changes.
Why have these sections of the world become
warmer? It will be replied, "because the de-
serts have become larger/' and why have the
deserts become larger, burst their ancient
bounds, and involved in their desolate bosoms,
magnificent cities, and renowned monuments of
antiquity? Will it not be answered, that God
has brought these judgments upon those na-
tions for their iniquity? It is not denied. But
our object is to develope the means which the
great Arbiter of universal nature employed to
punish rebellious man.

It is evident, that the extension of the de-
serts would increase the heat of the climates of
nations bordering on them. To account for
the deserts extending their bounds, will be un-
folding the cause of the climate of nations be-
coining warmer.

To account for this phenomenon, on ration-
al and philosophical principles, the mind must
be engaged a few minutes in reflecting on the
situation of the mountains, seas, and deserts,
on the eastern continent, and likewise referred
to some of the properties and motions of the
atmosphere.

132

Of the situation of the Mountains, Seas, and
Deserts, on the eastern hemisphere.

The principal mountains of Africa lie in the
following direction. The mountains of the
moon, run nearly from east to west through
the centre of Africa.

The snowy mountains branch from the east
end of the mountains of the moon, and run to
the south-west near the south-east coast of
Africa to the Cape of Good Hope. The Ly-
bian mountains branch from the same end of
the mountains of the moon, and run inclining
to the west of north between the Red sea and
the river Nile. The Tibessi mountains run,
from east to west between the Nile and the de-
sert of Sahara. Mount Atlas extends from
north of east to south of west, to the north of
the desert through the Barbary states.

The mountains of Asia which we shall no-
tice, are the low ranges near the centre of Ara-
bia; the Gaut mountains on the west coast of
the peninsula of Hindostan, running from south
to north. The ranges of Tartary running
from east to west, Caucasus and Taurus, be-
tween the Caspian and Black seas.

In Europe, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and Car-
pathian will demand our attention. Many

1$S

others in those three quarters of the globe,
would require attention to give a more minute
description of their effects on the winds, than
our present limits afford.

In Persia are few mountains or rivers, but
many deserts. In the south part of Arabia the
soil is fertile; north of the mountains, it is parch-
ed and desert. From but little west of Egypt
to the Atlantic, between the mountains of the
moon, and Atlas, Africa is a desert.

Of the Properties and Motions of the Atmos-
phere.

The atmosphere is a fluid resembling water,
except in density; being much lighter, it
floats above it, and presses like water in every
direction on the surface of bodies. This fluid in
depth, is upwards of forty miles, or extends to
that height from the surface of the earth. The
atmosphere becomes lighter as we ascend; from
pressure being lighter in all other parts than
on the surface of the earth. A body lighter
than a fluid, will rise and float on the surface.
A body in a fluid of different density in vari-
ous sections, will rise to the section which is
of the same density as itself, and there will be
supported. This is the state of the clouds; the
atmosphere below them being denser than
they, and above lighter, the vapours forming the
12

134

Clouds are supported and are borne as the cur-
rents in the fluids incline. Water by heat is
decomposed, that the aqueous particles become
of less density than the atmosphere, and they
rise to regions where an equilibrium is formed.
There, when two particles are united, the one
that is formed is of greater weight than the at-
mosphere and descends, uniting with others
which are ascending, reaches the earth in a
drop of rain, in extent in proportion to the dis-
tance it has fallen, and to the number of par-
ticles which have united to it.

Every particle of matter composing a fluid,
is a sphere, a form, which contains the most
matter with the least surface. A sphere di-
vided into two, presents more surface than
when in one. Hence, as heat separates parti-
cles of matter, the quantity of matter decreas-
ing faster than the surface, and the atmosphere
pressing on every part of the surface, they rise
and form clouds. The particles composing the
atmosphere are alike affected by heat, ascend-
ing when warmed, and descending when cold.

The winds or currents in the atmosphere,
are similar to those in the water. They flow to
warmer regions when unobstructed, as water
descends an inclined plain. There are often
counter-currents in the atmosphere, as ap-
pears by clouds moving in opposite directions.

The currents in the atmosphere are obstruct-

135

ed by continents, islands, and mountains, and
made to flow in various directions from their
natural course; as the current of a river is
turned by a projecting rock, or by winding
banks. This appears evident from the courses
of the periodical winds in many parts of the
world.

On the equator in the ocean, the uniform cur-
rent of air is from east to west, following the
course of the sun. When the sun is north of
the equator, the air near the northern tropic
flows to the south-west, and near the southern
tropic to the north-west. This is invariably
the case where the currents are not obstructed
by land. But where continents, &c. oppose,
the air is turned from a direct line in propor-
tion to the direction of the coast or mountains
which oppose. The current is turned as light
is reflected, the angle of incidence being equal
to the angle of reflection.

Hence wTe find, that in the sea of Arabia,
when the sun is south of the equator, the winds
blow to the south-west, are turned more to
the south by the coast of Africa, and passing
round the Cape of Good Hope, occasion those
heavy storms so often destructive to mariners.
But, when the sun is north of the equator, the
current instead of moving to the north-west in
its natural course, is turned to the north-east-

136

In like manner the winds prevail in the sea of
Bengal, in the Mosambique channel, and in
various other bays, gulfs, and seas.

While the lower sections of the atmosphere
are obstructed and turned, aside by coasts and
mountains, the higher sections pass over the
barriers uninterrupted. Hence, we often see
the clouds moving along, parallel to the moun-
tains, while the lighter ones pass in a differ-
ent direction, far above their summits.

The lower section of the atmosphere which
passes along the torrid zone to the west over
the Indian ocean, is obstructed by Africa;
Cape Gardafui is the point which divides the
current. Part flows to the north, and part to
the south-west. That which is turned to the
north, has the Lybian mountains for a barrier
on the west, and the Gaut mountains on the
east. This current passes over Persia and
Arabia, and Turkey in Asia. The lower sec-
tion of that which passes over Arabia, is ob-
structed by the mountains extending across
Arabia, from near the Red sea to the Persian
gulf. Here the vapours contained in the ob-
structed section pressed by succeeding ones,
and urged against each other, condense and
fall in showers. Hence, the south part of Ara-
bia is plentifully supplied with rain, which
gives such fertility to the soil, and luxuriant

137

growth to vegetation, that the country, is
rightly denominated Felix. The part of the
current which passes above the mountains,
and flows over Persia unopposed, and warm
from the torid zone, receives the evaporation
of Persia, and of the north part of Arabia, and
bears it to the north. Hence, the evaporation
being borne away, vegetation languishes, the
soil becomes parched, and the deserts are
formed. Hence, the north part of Arabia has
received on account of its barrenness, the just
appellation of Veserta. This current moves
to the north and north-west, till it reaches the
mountains of Tartary, Taurus, and Caucasus;
here on account of the height of the mountains,
it is more fully obstructed, and discharges most
of its stores; which supply the rivers Eu-
phrates, Tigris, Gihon, Sihon, &c.

Hence, we have a cause for the scarcity of
rivers in Persia and Arabia, and for there
being no auxiliary streams to the Tigris and
Euphrates.

The current is turned by the last mentioned
mountains to the west; part of the current
which flows over Arabia, when it reaches the
north extremity of its western barrier, the Li*
bian mountains, rushes to the west over the
northern part of Africa, sweeping off the eva-
poration of those ill-fated lands.
12*

138

Hence, we have a cause for there being rain
so seMom in E^ypt, and the same cause which
produced deserts in Arabia and Persia, occa-
sioned those in Africa, and continues the ope-
ration, and to the present time extends the
bounds of the deserts.

Hence we have a cause for the rivers di-
minishing and becoming dry in Africa Be-
fore vegetation ceased to grow, when more
rains descended, rivers were supplied in abun-
dance, but as the vapours were borne away,
the rivers diminished, till now the wearv tra-
veller searches in vain their extensive chan-
nels to quench his raging thirst.

Part of the current passes over the Medi-
terranean Sea, Turkey in Europe, Italy,
France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Nether-
lands, Denmark, England, &c. to the Atlan-
tic ocean; some parts of it are obstructed by
the Carpathian mountains, the Alps, and Py-
renees, and the condensation of the vapours
against their sides and summits, supplies the
rivers which rise and flow from their bases.

As this current passes over countries and re-
ceives the tribute of every land, it becomes
so laden with moisture, that it begins to dis-
charge its burthen, before it reaches the At-
lantic ocean. The evaporation of Asia is
poured out upon France, Spain, Germany,

139

&c. The current becomes cooler, both from
its moving from the torrid zone, and from
the vapours with which it is loaded, that it
does not receive so much evaporation from the
western as from the eastern kingdoms.

Hence we have a cause for its being warmer
in Persia, and the north part of Arabia, than
in the Turkeys, warmer in Turkey than in
Italy, warmer in Italy than in France, &c.
Hence wTe have a cause of there being more
rains in Europe, than in the south-west part
of Asia; and more in the south-west parts of
Europe, than in the south-east. There are
more rivers in Turkey in Europe than in Tur-
key in Asia, more in France than in Turkey
in Europe, and more in Spain than in France.
The above described currents coming from the
torrid zone, and flowing over the most of Eu-
rope, render the climate more temperate and
mild there, than on our continent, in the same
latitude. The current when it arrives at
England, uniting with the cooler air over the
ocean, forms the fogs which are so prevalent
in that kingdom, in Holland, &c.

That current which passes over Africa,
meeting with no mountains running from south
to north to obstruct its course, bears off more
vapours from that quarter of the world, than is
Garried from Europe. Atlas gathers light

140

stores, which supply a few small rivers in
Morocco, and renders that part of the conti-
nent cooler than to the east, in the same lati-
tude. South of Atlas, there is no range of moun-
tains till we arrive at the mountains of the
moon, that the current meets with no obstruc-
tion in passing the desert. When the sun is
nearly vertical to the mountains of the moon,
or south of them, the south part of the current
which inclines to the south-west strikes oblique-
ly against the sides, and discharges its stores
to supply the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia, the
rises of which rivers are periodical. When
the current which passes Africa arrives at
the Atlantic, and mingles with the cooler va-
pours, fogs are formed as on the west of Eu-
rope; and those heavy storms are produced
when they spend their fury on the waves
of the Atlantic. Here the winds vary, but
without refreshing thirsty and parched Af-
rica. When the sun has set, the atmosphere
over the desert is rarer than over the ocean,
the cold air of the ocean rushes to supply the
place of the rarer, by the heat of the burning
sands it rarifies and ascends, and is urged by
the regular currents in the high regions again
to the west. These currents often prove de-
structive to vessels near the west coast of Af-
rica; when enveloped in the thick fog, they are

141

dashed on the inhospitable shores. These cur-
rents, which we have attempted to describe,
we conceive are the cause of the deserts ex-
tending their bounds. The currents bear off
the evaporation from the countries over which
they pass, with the least obstructions, and dis-
charge their stores on lands adjacent to moun-
tains. As the deserts extend, the neighbour-
ing kingdoms become warmer, both from the
dryness of the atmosphere, and from the heat
it receives from the burning sands. Hence we
have the cause of the eastern continent being
warmer now than three thousand years ago;
and the cause why Midia became warmer
before the more western countries.

Thus we account for the cause of deserts
encroaching upon, and even covering the sites
of renowned cities, and famed monuments of
antiquity.

Could the remains of superb cities, for cen-
turies buried beneath the burning wastes, or
the magnificent pillars, long secluded from the
sight of mortals deep below the sandy billows;
could these now speak to us in a language which
we could not misunderstand, would they not
declare, "That by degrees the refreshing dews
and the revivifying showers of heaven, were
withholden from them; that the lands became
scorched and barren; that instead of exhilira-

14&

ting breezes from the meadows, there came
the parching winds from the deserts; that in-
stead of storms of rain to refresh languishing
nature, there came tempests of burning sands
to bury fainting animation in lasting oblivion."
Thus cities, provinces, and empires, were de-
populated, towers and temples covered, rivers
and harbours filled, and the desolation and
ruin, of which travellers bear witness, were
produced.

The current of air which we have described,
on leaving Africa, moves in an uninterrupted
course towards South America, pressing the
waters of the Atlantic to the west, which causes
the gulf stream as it is turned by the north-
east coast of South America to the north-west.
But the current in the atmosphere rolls over
the plains of Brazil, Guiana, and Amazonia,
laden with the moisture raised from the At-
lantic, from Africa, the Mediterranean, the
south parts of Europe, south-west section of
Asia, from the Indian ocean, and perhaps from
the fertile plains of Austral Asia; these are
propelled by succeeding currents up the sides
of the insuperable Andes, which roll back, and
the pursuing vapours condense, and descend
in the heavy rains and tempests which supply
the Amazon, Laplata, Oronoco, and the innu-
merable tributaries which they bear to the

148

ocean. These rains give richness and luxu-
riance to the soil, which are not known in the
old world, and the indescribable growth of ve-
getation which abounds in the countries east of
the Andes. Hence we have the cause of the
coolness and fertility of South America, while
Africa, in the same latitude, is burning with
, heat, and sterile with drought. Hence, we
have the cause of there being so many and
large streams in South America, while they
are few and small in comparison, in Africa.
South America is, in extent inferior to Africa.
The greater part of both quarters of the world
lie in the torrid zone, both experience the same
vertical rays of the sun, and unless some se-
condary cause opposed, both must endure the
same degree of heat and sterility. Yet, South
America is cool, while Africa is hot; the for-
mer is fertile, while the latter is barren; the
one is adorned with the most luxuriant growth
of every species of vegetables, while the other
is covered with parched burning sands. South
America is refreshed by thousands of majestic
rivers, flowing pure and rapidly through every
plain, while less than one hundredth part in
number and size are thinly scattered through
Africa, and scarcely move their stagnant wa-
ters along their contracted channels.

144

If no more vapours descended in South
America than are raised there, and all had
condensed in Africa which the vertical sun put
in motion, the latter would be as fertile and
copiously watered as the former.

The Andes are so high, that no clouds pass
their summits, that all their stores are dis-
charged on the east of that stupendous range,
except what is turned to the south-west, and
produce the storms at Cape Horn, or to the
north-west along the coasts of Terra Firma,
whose course and effects will be traced to
North America.

That none of these vapours pass the Andes,
appears evident from the quantity of rain
which falls on the east of them, while in Peru
on the west it seldom rains.

The section of the current of air which
crosses the Atlantic, and is obstructed by the
north-east coast of South America, presses to
the north-west along the shores, drives the
waters through the Caribbean sea, which with
the current of air ranges around the coast of
the Gulf of Mexico; the waters turn to the
east around the Floridas, while the lighter
fluid moves up the vale of the Mississippi, re-
viving vegetation with the warm and moist
particles which it has brought from the torrid
zone. This current drives the waters into the

145

Gulf of Mexico which are elevated against the
shore, and is the cause of their being higher
there than in the Pacific, on the opposite coast.
Hence we have a cause of the climate being
warmer on the west than on the east of the
Alleghany mountains, in the same latitude.

Thus the evaporation has been brought from
the old world, and discharged on the new ever
since the general deluge, and ever since that
period their deserts have been extending, and
their climate becoming warmer.

Before the deluge, the mountains on the
eastern continent, in general running from east
to west, presented but small barriers to the cur-
rent of air which regularly followed the course
of the sun from east to west, but when Ame-
rica was raised, the mountains ascended in
ranges nearly from north to south, a great
change was produced in the currents of air. —
Then the majestic Andes, whose towering
summits project far above the flight of any
clouds, opposed the currents of the atmosphere
and turned them in various directions. This
has been the cause of many changes in climate
in the different empires of the world.
13

146

PROOF XX.
Of the Rainbow.

For another proof in favour of our theory^
we introduce the rainbow as a bright and shi-
ning witness.

It will be admitted, that no rainbow ap-
peared in the heavens before the flood. After
the waters subsided, God caused it to appear
as a seal that the world should be drowned no
more. But few can be ignorant of the cause
of the rainbow. If the cause had existed be-
fore the flood, we believe the effects would
have been the same as it now is, and the rain-
bow would have appeared. Before the floods
no clouds appeared in the horizon, or heavens,
opposite to the sun, to reflect his light and
form the bow. There was no rain before the
flood. For the Lord God had not caused it
to rain upon the earth. But there went up a
mist from the face of the earth, and watered
the whole face of the ground. This mist was
dew, which, when the sun declined, descended
and refreshed the thirsty fields.* If any

* If an)- doubt that dews would be sufficient to refresh the earth,
and support vegetation, they are referred to Egypt and Peru, in both
of which places the soil is fertile, and the growth of vegetation abun-
dant and luxuriant. If the same vapour descended in the night which
arose in the day time, the earth would never thirst. This vapour
being borne away, is the cause of droughts; and if vegetation was
regularly supplied with moisture, we believe it would flourish to a
►much higher degree of perfection,

147

clouds appeared in the heavens, they regularly
followed the course of the sun to intercept his
piercing beams, or in gentle mists to refresh
where he rendered thirsty. Then Africa,
Arabia, and Persia, smiled with verdure. But
when the firm foundations of the deep be-
came insuperable barriers to the current of the
atmosphere, and obstructed the course of thfe
clouds, they were turned by the eddying
streams in every direction, and clouds meeting
clouds, discharged their stores in copious effu-
sions. Then condensing vapours were brought
together, opposite to the sun, and reflected his
brilliant beams to the eye of the enraptured
beholder,

PROOF XXL

The Longevity of the dniedeluvians,

In this place, to prove the accuracy of our
system, we will introduce the venerable ante-
deluvians, who, in juvenal sports and youthful
amusements, saw many centuries roll away. —
The longevity of primeval ages depended much
on the uniformity and mildness of the climate,
and the purity of the atmosphere. Then there
were no changes in the weather to heat and chill
the human frame, and to produce diseases to
hasten dissolution. Then there were no noxious
effluvia arising from alluvion, to generate mala-

148

dies, and to bear poison and death through
the system of man. That there was a sud-
den change in the seasons, and that it was ne-
cessary that the constitution of man should be
changed, appears from the Almighty's then
granting him animal food.

It appears evident, that the change which
was made in the surface of the earth at the
time of the deluge, was so great, that had the
same mortal eye seen a country before and
after the catastrophe, it would not have known
that it had been the same. Those who pre-
tend to identify the place where the garden of
Eden was situated, seem to rest their argu-
ments on a slender thread. We can form no
probable conjecture of the first blissful abode of
man, only from the name of the river Euphra-
tes; no other rivers answering the description
of those mentioned by the inspired writer; and
the present river Euphrates may not be within
a thousand miles of the one alluded to in
Scripture. That the ark rested on the moun-
tains from which the present Euprates flows,
we have no doubt. Noah and his sons, doubt-
less had a knowledge of the former Euphrates,
and they probably gave the present one the
name of the former, believing it to be the same
river, or in remembrance of the one on whose
banks perhaps they lived. From the present

14<J

situation of that part of the world, it would be
impossible for any one of the rivers mentioned
as flowing from the garden of Eden, to have
encompassed the whole land of Ethiopia, if the
same country was called Ethiopia then that
now is; and the rivers had their rise near the
the present Euphrates.

If the ark had rested in Abyssinia, the
Nile would have been called the Euphrates,
and so of any other river on the face of the
earth; and time would have established the
error. Moses does not intimate where this
river was. But if that is the river to which
he alluded, and the Gihon which encompassed
the land of Ethiopia, and that Ethiopia is the
modern one, this account goes far to support
our theory. For a river to encompass that
land, there must have been land where now
the sea of Arabia and the Indian ocean are,
and if so, the formation of their present ba-
sins accord with our former views of the for-
mation of the beds of the seas in the old
world.

That there was more land and fewer seas on
the eastern continent before the flood than
since, and that the face of the land was very
different from the present, appears equally
evident. Then it was more level; most of the
deep cavities were made by the torrents of the
13*

150

flood. The rivers were more in number, but
less in magnitude, than the present; for there
were no rains which would cause rivers to
rise, extend their channels, and force pas-
sages to each other.

There were no great alluvial deposits, for
there were no streams of sufficient magnitude
to make any; and as we believe many of the
disorders which agonize and wreck the human
frame, arise from the effluvia of putrefying ve-
getables, the human race were much more
healthy than at the present time.

Before the flood, the greater part of the
lands were situated in the torrid zone, or as
near the situation of the equator at that time,
as the tropics now are to our present one.
One pole of the earth then was to the west of
the centre of North America, in latitude about
thirty -eight degrees north, and longitude one
hundred and seven degrees west from London.
The other was in the great South sea, south-
east from the cape of Good Hope, in latitude
thirty-eight degrees south and seventy-three
degrees east from London; which brought the
equator over nearly the centre of Asia, along
the mountains of Tartary, across the south-
east par^ of Europe, and south-west section of
Africa; that the whole of the then habitable
world was in temperate latitudes, and refresh-

151

ed by the regular breezes which followed the
course of the sun.

When the waters were repelled from one
side of the globe, and accumulated several
miles in height on the other, the centre of gra-
vity in the earth being removed, the poles
were suddenly changed in their position, and
brought the equinoctial line near to the place
in which it is now described. Before the
poles of the earth were changed, nearly an
equal proportion of land was on each side of
the equator; but now more being to the north
than to the south of that line, the mountains
being further from the centre of the sphere,
than the ocean, act as longer levers in the
diurnal motions; and though the height of
mountains are but small, compared to the
semidiameter of the globe, yet their effects in
a number of centuries are perceived. They
are the cause of the recession of the equinoxes,
a change in the points of intersection of the
equator and the ecliptic of about fifty se-
conds in a year. Thus the change of the
poles produced a great change of the zones
and of the climates on the old continent.
Hence the bones of elephants, and trees of
tropical growth, which are buried in Siberia
and the Frigid zone, now repose in the same
soil, on which those animals fed and sported^

452

shaded by the spreading branches of forests,
which now are mouldering with them. And
the huge mammoth, shrouded in a mountain of
ice, at the mouth of the Lena, received his
polished mantle in the same vicinity, where
once he basked in the vertical rays of a sum-
mer's sun.*

PROOF XXII.

Of the appearance of our Continent.

That our continent is but a youth compared
to the other, appears in every object. Long
it has, and still continues to be nourished by
the dews of the old world, as with milk from
the breast of a parent. Here every thing
appears in youthful vigour; there are stamped

* It may be suggested, that these remains were transported to the
cold regions by the currents of the deluge, as St. Pierre has in-
ferred; but there are a number of weighty objections to these ideas.
1st, If the animals had been transported there from the torrid zone,
by the currents of the deluge, they must have been in a less per-
fect state of preservation, than they are found to be. 2nd, The trees
of the growth of warm climates, could not have been transported
there by the raging flood, and be so tree from injuries as they are
found to be; some are found with their roots imbedded in the soil
which once supported them, that they must have grown on the soil
on which they now rest, or in which they are buried. 3d, If the
animals and vegetables had been transported to Siberia, from the
torrid zone, they would have been carried by some currents into
heaps or masses. No such collections have been discovered in those
regions; but they are promiscuously scattered over the north part of
Asia, as if an instantaneous calamity had overwhelmed them, when
they were reposing in their native forests, and were suddenly bu-
ried by the waters and alluvion.

153

the marks of declining age. Here the streams
flow full, pure, and rapid, as circulate the
fluids in a healthful youth emerging to man-
hood; There slow, sluggish, and small, they
creep along their once extensive channels, as
move corrupted fluids in the parched and
shrivelled veins, worn out by age, by folly,
and vice. Here in every vale and depression
of land, are springs, rills, and brooks, whose
banks are adorned with innumerable flowers,
loading the breezes with their fragrance, and
cooling the air with their exhalations, all com-
bining to variegate and enrich the scene; as
in youth when all the pores are in tune, when
health and genius glow in every feature, and
strength and activity are expressed in every
motion. Far otherwise is the appearance in the
parent world; there are vast hollows without
brooks, and channels without rivers, and bar-
renness and desolation rest upon their bor-
ders; all are as indicative of age and decay,
as a body without moisture, or a countenance
disfigured by dry and parched wrinkles.
Thrifty forests are the splendid tresses of our
youthful continent; there barren heaths and
sandy deserts show that age and disease must
soon overtake all that is mortal. Our cool,
moist, and exhilirating breezes are the breath
of our youthful and vigourous lands; there,

154

emblematical of disease and dissolution are
the Harmattan, the Sirocc, the Samiel, and
Simoom, which carry poison and death in their
train.

It may be observed, "That our continent
bears many distinguishing marks of antiquity
in the remains that are almost daily brought to
light." It is true, there are remains of re-
mote antiquity reposing beneath the alluvion,
in almost every part of our continent, but the
situations of these remains are far different
from what they are in the eastern hemisphere.
Here they are promiscuously scattered through
our plains, mountains, and vallies, as if de-
signed to fertilize our soil. A youth may be"
surrounded by the works of his ancestors, may
feed on the substance which they have collect-
ed, and still be in youth or in the vigour of
life. Here rich mould which of late has been
deposited by currents, covers the remains of an-
tiquity which are so frequently brought to light.
There barren sands which have been gathered
by scorching winds envelope the remains of
ancient grandeur. Cities, once the proud mis-
tresses of mighty empires, surrounded by ver-
dant fields, spicy groves, and luxuriant val-
lies, are now heaps of ruins, enclosed by de-
serts which the fell monsters of the wilderness
scarcely dare to traverse. The poisonous winds

155

have blasted the verdure of their fields, anni-
hilated their fertility, and tempests of sand
have buried their plains and valiies, gardens,
arches, and temples, in lasting ruin. Where
are the fertile plains, extensive aqueducts,
commodious harbours, and superb edifices of
the once proud rival of Rome? Beneath the
billowing sand are they to be sought. No ver-
dant lawns, nor blooming vegetation is fanned
by the zephyrs, where once was the fertile
garden of the world. Nothing but scenes of
desolation and ruin are now presented to the
eye, where the hum of business, the carols of
mirth, or the din of war assailed.

Far different is the soil which covers the
monuments of antiquity on our youthful conti-
nent. Here waters commissioned by hea-
ven to devastate the old world have brought
the fatness of their soil, and deposited it with
alluvia on our plains, whose fertility is mani-
fested in the majestic forests, and abundant
harvests which are witnessed here.

PROOF XXIII.

Of the unhealthful state of our Continent.

Our continent has been often accused by the
inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere, of be-
ing more unhealthy than theirs. We do not

156

deny but many diseases are more prevalent here
than in the old world, and the causes when ex-
p] ined, will serve to support our theory Epi-
demics, and such diseases as are generated
by decaying, or putrefying vegetation, are the
diseases, and the only ones which are more
prevalent here than on the eastern continent.

Our immense tracts of alluvial countries, in
which masses of vegetables are deposited,
when divested of the shading forests, and are
exposed to the rays of the sun, emit an efflu-
via, which, when inhaled, engender disease.
The most of our alluvial deposits having been
mace by the flood from the north, several cen-
turies after the general deluge formed the
last stratum in Europe, as many centuries must
roll away after our wilderness is converted to
cultivated fields, as did after the general de-
luge before our alluvion was formed, prior to
our climate's being as free from noxious va-
pours, as is the climate of the other quarters of
the globe.

When we examine attentively, the state of
alluvion in our country, and the places and
seasons in which epidemics prevail, the posi-
tions we have taken will be seen founded in
truth. The epidemic is not limitted to any
climate, but has prevailed at different periods,
almost from one extremity of our continent to

157

the other; but. in or near those places where
are most vegetable deposits, it has prevailed
more frequently, and has been more destructive.
In every part of our country when the forests
have been removed, and the soil and vegetable
mould has been heated by the summer sun, fe-
vers in various degrees of malignity have pre-
vailed. But, where the lands are high, and
have but little alluvia in the vicinity? in a few
years they become as healthful as any parts of
the world. In some instances cities, or towns
which have an elevated situation, and are
builded on ground which is not alluvion, have
been visited by malignant fevers. In such in-
stances the effluvia arising from vegetable de-
posits, perhaps at many miles distant, by regu-
1 r breezes from that quarter, are borne to the
elevated situation, inhaled with the atmos-
pheric air, and produce deadly disease. But,
in many instances where cities are upon, and
surrounded by alluvion, for years they will
escape diseases of a malignant nature. If the
season is cool, that vegetable remains are not
heated below the strata from which the efflu-
via, or animalcule of preceding seasons have
arisen, no malignant disease prevails. The
season may be hot, and if at the period when
the secret implements of disease and death are
loosened, the current of air is from the eity;
14

158

the deadly particles are transported to a dis-
tance, and if a settlement obstruct their flight,
many will mourn their unexpected arrival.

In the southern part of our country, as we
have described, where the current from the
north was opposed by that which flowed down
the Atlantic into the gulf of Mexico, most al-
luvion is found, and most vegetable remains
are mingled with the strata, and in that sec-
tion of our land, we are to expect that malig-
nant diseases will be most frequent, and will
longer prevail. But when our country has as
long been exposed to the winds and sun, as
have the alluvial districts in Europe, they can-
not with propriety say, that our land is more
subject to diseases than their own, except in
one particular. If our theory is correct, dews
and vapours are brought from the old world to
the new. If so, the noxious effluvia which
rise there, may be borne to our continent, and
continue to affect the constitution of our bodies,
debilitate and weaken our mortal frames.*

* In many parts of the old world they are subject to diseases which
never visited our shores. The winds from the deserts not only prove
destructive to man, but brutes and vegetables fall a prey to their
fury. On the West India islands, much alluvion was deposited as
we have described, and there epnlemic diseases prevail more perhaps
than in any parts of th^ world. In South America, except in the
north part where alluvion was formed by the last flood, epidemics
seldom prevail. In Brazil, and some parts ot Peru, the climate is as

159

PROOF XXIV.

Of the Insects, Vegetation, 8£c. of America,

It may be thought by some, that it is for the
want of more weighty proofs to establish our
theory, that we descend to the insects, rep-
tiles, and vegetable tribes, as witnesses to sup-
port us in the premises we have taken. But,
we consider nothing of little consequence which
God has made. His wisdom, power, and
goodness are as much displayed in the small-
est insect that is wafted on the wings of the
wind, as in the towering mountains whose
summits are hid beyond the clouds, or in the
expanse of the ocean whose waves encompass
our sphere. The same Omniscient Being who
created, preserves and regulates the shining
worlds and systems that range the unlimitted
fields of ether, and appointed to each its sta-
tion and use, has exercised Omniscience in
creating the smallest plant that grows, or the
meanest reptile that moves, and employed the
same goodness in appointing to each an office,
to promote the happiness of the general whole.

■warm as on the coasts of Terra Firma; yet, in the former places, de-
structive fevers have been scarcely heard of, in the latter they have
been frequent. In Terra Firma they are not so frequent and fatal as
they were formerly. Admiral Vernon visited these coasts, at a pe-
riod when most of the secret messengers of death were sent forto-,
and many of his hapkss crew fell victims to their fury.

160

God has created nothing in vain. The vast
chain of creation would be incomplete, were
one species of insects, or even of vegetables
destroyed.* Inconsistently wre complain of the
inconveniences we endure from thorns, bram-
bles, noxious weeds, and poisonous insects^ and
reptiles, and reflect not, that were it not for
these, we should be subject to far greater
afflictions. We have more insects and vermes
than are found in Europe. When we reflect
on the offices to be performed by this part of
God's creation, we readily perceive, that ac-
cording to our theory of the formation of coun-
tries, more insects and noxious plants are re*
quired in America, than in any other quarter
of the globe. Here, as has been observed, are

* It will be observed then, that this chain has often been broken,
as in the revolutions of nature which have been described, many
species have become extinct. But it will be remembered, that all
these changes and revolutions have been wrought by the hand of
God; and have or will be conducive to the happiness of man. As the
revolutions and catastrophes which our planet has experienced have
produced changes in the seasons, in temperature of climate, and even
in the order and economy of nature, it has been necessary, that the
constitutions of man, and of the various species of beings in the animal
and vegetable kingdoms be changed. By these revolutions some spe-
cies, and even genera became useless and Were destro)ed. Others
have been changed, that they may better perform the various duties
devolving on them. Such we conceive is the state of man. At the
general deluge, such a change was wrought in our planet, and in the
elements, that God in his wisdom saw fit to change the constitution
of the human race, as well as of the brute creation. That there was
such a change, we infer from the word of God. When man was first
created by the com nand of God, iruits and vegetables were to be his
only food. These likewise were to be the sustenance of every raov-

161

more alluvial formations, and of later date than
on the eastern continent. Hence, more noxi-
ous effluvia arise. These effluvia are of vari-
ous sizes, shapes, and properties. The de-
sign of insects is to devour these poisonous
particles which otherwise would render the
air unfit for respiration. These particles are
poison: hence, the insects become poisonous from
the food on which they live. One species of
insects is formed by infinite wisdom, and orga-
nized for the reception of one kind of effluvia,
and one for another. The larger feed on the
less, and as the effluvia cease to rise, one ge-
neration has performed their office, they expire.
Here see the wisdom and goodness of God.
One generation of insects deposit their ovia
which lie dormant, till the heat of the vernal
sun causes fermentation in vegetable matter,

ing thing. But when the waters of the flood subsided, and God bless-
ed Noah and his sons, he said unto them, Every moving thing that
liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you
all things. It is evident, that in changing the diet of man in so es-
sential a manner, it was necessary that his constitution should be
changed; and the same of the brute creation, for the food of many
species since the deluge, has been animal. From Genesis, chap. viii.
ver. l2l2, we infer that, at that period, a great change was wrought
in the seasons. While the earin remaineih, seed time, and harvest,
and cold, and heat, and summer, and winter, and day, and night,
shall not cease. We conceive, that before the deluge there was no
change in seasons, as has been described, and no regular seed time
and harvest, for it mattered not when the seed was committed to the
faithful bosom of the earth, for before there was no cold nor heat.
The cause of these changes has been explained in tlie change of the
poles of the earth.

14*

162

and the noxious effluvia are sent forth. Then
each embryo insect bursts from his secret cell,
and millions and millions fill the air, not in
vain sport as fancy represents, but in the most
active employment in gathering, in conquering,
and destroying, the enemies of the peace and
happiness ©f man When their employment is
ended as autumn advances, they rest from their
labours. But their frames, though small, hav-
ing been nourished by poisonous particles, if
permitted to decay on the surface of the earth
would again envenom the atmosphere. But a
Being, perfect in wisdom and goodness, has
provided against this inconvenience, When
autumn approaches, when effluvia cease to
rise, when insects retire from the regions of
the air, then myriads and myriads of vermes
are sent forth on the surface of the earth to
collect and bear to their cells the carcases of
such as have fallen.

In warm climates, where no frosts destroy
these vermes, numerous species of reptiles and
venomous serpents are placed, and fitted with
proper organs to receive the poison which has
been collected from the atmosphere. Where-
ever stagnant waters or sunken marshes
abound, innumerable insects fill the air in the
summer, unnumbered species of vermes cover
the ground in autumn, and frightful serpents

163

lurk concealed in every bramble. When marsh-
es are drained, forests are removed, the lands
cultivated, and the vegetable mould is puri-
fied, there is no further employment for these
numerous species of beings, their numbers di-
minish, as their services are less needed.

Noxious weeds and brambles are designed
for a similar purpose. All vegetables are so
constructed, that they purify the air. The
noxious ones receive such impure particles
from the atmosphere, as insects were not orga-
nized to deposit. Culinary plants receive
those of a purer quality, and all of them throw
off a fluid which is congenial and exhilirating
to animal life.

In rich alluvial formations, we find many
more species of vegetables as well as insects;
and the newer and richer the soil, the more
abundant both will be.5*

Then it is advisable that there be more in-
sects, vermes, &c. on our continent than on
the eastern: and as it has pleased the Almighty

** Should our cities, which are subject to disorders arising from the
effluvia of putrefying vegetation, be diversified with here and there a
square, in which various kinds of trees common on alluvial forma-
tions, together with thorns, briars, thistles, nettles, and various other
noxious weeds, should be suffered to grow unmolested, the numerous
species of insects would find a safe retreat in them, and the deathful
particles, instead of being incorporated in the human fi-ame, would
flow to the reservoirs which the God of nature has formed to receive
them ,

16*

to give us a most luxuriant soil, we must
expect numerous species of insects, and they
will continue to abound, till our marshes and
forests are no more, and till our alluvial soil
by cultivation, is made to discharge the nox-
ious effluvia — then we shall be in want of no
purifiers of the air, and then we shall be as
free from them as any part of the world.

PROOF XXV.

The Tides.

In introducing a subject like this, the author
is aware of the difficulties he has to encounter.
In regard to the other phenomena of nature
which he has attempted to explain, there is a
variety of opinions, if any opinions on the
whole of them have been formed. But the
phenomenon of the rise and fall of the waters
of the ocean, and the various currents which
prevail along diverse coasts, has been account-
ed for by the illustrious Newton. The
opinion of one so deservedly eminent, of one
whose name has been elevated to the highest
degree in the scale of science, the name or
opinion of such a man, though none will deny
but the greatest of human kind may embrace
some errors, goes far, very far, to incline the
minds of a community to a prejudice against

165

innovations. No man has read the works of
the immortal Newton with more pleasure
and edification than the author. None has a
more exalted opinion of his talents, pays more
respect to his memory, or is in more admira-
tion in contemplating the blessings which his
unlimited mind brought to the scientific world.
Yet perfection is not to be found in man. The
greatest that ever lived, cannot but say he had
embraced some errors.

The brilliant rays and sublime effulgence of
Sir Isaac Newton's genius, may have dazzled
the eyes of many, that beneath the splendid
beams of his talents defects or errors may lie
unseen.

It is the opinion of the author, that a mind
in pursuit of truth, should not receive as infal-
lible the ideas of any man, unless accompanied
by complete demonstrations. Great men may
have great errors.

The constant dropping of water will wear
away the hardest rock; mountains, by industry
and perseverance may be removed; but more
difficult is the task to remove an error founded
by a great man, and fixed by the prejudice of
ages. But there is more merit in striving
alone against the torrent of error, than in gli-
ding quietly with a multitude down the stream
to the stagnant waters of oblivion.

166

The cause of the tides having perplexed and
agitated the minds of the ancient philosophers,
and having for centuries been ranked among
the mysteries beyond the bounds of human
comprehension, serves to bias the mind against
receiving an explanation which is plain and
simple.

In every age of the world, new discoveries
have been made. One discovery or invention
leads to another, and the steps of science are
so wisely constructed, that every succeeding
one is more easily ascended.

Had the ancient sages and philosophers pos-
sessed such a knowledge of the surface of our
planet, of the oceans and continents, seas and
islands, as the moderns have, they would not
have laboured so much in vain to demonstrate
the ebbing and flowing of the ocean. And it
is believed, that had Sir Isaac Newton been
possessed of facts which have been brought to
light since the world was honoured by his pre-
sence, that he would never have laboured to es-
tablish and support a theory, loaded with such
inconsistencies as his is, of the tides, and
which is almost universally adopted.

Many of mankind prefer adopting without
examination theories of great men, to taking
the labour of investigating them. Sir Isaac
Newton was a great man. He made many

167

and great discoveries. He corrected many
great errors of great men, who had shone as
stars of the first magnitude in the firmament
above, before the world was favoured with his
presence. But, though the sun which enlight-
ens our sphere, and emits light and heat to the
numerous and magnificent worlds that revolve
around him is a glorious brilliant orb, for all wise
purposes, he is not wholly luminous. Though
the splendor of his rays so dazzles our eyes that
he appears a perfect sphere of light, yet on
more acute examination, there are opaque spots
on his surface.

The author believes, that human nature is
not only liable to depart from truth, but is in-
clined to error; and believing Sir Isaac New-
ton to be in an error in regard to his theory of
the tides, he considers it a duty which he owes
to his fellow creatures, to make known his ob-
jections to that theory, and explain another
which appears to him to be more simple, more
consistent with the principles of philosophy,
and far more coincident with the immutable
laws of the God of nature.

We will endeavour, first, to examine briefly
Sir Isaac Newton's theory of the tides.

After we have reconnoitred the works he
has erected, and prejudice has fortified, we
will see if we have force to destroy the forti-

168

fieations; and then endeavour to build a castle,
on a foundation firm as reason, unshaken as
true philosophy, and durable as the laws of
nature.

Sir Isaac Newton's Theory of the Tides.

In taking a view of the theory of the tides,
founded by this great man, it is necessary to
refer the mind of the reader to the system of
worlds of which our globe makes but a small
part.

The sun is the centre of our system. Eleven
spheres resembling the earth, some greater and
some less than our planet, revolve around the
sun in periods of time proportionable to their
distance from the sun. Five of these worlds
had not been discovered when Sir Isaac New-
ton lived. Eighteen other spheres, resem-
bling the earth in shape and matter, but less in
magnitude, belong to the solar system. These
are denominated moons, secondary planets, or
satellites, and in their revolutions round the
sun as a common centre, they pass the orbits
of the respective primary planets which they
are destined to attend.

The earth has one moon, or attendant se-
condary planet; Jupiter four; Saturn seven:
and Herschel six. No secondary planets have

169

been discovered accompanying the other seven
primary planets.

The earth is nearly eight thousand miles in
diameter, and performs its course round the
sun, at the mean distance of ninety-five mil-
lions of miles from the sun.

The moon is little more than two thousand
miles in diameter, and accompanies the earth
round the sun at the mean distance of two
hundred and forty thousand miles from the
earth.

Admitting the earth to be eight thousand
miles in diameter, it contains five hundred and
twelve thousand millions of cubic miles; and
allowing the moon to be two thousand two hun-
dred miles in diameter, which is nearly its
size, that orb contains ten thousand six hun-
dred and forty- eight millions of cubic miles,
malting the earth nearly fifty times as large as
the moon, or containing nearly fifty times as
many cubic miles of matter as the moon does.

It is the opinion of the greatest philosophers,
that not only the moon, but all the bodies com-
posing the solar system, are formed of matter
similar to that of the earth, and are the habi-
tations of intelligent beings. To account for
the phenomena of the motions and appearances
of the heavenly bodies, they admit that they
are all attracted by the sun in proportion to
15

170

the quantity of matter they contain, and their
distances from the sun. They also attract
each other in the same ratio. This is doubt-
less the case, for in no other manner can we
account for the various appearances of the
planets.*

Sir Isaac Newton, and a greater philosopher
never lived on earth, supposed, and attempted
to prove; that the waters of the ocean, and of

* Here we trust we shall be excused for giving our opinion in some
points of astronomy, which it is believed have not been suggested by
philosophers. The sun is the centre of our system; it has been dis-
covered that it has a motion oa its axis, and being attracted by the
planets, revolves in an orbit the diameter of which is less than the
sun's diameter.

We believe that the sun is performing a revolution in an extensive
orbit, that the primary planets revolve round the sun not in circles,
but in the same manner as the secondary planets revolve round the
primaries. The centre of our system may move thousands of miles.
in an hour, and we not perceive the motion, the sun being the great
centre to which our attention is fixed. It does not appear consistent
with reason and philosophy, to suppose that a body so large as the sun
should have a rotary motion, and remain in or near the same place.
All of the fixed stars are suns and centres to other systems. Numer-
ous worlds, the abodes of intelligence, surround each of these shining
spheres, which, like our sun, are all performing courses round some
common or universal centre. The suns, as well as planets, are the
residence of the creatures of God, all experiencing his munificence.
God is unlimited in his power, and space which is adorned by worlds
and shining spheres, is as extensive as the power and goodness of
God. the stars or suns which once appeared in the heavens, and
•were noted by the ancient astronomers, and have now vanished from
our natural eyes, and from optical vision, were pei forming their
tours in a different direction from our sun; and those which now emit
their brilliant beams to earth, and shone not on ancient ken, have, in
the vast machinery of creation, been approaching our system. The
heavens dtclare the glory of God; and the Ji-rmament show forth his
handy ivorks.

various bays, were made to rise by the influ-
ence of the moon's attracting the earth; or that
the waters were raised, and the various cur-
rents of the ocean produced by the attraction
of the sun and moon. The moon being sixty-
four million seven hundred and sixty thousand
miles nearer to the earth than the sun, would
have more effect on the waters of our planet
than the sun, though the latter is several mil-
lions of times greater than the former.

These phenomena he explains with a degree
of ingenuity, peculiar to so noble a mind. The
attraction of the moon on the waters, on ac-
count of its being so much nearer to the earth,
he says is in proportion to that of the sun as
five to one. That as the moon raises the wa-
ters five feet, the sun raises them one. The
tides are higher at some times than others. —
They are highest at new and full moon, and
lowest at first and last quarters.

"This," says the immortal Newton, "is oc-
casioned by the influence of the sun and moon
operating upon the waters in the same line of
direction.

"At the time of new moon, the sun and moon
being on the same side of the earth, both at-
tract the waters of the earth on the side to-
wards them in the same direction, that on that
side the waters rise to their greatest height.

172 y/

On the opposite side of the earth, there is a
high tide at the same time/' This, as the
great philosopher says, "is owing to the same
cause;" viz. The sun and moon attracting, for
instance, on the west side of the earth, cause
the waters to flow in that direction from, what
for perspicuity we will call, the upper and
lower sides of the earth. The waters on
three sides of the earth being attracted to one
side, to the west, causes the centre of gravity
in the earth to be moved to the west; hence the
waters on the opposite side, the east side of
the earth being further from the centre of gra-
vity, are drawn in a less degree towards the
earth, or are inclined to flow in an opposite di-
rection, and accumulate on the east side. —
Hence there is a high tide on the east and
west sides of the earth at the same time,
while on the upper and lower sides, the
Waters are low, on account of their having
flowed to the east and west.

When the moon arrives at first quarter, sup-
pose above the earth, the sun is west of it;
then the sun and moon attracting in quadra-
ture, serve to bind the waters on the surface
of the earth; hence there would be low or neap
tides, the same at the time of the last quarter of
the moon; but at full moon, or when the sun is
an one side of the earth, and the moon on the

173

other, then high or spring tides are occasioned,
says Newton, in the following manner.

The moon attracting the waters to the east,
raise them on the east of the earth, and those
on the west, being inclined to flow to the west,
are accelerated in that direction by the attrac-
tion of the sun; hence we have a high tide on
the opposite sides of the globe at new and full
moon.

In many bays of the ocean, the tides are
much higher than in the ocean itself. This,
the great philosopher says, is owing to the
water of the ocean being pressed into them,
and contracted into a narrower channel as they
are driven up the bays, and are found to rise
higher towards the heads of the bays.

In seas and lakes there are no tides. This^
the same great man says, is on account of their
small dimensions; that every part of the sur-
face of such small bodies of water, being so
nearly equi- distant from the sun, or moon, that
every part is equally attracted, and one part
cannot be raised above another.

In some parts of the ocean, the currents of
the tides flow in various directions. This, he
says, is produced by the situation of the
coasts.

These are the principal heads in the New-
15*

174

tonian theory of the tides, and our limits per-
mit us not to notice more.

Though we conceive that the premises and
conclusions are erroneous, none can but ad-
mire a genius so adroit, as will make false pre-
mises appear so plausible, and then draw con-
clusions so completely coinciding with them.

We will first attempt to prove, that the pre-
mises assumed by Sir Isaac Newton, in his
theory of the tides, are not correct.

1st. He says that the moon, by attracting
the earth or the waters on its surface, causes
the tides.

He has proved, that the force of attraction
in two or more bodies, is in proportion to the
quantity of matter in the bodies, and their dis-
tances from each other. The moon being much
nearer to the earth than the sun is, attracts
the waters more than the sun. If the moon
attracts the earth more than the sun does, as
it must if it raises the waters higher, the earth
would revolve round the moon as a centre; but
the earth, in its whole revolution, does not in-
cline towards the moon. This Sir Isaac New-
ton himself has clearly explained. The earth
does not attract the moon so much as the sun
does, because in no part of its orbit does the
moon move from the sun. If the earth attrac-
ted the moon more than that body is attracted

175

by the sun, at new moon, or when the earth is
on one side of the moon, and the sun on the -
the other, the orbit of the moon would incline
towards the earth, which is not the case.

If bodies attract each other in proportion to
their distances and quantity of matter, the
earth being nearly fifty times larger than the
moon, would attract the waters on its own
surface more than the moon attracts, when that
comparatively small body is two hundred and
forty thousand miles distant. If the earth at-
tracts the waters more than the moon attracts
them, they would not rise or depart from the
centre of gravity in the earth. If the moon
attracts the waters more than the earth does,
they would flow to the moon with a motion con-
stantly accelerating as that of a body descend-
ing to the earth.

If the moon has force of attraction to raise
the waters ten feet, they are further from the
centre of attraction in the earth, and that in
the moon is nearer; hence it would require
less force to raise them the next ten feet, and
the attraction of the moon being greater upon
them because they are nearer; hence, all our
waters would go to the moon.

If the moon raises the waters on the surface
of the earth by attraction; the waters on the
earth's surface nearest to the moon would be

176

raised the highest. When the moon is perpen-
dicular to the equator, the waters of the ocean
on the equator are more than seven thousand
miles nearer to the moon that the waters at the
poles of the earth: yet the waters near the
equator do not rise so high as towards the
poles. When on the equator, the tides rise
but two or three feet, in high latitudes they
rise from twenty to sixty feet. If the attrac-
tion of the moon causes the waters to rise, on
several accounts, they would rise higher on
the equator than in any other parts of the
oceans. The projectile force on the equator
is greater than towards the poles that the wa-
ters would be easier raised. The diameter of
the earth from east to west is greater than from
north to south, that the surface of the globe on
the equator is further from the centre of gra-
vity than the poles, that a body of matter on
the equator, though it contains the same quan-
tity, is lighter than the same body would be
towards the poles. The extent of the oceans
on the equator is greater than towards the
north pole, that a greater quantity of waters
would be affected by attraction, they would be
drawn further and rise higher than in the nar-
row parts of the ocean to the north, yet they
rise but little on the equator. The regular
trade winds on the equator would assist the

177

moon in raising the waters if she discovered
the least disposition to deprive our centre of
gravity of its balance or power. The trade
wrinds blow from east to west, and incline the
waters in the same direction. The earth turn-
ing from west to east, that the moon comes to
the meridian on the east coast of an ocean or
continent, before it does to the west, that the
current of the ocean would be uniformly to the
west.

Hence, when the moon reached the meri-
dian over the east coast of either continent, the
whole current of the ocean on the east of such
a coast would be arrested there, and there
would be the highest tides; but the reverse is
true.

In most lakes, and in such seas as have no
communication with the ocean, or if but small
straits connect the ocean to them, there is no
tides. This is explained on account of their
small extent. But in some lakes much less than
these seas and lakes which have no tides, the
waters rise and fall as regular as in the ocean.
In the Caspian, Black, and Baltic seas, and in
various other extensive beds of water, there
are no tides; yet in bays not a tenth part so
extensive, the waters are raised to a great
height. But this it is said, is owing to the
water's pressing into the bays from the ocean*

178

But the waters begin to rise in the bays before
they do in the ocean communicating with them,
and first flow from the bays to the ocean.

The surfaces of the above mentioned ^eas
are so small, that the moon considers them un-
worthy of her notice, and leaves them unagi-
tated by her charms. Yet the bright queen of
night condescends to look into many springs
and wells, but a few feet in diameter, and by
her mysterious smiles or frowns, causes the
waters to rush from their secret retreats, and
td rise as high as in the greatest ocean.

In some parts of the oceans, the partial god-
dess by her magic arts, agitates the briny
waves but once in twenty-four hours. In other
places the waves scarcely have rest from the
influence of her mystic wand. Even when the
merciless empress of the waters is vertical to
their antipodes, the waves are not suffered to
repose. Some of her secret agents rouse them
from their slumbers, and cause them, surge
propelling surge, to attack the sturdy shores.*

* It is a prevailing opinion among a large classs of the community,
that this miraculous being, which appears as pleasant in the night as
errors do to minds in the darkness of ignorance, that the being which
loses her splendour when the god of day smiles on a hemisphere,
as ghosts retire at his approach, or as superstition recedes from
the beams of science, it is the opinion of many, that this being has
supreme command ot the vegetable kingdoms, as well as of the ocean.
She is consulted as to the time most proper for the husbandman to
sow his fields, as likewise when he shall gather the fruits of his indus-
try. They believe, that if she is not particularly consulted, and he

179

But the arctic regions are most affected by her
imperial sway. The waters near either pole
seem her favourites, and are ambitious to serve
her, against those which dwell in the equatori-
al regions. The former rise at her appear-
ance, and rush towards the latter as if to over-
whelm them for their negligence or stupidity,
but as they roll to warmer regions, their en-
thusiasm diminishes, and in perfect harmony
they unite under the laws which govern the
torrid climes; and again recede to their respec-
tive zones.

Some have endeavoured to explain the cause
of the waters rising higher towards the poles,
from the following premises:

times particularly regarded, she will blast the grain that they commit
to the faithful bosom of the earth, or cause it to mould or rot when
gathered in the store house.

It is presumed, that this superstition is not wholly without founda-
tion, and it is presumed that it took its rise from the following facts.
The tides are highest at new and full moon, the cause of which will
be explained without assigning omnipotence to empress Luna. In
many parts of Holland, the cultivated country is actually below the
surface of the ocean at high tides, buch lands are defended against
the waves by strong dykes or banks. At high tides, it is rational to
suppose that these lauds would be affected. The farmers noticed it,
and mistaking the cause, assigned to the moon the effects of the ocean.
The industrious Hollanders have migrated to almost every nation on
the globe. If the lands they cultivate, are thousands of feet above the
highest tides, they observe the same signs and seasons, as did t'reir
ancestors, who faithfully toiled below the waves. Marvellous ideas
are most delightful to many minds. Those of the Hollanders have
been embraced by many of various climes and languages, and the
moon is indebted more to them for her power than to the Being wh«
made it.

180

They say;, "When the moon is over or near
the equator, the waters in high latitudes are at-
tracted directly towards the moon, and the wa-
ters are raised higher, because they move in a
more horizontal direction; and subside as they
eome more directly under the moon, which has
not power to raise them perpendicularly.

If this position was correct, the waters would
be attracted from east and west in the same
manner as from north to south, and at ninety
degrees from a point directly under the moon^
the waters would be as much affected as at the
poles. But the reply is made/ "That the con-
tinents prevent this attraction from extending
so far to the east and west, as to the north and
south. " But the Pacific and Indian oceans ex-
tend two hundred and thirty degrees; fifty de-
grees more than half the circumference of the
globe. This vast expanse of ocean would be
as liable to be attracted from east and west, as
the Atlantic or Pacific is from north to south.

A further objection may* be made. "The
fluids being colder towards the poles, press to-
wards the equator where they are warm and
lighter."

But observations and facts have shown, that
the current of the atmosphere is from east to
west, and that it presses, the waters in the same
direction.

181

If the tides are produced by the attraction
of the moon, it is evident that on account of the
situation of the continents, that the waters
would be accumulated in some places much more
than in others, as in extensive bays or gul^s
opening into large oceans. This the Newtonian
philosophers confess, and from this they at-
tempt to explain the cause of there being such
high tides in the bay of Fundy, in Bristol chan-
nel, on the coasts of Malaya, at the mouth of
the St. Lawrence, along the coast of China
and Japan, in the sea of Bengal, and various
other places.

The bay of Fundy opens into the Atlantic
ocean to the south-west. If the general pres-
sure of the fluids is from the poles to the equa-
tor, the waters by this pressure would not be
driven into the bay of Fundy; for there is no ob-
struction to their passage to the south till they
reach South America. If the water subsided
as it came to warmer regions, or more directly
under the moon, they would not have flowed
back to the north with such violence as to heap
up the waters in that bay to the height of six-
ty feet.

In the gulf of St. Lawrence the tides are
high. That gulf opens to the ocean to the
east and north-east, and the island of New-
foundland being situated directly opposite the
16

182

mouth of the gulf, that the straits to it are so
narrow, that in six hours the waters of the
ocean could not press through the channels so
as to raise the gulf so high as they appear.

Bristol channel opens to the west, and the
waters of the ocean must flow with great vio-
lence to every point of the compass, to fill
the bays and channels we have mentioned.

To the east of Africa is a much greater ex-
tent of ocean than to the east of Asia, yet on
the coasts of the former the tides are not so high
as those on the latter. The sea of Arabia
opens into the Indian ocean with a much wider
mouth than the sea of Bengal. Yet in the sea
of Bengal, the tides are higher than in the sea
of Arabia.

If the tides are raised by the attraction of
the moon, and the waters of certain bays are
raised so much higher than the ocean by being
forced into basins narrowing towards their
head; why are not all bays which are situ-
ated in a similar manner affected as much.
Pamlico and Albermarle sounds open into the
Atlantic by wider channels than the gulf of
St. Lawrence, and the former are not so large
bays as the latter that the waters would be
more compressed in them than in that of the
St. Lawrence; yet in Pamlico and Albermarle

183

sounds the tides rise but four or live feet, and
in the St. Lawrence they are raised forty.

The bay of Fundy opens into the same ocean
and has a similar situation to the Delaware,
yet the tides in the former are six times as high
as in the latter. The same difference is ob-
servable in numerous places.

If the moon raises the waters by attraction,
there is no bay or branch of the ocean so fa-
vourably situated for an immense accumulation
of the waters as the arm of the Atlantic which
lies between North and South America. From
cape Sable in North America to cape St. Roque
in South America, a distance of nearly four
thousand miles, the coasts are situated to bring
the waters of the Atlantic to a point in the
Caribbean sea and in the gulf of Mexico. Yet
there the tides are not high. It will be ob-
served, that the West India islands prevent
the waters of the ocean from flowing in to fill
the sea and gulf. If the waters of the ocean
were obstructed by the islands they would be ac-
cumulated on the east side of them; but the wa-
ters are elevated there only a few feet; besides,
there are more than twenty channels between
the island to the interior basins, much wdder
and deeper than either of the two which unite
the gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic ocean.

184

If the moon is the principal cause of the
tides, or if the sun and moon, and all the hea-
venly bodies combined raise the waters on the
earth by attraction, there must be some more
essential local causes to produce the effects
which are witnessed.

The sun and moon are so remote from the
earth, that in comparison to their distance, the
earth is but a point. Then all parts of the
earth would be nearly equally affected by their
influence, if affected at all by the law of at-
traction.

From these remarks we are led to conclude,

First. That the moon is so small a body, and
so remote from the earth, that it appears in-
consistent to suppose that it wrould have so
much influence on the earth, as to raise and
agitate the waters to such a degree as they
are known to be affected.

Second. Admitting the possibility that the
sun and moon, by attraction, do raise the wa-
ters, they would be raised and flow in differ-
ent directions from what we see they do.

Third. If a possibility of the sun and moon's
raising the ocean existed, the tide would be
highest, where now they are lowest, and low-
est vvhere now they are raised to the greatest
height.

185

With these conclusions, we will attempt to
find some local causes, which, united with the
influence of the sun and moon, are the princi-
pal agents that produce the various phenome-
na of the ocean.

Explanation of the cause of the Tides.

The atmosphere, as we have observed, is a
fluid encompassing the earth, extending to the
height of nearly forty-five miles from the
earth's surface. This fluid presses, or is at-
tracted towards the centre of the earth, with a
weight equal to thirty-three solid feet of wa-
ter. Or, the weight of the atmosphere on the
surface of the land and water, is the same as
would be the pressure, if on each part of the
surface of the globe rested a column of water
thirty-three feet in height. This is the com*
mon pressure of the air on plains and on the
ocean, seas, lakes, &c. On mountains the
pressure is not so great, in vallies it is greater.
The atmosphere does not press, at all times
with equal force on the surface of the earth.

1st. When the winds blow, it does not press
so heavy as in an entire cairn.

We suppose, for instance, a column of at-
mosphere, one foot in diameter, to be equal in
weight to a pillar of wood of the same diame-
16*

186

Ater, one hundred feet long. That pillar stands
perpendicularly on the surface of the earth.
The weight of that pillar on the earth is as the
pressure of the atmosphere on one square foot.
If a force be applied to that pillar in a hori-
zontal direction, it will not press so heavy on
the surface, and the pressure towards the cen-
tre of the earth, diminishes as the horizontal
force increases. The same fact may be eluci-
dated by a mill -stone, which, when in rapid
motion, can be raised with less force than when
at rest. And when the horizontal motion is so
increased, that the projectile force is greater
than the attraction of cohesion, the stone
breaks. The pieces do not fall directly to the
ground, but move in a horizontal direction.

This position is easily demonstrated by ex-
periment. Balance a pair of scales with a top
in one side. Then put the top to whirling in
the scale with the same weights in the other,
and the scale will not be balanced till the top
ceases to move. A ball on a horizontal plane,
when struck horizontally, in its motion presses
not on that plane so much as when at rest; and
with the greater force it is struck, the less it
presses on the plane.

A running stream presses not so hard on its
bottom, as a still pond of the same depth of
water.

187

On the same principles, the atmosphere,
when in a horizontal motion, presses not so
heavy on the surface of the earth; and as the
motion increases, the pressure decreases. Wit-
ness a whirlwind. There the atmosphere re-
ceives a horizontal impulse. By the pressure
of the surrounding atmosphere, the motion is
increased, till the atmosphere not only ceases
to press on the earth, but rises from the sur-
face; and not only does the atmosphere rise,
but it raises many particles or bodies from the
earth with it.

2d. When the atmosphere is heated, it does
not press so heavy on the surface of the earth
as when cold.

When the atmosphere is becoming warm, it
presses less when at the same degree of tempe-
rature, than when it is becoming cold.

When there is sufficient heat to cause va-
pours to rise, each ascending particle gives an
impulse upwards to the particles which oppose
its rise. When the atmosphere is cooling, and
particle unites to particle and descends, the
same impulse is given downwards as was up-
wards when the vapour was rising.

With these two general prepositions, com-
bining in their effects, and with several local
causes, which we trust will be proved to exist,
we will attempt to explain the phenomena vf

188

the tides, and the various currents of the
ocean.

In attempting to explain the cause whose ef-
fects were the appearance of dry land, we en-
deavoured to show, that beneath the conti-
nents, and such islands as have been raised
from the ocean,* are vast caverns, or cavities,
equal in extent to the matter which was eleva-
ted. We suppose that these cavities, or most
of them are filled with water as high as the
common level of the oceans. Most of them
have vast openings into the oceans, through
which the waters flowed after the lands were
raised, and when the waters of the ocean rece-
ded. These openings were formed by the
fragments of broken rocks, which support the
elevated lands, not filling the numerous rents
which were made in the various strata which
were broken in their ascension, and the fissures
wrhich were open in the strata, which were
not elevated, and which support the arches on
which most lands now rest. These communi-
cations between the oceans, which enjoy the
light of heaven and the subterranean seas, are

* It will be remembered, that it has been stated, that many small
islands, which appear in the different oceans, owe their existence to
the coral. The} are readily distinguished from those which were
raised by fire. The former have no mountains or hills resting on pri-
mitive rocks.

189

deep beneath the surface of the waters, even to
the bottom of the oceans.

The cavities under the lands being filled
with water no higher than the usual height of
the oceans, have the remainder of the ca-
verns filled with various gasses. These gasses
since they were bound to their present limits,
have been employed as active agents in produ-
cing the tides.

For perspicuity, we will compare the sub-
terranean waters, and those on the surface of
the globe, to a pair of scales, the communica-
tion between them being the beam. As wTaters
form a level, these scales would be completely
balanced, were it not that the exterior atmos-
phere varied in degrees of pressure on the ex-
terior waters.

When the atmosphere presses most on the
ocean, then the exterior scale preponderates,
and we have low tides, and then the interior
is raised by the waters being pressed into the
cavities. When the atmosphere is rarefied
that it presses lighter on the ocean, then the
interior scale is depressed, the waters are dri-
ven from the subterraneous caverns, the ocean
is raised, and we have high tides. The tides
are high or low, in proportion to the conden-
sation or rarefication of the atmosphere over
the interior and exterior seas, and in propor-

190

tion to the extent of the waters to be raised or
depressed. As these waters are alternately
flowing through channels which run in differ-
ent directions, they produce the numerous
marine currents which prevail on the surface
of our sphere.

When we have examined the causes which
vary the degrees of atmospheric pressure, we
will compare the phenomena of the ocean with
the effects which would be produced according
to our theory.

2 he causes which produce changes in the de-
grees of pressure of the atmosphere.

The causes which most affect the atmos-
phere, are light and heat. We believe that
these two causes produce all the phenomena of
the atmosphere, and that heat is but an atten-
dant of light, or an effect of which the former
is the cause.

Light is matter emitted from the sun, or
other luminous bodies, and flows with incon-
ceivable velocity in a direct line when moving
in the same medium. But when it passes from
one medium to another, it turns from a strait
course, and when it strikes a denser medium,
except on a surface at right angles, it inclines
to a perpendicular to the surface.

191

Light passes from the sun to the earth in
eight minutes. When light is obstructed by
an opaque body, the rays are reflected, having
the angle of reflection equal to the angle of in-
cidence. Rays of light emitted from the sun
reach the moon, and are reflected to the earth;
in like manner we receive them from the other
spheres which compose our system. Reflected
light produces no perceptible heat. The light
reflected from the moon affects our atmosphere
in a small degree, perhaps compared with that
of the sun in proportion to its quantity. The
effect of this light is the only effect which the
moon has on our waters. The reflected light
of the moon sometimes coincides in its effects
with that of the sun, and sometimes serves di-
rectly to counteract the influence of the direct
rays of the sun.

When the rays of light pierce the atmos-
phere perpendicularly to the surface of the
earth at any place, the atmosphere is lighten-
ed in that place by becoming warmer, accord-
ing to our second proposition. But when it
pierces the atmosphere at right angles to a line
drawn perpendicular to any place, the force
with which the rays move, lessens the pressure
of the atmosphere over that place, according
to our first proposition. Light flowing through
the atmosphere in the last mentioned direction.

192

lessens its pressure more than in the former,
and its influence diminishes, as its direction
varies from a horizontal to a perpendicular di-
rection. The effects of the light of the moon
are similar, though their influence is less.

When the light of the sun and moon pierce
the atmosphere at right angles to each other,
the rays counteract the force of each other,
that the atmosphere is less affected. For in-
stance, at first and last quarters of the moon.
We suppose the sun is in the west, the moon
has performed one quarter of her revolution
and is at the meridian. The rays of light from
the sun pass the atmosphere to the east over
the Atlantic ocean, and lessen the pressure of
the atmosphere there. The rays from the moon
come from the south or from the meridian and
striking perpendicularly on the rays of the sun,
lessen their force without warming the atmos-
phere, and in a degree destroy the effects of the
rays from the sun on the columns of the atmos-
phere.

If a stream of water from the north moved
with sufficient velocity to bear away an obstruc-
tion, and just before it reached the object a
stream of one-eighth part of the force should
rush into the former from the west, one-six-
teenth part of the force from the north would

193

be destroyed, and the obstruction would not be
removed.

The rays of light from the sun, and moon thus
counteracting each other at first and last quar-
ters of the moon, not so much lighten the at-
mosphere at those particular times, that the
pressure on the waters is great, the unrarefied
air over the subterranean waters has not force
to press so much of the hidden waters from
their cells as to give a spring tide to the At-
lantic. Hence, at first and last quarters of the
moon neap or low tides are witnessed.

At new moon the streams of light of the two
orbs are not opposed to each other. The dark
side of the moon is then towards the earth, that
no light is reflected from it to our sphere. The
light of the sun flows through the atmosphere
of the earth unmolested, that fluid is rendered
lighter by being rarefied and by the repelling
torrent of light. Ocean feels relieved from his
burden and presses not so forcibly on the pent
up fluids. They struggle for liberty, and rush-
ing from the gloomy caverns, roll their proud
waves in the light of heaven. Thence is form-
ed a high tide, by our two propositions.

As the moon advances in her orbit, and the

light is reflected to the earth each succeeding

day in a less oblique direction to the rays of

the sun, each flow of the waters diminish till

194

the moon comes in quadrature, as has been
explained and then the tides are at their low-
est flow. After the moon has passed her quad-
rature, and her light falls more and more ob-
lique on that of the sun, the tides increase in
height in the same ratio, and from the same
cause they decreased when she was advancing
to her quadrature.

When the moon arrives at her full, or in
opposition to the sun, then she sends forth
most light to the earth, and the rays flowing
in a line of direction with those of the sun,
the light from both luminaries serve to break
the force of the pressure of the atmosphere on
the waters, and then again the scale, secluded
from the light of day, preponderates, and the
towering ocean invades his highest bounds.
In this spring tide the principles of both pro-
positions affect the atmosphere.

The query will next arise, "Why the wa-
ters are raised higher towards the poles, than
o» or near the equator?"

From the inclination of the axis of the
earth, the ecliptic cuts the equator at angles of
twenty-three degrees, twenty-eight minutes;
that the sun is never vertical to any places
more remote from the equator on either side
than that distance; hence, in high latitudes the
currents of light pierce the atmosphere in a

195

more horizontal direction. At the poles, when
the sun is over the equator, the rays of light
pass the poles in a line perpendicular to the
axis of the earth, and, unobstructed, flow
through the whole section of the air which co-
vers the frigid zones. Hence the pressure of
the atmosphere at both poles is lessened, and
the chilled currents roll towards the equator.

As the sun inclines to the north, and spreads
his splendid beams wide around the frigid
zone, and leaves the southern pole involved in
frost and darkness, then the waters in Antarc-
tic regions scarcely move their sluggish waves.
While to the north, so long as the sun is ap-
proaching the tropic of Cancer, the waters
continue to increase in height at every
flow. But as he begins to recede from
northern regions, to pay his annual visits to
southern climes, then the arctic waters, as if
dreading the frosts and chilling blasts of win-
ter, begin to retire to the frost secluded ca-
verns. The southern waves then begin to tri-
umph; and sport their summer month away.

The waters in the northern regions rise to a
greater height in summer, than those of the
south in their benign seasons.

To the north there is more land than to
the south; that when the subterranean seas
discharge their stores, the liberated torrent'

196

rise in mountainous heights. — While to the
south, the vast expanse of ocean is less affect-
ed by the scanty currents that are sent forth
from the scattering lands.

Having briefly sketched the effects which
light and heat have on the atmosphere, and
drawn some conclusions as they affect the
tides and currents of the ocean, we will more
particularly notice the effects which such cau-
ses as we have named would have on the wa-
ters, and compare them with effects which are
known to exist.

1st. If the flowing of the tides are produced
by the waters of subterranean seas being
forced from their caverns, and the ebbing oc-
casioned by their receding again to their dis-
mal cells, the waters would first begin to rise,
and rise the highest near the lands from be-
beath which the waters rushed; and near such
coasts the tides would first begin to ebb.*

That the tides are higher near coasts than
at a distance from land, is a well known fact,
related by the ablest navigators.

2d. If the tides are produced by the above
mentioned cause, the waters would rise higher

* The waters would begin to ebb first at the shore, or near the
channel which unites the interior and exterior waters. But as the
current ot* waters, when ebbing, would be towards the shore, by an
accumulation of waters against the shores, there they would be last in
reaching their lowest state.

197

near the coasts of extensive and highly elevated
lands, than by the shores of small islands; be-
cause, under extensive lands, there are large
seas to throw forth their waters to the light
of day, and more confined air to drive the wa-
ters from their secret retreats.

In the Atlantic ocean, between North Ame-
rica and Europe, where the eastern and west-
ern continents ar& of the greatest width, the
the tides are higher than in any other open
ocean. In the Pacific ocean, where the great-
est width of Asia is on the west, and the most
extensive part of North America is on the east,
the waters rise higher than in any other part
of the Pacific ocean; and they decrease in
height in proportion to the distance from either
continent to the middle of the ocean. On the
coasts of China and Tartary, they rise to a
great height. At isle Necker, Wakes, and
Sandwich isles, the rise of the waters are
scarcely perceptible. On the west coast of
North America, the tide rises in some places
twenty feet; while at the islands remote from
the continent, two feet is considered as a very
high tide.

3d. If our premises are correct, the narrow-
er the channel between two lands, from beneath
which the waters are propelled, the higher the
waters would be raised in that channel.
17*

198

Hence, the highest tides are in such situa-
tions as the bay of Fundy, the gulf of St. Law-
rence, the Bristol channel, straits of Malacca,
the gulf of Siara, the sea of Bengal; and in many
other straits, bays and gulfs.

4th, If the cause of the phenomena of the
ocean is such as we have supposed, there will
be no tides in lakes, seas, or bays, between
which, and the subterranean seas and bays,
there is no communication.

Hence there are no tides in most of the lakes,
and in a number of seas and bays. The ba-
sins of these do not extend so deep, or have no
communication to the vast caverns filled with
waters, impatient to come to light.

The beds of most of these lakes, bays, and
seas, were formed, as we have stated, by the
currents of the general deluge, and other sub-
sequent floods. The openings between them
and the interior waters, have been closed by
the subsidence of lands, or by alluvial forma-
tions.

The basins of the Baltic, Caspian, Black,
and Aral seas, were formed by the currents
pouring over the mountains to the west of
them, and are only excavated in the crust of
the earth, or in that part which was first
raised from the bed of the deep. Their basins
may have had communications with the inte-

199

rior caverns, and these passages be filled by
the subsidence of some parts of the adjoining
strata, or by alluvion deposited by the returning
waves of the deluge. In the Mediterranean sea
the tides rise a few feet. That sea has some com-
munications with the caverns under Europe, or
Africa, or both, from which sufficient waters are
projected to produce the few and small cur-
rents which agitate the waters, and cause them
to rise in a small degree. The famous vortex
of Scylla is one of these communications, and
opening its devouring jawrs nearer the surface
of the waters than others, the agitation and
whirlings of the waves have, from remote anti-
quity, filled the minds of mariners with horror
and consternation, and the inquiring minds
with wonder and amazement.

In the Red sea the tides are higher than in
the Mediterranean, though its extent is not a
a quarter so great. It will be said that it rises
higher on account of its having a greater com-
munication with the Indian ocean, than the
Mediterranean has with the Atlantic. But
that the waters in the Red sea, or of the north
part of it, cannot be raised by the waters pres-
sing in from the Indian ocean, will appear
evident on examination. From the Indian
ocean to the north end of the Red sea, is one
thousand four hundred miles. To raise the

200

waters at the extreme part of that sea, the
waters must flow the above distance in six
hours, making the motion of the waters two
hundred and thirty-one miles an hour, or about
four miles a minute, which gives a velocity to
water, that never was witnessed when it moves
in a horizontal direction.

Though the basin of the Red sea was form-
ed by the current which rushed over the Ly-
bian mountains during the deluge, yet there
may be communications between that sea and
subterranean caverns. Indeed the bed of the
sea bears strong marks of this. On the east
side the waters are shallow, on the wrest the
coast is precipitate, and the waters are deep.
When that sea rises, the waters do not rush
from the straits of Babelmandel in a current,
but rise as, near all coasts in a perpendicular
direction, filled with bubbles, which are the
gasses which press from their retreats the in-
terior waves.

The North and Irish seas were formerly by
currents. They have such direct communica-
tion with the Atlantic by such wide mouths or
channels, that they may be raised by the wa-
ters of the ocean, and from interior floods.

Along the coasts of the United States, the
tides are not so high as they are in Europe in
the same latitude. If the moon raises the wa-

201

ters by attraction, this must be an unfathoma-
ble mystery. But if our theory is correct, we
can solve the cause without recourse to magic,
and without plunging into the arcana of na-
ture, or labyrinths of mystery.

Most of the United States bordering on the
coast of the Atlantic, is alluvion. Most of
this alluvion rests on what was once the bot-
tom of the ocean, and which was not elevated
so high, if elevated at all, as to leave large
openings between the ocean and the caverns
from wThence our mountains arose. Hence the
communications between the interior and ex-
terior waters, are so small, that the waters
from within are not pressed out in such profu-
sion as to cause our waters to rise to so great
a height, as where there are less alluvial de-
posits along the coasts.

Hence we have a cause for the tides not
rising so high in Pamlico and Albermarle
sounds, as in the bay of Fundy, and the gulf
of St. Lawrence. The former were preserved
by the rivers from alluvial deposits which sur-
round them. The latter are without alluvion,
near them; that the channels between them and
the subterranean waters are unobstructed. —
The former receive no accumulation of waters
but what is brought to them by the ocean; the
latter receive the waters of the ocean, and a

202

far greater abundance from interior regions.
Hence the waters in the former rise but four or
five feet, while in the latter they are elevated
from forty to sixty. Hence we have a cause
for the tides flowing with foaming violence up
many of the rivers in Europe, while, with but
a steady current, they oppose the largest riv-
ers in the United States.

If the moon raises and agitates the waters of
the Indian ocean, to such a degree as to cause
them to retreat at the rate of two hundred and
thirty miles an hour into the Red sea after
winding their course through the straits of
of Babelmandel, we would inquire, if it is not
a mystery, why the waters of the Atlantic, in
the same latitude, are not put in sufficient mo-
tion to flow through the numerous direct chan-
nels between the West India islands and fill
the Caribbean sea and the gulf of Mexico? —
According to the adopted theory, the cause is
a mystery beyond the thoughts of mortals to
fathom. But from the premises we have as-
sumed, the cause appears plain and simple.

If we were correct in our conjectures, that
the range of West India islands was a part of
the va3t range of mountains extending through
North and South America, and that that be-
tween the Alleghany and Andes, by its cum-
brous weight, broke the shattered arches be-

203

neath, and sunk into the abyss from whence it
was projected, most of the caverns were closed
there. When the alluvion brought by the late in-
undation from the north, was deposited on those
islands, on the north coast of South America,
on the east of Yucaton, &c. many of the sub-
terranean channels were filled, that the Sow-
ings of the interior waters are obstructed
around that extensive branch of the oceans —
Hence the tides there are lower than in most
of the large bays on our sphere.

Many lakes, springs, and wells, ebb and
flow as regularly as the ocean. These bodies
of water and fountains, by some chasms or
chinks, have communication with interior
ponds or lakes, which observe the same laws
as those which cause the oceans to rise.

The same may be observed of the wells
which are sunk or bored in Ohio, Indiana, Il-
linois, &c. for salt water.

When the miners perforate the last stratum
of rocks, before they come to the chasm which
contains the object of their search, the waters
suddenly rise many feet above the surface of
the earth, and after the first impulse has sub-
sided, the waters ebb and flow as regularly
as the oce?n, though not at the same periods.
The cause of these wells not flowing so fre-
quently as the ocean, is obvious on reflection.

204

There are vast and winding caverns far be-
low the surface of the earth. When the first
vent or communication is made to these cav-
erns, the waters, by the pressure of the in-
cumbent gasses, are found to rise till the foun-
tain is in a great degree exhausted, as is like-
wise the rarer fluid which forced them to rise.
The waters, by springs and subterranean rills,
which have found a passage through mines of
salt, again fill the chasm, compressing the in-
cumbent air till it will yield no more; and as
there is but one small aperture, the waters
are forced up with more violence than if a
greater vent was given, and it continues longer
to rise, on account of the waters being constant-
ly flowing into the reservoir beneath.

5th. As there are some islands which have
not been raised by fires, but have their bases
formed by the industrious coral, from our
premises we should conclude, that near the
coasts of such islands, the tides would not rise
so high as by those which are volcanic and
have chasms beneath them.

We have seen no accounts of navigators
which particularly specify the height of the
tides round the many islands which they have
visted. But among the islands of Austral
Asia, which, from their mountains and primi-
tive roeks> are presumed to be volcanic, the

205

the tides are much higher than among the
islands of Polynesia, some of which are coral.
But the smallness of the islands of Polynesia,
if they were all volcanic, would not have be-
neath them caverns of sufficient extent to pour
forth waters in sufficient quantities to raise, in
any great degree, the expanse of ocean around
them.

The Carolinas and Ladrones appear, from
their situation, to have been once united, and
it is presumed, that they were all elevated at
the same explosion or volcanic eruption; and
when the propelling force subsided, they again
sunk, as did the West India isles, almost fill-
ing the caverns from which they were projected.
The Pelew islands may have belonged to the
same range. And it is not deemed presump-
tion to suppose, that Asacides, Queen Char-
lotte's, the Friendly, and Society islands, are
but the summits of an extensive mass of matter
once elevated from the depth of the ocean. —
Lord Mulgrave's range, Barring's Musquito
group, Tindall's, and Brown's range, are the
remains of lands, whose foundations were not
able to support them. The appearance of
Fox islands indicates that they were the
branch of a range of mountains, which projec-
ted from the Stony mountains, but whose
arches were not so constructed as to uphold
18

206

them. All of the Sandwich isles may have
received their birth at one time, and from
the same cause now appear in separate piles.
New Zealand, and the circumjacent isles, are
presumed to have been brought to light by
one impulse of nature. And many other clus-
ters, which now appear as in scattered frag-
ments of extensive lands, which by supreme
command was caused to appear and settle in
the same disorderly, but united ranges, by the
same cause.

If these numerous clusters of islands arose,
as has been stated, and again sunk when the
force which raised them ceased to operate,
they must have nearly filled the chasms from
whence they were thrown. Hence but small
extents of waters could be beneath them, to
cause the surrounding oceans to rise when the
scales would preponderate in their favour. —
And examine the reports of navigators, in
regard to the height of the tides among these
various clusters of islands.

5th. If the tides are produced by subterra-
nean waters being forced into the open ocean,
we should suppose that there would be di-
verse currents in the ocean, flowing in differ-
ent directions as the channels run, through
which the waters were propelled.

207

Most of the chasms or channels through
which the subterranean waters flow, are so far
beneath the surface of the ocean, that their
influx appears only by the sudden rise of the
oceans where their waters are discharged, and
in the innumerable bubbles of air which have
just escaped from the dreary caverns within ta
the glorious light of the sun.

But in the oceans are numerous currents
flowing in every direction. In some parts of
the ocean, where the surface is calm, deep
currents flow to the north. In other places to
the south, and to every point of the compass,
according to the situation of the coast adjacent
to which soundings are made. In some places
where the surface or upper current moves to
the north, a lower current runs to the south,
and so in every direction. In the Mediterra-
nean sea, many such currents have been dis-
covered. Such currents would be expected, if
the waters are flowing from, and receding to
seas and lakes beneath the continents and
islands. But if dame Luna causes and regu-
lates the whole of them, she would have so
much employment, that she could not affect so
many brains as seem swayed by her influence.

By the mouth of two or three witnesses,
shall every word be established. In some
places, the mouths of the chasms or channels

208

leading from the interior to the exterior floods,
are so near the surface of the ocean, that the
currents are perceptible.

■•1st. Among the Orkney isles, there are two
opposite currents when the tides are flowing.
One runs from the north-west, and the other
from the south east, and when they meet,"they
dash their roaring billows up to the clouds,
and convert the separating strait into an enor-
mous mass of foam." It is evident that these
currents must flow from subterranean caverns
beneath the islands, and their outlets are op-
posite to each other, and so near the surface,
that their mists and spray are thrown high in
the air.

2d. The Maalstrom, a vast vortex in the At-
lantic, west of Norwray, is our second witness.
This vortex or whirlpool is several miles in di-
ameter, and its current is so powerful, that
when vessels or whales come within its influ-
ence they cannot be rescued from its devouring
jaws; and are immediately consigned to de-
struction. When the tides rise again, their
shattered remains or fragments are thrown out
and cover the ocean. Had the mouth of this
cavern been several hundred feet lower from
the surface of the ocean, the whirl on the sur^
face would not have been produced, and thou-

209

sands, of greater extent than that, may exist too
deep for human discovery.

3d. The third witness is Scylla, which has
been mentioned, whose devouring jaws cannot
be better described than Virgil has done it.

The sudden rise of waters during earth-
quakes, induces us to believe that there are
vast caverns filled with waters beneath lands,
and that those waters are greatly agitated and
driven from their retreats by an incumbent
fluid,* during the convulsions of nature.

The atmosphere filling the upper part of
these caverns becomes rarefied; and struggling
againat its barriers* bursts the solid strata which
confine it, and torrents of waters are forced
through the yawning chasms. At such periods
though the exterior ocean is compressed to its
lowest state, yet instantly it is compelled to
flow, and waves in mountainous height are
driven over lands far above the approach of
the highest tides. In such calamities, cities
have often been swallowed in the opening
chasms, sunk with the lands on which they
rested, or been overwhelmed by the irresisti-
ble surges. At such a crisis vessels are driven
from harbours, dashed against the precipices,
or whirled by eddying billows over the remains
of ruined cities.

210

There are phenomena of the oceans called
counter tides. These are sudden rises of
water near the coasts when the moon is in the
opposite hemisphere, and when there is no
appearance of earthquakes.

These Sowings are occasioned by the atmos-
phere in the caverns under such coasts becom-
ing so rarefied as to press the waters from their
retreats, but do not acquire force to shake and
burst the surrounding strata.

These are but a few of the phenomena of na-
ture which are easily explained by the theory
we have adopted, and which by former theories
have been unaccounted far.

If the moon occasions the tides by attrac-
tion, these many phenomena remain as mys-
teries.

But, it will be observed, "there can be no
doubt but the moon is the cause of the tides,
because they flow so regularly with the moon,
never varying more than an hour. The mo-
tion of the moon, is an effect of the same cause,
the sun, as the tides, and it cannot be surpris-
ing that two effects of one cause should not es-
sentially differ. Besides, would our limits per-
mit, or would a further investigation of this
subject be interesting, we would attempt to
prove that were the tides produced by the at-
traction of the moon, the time of high tides

211

would not so soon follow the moon's being at
the meridian; and we would explain from our
theory the cause of the tides being so regular,

There are many other phenomena both of
land and water, which go, as we conceive, di-
rectly to prove the correctness of the positions
we have taken.

But it is believed, that enough has been said
on each subject, to lead an unprejudiced mind
to reflect for itself, and should more be requir-
ed to convince the prejudiced, they may in fu-
ture be accommodated.

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