_The second Part of this Discourse, proving the same Theory from the
Effects and present Form of the Earth. First, by a general Scheme of
what is most remarkable in this Globe, and then by a more particular
Induction; beginning with an Account of subterraneous Cavities and
subterraneous Waters._
WE have now finished our Explication of the universal Deluge, and given
an Account, not only of the Possibility of it, but (so far as our
Knowledge can reach) of its Causes; and of that Form and Structure of
the Earth, whereby the _Old World_ was subject to that sort of Fate. We
have not begged any principles or Suppositions for the Proof of this;
but taking that common Ground, which both _Moses_ and all Antiquity
present to us, _viz._ _That this Earth rose from a Chaos_: We have from
that deduc’d, by an easy Train of Consequences, what the first Form of
it would be; and from that Form, as from a nearer Ground, we have by a
second Train of Consequences made it appear, that at some Time or other
that first Earth would be subject to a Dissolution, and by that
Dissolution to a Deluge. And thus far we have proceeded only by the
Intuition of Causes, as is most proper to a Theory; but for the
Satisfaction of those that require more sensible Arguments, and to
compleat our Proofs on either hand, we will now argue from the Effects;
and from the present State of Nature, and the present Form of the Earth,
prove that it hath been broken, and undergone such a Dissolution as we
have already describ’d, and made the immediate Occasion of the Deluge.
And that we may do this more perspicuously and distinctly, we will lay
down this Proposition to be prov’d, _viz._ _That the present Form and
Structure of the Earth, both as to the Surface and as to the interior
Parts of it, so far as they are known and accessible to us, doth exactly
answer to our Theory concerning the Form and Dissolution of the first
Earth, and cannot be explain’d upon any other Hypothesis yet known._
ORATORS and Philosophers treat Nature after a very different Manner;
those represent her with all her Graces and Ornaments, and if there be
any Thing that is not capable of that, they dissemble it, or pass it
over slightly. But Philosophers view Nature with a more impartial Eye,
and without Favour or Prejudice give a just and free Account, how they
find all the Parts of the Universe, some more, some less perfect. And as
to this Earth in particular, if I was to describe it as an Orator, I
would suppose it a beautiful and regular Globe; and not only so, but
that the whole Universe was made for its sake; that it was the Darling
and Favourite of Heaven, that the Sun shin’d only to give it Light, to
ripen its Fruit, and make fresh its Flowers; and that the great Concave
of the Firmament, and all the Stars in their several Orbs, were design’d
only for a spangled Cabinet to keep this Jewel in. This _Idea_ I would
give of it as an Orator; but a Philosopher that overheard me would
either think me in Jest, or very injudicious, if I took the Earth for a
Body so regular in it self, or so considerable if compar’d with the rest
of the Universe. This, he would say, is to make the great World like one
of the Heathen Temples, a beautiful and magnificent Structure, and of
the richest Materials, yet built only for a little brute Idol, a Dog, or
a Crocodile, or some deformed Creature placed in a Corner of it.
WE must therefore be impartial where the Truth requires it, and describe
the Earth as it is really in it self; and though it be handsome and
regular enough to the Eye in certain Parts of it, single Tracks and
single Regions; yet if we consider the whole Surface of it, or the whole
exterior Region, ’tis as a broken and confus’d Heap of Bodies, plac’d in
no Order to one another, nor with any Correspondency or Regularity of
Parts: And such a Body as the Moon appears to us, when ’tis look’d upon
with a good Glass, rude and ragged; as it is also represented in the
modern Maps of the Moon; such a Thing would the Earth appear if it was
seen from the Moon. They are both in my Judgment the Image or Picture of
a great Ruin, and have the true Aspect of a World lying in its Rubbish.
_See Fig._ in _Chap. XI._
OUR Earth is first divided into Sea and Land, without any Regularity in
the Portions, either of the one or the other; in the Sea lie the
Islands, scatter’d like Limbs torn from the rest of the Body; great
Rocks stand rear’d up in the Waters; the Promontories and Capes shoot
into the Sea, and the Sinus’s and Creeks on the other hand run as much
into the Land; and these without any Order or Uniformity. Upon the other
Part of our Globe stand great Heaps of Earth or Stone, which we call
Mountains; and if these were all plac’d together, they would take up a
very considerable part of the dry Land: In the rest of it are lesser
Hills, Valleys, Plains, Lakes and Marshes, Sands and Desarts, _&c._ and
these also without any regular Disposition. Then the Inside of the
Earth, or inward Parts of it, are generally broken or hollow, especially
about the Mountains and high Lands, as also towards the Shores of the
Sea, and among the Rocks. How many Holes and Caverns, and strange
subterraneous Passages do we see in many Countries? And how many more
may we easily imagine, that are unknown and unaccessible to us?
THIS is the Pourtraicture of our Earth, drawn without Flattery; and as
oddly as it looks, it will not be at all surprizing to one that hath
consider’d the foregoing Theory: For ’tis manifest enough, that upon the
Dissolution of the first Earth, and its Fall into the Abyss, this very
Face and Posture of Things, which we have now describ’d, or something
extreamly like it, would immediately result. The Sea would be open’d,
and the Face of the Globe would be divided into Land and Water: And
according as the Fragments fell, some would make Islands or Rocks in the
Sea, others would make Mountains or Plains upon the Land; and the Earth
would generally be full of Caverns and Hollownesses, especially in the
mountainous Parts of it. And we see the Resemblance and Imitation of
this in lesser Ruins, when a Mountain sinks and falls into subterraneous
Water; or, which is more obvious, when the Arch of a Bridge is broken,
and falls into the Water, if the Water under it be not so deep as to
overflow and cover all its Parts, you may see there the Image of all
these things in little Continents, and Islands, and Rocks under Water:
And in the Parts that stand above the Water, you see Mountains, and
Precipices, and Plains, and most of the Varieties that we see and admire
in the Parts of the Earth. What need we then seek any further for the
Explication of these things? Let us suppose this Arch of the Bridge, as
the great Arch of the Earth, which once it had, and the Water under it
as the Abyss, and the Parts of this Ruin to represent the Parts of the
Earth: There will be scarce any Difference but of lesser and greater,
the same things appearing in both. But we have naturally that Weakness
or Prejudice, that we think great things are not to be explained from
easy and familiar Instances; we think there must be something difficult
and operose in the Explication of them, or else we are not satisfied;
whether it is that we are ashamed to see our Ignorance and Admiration to
have been so groundless, or whether we fancy there must be a Proportion
between the Difficulty of the Explication, and the Greatness of the
thing explain’d; but that is a very false Judgment, for let Things be
never so great, if they be simple, their Explication must be simple and
easy: And on the contrary, some things that are mean, common, and
ordinary, may depend upon Causes very difficult to find out; for the
Difficulty of explaining an Effect doth not depend upon its Greatness or
Littleness, but upon the Simplicity or Composition of its Causes. And
the Effects and _Phænomena_ we are here to explain, though great, yet
depending upon Causes very simple, you must not wonder if the
Explication, when found out, be familiar and very intelligible.
AND this is so intelligible, and so easily deducible from the
forementioned Causes, that a Man born blind, or brought up all his Life
in a Cave, that had never seen the Face of the Earth, nor ever heard any
Description of it, more than that it was a great Globe; having this
Theory propos’d to him, or being instructed what the Form of the first
Earth was, how it stood over the Waters, and then how it was broke and
fell into them, he would easily of his own accord foretel what Changes
would arise upon this Dissolution; and what the new Form of the Earth
would be. As in the first place he would tell you, that this second
Earth would be distinguish’d and checker’d into Land and Water; for the
Orb which fell being greater than the Circumference it fell upon, all
the Fragments could not fall flat and lie drown’d under Water; and those
that stood above would make the dry Land or habitable part of the Earth.
Then in the second Place, he would plainly discern that these Fragments
that made the dry Land could not lie all plain and smooth and equal, but
some would be higher and some lower, some in one Posture and some in
another; and consequently would make Mountains, Hills, Valleys and
Plains, and all other Varieties we have in the Situation of the Parts of
the Earth. And lastly, a blind Man would easily divine that such a great
Ruin could not happen but there would be a great many Holes and Cavities
amongst the Parts of it, a great many Intervals and empty Places in the
Rubbish, as I may so say; for this we see happens in all Ruins more or
less; and where the Fragments are great and hard, ’tis not possible they
should be so adjusted in their Fall, but that they would lie hollow in
many Places, and many unfill’d Spaces would be intercepted amongst them;
some gaping in the Surface of the Earth, and others hid within; so as
this would give occasion to all sorts of Fractures and Cavities either
in the Skin of the Earth, or within its Body. And these Cavities, that I
may add that in the last Place, would be often fill’d with subterraneous
Waters, at least at such a Depth; for the Foundations of the Earth
standing now within the Waters, so high as those Waters reach’d they
would more or less propagate themselves every way.
THUS far our blind Man could tell us what the new World would be, or the
Form of the Earth upon the great Dissolution; and we find his Reasonings
and Inferences very true, these are the chief Lineaments and Features of
our Earth; which appear indeed very irregular and very unaccountable
when they are look’d upon naked in themselves; but if we look upon them
through this Theory, we see as in a Glass all the Reasons and Causes of
them. There are different Genius’s of Men, and different Conceptions,
and every one is to be allow’d their Liberty as to things of this
Nature; I confess, for my own part, when I observe how easy and
naturally this _Hypothesis_ doth apply it self to the general Face of
this Earth, hits and falls in so luckily and surprizingly with all the
odd Postures of its Parts, I cannot, without Violence, bear off my Mind
from fully assenting to it: And the more odd and extravagant, as I may
so say, and the more diversify’d the Effects and Appearances are, to
which an _Hypothesis_ is to be apply’d, if it answers them all and with
Exactness, it comes the nearer to a moral Certitude and Infallibility.
As a Lock that consists of a great deal of Workmanship, many Wards, and
many odd Pieces and Contrivances, if you find a Key, that answers to
them all, and opens it readily, ’tis a thousand to one that ’tis the
true Key, and was made for that Purpose.
AN eminent Philosopher of this Age, _Monsier des Cartes_, hath made use
of the like _Hypothesis_ to explain the irregular Form of the present
Earth; though he never dream’d of the Deluge, nor thought that first
Orb, built over the Abyss, to have been any more than a transient Crust,
and not a real habitable World that lasted for more than sixteen hundred
Years, as we suppose it to have been. And though he hath, in my Opinion,
in the Formation of that first Orb, and upon the Dissolution of it,
committed some great Oversights, whereof we have given an Account in the
_Latin_ Treatise, _C. 7. & lib. 2. c. 4._ however he saw a Necessity of
such a Thing, and of the Disruption of it, to bring the Earth into that
Form and Posture wherein we now find it.
THUS far we have spoken in general, concerning the Agreement and
Congruity of our Supposition with the present Face of the Earth, and the
easy Account it gives of the Causes of it. And though I believe to
ingenuous Persons, that are not prejudic’d by the Forms and Opinions of
the Schools against every thing that looks like a Novelty or Invention,
thus much might be sufficient; yet for the Satisfaction of all, we will,
as a farther Proof of our Theory, or that part of it which concerns the
Dissolution of the Earth, descend to a particular Explication of three
or four of the most considerable and remarkable things that occur in the
Fabrick of this present Earth; namely, _The great Channel of the Ocean;
subterraneous Cavities and subterraneous Waters_; and lastly, _Mountains
and Rocks_. These are the Wonders of the Earth as to the visible Frame
of it; and who would not be pleas’d to see a rational Account of these,
of their Origin, and of their Properties? Or who would not approve of an
_Hypothesis_, when they see that Nature in her greatest and strongest
Works may easily be understood by it, and is in no other way, that we
know of, intelligible?
WE will speak first of subterraneous Cavities and Waters, because they
will be of easier Dispatch, and an Introduction to the rest.
THAT the Inside of the Earth is hollow and broken in many Places, and is
not one firm and united Mass, we have both the Testimony of Sense and of
easy Observations to prove: How many Caves and Dens and hollow Passages
into the Ground do we see in many Countries, especially amongst
Mountains and Rocks; and some of them endless and bottomless so far as
can be discover’d? We have many of these in our own Island, in
_Derbyshire_, _Somersetshire_, _Wales_, and other Counties, and in every
Continent or Island they abound more or less. These Hollownesses of the
Earth the Ancients made Prisons, or Store-houses for the Winds, and set
a God over them to confine them, or let them loose at his Pleasure. For
some Ages after the Flood, as all Antiquity tells us, these were the
first Houses Men had, at least in some Parts of the Earth; here rude
Mortals shelter’d themselves, as well as they could, from the Injuries
of the Air, till they were beaten out by wild Beasts that took
Possession of them. The ancient Oracles also us’d to be given out of
these Vaults and Recesses under Ground, the _Sibyls_ had their Caves,
and the _Delphick_ Oracle, and their Temples sometimes were built upon
an hollow Rock. Places that are strange and solemn strike an Awe into
us, and incline us to a kind of superstitious Timidity and Veneration,
and therefore they thought them fit for the Seats and Residences of
their Deities. They fancied also that Steams rise sometimes, or a sort
of Vapour in those hollow Places, that gave a kind of a divine Fury or
Inspiration. But all these Uses and Employments are now in a great
measure worn out, we know no Use of them but to make the Places talk’d
on where they are, to be the Wonders of the Country, to please our
Curiosity to gaze upon and admire; but we know not how they came, nor to
what purpose they were made at first.
IT would be very pleasant to read good Descriptions of these
subterraneous Places, and of all the strange Works of Nature there; how
she furnisheth these dark neglected Grotto’s; they have often a little
Brook runs murmuring thro’ them, and the Roof is commonly a kind of
petrefied Earth, or icy Fret-work, proper enough for such Rooms. But I
should be pleas’d especially to view the Sea-caves, or those hollow
Rocks that lie upon the Sea, where the Waves roll a great Way under
Ground, and wear the hard Rock into as many odd Shapes and Figures as we
see in the Clouds. ’Tis pleasant also to see a River in the Middle of
its Course throw itself into the Mouth of a Cave, or an Opening of the
Earth, and run under Ground sometimes many Miles; still pursuing its Way
thro’ the dark Pipes of the Earth, till at last it find an Out-let.
There are many of these Rivers taken Notice of in History in the several
Parts of the Earth, as the _Rhone_ in _France_, _Guadiana_ in _Spain_,
and several in _Greece_, _Alpheus_, _Lycus_, and _Erasinus_; then
_Niger_ in _Africa_, _Tygris_ in _Asia_, _&c._ And I believe if we could
turn _Derwent_, or any other River, into one of the Holes of the Peak,
it would groap its Way till it found an Issue, it may be, in some other
Country. These subterraneous Rivers that emerge again, shew us that the
Holes of the Earth are longer and reach further than we imagine, and if
we could see into the Ground, as we ride, or walk, we should be
affrighted to see so often Waters or Caverns under us.
BUT to return to our dry Caves; these commonly stand high, and are
sometimes of a prodigious Greatness: _Strabo_ [_Geo. l. 16._] mentions
some in the Mountains towards _Arabia_, that are capable to receive four
thousand Men at once. The Cave of _Engedi_ [_1 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4._] hid
_David_ and six hundred Men, so as _Saul_, when he was in the Mouth of
it, did not perceive them. In the Mountains of the _Traconites_ there
are many of these vast Dens and Recesses, and the People of that Country
defended themselves a long time in those strong Holds against _Herod_
and his Army: They are plac’d among such craggy Rocks and Precipices,
that, as _Josephus_ [_Ant. Jud. l. 14. ch. 27._] tells us, _Herod_ was
forced to make a sort of open Chests, and in those by Chains of Iron he
let down his Soldiers from the Top of the Mountains to go fight them in
their Dens. I need add no more Instances of this Kind: In the natural
History of all Countries, or the geographical Descriptions of them, you
find such Places taken notice of, more or less; yet if there was a good
Collection made of the chief of them in several Parts, it might be of
use, and would make us more sensible how broken and torn the Body of the
Earth is.
THERE are subterraneous Cavities of another Nature, and more remarkable,
which they call _Volcano_’s, or fiery Mountains; that belch out Flames
and Smoke and Ashes, and sometimes great Stones and broken Rocks, and
Lumps of Earth, or some metallick Mixture; and throw them to an
incredible Distance by the Force of the Eruption. These argue great
Vacuities in the Bowels of the Earth, and Magazines of combustible
Matter treasur’d up in them. And as the Exhalations within these Places
must be copious, so they must lie in long Mines or Trains to do so great
Execution, and to last so long. ’Tis scarce credible what is reported
concerning some Eruptions of _Vesuvius_ and _Ætna_. The Eruptions of
_Vesuvius_ seem to be more frequent and less violent of late; the Flame
and Smoke break out at the Top of the Mountain, where they have eaten
away the Ground and made a great Hollow, so as it looks at the Top, when
you stand upon the Brims of it, like an _Amphitheatre_, or like a great
Caldron, about a Mile in Circumference, and the burning Furnace lies
under it. The Outside of the Mountain is all spread with Ashes, but the
Inside much more; for you wade up to the Mid-leg in Ashes to go down to
the Bottom of the Cavity and ’tis extremely heavy and troublesome to get
up again. The Inside lies sloping, and one may safely go down, if it be
not in a raging Fit; but the middle Part of it, or Center, which is a
little rais’d like the Bottom of a Platter, is not to be ventur’d upon,
the Ground there lies false and hollow, there it always smoaks, and
there the Funnel is suppos’d to be; yet there is no visible Hole or
Gaping any where when it doth not rage. _Naples_ stands below in fear of
this fiery Mountain, which hath often cover’d its Streets and Palaces
with its Ashes; and in Sight of the Sea (which lies by the Side of them
both) and as it were in Defiance to it, threatens at one time or other
to burn that fair City. History tells us, that some Eruptions of
_Vesuvius_ have carry’d Cinders and Ashes as far as _Constantinople_;
this is attested both by _Greek_ and _Latin_ Authors; particularly, that
they were so affrighted with these Ashes and Darkness, that the Emperor
left the City, and there was a Day observ’d yearly for a Memorial of
this Calamity or Prodigy.
_ÆTNA_ is of greater Fame than _Vesuvius_, and of greater Fury, all
Antiquity speaks of it; not only the _Greeks_ and _Romans_, but as far
as History reacheth, either real or fabulous, there is something
recorded of the Fires of _Ætna_: The Figure of the Mountain is
inconstant, by reason of the great Consumptions and Ruins it is subject
to; the Fires and Æstuations of it are excellently describ’d by
_Virgil_, upon Occasion of _Æneas_’s passing by those Coasts.
—— _Horrificis juxta tonat Ætna ruinis;
Intendumque atram prorumpit ad ætheranubem,
Turbine fumantem piceo & candente favilla;
Attollitque globos flammarum & sydera lambit;
Interdum scopulos, avulsaque viscera montis
Erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras
Cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exæstuat imo._
_Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus
Urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Ætnam
Impositam, ruptis flammam expirare caminis.
Et fessum quoties mutet latus, intremere omnem
Murmure Trinacriam & cœlum subtexere fumo._
——_Ætna, whose Ruins make a thunder;
Sometimes black Clouds of Smoke, that rowl about
Mingled with Flakes of Fire, it belches out:
And sometimes Balls of Flame it darts on high,
Or its torn Bowels flings into the Sky.
Within deep Cells under the Earth, a Store
Of Fire-materials, molten Stones, and Ore,
It gathers, then spews out, and gathers more._
_Enceladus, when Thunder-struck by Jove,
Was bury’d here, and Ætna thrown above;
And when, to change his wearied Side, he turns,
The Island trembles and the Mountain burns._
NOT far from _Ætna_ lies _Strombolo_, and other adjacent Islands, where
there are also such Magazines of Fire; and throughout all Regions and
Countries in the _West-Indies_ and in the _East_, in the northern and
southern Parts of the Earth, there are some of these _Volcano_’s, which
are sensible Evidences that the Earth is incompact and full of Caverns;
besides, the roarings and bellowings that use to be heard before an
Eruption of these _Volcano_’s argue some dreadful Hollowness in the
Belly, or under the Roots of the Mountain, where the Exhalations
struggle before they can break their Prison.
THE subterraneous Cavities, that we have spoke of hitherto, are such as
are visible in the Surface of the Earth, and break the Skin by some
gaping Orifice; but the Miners and those that work under Ground meet
with many more in the Bowels of the Earth, that never reach to the Top
of it; Burrows and Channels, and Clifts and Caverns, that never had the
Comfort of one Beam of Light since the great Fall of the Earth. And
where we think the Ground is firm and solid, as upon Heaths and Downs,
it often betrays its Hollowness, by sounding under the Horses Feet and
the Chariot Wheels that pass over it. We do not know when and where we
stand upon good Ground, if it was examin’d deep enough; and to make us
further sensible of this, we will instance in two Things that argue the
Unsoundness and Hollowness of the Earth in the inward Recesses of it,
tho’ the Surface be intire and unbroken; these are _Earthquakes_ and the
Communication of _subterraneous Waters_ and _Seas_: Of which two we will
speak a little more particularly.
EARTHQUAKES are too evident Demonstrations of the Hollowness of the
Earth, being the dreadful Effects or Consequences of it; for if the Body
of the Earth was sound and compact, there would be no such thing in
Nature as an Earthquake. They are commonly accompanied with an heavy
dead Sound, like a dull Thunder which ariseth from the Vapours that are
striving in the Womb of Nature, when her Throws are coming upon her. And
that these Caverns where the Vapours lie are very large and capacious,
we are taught sometimes by sad Experience; for whole Cities and
Countries have been swallow’d up into them, as _Sodom_ and _Gomorrah_,
and the Region of _Pentapolis_, and several Cities in _Greece_, and in
_Asia_, and other Parts. Whole Islands also have been thus absorpt in an
Earthquake; the Pillars and Props they stood upon being broken, they
have sunk and fallen in as an House blown up. I am also of Opinion, that
those Islands that are made by Divulsion from a Continent, as _Sicily_
was broken off from _Italy_, and _Great-Britain_, as some think, from
_France_, have been made the same way; that is, the Isthmus or Necks of
Land, that join’d these Islands with their Continents before, have been
hollow, and being either worn by the Water, or shak’d by an Earthquake,
have sunk down, and so made Way for the Sea to overflow them, and of a
Promontory to make an Island. For it is not at all likely that the Neck
of Land continued standing, and the Sea overflow’d it, and so made an
Island; for then, all those Passages between such Islands, and their
respective Continents, would be extremely shallow and unnavigable, which
we do not find them to be. Nor is it any more Wonder if such a Neck of
Land should fall, than that a Mountain should sink, or any other Tract
of Land, and a Lake rise in its Place, which hath often happened.
_Plato_ supposeth his _Atlantis_ to have been greater than _Asia_ and
_Africa_ together, and yet to have sunk all into the Sea; whether that
be true or no, I do not think it impossible that some Arms of the Sea,
or Sinus’s, might have had such an Original as that; and I am very apt
to think, that for some Years after the Deluge, ’till the Fragments were
well settled and adjusted, great Alterations would happen as to the Face
of the Sea and the Land; many of the Fragments would change their
Posture, and many would sink into the Water, that stood out before, the
Props failing that bore them up, or the Joints and Corners whereby they
lean’d upon one another: And thereupon a new Face of Things would arise,
and a new Deluge for that part of the Earth. Such Removes and
Interchanges, I believe, would often happen in the first Ages after the
Flood; as we see in all other Ruins, there happen lesser and secondary
Ruins after the first, ’till the Parts be so well pois’d and settled,
that without some Violence they scarce change their Posture any more.
BUT to return to our Earthquakes, and to give an Instance or two of
their Extent and Violence: _Pliny_ mentions one in the Reign of
_Tiberius Cæsar_, that struck down twelve Cities of _Asia_ in one Night.
And _Fournier_ gives us an Account of one in _Peru_, that reach’d three
hundred Leagues along the Sea-shore, and seventy Leagues In-land; and
level’d the Mountains all along as it went, threw down the Cities,
turn’d the Rivers out of their Channels, and made an universal Havock
and Confusion: And all this, he saith, was done within the Space of
seven or eight Minutes. There must be dreadful Vaults and Mines under
that Continent that gave Passage to the Vapours, and Liberty to play for
Nine Hundred Miles in length, and above two Hundred in breadth. _Asia_
also hath been very subject to these Desolations by Earthquakes; and
many Parts in _Europe_, as _Greece_, _Italy_, and others. The Truth is,
our Cities are built upon Ruins, and our Fields and Countries stand upon
broken Arches and Vaults, and so does the greatest Part of the outward
Frame of the Earth, and therefore it is no Wonder if it be often shaken;
there being Quantities of Exhalations within these Mines, or cavernous
Passages, that are capable of Rarefaction and Inflammation; and, upon
such Occasions, requiring more Room, they shake or break the Ground that
covers them. And thus much concerning Earthquakes.
A second Observation that argues the Hollowness of the Earth, is the
Communication of the Seas and Lakes under Ground. The _Caspian_ and
_Mediterranean_ Seas, and several Lakes, receive into them great Rivers,
and yet have no visible Out-let: These must have subterraneous Out-lets,
by which they empty themselves, otherwise they would redound and
overflow the Brims of their Vessel. The _Mediterranean_ is most
remarkable in this Kind, because ’tis observ’d, that at one End the
great Ocean flows into it through the Straits of _Gibraltar_, with a
sensible Current, and towards the other End about _Constantinople_ the
_Pontus_ flows down into it with a Stream so strong, that Vessels have
much ado to stem it; and yet it neither hath any visible Evacuation or
Out-let, nor overflows its Banks. And besides that it is thus fed at
either End, it is fed by the Navel too, as I may so say; it sucks in, by
their Channels, several Rivers into its Belly, whereof the _Nile_ is one
very great and considerable. These Things have made it a great Problem,
_What becomes of the Water of the Mediterranean Sea?_ And for my Part, I
think the Solution is very easy, namely, that it is discharged by
subterraneous Passages, or convey’d by Channels under the Ground into
the Ocean. And this manner of Discharge or Conveyance is not peculiar to
the _Mediterranean_, but is common to it with the _Caspian_ Sea, and
other Seas and Lakes, that receive great Rivers into them, and have no
visible Issue.
I know there have been propos’d several other Ways to answer this
Difficulty concerning the Efflux or Consumption of the Waters of the
_Mediterranean_; some have suppos’d a double Current in the Strait of
_Gibraltar_, one that carry’d the Water in, and another that brought it
out; like the Arteries and Veins in our Body, the one exporting our
Blood from the Heart, and the other re-importing it: So they suppos’d
one Current upon the Surface, which carry’d the Water into the
_Mediterranean_, and under it at a certain Depth a Counter-Current,
which brought the Water back into the Ocean. But this hath neither Proof
nor Foundation; for unless it was included in Pipes, as our Blood is, or
consisted of Liquors very different, these cross Currents would mingle
and destroy one another. Others are of Opinion, that all the Water that
flows into the _Mediterranean_, or a Quantity equal to it, is consumed
in Exhalations every Day: This seems to be a bolder Supposition than the
other; for if so much be consumed in Vapours and Exhalations every Day
as flows into this Sea, what if this Sea had an Out-let and discharg’d
by that, every Day, as much as it receiv’d? In a few Days the Vapours
would have consumed all the rest; and yet we see many Lakes that have as
free an Out-let as an In-let, and are not consum’d, or sensibly
diminish’d by the Vapours. Besides, this Reason is a Summer Reason, and
would pass very ill in Winter, when the Heat of the Sun is much less
powerful: At least there would be a very sensible Difference betwixt the
Height of the Waters in Summer and Winter, if so much was consum’d every
Day, as this Explication supposeth. And the Truth is, this Want of a
visible Out-let is not a Property belonging only to the _Mediterranean_
Sea, as we noted before, but is also in other Seas and great Lakes, some
lying in one Climate and some in another, where there is no Reason to
suppose such excessive Exhalations; and tho’ ’tis true some Rivers in
_Africk_, and in other Parts of the Earth, are thus exhal’d and dry’d
up, without ever flowing into the Sea (as were all the Rivers in the
first Earth) yet this is where the Sands and parch’d Ground suck up a
great part of them; the heat of the Climate being excessively strong,
and the Channel of the River growing shallower by degrees, and it may
be, divided into lesser Branches and Rivulets; which are Causes that
take no Place here. And therefore we must return to our first Reason,
which is universal, for all Seasons of the Year and all Climates; and
seeing we are assur’d that there are subterraneous Channels and
Passages, for Rivers often fall into the Ground, and sometimes rise
again, and sometimes never return; why should we doubt to ascribe this
Effect to so obvious a Cause? Nay, I believe, the very Ocean doth
evacuate it self by subterraneous Out-lets; for considering what a
prodigious Mass of Water falls into it every Day from the wide Mouths of
all the Rivers of the Earth, it must have Out-lets proportionable; and
those _Syrtes_ or great Whirlpools, that are constant in certain Parts
or Sinus’s of the Sea, as upon the Coast of _Norway_ and of _Italy_,
arise probably from subterraneous Out-lets in those Places, whereby the
Water sinks, and turns, and draws into it whatsoever comes within such a
Compass; and if there was no Issue at the Bottom, tho’ it might by
contrary Currents turn Things round within its Sphere, yet there is no
Reason from that, why it should suck them down to the Bottom. Neither
does it seem improbable, that the Currents of the Sea are from these
In-draughts, and that there is always a submarine In-let in some part of
them, to make a Circulation of the Waters. But thus much for the
subterraneous Communication of Seas and Lakes.
AND thus much in general concerning subterraneous Cavities, and
concerning the hollow and broken Frame of the Earth. If I had now Magick
enough to shew you at one View all the Inside of the Earth, which we
have imperfectly describ’d; if we could go under the Roots of the
Mountains, and into the Sides of the broken Rocks; or could dive into
the Earth with one of those Rivers that sink under Ground, and follow
its Course and all its Windings till it rise again, or led us to the
Sea, we should have a much stronger and more effectual _Idea_ of the
broken Form of the Earth, than any we can excite by these faint
Descriptions collected from Reason. The Ancients I remember us’d to
represent these hollow Caves and subterraneous Regions in the Nature of
a _World_ under Ground, and suppos’d it inhabited by the _Nymphs_,
especially the _Nymphs_ of the Waters and the Sea-Goddesses; so
_Orpheus_ sung of old; and in Imitation of him _Virgil_ hath made a
Description of those Regions; feigning the Nymph _Cyrene_ to send for
her Son to come down to her, and make her a Visit in those Shades where
Mortals were not admitted.
_Duc age, duc ad nos, fas illi limina Divum
Tangere, ait: Simul alta jubet discedere late
Flumina, qua juvenis gressus inferret, at illum
Curvata in momis faciem circumstitit unda,
Accepitque sinu vasto, misitque sub amnem.
Jamq; domum mirans genetricis & humida regna,
Speluncisque lacos clausos, lucosque sonantes,
Ibat, & ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum
Omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra
Spectabat diversa locis; Phasimque Licumque,
Et Thalami matris pendentia pumice tecta, &c._
Virgil.
_Come lead the Youth below, bring him to me,
The Gods are pleas’d our Mansions he should see;
Straight she commands the Floods to make him Way,
They open their wide Bosom and obey;
Soft is the Path, and easy is his Tread,
A watry Arch bends o’er his dewy Head;
And as he goes he wonders, and looks round,
To see this new found Kingdom under Ground.
The silent Lakes in hollow Caves he sees,
And on their Banks an ecchoing Grove of Trees;
The Fall of Waters ’mongst the Rocks below
He hears, and sees the Rivers how they flow:
All the great Rivers of the Earth are there,
Prepar’d, as in a Womb, by Nature’s Care.
Last, to his Mother’s Bed chamber he’s brought,
Where the high Roof with Pumice-stone is wrought, &c._
If we now could open the Earth as this _Nymph_ did the Water, and go
down into the Bosom of it; see all the dark Chambers and Apartments
there, how ill contriv’d, and how ill kept; so many Holes and Corners,
some fill’d with Smoak and Fire, some with Water, and some with Vapours
and mouldy Air; how like a Ruin it lies gaping and torn in the Parts of
it; We should not easily believe that God created it into this Form
immediately out of nothing: It would have cost no more to have made
Things in better Order; nay, it had been more easy and more simple: And
accordingly we are assured that all Things were made at first in Beauty
and Proportion. And if we consider Nature and the Manner of the first
Formation of the Earth, ’tis evident that there could be no such Holes
and Caverns, nor broken Pieces, made then in the Body of it; for the
grosser Parts of the Chaos falling down towards the Center, they would
there compose a Mass of Earth uniform and compact, the Water swimming
above it; and this first Mass under the Water could have no Caverns or
Vacuities in it; for if it had any, the earthy Parts, while the Mass was
liquid or semi-liquid, would have sunk into them and fill’d them up,
expelling the Air or Water that was there; and when afterwards there
came to be a Crust or new Earth form’d upon the Face of the Waters,
there could be no Cavities, no Dens, no Fragments in it, no more than in
the other; and for the same general Reason, _that is_, passing from a
liquid Form into a concrete or solid, leisurely and by degrees, it would
slow and settle together in an entire Mass; there being nothing broken,
nor any Thing hard, to bear the Parts off from one another, or to
intercept any empty Spaces between them.
’TIS manifest then, that the Earth could not be in this cavernous Form
originally, by any Work of Nature, nor by any immediate Action of God,
seeing there is neither Use nor Beauty in this kind of Construction. Do
we not then, as reasonably, as aptly, ascribe it to that Desolation that
was brought upon the Earth in the general Deluge, when its outward Frame
was dissolv’d and fell into the great Abyss? How easily doth this answer
all that we have observ’d concerning the subterraneous Regions? That
hollow and broken Posture of Things under Ground, all those Caves and
Holes, and blind Recesses, that are otherwise so unaccountable, say but
that they are a _Ruin_, and you have in one Word explain’d them all. For
there is no sort of Cavities, interior or exterior, great or little,
open or shut, wet or dry, of what Form or Fashion soever, but we might
reasonably expect them in a Ruin of that Nature. And as for the
subterraneous Waters, seeing the Earth fell into the Abyss, the Pillars
and Foundations of the present (exterior) Earth must stand immers’d in
Water, and therefore at such a Depth from the Surface every where, there
must be Water found, if the Soil be of a Nature to admit it. ’Tis true,
all subterraneous Waters do not proceed from this Original, for many of
them are the Effects of Rains and melted Snows sunk into the Earth; but
that in digging any where you constantly come to Water at length, even
in the most solid Ground, this cannot proceed from these Rains or Snows,
but must come from below, and from a Cause as general as the Effect is;
which can be no other in my Judgment than this, that the Roots of the
exterior Earth stand within the old Abyss, whereof, as a great Part lies
open in the Sea, so the rest lies hid and cover’d among the Fragments of
the Earth; sometimes dispers’d and only moistning the Parts, as our
Blood lies in the Flesh, and in the Habit of the Body; sometimes in
greater or lesser Masses, as the Blood in our Vessels. And this I take
to be the true Account of subterraneous Waters, as distinguish’d from
Fountains and Rivers, and from the Matter and Causes of them.
THUS much we have spoke to give a general _Idea_ of the inward Parts of
the Earth, and an easy Explication of them by our _Hypothesis_; which
whether it be true or no, if you compare it impartially with Nature, you
will confess at least, that all these Things are just in such a Form and
Posture as if it was true.