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C O UN T OF B IF FON.
F,¡dish d by a.O.Syhionds Jundi.ibsh -LIFE
OF
OEGRGE LOUIS LE CLERC,
COUNT OF BUFFON.
BY CONDORCET.
THIS celebrated rjaturalist was born at Montbard, September 7, 1707, ar>d was the son of Benjamin le Clerc •de Buffoh, counsellor 0f the parliament of Bourgogne and ef Mademoiselle Merlin.
Animated, from his earliest youth, with a desire to learn* experiencing at once ardour for knowledge aftd for glory, he was not insensible to the pleasures of his age ; and his passion for study, by preventing him frOm being subdued by his ardour for pleasure, contributed to preserve rather than to extinguish it. Chance introduced him to the acquaintance of the yoUng Lord Kingston, who loved and cultivated the sciences ; in this society Buffon found instruction and amusement ; he lived with him at Paris and at Saumur, followed him into England, and accompanied him to Italy.
Neither the chef d'emvi'es of antiquity nor those of the moderns, who, in imitating have often surpassed them, had any power over the mind of Buffon; he beheld nothing but nature, at once grand, majestic, and delightful, presenting voluptuous retreats and peaceful asylums between torrents of lava and on the wrecks of volcanos; lavishing her wealth to countries which she threatened to swallow tup beneath heaps of cinders and burning rivers, and displaying at each step, the proofs and Vestiges of the ancien revolutions of the globe. The perfection of the works ef
VOL, 1, *	SILIFE OF THE
II*
man, all the grandeur which their weakness could Bestow upon them, all which time could impart to them, either of interest or majesty, vanished from his sight before the works of that creative hand whose power extends over worlds, and to whom, in his eternal activity, human generations are scarcely an instant ! From that moment ho learned to behold nature with transport and with reflection^
Be united die taste of observation to that of the contem* plative science«, and embracing them all in die universality of his knowledge, he formed the resolution of devoting his life exclusively to them*
A constitution which rendered him capable of long-and continued labour, an ardour which made him devour without disgust, and almost without lassitude, the most fastidious details 5 a character in which were found none of those qualities which repulse fortune, the consciousness which he had of his own powers; all seemed to call him to-that pre-eminence which nature had marked out, amfl where he could hope a brilliant success ; they were sacrifices to the sciences, nor is he the only example which- the academy presents of this noble devotion« What rendered Buffon more ‘singular that at that time he was not impeded towards any particular science by that resistless impulse which compels the mind to occupy itself about one object, and does not leave to inclination the power of diverting it. Rut every thing which elevated his ideas or enlarged his knowledge had a charm for him; lie knew that if literary glory be, after that of arms, the most durable, and the most brilliant:, it is also that which of all others can be the least contested $ he knew also, that every man who attracts the attention of the public by his. works or by his actions, has no longer an opportunity of affecting importance, but may expect k from his character and. conduct. ,
The first labours of Ruffon were translations; a singular fact, not’perhaps to be found in the life of any man destined ip/great renown *. He wished to perfect himself in the English language, to exercise himself in writing his own, *o‘ Study in Newton the calculation of infinities, in Hales
*	be presumed tka^ Condoreot here moans titans«-.
Ifafiofes- fr-oui living languages y. the greatest names hate cosenaeneed by vmioHs- from the cfessios^I>xyden> Pope, Ice1,	in the. brnier, the of Johnson* i§ a* con*
tardiction to this assertion^ his translation of Lob% was prior iio all his other works«
COUNT BE BUFFON
m
the attempts towards a new system of physics ; he accord-, iugly translated “ Newton’s Fluxions” and Hales’s Vegetable Statics.”
Each of these translations is preceded by a preface, Bpffon has since obtained so great and merited celebrity as a writer-, that the first attempts of his youth excite cariosity. It is natural to expect in them the first dawn-ings of his talents, to behold what has since been added by .practice, to observe in fact between the gifts of nature and the efforts of reflection. But in these prefaces only one characteristic of BufFon’s style will be found, that noble gravity which hardly ever quits him. Kis taste was already too much formed to permit him to seek for ornaments which the subject did not require, and his name too well known to risk them. Timidity and boldness may be ■equally the character of the first work of a man of genius; but that timidity which supposes a taste inspired by nature and a premature wisdom, has been the gift of those; writers only who have shewn the most decided and chaste talents. Rarely those who have *)ot been restrained by salutary .fear in tire outset of their career have attained ito goal without deviations.
. BufFon at first appeared to be entirely devoted to the mathematics. Regarded since Newton’s time as the foundation and the key to all physical knowledge, they became as it were a sort of fashion, and which was partly owing to the circumstance of M. de Maupertuis being a geometrician, and at the same time a man of the world. But if BufFon occupied himself some time with the mathematics., it was, in some measure^ to study himself, to try hit-strength, and to ascertain the temper of his genius. He soon feit that nature called him to other studies $ and he tried a new road, which the public taste also pointed out to him.
Following the example of M. Duhamel, he wished tc apply his physical acquirements to objects of immediate utility $ as a naturalist he studied in the woods, which, as their proprietor, he was competed to occupy, and he published upon this part of agriculture many memoirs, parti-culariy remarkable for the wisdom with which, avoiding all system, all general but uncertain views, he confined liirnself to detailing faots and relating experiments. He dared not deviate from that spirit which now began to prevail among the learned, that severe and scrupulous fidelity
take for guides nothin# bsut calculation and observa®IV
tIFF OF THB
tion, and to stop the moment that those sure threads broke, or escaped from their hands.
A short time afterwards Buffon proved by fact the possibility of the burning mirrors of Archimedes and Proclus* Tzetzes has left a description which shows that he employed a system of plane mirrors. The attempts made by Kir:herwith a small number ©f mirrors left no doubt upon this subject: Dufay had repeated this experiment: Har-secker had even begun a machine constructed upon the principle : but Buffon may claim the honour among the moderns of having shawn the extraordinary experiment of combustion excited at a distance of two hundred feet; an experiment which had never been seen before, except at Syracuse and Constantinople.
In 1739 Buffon was nominated intendant of the garden of the king. The duties of this place fixed for ever his taste, which had hitherto been divided among different sciences ; ar.d without renouncing any, it was only in relation to natural history that he now permitted himself to contemplate them.
Obliged to study the details of this science so vast, to go through the immense compilations in which were col» lected the observations of all countries and of all ages, his imagination soon forffied the idea of painting what others had described ; his mind accustomed to form combinations, perceived a whole, when others only saw a part.
He dared, therefore, to conceive the project of assembling all these facts, and of drawing general results which might become the theory of nature, while the observations are only her history ; to give interest and fife to that of animals, by mixing a philosophical picture of their manners and customs to descriptions embellished with all the colours which eloquence could bestow ; to create in fact for philosophers, for all men who have exercised their mind and heart, a science which did not before exist.
The immensity of this plan did not repel him ; he doubtless foresaw that an assiduous labour every day, during a long life, could only execute a part; but it wap requisite to set the example, and to give the impulse«, The difficulty of imparting interest to so many inanimate or insipid objects did not deter him ; he had already that consciousness of talent, which, like the moral one, never deceives when interrogated in earnest and suffered to dictate an unbiassed answer.
Ten years were employed in preparing the materials,
t	inCOUNT DE BUXTON.
V
in forming combinations, in instructing himself in the-science of facts, in exercising himself in the art of writing 5 and at the end of this period, the first volume of the Natural History appeared, to astonish Europe. In speaking of this work, which every man has read, which almost every man has admired, which occupied, with the labour of composition and the preliminary studies, the whole life of Buffon,\ve shall take truth for our guide (for why vainly seek to flatter by praise which will exist but a day, a name that is destined to live for ever ?) and avoiding, if it ke possible, the influence of every cause which can operate upon the often temporary opinion of contemporaries, we shall endeavour to anticipate the opinion of posterity.
The general theory of the globe which we inhabit, the disposition, nature, and origin of the substances which present themselves to our view, the grand phenomena which take place either on its surface or in its bosom $ the history of man and the laws which determine his formation, his developement, his life, and.his destruction j the nomenclature and description of quadrupeds or of birds, the examination of their faculties, the delineation of their, manners } such are the objects upon which the genius of Buffon exercised itself.
We know, from exact observations, only a very small part of the surface of the globe ; we have never penetrated into its interior, unless guided by the avaricious hope of drawing from thence something useful to our wants, or valuable to our pride and luxury j. and when Buffon wrote his theory of the earth, our knowledge respecting it was still less than it now is, though even yet imperfect. It might therefore be regarded as presumptuous to form at that time a general tneory of the globe, when it would be so even at present. But Buffon knew man too well not to feel that a science, which presents nothing but individual facts, or general results under the form of simple conjectures, would attract but little common minds, which are too weak to support the incumbrance of doubt. He knew that Descartes had drawn man to the study of ohilosopby by the boldness of his systems j that he had torn them from the yoke of authority, by laying hold of their imagination, managing their indolence, and that afterwards, being free from all fetters, and possessed of an avidity to know, they had themselves ehosen the true road* He had also seen ip the history of sciences, that
theLITE OF TUE
Yt
that the epoch <of their greatest progress had almost always been that of celebrated systems } because these systems, exalting at once the activity both of their adversaries and their defenders, all the objects are submitted to our discussion, in which the spirit of party is so keen in demanding proofs from the opposite side, that these proofs necessarily become multiplied.
Thus the most austere philosophy may pardon a naturalist for indulging his imagination, provided that his errors have contributed to the progress of science, from the very necessity of detecting them } and of the hypotheses of Buffan on the formation of planets be contrary to those very physical laws of which he was, in France, one of the first and most zealous defenders, yet truth, however severe in condemning these hypotheses, must still applaud the art with which the author formed them.
The objection of some critics, new observations, and facts formerly known, but which had escaped his attention, compelkdouT author to abandon some parts of his theory ©f the earth. Butin his epochs ©f nature, a work intended to exhibit Ids new ideas, and to modify or to defend his principles, he seems to increase in boldness in proportion to the losses which his system had sustained } to defend it with new energy when he was thought to he reduced to the necessity of abandoning; it, and to balance by the grandeur of his ideas, by the magnificence of his style, and by the weight of his name, the authority of united philosophers, and even that of facts and calculations.
The theory of the earth was followed by the history of mm> who has received or usurped its empire. Nature hassovered with an impenetrable veil the laws which operate in the reproduction of beings}- Buifo-n endeavoured t© raise it, or rather to conjecture what it concealed. In the ftuids, in which other naturalists had seen animals, he perceived only organic molecules} the general elements of every animated being. The infusions of various animal substances, and those of grains,.presented the same molecules in greater or less abundance ; they, provide there, fore equally for the reproduction of beings^ for their growth and for their preservation } they existed in the aliments with which they were nourished, circulated in their liquors, and united to each c£ their organs, to repair the loss that might have been occasioned. When these organs have the flexibility of infancy, the organic rocteeufes combiningCOUNT DE BUFFON.	Vl¡f
Dining so as to preserve1 or modify thé form, determiné this dfevélópément and progress j but after the period of youth when they are collected in individual organs, or escaping by the action of the body upon them to which they belong, they may form new combinations, and they preserve, according to the different parts in which they have existed, a disposition to reunite so as to present the same forms and reproduce, consequently, individuals similar to those from which they emanated. This system had few partizans ; if vvas too difficult to form an idea of thaf power, by virtue of which, molecules removed from all parts of a body should preserve a tendency to replace themselves in a similar order. Besides, the researches of Haller on the formation of the chicken contradicted too strongly thisopinion ; the identity of the membranes of the nascent' animal, with those of the egg, was too Opposite to the hypothesis of an animal ulteriorly forward,* The observations of Spallanzani upon the same liquors and the same infusions seemed equally to destroy,, even in it* principle, the system of organic molecules. But when disengaged from the trammels of this system, Buffcn is then a palmer, historian, and philosopher. With what interest, traversing rhe universe in his steps, we behold man, who is fundamentally the same every where, slowly modified by the continued action of climate, soil, habits, prejudices 5 changing in colour and physiognomy, the same as in taste and opinion ; acquiiingor losing strength, and beauty, the same as intelligence, sensibility and virtue. With what pleasure in his history we trace the progress of man and even his decline5 we study the laws of that constant correspondence between the physical changes of his senses or organs, and those which operate on the understanding or on the passions 5 we learn to know the mechanism of our senses, their relations with our sensations or our ideas, the errors-to which they expose us, the manner in which we learn to-see, to touch, to understand, and how the child, whose feeble and uncertain eyes that behold only a confused mass of colours, attains by habit and reflection, to seize in a single glance tire extent of a vast horizon, and even to the power of creating and combining images. With what curiosity we observe those details #hich relate to the most lively of our pleasures and the most delightful of our sentiments, those secrets of nature ^vd of modesty, to which the majesty of style ami the severityviil	LIFE OF THE
verity of thought impart decency and decorum, and a sort of philosophic dignity, and which wisdom itself may contemplate without a blush ?
. before writing the history of each species of animal, Buf-fon.thought that he ought to study the qualities common to all, which distinguish them from beings of other classes. Similar to man in almost every thing which relates to body, having in their senses, in their.organs, only those dif«£ farences which might exist between beings of the same nature, and which only indicate an inferiority in congruous qualities; are animals separated from us by their intellectual faculties ? Buffon endeavoured to solve this problem * but we dare not say that he has resolved it with success. Fearing to alarm, by presenting his opinions without a veil, he has in fact, covered them with one so thick, that it is not always penetrable. He may also be reproached, with some justice, for not having observed animals with sufficient scrupulosity, for not having attended to details, minute in themselves, but necessary to catch the fine shades of their operations. He-seems to have perceived in each species only a uniformity of procedure and habit, Which? conveys the idea of a blind and mechanical force ; whereas, had he observed them more closely, he would have perceived very sensible differences between individuals and actions, which seem to belong to reasoning, which indicate even abstract and general ideas.
The first class of animals described by Buffoh is that of quadrupeds; the second, that of birds; and to these two classes he has limited his labours. So extensive a series of descriptions might be monotonous ; but talent triumphed over this obstacle. To the history of quadrupeds and birds preceded that of the mineral substances. In this part of his work, Buffon has not, perhaps,, attached sufficient importance to the labours of modern-Chemistry ^ to that of precise and well authenticated facts with which they have enriched the science of nature ; to that analytical method which conducts with such certainty to truth. 'In fact, the chemical analysis of mineral substances can alone give to, their nomenclature a solid basis, and ahed light on their history, on their origin, on the ancient events which have determined their formation.
Still, however, in the history of minerals may be found the talent and philosophy of Buffon, his ingenious perceptions, bis grand and general views, that art of seizing in the results of facts every thing that can support those
viewsjCOUNT DE BUFFON
it
views, and that power of enchanting the mind, and making it admire the author when even reason cannot adopt his principles.
The Natural History contains a work of a different nature, Under the title of moral arithmetic. An application of calculation to the probabilities of the duration of human life, entered into the plan of Natural History 5 and Buffon could not treat on this subject without saying something on the principles of this calculation, and on the nature of the different truths. He establishes this opinion, that mathematical truths are not real truths, but mere truths of definition ; a just observation, if we take it in a strict metaphysical sense, but which then applies to truths of every description, the moment they become precise, and have not individuals for their object.
In his descriptions Buffon was a poet; but, like the great poets, he knew how to render the delineation of physical objects interesting, by artfully intermingling moral ideas, which charm the soul at the same time that the imagination is amused or astonished. His style is harmonious; not that sort of harmony which belongs to every correct writer, who has got the sense of hearing, and which consists almost solely in avoiding harsh and unpleasant sounds, but that harmony, which is a part of genius, which adds to its beauties by a sort of analogy between the ideas and the sounds, and which makes the phrase either soft and sonorous, majestic or easy, according to the object which it is intended to delineate, or the sentiments to be awakened. If Buffon be more abundant than precise, that abundance is rather in things than in words $ he does not content himself with a simple idea, he multiplies its shades 5 but each is expressed with precision. His style has majesty and pomp ; but that is because he presents vast ideas and majestic images; force and energy appear natural to him, and it seems as if it were impossible for him to speak, or rather to think otherwise. The variety of his style has been praised ; its monotony has been censured; but this very censure is in fact an eulogy ; in painting nature sublime or terrible, soft or gay, in describing the fury of the tiger, the majesty of the horse, the fierceness and rapidity of the eagle, the brilliant colours of the colibri, his style assumes the character of the objects, but still preserves its imposing dignity ; it is always nature that he paints, and he knew that sven in the smallest objects she manifests all her power* vq£. u	b	StruckX
LIFE OF THE
Struck with a sort of religious respect for the great phe*» nomena of the universe, for the general laws to which the various parts are subjected, this sentiment is every where visible, and forms, in some measure, the ground upon which he exhibits such variety, without however, its being totally invisible.
This art of painting, while you only seem to relate, this great power of style over objects which had already been treated with clearness, elegance, and embellished with- ingenious reflections, but to which eloquence had hitherto, been unknown, soon struck every mind: the language of France had already become the language of Europe, and Buffon acquired every where readers and disciples. But what was still more glorious to him, because it produced a real utility, was, that the success of this great work was the epoch of a revolution in the mind* ©f men ; they could not read it without wishing, at least, to take a glance at nature, and natural history became almost a vulgar sort of knowledge ; it was for all classes of society, either an amusement or an occupation; they wished to have a cabinet, the same as they wished to have a library : but the result was not the same: for in the library they only repeated copies of the same books, in cabinets, on the contrary, they collected different individuals, they multiplied them for naturalists, and from that time objects worthy of being observed more rarely escaped them.
Botany, metallurgy, those parts of natural history immediately useful to medicine, to commerce, and to manufacturers, had been encouraged 5 but it was to science itself, to that science as having for its object the knowledge of nature, that Buffon first directed the minds of sovereigns, nobles, and public men of all countries. More certain of obtaining recompense, being able to aspire at length to that popular glory which true phisolophers know how to appreciate better than other men, but which they do not despise, naturalists gave themselves up to their labours with new ardour: they were seen to multiply, at the voice of Buffon, in the provinces and in the capitals, in other parts of the world, as well as in Europe. Doubtless they bad, before him, endeavoured to make the utility of the study ©f nature be felt 5 science was not negligent; human curiosity was carried into distant countries, endeavoured to know the surface of the earth, and to penetrate Into' her bosomy but to Buffon may be applied what he
himselfCOUNT DE BUFFON;
*1
himself said of another philosopher equally celebrated, his rival in the art of writing, and like him perhaps, more useful by the effect of his writings, than by the truths which they contained: others had said the same things, hut he commanded them in the name of nature and they obeyed him !
The style of Buffon does not always offer the same degree of perfection j but is every part intended to be felt ? He has that correctness, and that purity, without which, when a language is once formed, it is impossible to attain to a durable celebrity. If he suffers himself sometimes to be negligent, it is always in those discussions which are purely scientific, where the blemishes which he may have left, does not injure the beauties, but rather serve, perhaps, to render more charming the brilliant pictures which follow. It was by long labour that he attained to give his style that degree of perfection; and he continued to correct it till he had effaced all appearances of labour, and had given himself facility j for this quality, so precious in a writer, is only the art of hiding his efforts, of presenting his thoughts, as if he had conceived them at 3 single impulse, in the most natural and striking order, and cloathed in the most proper and happy expressions $ and this art, which forms the greatest charm of style, is to be acquired only by a long series of observations and minute attentions.
Buffon loved to read his works to others, not from va« nity, but to be certain, from experience, of their clearness and precision, two qualities, perhaps, of which an author is the worst judge himself. With such intentions he did not select his auditors, but took them as chance offered, which he thought resembled the most the public, whose mode of thinking he wished to anticipate by them; he did not confine himself to receiving their advice, or rather their eulogies j he often asked them what idea they attached to a phrase, what impression they had received $ and if they had not seized his idea, if the effect failed which he wished to produce, he concluded that this part of his work wanted clearness or force, and he wrote it over again. This is an excellent method in philosophical works, which are intended to be popular $ but few authors would have the courage to employ it. It must not, however, be expected to meet with an equal degree of clearness in all the Natural History 5 Buffon wrote for the Earned, for the philosopher, and for the public 5 and he has
accordinglyLIFE OF THE
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accordingly proportioned the clearness of each part, to the desire which he had of being understood hy a greater or Jess number of readers.
Few pien were so laborious as he, or with such continued regularity. He appeared to command his ideas, rather than be carried away by them. Born with a constitution, at once healthy and robust, faithful to the principle of employing aU his faculties, until fatigue informed him that he was injuring them; his mind was always ready to execute the task which he had assigned : he loved tp labour most in the country : he had placed his cabinet at the extremity of a vast garden, on the top pf a hill; there he passed whole mornings, sometimes writing in this soli** tary retreat, sometimes meditating in the walks of the garden, whose entrance was, at such times, rigorously forbidden to every one $ alone, and in the moments of necessary aberration, in the midst of long continued labour, he saw round him nothing but nature, whose sight refreshed his sensations, and gently recalled him tp those ideas which fatigue had interrupted. These long residences at Montbard were but little compatible with his functions of treasurer of the academy; but he was chosen as an adjunct to M* Tillet, whose active and wise zeal, and whose scrupulous attachment tp aU his duties he knew too well to fear that his brother academicians would havp to complain of an absence so usefully employed.
Bptany was that part of Natural Histpry with which he was the least occupied; but his individual taste hadno influence upon his functions, as, the intendant of the garden of the king. Enlarged by his cares, distributed in the most advantageous manner, both for teaching and cultivation, this garden has become an establishment wortny of a powerful and enlightened nation, Arrived to this degree pf splendour, the garden of the king will doubtless have no more to fear from those vicissitudes of decline and renovation, of which our history has transmitted the me-mory ; and the enlightened zeal of the successor of BufFon is alone a sufficient pledge to the academy and to the Sciences.
Placed in an age in which the human mind, unquiet ir\ its chains, unfixed all of them, and broke some, in which all opinions have been examined, all errors celibated, all ancient usages submitted to discussion, in which every rpind sprung towards liberty with unexpected vigour j Suffon appeared to take no part in the general motion« %	ThisCOUNT BE BUFFON.
xiii
This silence may appear singular in a philosopher, whose works prove that he had examined man under every aspect, and indicate, at the same time, a dignified, manly, and firm manner of thinking, far distant from that inclination to scepticism, and that incertitude which leads to indifference.
Few philosophers, few writers, have obtained so popular a glory as Buffon ; and he had the happiness of seeing it continually increase in proportion as other enjoyments, diminishing those of self-love, became more necessary to fiim. He suffered but little from cristicism, because he was careful not to offend any party, and because the nature of his works excluded ignorant pretenders to literature from meddling with them. The learned, almost unanimously, preserved silence, knowing that science could derive little honour or little utility from combating a system which would necessarily rise to a general truth, if the facts were confirmed, and which, if otherwise, would fall of itself.
Besides, Buffon employed the most certain means o£ preventing the multiplication of criticisms 5 he never replied to any. Not that they were all contemptible; those of Haller, Bonnet, and Condillac, those too which many learned individuals had furnished to the author of the American Letters, merited answers which would not always have been easily given. But by answering, he would stimulate the self-love of their authors to continue their strictures, and would have perpetuated a war, in which a victory, that could not be completed, would not indemnify him for the loss of that time which he could employ more usefully to his glory.
Sovereigns, and foreign princes who visited France, were eager to pay homage to Buffon, and to visit him in the midst of the wealth of nature, which he had collected round him. The Empress of Russia, whose name is connected with that of our most celebrated philosophers, lavished on our au ho« testimonies of her admiration, most calculated to affect him, by sending him whatever, in her vast dominions, could most excite his curiosity, and selecting, with much ingenious research, those singular productions, which might serve as proofs to his opinions.
In society, Buffon patiently endured that mediocrity which served to engage his mind without opposing it, and wichout subjecting it to the fatiguing business of foreseeing their objections, or replying to them. Simple in his privateXIV
LIFE OF THE
vate life, and easily accomodating itself to its gay good nature, though from taste, fond of magnificence and all which belonged to grandeur, he preserved that noble politeness* those exterior deferences for rank and place* which in his youth were the manners of cultivated so« ciety.
In 1752, he married Mademoiselle Saint Belin, whose birth, personal attractions, and solid virtues, compensated, in his eyes for want of fortune. Age had deprived Buffon of part of the charms of youth ; but he still possessed an elegant form, a majestic air, a handsome figure, and a physiognomy at once sweet and lofty. Enthusiasm for talent, made the disparity of age vanish from the eyes of the lady, and at this period of life, when felicity seems to confine itself to friendship, and the reminiscence of a happiness Which has escaped, Buffon was lucky enough to inspire a tender constant passion, unspotted by a cloud of infelicity 5 these sentiments were evident in the looks, manners, and discourse of his wife, and filled to the period of her life, her heart. Each new work of her husband, each new ray of added glory, was for her a source of happiness, so much the more sweet, as it was without any reference to herself, without any mixture of pride arising from the consideration of sharing the name and affection of Buffon*. she was happy in the simple pleasure of love: her heart was closed to every personal vanity. Buffon had by her but one son, M. le Comte de Buffon, major in the regiment of Angoumois, who bears with honor, in another career, a name for ever celebrated in sciences, letters, and philosophy *.
Buffon was for a long time exempt from those losses which follow in the train of age : he preserved all his vigour of mind and body ; always full of ardour for study, always uniform in his manner of living, and in his recreations, age seemed to be prolonged, for him, beyond its ordinary bounds. * A painful disease, accelerated the termination of his noble career : it was the stone : he opposed it with patience, he endeavoured to forget it by vigorous study, but he never would consent to be rid of it by a dangerous operation. Labour, enjoyment of fame, the pleasure of following his projects for the aggrandisement of the garden and cabinet of the king, were sufficient to attach
* This son fell a victim to the'atrocious villanj of Robespierre, during his sanguinary tyranny..COUNT BE BUTTON
XV
isch him to life; he would not, therefore, risk it from
the hope of a relief often temporary, and followed sometimes by painful infirmities, which, depriving him of part of his strength, would have been, to an active mind like his, worse than pain. He preserved, almost to his last moments, the po wer of occupying himself about his works, and the functions of his situation; the entire freedom of Ills mind, and all the vigour of his reason ; and only a few* days before his death he ceased to be that illustrious man whose genius and labours had occupied Europe for forty years. He died April 16, 3788, in the eighty-first year of his age. When such men vanish from the earth, there succeeds to the first glow of enthusiasm augmented by regrets, and the last cries of expiring envy, a dreadful silence, during which is slowly prepared the judgment of posterity. We read over again patiently to examine, what we read before to admire, to criticise, or merely from the vain pleasure of speaking about. Opinions which are conceived with more judgment, motives that act with more liberty, operate by degrees, modify themselves, correct each other, and at length a unanimous voice arises and pronounces a sentence which future ages rarely venture to revoke. This judgment will be favourable to BufFon ; he will always be one of that'select class of philosophers whom a distant posterity will read with pleasure.
BufFon was very accessible to adulation, and with singular naivcts would praise himself. ic The works of eminent geniuses,” said he, (f are few; they are those of Newton, Bacon, Leibnitz, Montesquieu, and my own™ A nice and just regard to his fame made him destroy «very paper which he thought useless or unfinished, so that he left behind him none of the rubbish which crowds; the desks of so many great authors.
The chronological order of his works Is as follows: His translation of Hale’s Vegetable Statics” was published in 1735 > nn^ was followed, in 1740, by a translation of C£ Newton’s Fluxions,”
His celebrated work of Ci Natural History, General and Particular,” was commenced in 1740, and finished in 1767; it consisted of 15 volumes, qto. or 31 volumes* limo. To iV-r-3 were afterwards added supplements amounting to ft vend mere volumes. In the purely anatomical part of this work he had the assistance of D’Au-iotmon s the was wholly his own composition.XVI THE LIFE OF COUNT DE BUFFON,
In f 771 his History of Birds began to appear. In the composition of this work he made great use of the labours ©f Montbeillard, who was the principal writer of the two first quarto volumes. The four subsequent ones were the joint production of both writers. The three last were written by Buffon himself, with the assistance of the Abbé Bexon, in forming the nomenclature, and drawing tip the descriptions.
In 1774 he began to publish a “ Supplement” to his Natural History, consisting of the History of Mine-rals.”
These are the principal works of this great author* They are published together in 31 volumes, 4-to. and 92 volumes, i2mo *. They are received among the standard and classical books of his country.
* A recent edition has been published at Paris, edited by Sonnini, consisting of 114 volumes. It contains numerous additions on every subject, and descriptions of many new birds and quadrupeds discovered since the time of BufFon* This magnificent and expensive work has been procured by the proprietors of the present translation, for the purpose of collating every page.5 0 C' -11.
,	CONTENTS
V- il ~ .1
c&p*Z	OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
Page
The Theory of the Earth	1
Proofs of the Theory of the Earth.
Article I, On the Formation of the
Planets -	*■	*-	*	69
Article II.	prom the System of JVkiston 115
Article III. From the System of Burnet 12S Article iy, from the System of Wood*
ward	ISl
Article V. Explosion of some other Systems	«•	*	r	-	«•	137
Article VIf Geography - +	- - * 155
Article V1L On the Production of the Strata, or Beds of the Earth	*	*	%	*	»	183
Article
'Xfk 0 04;Pag#
Article VIII. On Shells a7id other Marine Productiçnsfound in the interior parts of the Earth, -	- -	£19
Article IX, On the inequalities of the
jurfqce of the Earth - 262 Article X. Of Rivers - - -	2Q8Harrs Huffbfié Buffon*s Natural History.
containing
A THEORY OF THE EARTH,
A GENERAL
HISTORY OF MAN,
OF THE BRÜTE CREATION, AND OF VEGETABLES, MINERALS,
&;c. fyc. Sfc,
TROM THE ÏREKCH.
; .3 ^ 1 ’ ■*
tritH notes Mr twt tIiAnsIato^
IN TÊN VOLUMES*
VOL. t
Ltmoon î
BRINTLD FOR H. D. SYMONDS,
ANfc SOLD BY SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JOaNES*, 1*AtERN08TER-RQW.
181©.BUFFON’S
NATURAL HISTORY.
THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.
NEITHER the figure of the earth, its motion, nor its external connections with the rest of the universe pertains to our present investigation. It is the internal structure of the globe, its composition, its form, and manner of existence which we here propose to examine. The .general history of the earth ought to precede the particular history of its productions ; and the .details of singular facts relative vol. i.	B	tobuffon’s
£
to the life and the manners of animals, of to tho culture and vegetation of plants, belongs perhaps less to Natural History, than the general results of the observations which have been* made on the different substances which compose the terrestrial globe, on the elevations and depths, and the inequalities of its form ; on the motions of the sea, on the direction of mountains, on the position of quarries, the rapidity and effects of currents in the ocean, &c. This is the history of nature in its most ample extent, and these are the operations In which every other effect is influenced ana produced. The theory of these effects con stitutes what may be termed a primary science, upon which the exact knowledge of particular appearances as well as terrestrial substances entirely depends. This description of science may fairly be considered as appertaining to physics; but does not all physical knowledge, in which no system is admitted, form part of the History of Nature ?
In a subject of great magnitude, whose relative connections are difficult to trace, and where some facts are but partially known, and others uncertain and obscure, it
isNATURAL HISTORY«
3
is more easy to imagine a system, iliati to establish a theory. Hence the Theory of the Earth, has hitherto been treated only in a vague and hypothetical manner; I shall therefore but slightly mention the singular notions of some authors who have written upon the subject.
The first hypothesis I shall allude to, deserves to be mentioned more for its ingenuity than its reasonable solidity ; it is that of an English astronomer, (Whiston) versed in the system of Newton, and an enthusiastic admirer of his philosophy. Convinced that every event which happens on the terrestrial globe, depends upon the motions of the stars, he endeavours to prove, by the assistance of mathematical calculations, that the tail of a comet has produced every alteration the earth has ever undergone.
The next is the formation of a heterodox theologian, (Burnet) whose brain was so heated with poetical visions, that he imagined he had seen the creation of the universe« After explaining what the earth was in its pri* mary state when it sprung Irom nothing; what changes were occasioned by the deluge: what k has been and what it is, he then assumes a
prophetic
§4
buffon's
prophetic style, and predicts what will b# its1 state after the destruction of the human race.
The third comes from a writer (Woodward) certainly a better and more extensive? Observer of nature than the two former, though little less irregular and confused in his ideas; he explains the principal appearances of the globe, by an immense abyss in the bowels of the earth, which in his opinion is nothing more than a thin crust that serves as a covering to the fluid it encloses.
All these hypotheses are raised on unstable foundations; have given no light upo# the subject, the ideas being unconnected, the facts confused, and the whole confounded with a mixture of nature and fable; and consequently have been adopted only by those who implicitly believe opinions without investi-ga on, and who, incapable of distinguishing probability, are more impressed with the wonders of the marvellous than the relation of truth.
What we shall say on this subject will doubtless be less extraordinary, and appear unimportant, if put in comparison with the grand systems just mentioned; but it should be remembered that it is an historian's business to describe, not
invent;NATURAL HISTORY.
Ó
invent; that no suppositions should be admitted upon subjects that depend upon facts and observation ; that his imagination ought only to be exercised for the purpose of com-bining observations, rendering facts more general, and forming one connected whole, so as to present to the mind a distinct arrangement of clear ideas and probable conjectures; J say probablej because we must not hope to give exact demonstration on this subject, for that, mathematics alone can do, while our knowledge in physics and natural history depends solely upon experience, and is confined to reasoning upon inductions.
In the History of the Earth, we shall therefore begin with those facts that have been obtained from the experience of time, together with what we have collected by our own observations.
This immense globe exhibits upon its surface heights, depths, plains, seas, lakes, marshes, rivers, caverns, guiphs, and volcanos; and upon the first view of these objects we cannot discover in their disposition either order or regularity. If we penetrate into its internal parts we shall there find metals, minerals, stones, bitumens, sands* earths, waters, and
mattersa
buffon's
matters of every kind, placed as it were by chance, and without the smallest apparent design. Examining with a more strict attention we discover sunk mountains, caverns filled, rocks split and broken, countries swallowed up, and new islands rising from the ocean; we shall also perceive heavy substances placed above light ones, hard bodies surround-:, ed with soft; in short we shall there find matter in every form, wet and dry, hot and cold, solid and brittle, mixed in such a sort of confusion as to leave room to compare them only to a mass of rubbish and the ruins of a wrecked world.
We inhabit these ruins however with a perfect security. The various generations of men, animals, and plants, succeed each other without interruption; the earth produces sufficient for their sustenance; the sea has its limits and laws ; the currents of air are also regulated ; the returns of the seasons are certain and regular; the severity of the winter has never failed to be followed by the beauties of spring; every thing appears in order, and the earth, formerly a chaos, is now a tranquil and delightful abode, where all is animated and regulated by such an amazing display of power and intelligence as fills us
withNATURAL HISTORY.
1
with admiration, and elevates our minds with the most sublime ideas of an all-potent and wonderful Creator.
Let us not then draw any hasty conclusions upon the irregularities of the surface of the earth, nor the apparent disorders in the interior parts, for we shall soon discover the utility, and even the necessity, of them ; and, by considering them with a little attention, we shall perhaps find an order of which we had no conception, and a general connection that we could neither perceive nor comprehend, by a slight examination. but, in fact, ovr knowledge on this subject must always be confined. We do not yet know the whole surface of the globe, and have but partial ideas of the bottom of the sea, which in many places we have not been able to fathom. We can only penetrate into the coat of earth; the greatest caverns and the deepest mines do not descend above the eight thousandth part of its diameter, we can therefore judge only of the external and mere superficial part; we know, indeed, that bulk for bulk the earth weighs four times heavier than the sun, and we also know the proportion its weight bears with other planets; but thisa
jsitffon’s
is merely a relative estimation ; we have no certain standard nor proportion; we are so intirely ignorant of the real weight of the materials, that the internal part of the globe may be a void space, or composed of matter a thousand times heavier than gold; nor is there any method to make farther discoveries on this subject; and it is with the greatest difficulty any rational conjectures can be formed upon it» We must therefore confine ourselves to a correct examination and description of the surface of the earth, and to those trifling depths into which we have been enabled to penetrate. The first object which presents itself is the immense quantity of water which covers the greatest part of the globe; this water always occupies the lowest ground, its surface always level, and constantly tending to equilibrium and rest; nevertheless, it is kept in perpetual agitation by a powerful agent, which opposing its natural tranquillity impresses it with a regular periodical motion, alternately raising and depressing its waves, producing a vibration in the total mass, by disturbing the whole body to the greatest depths. This motion we know has existed from the commencement of time,
andNATURAL HISTORY.	9
and will continue as long as the sun and môon, which are the causes of it.
By an examination of the bottom of the sea, we discover it to be fully as irregular as the surface of the earth ; we there find hills and vallies, plains and cavities, rocks and soils of every bind t we theres; pefcerve- that islands are only Ae summits of vast"mountains* whose foundations- are at the "Bottom of thé ocean ; we also find oilier mountains- whose tops are nearly on a level with the surface dfi the water, and rapid currents which run contrary to the general movement : they sometimes run in the same direction, sometimes retrograde, but never exceeding their bounds, which appear to be as fixed and invariable aa those which confine the rivers of the earth, in one part we meet with tempestuous regions, where the winds blow with irresistible fury ; where the sea and the heavens, equally agitated, join in contact with each other, are mixed and confounded inthe general shock ! in others, violent intestine motions, tumultuous swellings, water-spouts, and extraordinary agitations, caused by volcanos, whose mouths though a considerable-depth under water, yet vomit fire from the midst çfi the waves, aBcfwend up to ?gl* I»	C	theÎ0
buffôn’s
the clouds a thick vapour composed of water, sulphur and bitumen. Further we perceive, dreadful gulplis <&r whirlpools which seem to attract vessels merely to swallow them up. On the other hand/ we discover immense regions, totally opposite in their natures, always calm and tranquil, yet equally dangerous ; where the winds never exert their power, where the art of the.mariner becomes useless, and where the becalmed voyager must remain until death relieves him from the horrors of despair. In conclusion, if we turn our eye* towards the northern or southern extremities of the globe, we there perceive enormous flakes of ice separating themselves from the polar regions, advancing like floating mountains into the more temperate climes, where they dissolve, and are lost to the sight.
Exclusive of these principal objects, the vast empire of the sea abounds with animated beings, almost innumerable in numbers and variety. Some of them covered with light scales, traverse w ith astonishing celerity different countries ; others, loaded with, thick shells, drag heavily alt ng, leaving their, tract in the sand ; oil others jXaiure has bestowed fins, resembling wings, ’with which they raise and sup-
.	. portNATURAL HISTORY.
11
port themselves in the air, and flv to consider« able distances : while there are those to whom all motion has been denied, who live and die immoveabiy iixed to the same rock ; every species, however, find abundance of food in this their native element. The bottom of the sea, and the shelving sides of the various rocks, produce great abundance of plants and mosses of different kinds; its soil is composed of sand, gravel, rocks, aud shells ; in some parts a fine clay, in others a solid earth, and in general*it has a complete resemblance to the land which we inhabit.
Let us now take a view of the earth. What prodigious differences do we find in different climates ! What a variety of soils ! Wha. inequalities in the surface ! But upon a minute and attentive observation we shall And the greatest chain of mountains are nearer the equator than the poles ; that in the Old Continent their direction is more from the east to west than from the north to south; and that, on the contrary, in the New World they extend more from north to south than from cast to west; blit what is still more remarkable, the form and direction of these mouutaius, whose appearance is so very irregular, correspond so precisely,BUFFO N*S
IS
that the prominent angles bf one mountain ane always opposite to the concave angles of the neighbouring* mountain, and are of equal dimensions, whether they are separated by a small valley or an extensive plain. I have also observed that opposite hills are nearly of the same height, and that, in general, mountains occupy the middle of continents, islands, and promontories, which they divide by the greatest lengths.
In following the courses of the principal rivers, I have likewise found that they are almost always perpendicular with the coasts of the sea into which they empty themselves ; and that in the greatest part of their courses they proceed nearly in the direction of the mountains whence they derive their source.
The sea shores are generally bounded with jocks, marble, and other hard stones, or by earth end sand which has accumulated by the waters from the sea, or been brought down by the rivers ; and I observe that opposite coasts, separated only by an arm of the sea, are composed of similar materials, and the beds of the earth are exactly the same on either side. Volcanos I find exist only in the highest mountains, that many of them are entirely extinct 5 that some
areKATURAI* HI STORY,
13
&re connected with others by subterraneous passages, and that their explosions frequently happen at one and the same time. There are similar correspondences between certain lakes and neighbouring seas ; some rivers and torrents suddenly disappear, and seem to precipitate themselves into the earth. We also find inland seas, constantly receiving an enormous quantity of water from a number of rivers without ever extending their bounds, most probably discharging by subterraneous passages all their superfluous supplies. Lands which have been long inhabited are easily distinguished from new countries, where the soil appears in a rude state, where the rivers are full of cataracts, where the earth is either overflowed with water, or marshy, or parched up with drought, and where every spot, upon which a tree will grow, is covered with uncultivated woods.
Pursuing our examination in a more extensive view, we find that the upper strata that surrounds the globe is universally the same. That this substance, which serves for the growth and nourishment of animals and vegetables, is nothing but a composition of decayed animal and vegetable bodies, or rather reduced into such small particles that their former organization14
BUFFON’S
ganizaiion is not distinguishable* Penétrate ing a little further we find a little 43arth, beds of sand, limestone, clay, shells,* marble/ gravel, chalk,. &c. These beds are aï wqy s parallel to, each other, and of : the same; thickness throughout their whole extent. In neighbouring hills beds of the same materials are always found at the same levels though the hills are separated by deep and extensive intervals. All beds of earth, even the most solid strata, vs rocks, quarries of marble, &c. are uniformly di_ vided by perpendicular fissures, perpendicular to the horizon ; it is the same in the largest as well as smallest depths, and appears a rulé which nature invariably pursues.
In tbe very bowels of the earth, on the tops of mountains, and even the most remote parts from the sea, shells, skeletons offish, marine plants,. &c. are frequently found, and these shells, fish and plants are exactly similar to those which exist in the ocean. There are a prodigious quantity of petrified shells to be met with in an infinity of places, not only inclosed in rocks, masses of marble, limestone, as well. as. in earths and clays, but are actually incorporated and filled with the very substance which-surrounds them. In short, I find myself convinced, by repeated observa-NATURAL HISTORY«
15
tions, that marbles, stones, chalks, maries, day, sand, and almost all terrestrial substances, wherever they, may be placed, are filled with shells and other substances, the productions of the sea.
These facts being enumerated, let us now see what reasonable conclusions are to be drawn from them.
. The changes and alterations which have happened to the earth within these two or three thousand years are very inconsiderable indeed, when compared with those important revolutions which must have taken place in those ages immediately following the creation ; for as all terrestrial substances could only acquire solidity by the continual action of gravity, it would be easy to demonstrate, that the surface of the earth was much softer at first than it is at present, and consequently the same causes which now produce but slight and almost imperceptible changes, during many ages, would then effect great revolutions in a very short space. It appears to be a certain fact that the earth which we now inhabit and which is a dry abode, and even the tops of the highest mountains, were formerly covered with the sea, for shells and other marine productions are frequently found in almost every
part ;IS
»OTFON^S
part; it appears also that the water remained a considerable time on the surface of the earth, since in many places there have been discovered such prodigious banks of shells, that it is impossible so great a multitude of animate could exist at the same time ; this fact seems likewise to prove, that although the materials which compose the surface of the ear® were then in a state of softness, that rendered them easy to be disunited, moved' "arid transported by the waters-, yet that these fe*-jn ovals were not made at once ; they must indeed have been successive, gradual, and fay degrees, because these kind of sea-productions are frequently met with more than a thousand feet below» the surface, and such a considerable thickness of earth and stone could not have accumulated but by the length of time* If we were to suppose that at the Deluge all1 the »hell-fish were raised from the bottom of the sea, and transported over all the earth ; besides the difficulty of establishing this supposition, it is evident, that as we find shells incorporated in marbles and in the rocks of the highest mountains, we must likewise suppose that all these marbles and rocks were formed at the same time, and that too at the very instant of the Deluge ; and besides, that previous to this 4	greathaturAl htstorv.
17
great revolution there were neither mountains, marble, nor rocks, nor clays, nor matters of any kind similar to those we are at present acquainted with, as they almost all contain shells and other productions of the sea. Besides, at the time of the deluge the earth must have acquired a considerable degree of solidity, from the action of gravity, for more than sixteen centuries, and consequently it does not appear possible that the waters, during the short time the deluge lasted, should have overturned and dissolved its surface to the greatest depths we have since been enabled to penetrate.
But without dwelling longer on this point, which shall hereafter be more amply discussed, I shall confine myself to well-known observations and established facts. There is no doubt but that the waters of the sea at some period covered and remained for ages upon that part of the globe which we now inhabit; and which consequently were then the bottom of an ocean abounding with similar productions to those which the sea at present contains; it is equally certain that the different strata which compose the earth being, as we have remarked, parallel and on a level, it is evident their being in this situation is the operation of the Maters which vol, 1»	D	have18
bufponV
have collected and accumulated by degree# the different materials; and given them the same position as the water itself always assumes. We observe that the position of strata is aU most universally horizontal: in plains it is exactly SO; and it is only in the mountains that they are inclined to the horizon; from their having been originally formed by a sediment deposited upon an inclined base. Now I insist that these strata must have been formed by degrees; and not all at once by any revolution whatever; because strata composed of heavy materials are very frequently found placed above light ones; which could not be; if; as some authors assert; the whole had been mixed with the waters at the time of the deluge; and afterwards precipitated; in that Case every thing must have had a very different appearance to that which now exists. The heaviest bodies would have descended first; and each particular stratum would have been arranged according to its specific gravity, and we should not see solid rocks or metals placed above light sand any more than coal under clay.
We should also pay attention to another circumstance; it confirms what we have said
onK A TU BAL HlSTOliY.
1§
©n the formation of the strata; no other cause than the motions and sediments of water could possibly produce so regular a position of it, for the highest mountains are composed of parallel strata as well as the lowest plains, and therefore we cannot attribute the origin and formation of mountains to the shocks of earthquakes, or the eruptions of volcanos. The small eminences which are sometimes raised by volcanos or convulsive motions of the earth are not by any means composed of parallel strata ; they are a mere disordered heap of matter thrown confusedly together; but the horizontal and parallel position of the strata must necessarily proceed from the operations of a constant cause and motion, always regulated and directed in the same uniform manner.
From repeated observations, and these incontrovertible facts, we are convinced that the dry part of the globe, which is now inhabited, has remained for a long time under the waters of the sea, and consequently this earth underwent the same fluctuations and changes which she bottom of the ocean is at present actually undergoing. To discover therefore what formerly passed on the earth, let us examine what now passes at the bottom of the sea, and from
thencem
$UFFON?S
thence we shall soon be enabled to draw ni tional conclusions with regard to thé external form and internal composition pf that which we inhabit.
From the creation the sea has constantly been subject to a regular flux and reflux : this motion, which raises and falls the waters twice in every twenty-four hours, is principally occasioned by the action of the moon, and is much greater under the equator than in any other climates. The earth performs a rapid motion on its axis, and consequently has a centrifugal force, which is also greater at the equator than in any other part of the globe ; this latter, in? dependently of actual observation, proves that the earth is not perfectly spherical, but that it must be more elevated under the equator than at the poles.
From these combined causes, the ebbing and flowing of the tides, and the motion of the earth, we may fairly conclude, that although the earth were a perfect spere in its original form, (which however is a gratuitous assumption and displays the narrowness of our own ideas) yet its diurnal motion, together with the constant flux and reflux of the sea* must, in the course of time, have raised the equatorial parts, by carrying mud, earth, sand,
shells,NATURAL HISTORY.
et
«hells, &c. from other climes, and there depositing of them. -Agreeable to this idea the greatest irregularities must be found, and, in fact, are found, near the equator. Besides, as this motion of the tides is made by diurnal alternation, and has been repeated, without interruption, from the commencement of time* is it not natural to imagine, that each time the tide flows the water carries a small quantity of matter from one place to another, which may fall to the bottom like a sediment, and form those parallel and horizontal strata which are every where to be met with ? for the whole motion of the water in the flux and reflux being horizontal, the matters carried away with them will naturally follow the same direction, and be deposited upon the same level.
But to this it may be said, that as the flux and reflux of the waters are equal and regularly succeed, the two motions would counterpoise each other, and the matters brought by the flux would be returned by the reflux, and of course this cause of the formation of the strata must be chimerical; that the bottom of the sea could not experience any material aL teration by two uniform motions, wherein the effects of tire one would be regularly destroyed. JiUFFON?S
by the other, much less could they change the original form by the production of heights and inequalities, .
To which it may be answered, that the alternate motions of the waters are not equal* the sea having a constant motion from the east to the west; besides, the agitations, caused by the winds, opposes and prevents the equality pf the tides. It will also be admitted that by ¡every motion of which the sea is susceptible* particles of earth and other matters will be carried from one place and deposited in another $ and these collections will necessarily assume the form of horizontal and parallel strata* from the various combinations of the motions of the sea always tending to move the earth* and to level these materials wherever they fall in the form of a sediment. But this objection is easily obviated by the well-known fact* that upon all coasts* bordering the sea* where the ebbing and flowing of the tide is observed* the flux constantly brings in a number of things which the reflux does not carry back. There are many places upon which the sea insensibly gains and gradually covers over, while there are others from which it recedes, narrowing as it were its limits* by depositing earth* sands,
snelr,.NATURAL history.
2it
shells, &c. which naturally take an horizontal position ; these matters accumulate bv degrees in the course of time, and being raised to a certain point gradually exclude the water, and so become part of the dry land for ever after.
But not to leave any doubt upon this important point, let us strictly examine into the possibility or impossibility of a mountain’s being formed at the bottom of the sea by the motions and sediments of the waters. It is certain that on a coast against which the sea beats with violence during the agitation of its flow, every wave must carry off some part of the earth ; for wherever the sea is bounded by rocks, it is .known that the water by degrees wears away those rocks, and consequently carries away small particles every time the waves retire; these particles of earth and stone will necessarily be transported to some distance, and being arrived where the agitation of the water is abated, and left to dieir own weight, they precipitate to the bottom in form of a sediment, and there form a first stratum either horizontal or inclined, according to the position of the surface upon which they fall; this will shortly be covered by a similar stratum produced by the same cause, and thus will a considerable
quantity24	BOTTOMS
quantity of matter be almost insensibly collected together, and the strata of ivhich will be placed parallel to each other.
This mass will continue to increase by new sediments, and by gradually accumulating, in the course of time become a mountain at the bottom of the sea, exactly similar to those we see on dry land, both as to outward form and internal composition. If there happen to be shells in this part of the sea where we have supposed this deposit to be made, they will be filled and covered with the sediment, and incorporated in the deposited matter making £ part of the whole mass, and they will be found in that situation which they took in falling, or in which they were seized ; those that lay at the bottom previously to the formation of the first stratum, will be found in the lowest* and so according to the time of their being deposited^ the latest . in the most elevated
parts.
So, likewise, when the bottom of the sea, at particular places, is troubled by the agitation of the water, there will necessarily ensue, in the same manner, a removal of earth, shells, and other matters, from the troubled to other parts: for we are assured by all divers, that at
theNATURAL HISTORY.
25
the greatest depth to which they can descend, i. e. £0 fathoms, the bottom of the sea is so troubled by the agitation of the waters, that the mud and shells are carried to considerable distances, consequently transportations of this kind are made in every part of the sea, and this matter falling must form eminences, composed like our mountains, and m every respect similar; therefore the .flux and reflux, the winds, the currents, and all the motions of thewater, must inevitably create inequalities at the bottom of the sea.
Nor must we.imagine that these matters can not be transported to great distances, because we daily see grain, and other productions of the East and West Indies, arriving on our own coasts It is true these bodies are specifically lighter than winter, whereas the substances of which we have been speaking are specifically heavier; but however, being reduced to ait impalpable powde r, -they may be sustained long enough in the water to be conveyed to considerable distances.
It has been supposed that the sea is not troubled at the bottom, especially if it is very
* Particularly in Scotland! and Ireland.
E	deep,
VOL, i.BUFFONS
26
deep, by the agitations produced by the winds and tides; but it should be recollected that the whole mass, however deep, is put in motion by the tides, and that in a liquid globe this motion would be communicated to the very centre; that the power which produces the flux and reflux is a penetrating force, which acts proportionably upon every particle of its mass, so that we can determine by calculation the quantity of its force at different- depths ; but, in short, this point is so certain, that it cannot be contested but by denying the evidence of reason, and the certainty of observation.
We cannot therefore possibly have the least doubt that the tides, the winds, and every other cause which agitates the sea, must produce eminences and inequalities at the bottom, and those heights must ever be composed of hori-rizontal or equally inclined strata. These eminences will gradually increase until they become hills, which wilt rise in situations similar to the waves that produce them * and, if there be a long extent of soil, they w ill continue to augment by degrees ; so that in course of timre they will form a vast chain of mountains. Being formed into mountains,, they become
NATURAL HISTORY.
a y
, on obstacle to and interrupt the common motion of the sea, producing at the same time other motions, which are generally called currents. Between two neighbouring heights at the bottom of the sea a current will necessarily be formed, which will follow their common direction, and, like a river, form a channel, whose angles will be alternately opposite during the whole extent of its course. These heights will be continually increasing, being subject only to the motion of the flux, for the waters during the flow will leave the common sediment upon their ridges; and those waters which are impelled by the current will force along with them, to great distances, those matters which would be deposited between both, at the same time hollowing out a valley with corresponding angles at their foundation. By the effects of these motions and sediments, the bottom of the sea, although originally smooth, must become unequal, and abounding with hills and chains of mountains, as we find it at present. The soft materials of which the eminences are originally composed will harden by degrees with their own weight; some forming parts, purely argillaceous, produce hills of clay ; others, consisting of sapdy and crystallinebuffon’s
particles, compose those enormous masses of rock and flint from whence crystal and other precious stones are extracted ; those formed with stony par tides, mixed with shells, form those of lime-stone and marble, wherein we daily meet with shells incorporated ; and others, compounded of matter more shelly, united with pure earth, compose all our beds of marie and chalk. All these substances are placed in regular beds, and all contain heterogeneous matter ; marine productions are found among them in abundance^ and nearly according to the relation of their specific weights ; the lightest shells in chalk, and the heaviest in day and lime-stone ; these shells are invariably Ailed with the matter in which they have been inclosed, whether stones or earth ; an ineonies-uble proof that they have been transported with the matter that fills and surrounds them, anfl that this matter was at that time in an impalpable powder. In short, all those substances w hose horizontal situations have been established by the level of the waters of the Sea, will pot.stoutly preserve their original position.
But it may be here objected, that most hills, whose summits consist of solid rock, storte, or toarbky are formed upon small eminences of
muchNATURAL HISTORY.
m
imreh lighter materials., such, for instance, as clay, or strata of sand, which we commonly find extended over the neighbouring plains, Upon which it may be asked, how, if the foregoing theory be just, this seemingly contradictory arrangement happens. To me this phenomenon appears to be very easily and naturally explained. The water at first acts upon the upper stratum of coats, or bottom of the sea, which commonly consists of clay or sand, and having transported this, and deposited the sediment, it of course composes small eminences, which form a base for the more heavy particles to rest upon. Having removed the lighter substances, it operates upon the more heavy, and by constant attrition reduces them to an impalpable powder ; which it conveys to the same spot, and where, being deposited, these stony particles in the coarse of time, form those solid rocks and quarries which we now find upon the tops of hills and mountains. It is not unlikely that as these particles are much heavier than sand or clay, that they were formerly a considerable depth under a strata of that kind, and now owe their high situations to having been last raised up and transported fiy the motion of the w ater.
1
To30
BUFFO N*S
To confirm what we here assert, let us more closely investigate the situation of those materials which compose the superficial part of the globe, indeed the only part of which we have any knowledge, The different beds of strata in stone quarries are almost all horizontal, or regularly inclined; those whose foundations are on clays or other solid matter are dearly horizontal, especially in plains* The quarries wherein we find flint, pr brownish grey free-stone, in detached portions, have a less regular position, but even in those the uniformity of nature plainly appears, for the horizontal or regularly inclined strata are apparent in quarries where those stones are found in great masses. This position is universal, except in quarries where flint and brown freestone are found in small detached portions, the formation of which we shall prove to have been posterior to that of other matters; for granite, vitrifiable sand, clay, marble, calcareous stone, chalk, and mai les, are always deposited in parallel strata, horizontally or equally inclined; the original formation of these is easily discovered, for the strata are exactly horizontal and very thin, and are «rranged above each other like the leaves of a
bookoNATURAt HISTORY.
of 1 O I
book. Beds of sand, soft and hard clay, chalk, sind shells, are also either horizontal or regularly inclined. Strata of every kind preserves the same thickness throughout its whole extent, which often occupies the space of many leagues, and might be traced still further by close and exact observations. In a word, the materials of the globe, as far as mankind have been enabled to penetrate, are arranged in a uniform position, and are exactly similar.
The strata of sand and gravel which have been washed down from mountains must in some measure be expected ; in plains they am sometimes of a considerable extent, and are generally placed under the first strata of the earth ; they are as eveu as the most ancient and interior strata, but near the bottom and upon the ridges of hills they are inclined and follow the inclination of the ground upon which they have flowed. These being formed by rivers and rivulets, which are constantly in vallies changing their beds, and dragging these sands and gravel with them, they are of course very numerous. A small rivulet flowing from the neighbouring heights, in the course of time, will be sufficient to cover a very spacious valley with a strata of sand and gravel, and I.
hav*32	buffon’s
have often observed in hilly countries/' whose, base, as well as the upper stratum, was hard clay, that above the source of the rivulet the clay is found immediately under the vegetable soil, and below it there is the, thickness of a foot of sand upon the clay, and which extends itself to a considerable distance. These strata formed by rivers are not very ancient, and are easily discovered by the inequality of their thickness, which is constantly varying, while the ancient strata preserves the same dimensions throughout ; they are also to be known by the matter itself, which bears evident marks of having been smoothed and rounded by the motions of the water. The same may be said of the turf and decayed vegetables which are found below the first stratum of earth in marshy grounds ; they cannot be considered as ancient but entirely produced by successive heaps of decayed trees and other plants. Nor are the strata of slime and mud, which are found in many countries, to be considered as ancient productions, having been .formed by stagnated water* or inundations of rivers, and are neither so horizontal, nor equally inclined, as the strata anciently produced by the regular motions of the „sea. In the strata formed by rivers we
constantlyNATURAL HISTORY«
constantly meet with river, but scarcely ever sea shells, and the few that are found are'broken and irregularly placed ; whereas in the ancient strata there are no river shells ; the sea shells aria in great quantities, well preserved, and all plac ed in the same manner, having been transported at the same time and by the same cause. How are wre to account for this astonishing regularity ? Instead of regular strata why do we not meet with the matters that compose the earth jumbled together, without any kind of order? Why are not rocks, marbles, clays, marls, &c. variously dispersed, or joined by irregular or vertical strata ? Why are not the heaviest bodies uniformly found placed beneath the lightest ? It is easy to perceive that this uniformity of nature, this organization of earth, this connection of different materials, by parallel strata, without respect to their respective gravity, could only be produced by a cause as powerful and constant as the motion of the sea, whether occasioned by the regular winds, or by that of the flux and reflux, &c.
These causes act w ith greater force under the equator than in other climates, for there *he w inds are more regular and the tides run
vol* i.	F	higher ;buffon’s
34
higher; and hence the most extensive chains of mountains are near the equator. The mountains of Africa and Peru are the highest known; they frequently extend themselves through entire continents, and stretch to considerable distances under the ocean. The mountains of Europe and Asia, which extend from Spain to China, are not so high as those of South America and Africa. The mountains of the North, according to the accounts of travellers, are only hills in comparison with those of the Southern countries. Besides, there are very few islands in the Northern Seas, whereas in the Torrid Zone they are almost innumerable, and as islands are only the summits of mountains, it is evident that the surface of the earth has many more inequalities towards the equator than in the northerly climates.
It is therefore evident that the prodigious chain of mountains which run from the West to the East in the Old Continent, and from the North to the South in the New, must have been produced by the general motion of the tides; but the origin of all the inferior mountains must be attributed to the particular motions of currents, occasioned by the winds and other irregular agitations of the sea ; they 8	mayNATURAL HISTORY.
35
may probably have been produced by a combination of all those motions, which must be capable of infinite variations, since the winds and different positions of islands and coasts change the regular course of the tides, and compel them to flow in every possible direction : it is, therefore, not in the least astonishing that we should see considerable eminences, whose courses have no determined direction. But it is sufficient for our present purpose to have demonstrated that mountains have not been placed by chance ; that they are not the produce of earthquakes, or other accidental causes, but that they are the effects resulting from the general order of nature, both as to their organization, and the position of the materials of which they are composed.
But, how has it happened^that this earth which we and our ancestors have inhabited for ages, which, from tune immemorial, has been an immense continent, dry and removed from the reach of the waters, should, if formerly the bottom of the ocean, be actually larger than all the waters, and raised to such a height as to be distinctly separated from them ? Having remained so long on the earth, why have the waters now abandoned it ? What accident, what cause could produce
soSñ
button’s
so great a change ? Is it possible to conceive one possessed of sufficient power to operate such an amazing effect!
"I hese questions are difficult to be resolved, but as tiie facts are certain and incontrovertible, the exact manner in which they happened may remain unknown, without prejudicing the conclusions that may be drawn from them ; nevertheless, by a little reflection, we shall find at least plausible reasons for these changes. We daily observe the sea gaining ground on some coasts and losing it on others; we know that the ocean has a continued regular motion from East to West; that it makes loud and violent efforts against the low lands and rocks which confine it ; that there are whole provinces which human industry can hardly secure from the rage of the sea: that there are instances of islands rising above, and others being suck under the waters. History speaks of much greater deluges and inundations. Ought not this to incline us to believe that the surface of the earth has undergone great revolutions, and that the sea may have quitted the greatest part of the earth w hich it formerly covered ? Let us for example suppose that the old and new worlds were fonnerly but one continent, and that the
AtlantisNATURAL HISTORY.	37
Atlantis of Plato, was sunk by a violent earthquake; the natural consequence would be that the sea would necessarily have flowed in from all sides, and formed what is now called the Atlantic Ocean, leaving vast continents dry, and possibly those which we now inhabit.
This revolution, therefore, might be made of a sudden by the opening of some vast cavern in the interior part of the globe, which an universal deluge must inevitably succeed; or possibly this change was not effected at once, but required a length of time, which 1 am rather inclined to think ; however these conjectures may be, it is certain the revolution has occurred, and in my opinion very naturally ^ for to judge of the future, as well as the past, we must carefully attend to what daily happens before our eyes. It is a fact clearly established by repeated observations of travellers,* that the ocean has a constant motion from the East to West ; this motion like the trade winds, is not only felt between the tropics, but also throughout the temperate climates, and as near the poles as navigators have gone; of course the Pacific Ocean makes a continual effort against the coasts of Tartary, China, and India; the Indian Ocean acts
againstbuffon’s
3$
against the east coast of Africa, and the Atlantic in like manner against all the eastern coasts of America; therefore the sea must have always and still continues to gain land on the east and lose it on the west ; and this alone is sufficient to prove the possibility of the change of earth into the sea, and sea into land. If, in fact, such are the effects of the sea’s motion from east to west, may we not very reasonably suppose that Asia and the eastern continent is the oldest country in the world, and that Europe and part of Africa, especially the western coasts of these continents, as Great Britain, France, Spain, Mauritania, &x. are of a more modern date ? Both history and nature agree in confirming this conjecture.
There are, however, many other causes which concur with the continual motion of the sea from east to west, in producing these effects.
In many places there are lands lower than the level of the sea, and which are only der fended from it by an isthmus of rocks, or by banks and dykes of still weaker materials; these barriers must gradually be destroyed by the constant action of the sea when the lands
willNATURAL HISTORY.
will be overflowed, and constantly make part of the ocean. Besides, are not mountains daily decreasing by the rains which loosen the tarth, and carry it down into the vallies ? It is also well known that floods wash the earth from the plains and high grounds into the small brooks and rivers, who in their turns convey it into the sea. By these means the bottom of thé sea is filling up by degrees, the surface of the earth lowering to a level, and nothing but time is necessary for the sea’s successively changing places with the earth,
I speak not here of those remote causes which stand above our comprehension ; of those convulsions of nature, whose least effects would be fatal to the world; the near approach of a comet, the absence of the moon, the introduction of a new planet, &c. are suppositions on which it is easy to give scope to the imagination. Such causes would produce any -effects we choose, and from a single hypothesis of this nature, a thousand physical romances might be drawn, and which the authors might term, The Theory of the Earth. As historians we reject these vain speculations ; they are mere possibilities which suppose the destruction;
of40
£UFF0N?3
of the universe, in which our globe, like a particle of forsaken matter, escapes our observation, and is no longer an object worthy regard; but to preserve consistency, we must take the earth as it is, closely observing every part, and by inductions judge of the future from what exists at present; besides we ought not to be effected by causes which seldom happen, and whose effects are always sudden and violent; they do not occur in the common course of nature ; but effects which are daily repeated, motions which succeed each other without interruption, and operations that are constant, ought alone to be the ground of our reasoning.
We will add some examples ; we will combine particular effects with general causes, and give a detail of facts which will rendef" apparent, and explain the different changes that the earth has undergone, whether by the eruption of the sea, upon the land, or by its retiring from that which it had formerly covered.
The greatest eruption was certainly that which produced the Meditteranean sea. The ocean flows through a narrow channel
betweenNATURAL HISTORY,	41
between two promontories with great rapidity, and then forms a vast sea, which, without including the Black sea, is about seven times larger than the kingdom of France. Its motion through the straits of Gibraltar is con-traiy to all other straits, for the general motion of the sea is from east to west, but in that alone it is from the west to the east, which proves that the Mediterranean sea is not an ancient gulph, but that it has been formed by an irruption of the waters produced by some accidental cause; as an earthquake which might swallow up the earth in the strait, or by a violent effort of the ocean, caused by the wind, which might have forced its way through the banks betw een the promontories of Gibraltar and Ceuta. This opinion is authorised by the testimony of the ancients, who declare in their writings, that the Mediterranean sea did not formerly exist; and it is further confirmed by natural history, and by observations made on the opposite coasts of Spain, where similar beds of stones and earth are found upon the same levels, in like manner as they are in two mountains separated by a small valley.
The ocean having forced this passage, it ran at first through the straits with much greater
vol. i,	G	rapidity42
buffon’s
rapidity than at present, and overflowed the continent that joined Europe to Africa. The waters covered all the low countries, of which we can now only perceive the tops of some of the considerable mountains, such as parts of Italy, the Islands of Sicily, Malta, Corsica* Sardinia, Cyprus, Rhodes, and those of the Archipelago.
In this irruption I have not included the Black sea, because the quantity of water it receives from the Danube, JN ieper, Don, and various other rivers, is fully 'sufficient to form and support it ; and besides it flows with great rapidity through the Bosphorus into the Mediterranean. It might also be presumed that the Black and Caspian seas were formerly only two large lakes, joined by a narrow commim nicalion, or by a morass, or small lake, w hich united the Don and the Wolga near Tria, where these two rivers flow’near each other ; nor is it improbable that these two seas or lakes, were then of much greater extent; for the immense rivers which fall into the Black and Caspian seas may have brought down a sufficient quantity of earth to shut up the communication and form that neck of land by which they are now' separated; for we know that
greatNATURAL HISTORY*
43
great rivers, in the course of time, fill up seas and form new lands, as the province at the mouth of the \ ellow river in China ; Lousi-ana at the mouth of the Mississipi, and the northern part of Egypt, which owes its existence to the inundatiou of the Nile ; the rapidity of which brings down sucli quantities of earth from the internal parts of Africa, as to deposit on the shores, during the inundations, a body of slime and mud of more than fifty feet in depth. The province of the Yellow river and Lousiana, have, in like manner, been formed by the soil from the rivers.
The Caspian sea is at present a real lake ; it has no communication with other seas, not even with the Lake Aral, which seems to have been a part of it, being separated only by a large track of sand, in which neither rivers nor canals for communicating the waters have as yet been found. This sea, therefore has no external communication with any other ; and 1 do not know that we are autho-vised to suspect that it has an internal one with the Black Sea, or with the Gulph of Persia* it is true the Caspian sea receives the Wolga, and many other rivers which seem to furnish it
M itjl4^
Bt>F*ON’s
with more water than is lost by revaporation } but independently of the difficulty of such calculation^ if it had a communication with any other sea, a constant and rapid current towards the opening would have marked its course, hut I never heard of any such discovery being made; travellers, of the best credit, affirm the very contrary, and consequently the Cas-* pian sea must lose by evaporation just as much water as it receives from the Wolga and other rivers*
Nor is it any improbable conjecture that the Black sea will at some period be separated from the Mediterranean; and that the Bosphorus will be shut up, whenever the great rivers shall have accumulated a sufficient quantity of earth to answer that effect; this may be the case in the course of time by the suceessivedi* minution of waters in rivers, in proportion as the mountains from whence they draw their sources are lowered by the rains, and those other causes we have just alluded to.
The Caspian and Black seas must therefore be looked upon rather as lakes than gulphs of the ocean, for they resemble other lakes which receive a number of rivers without any
apparentNATURAL HISTORY.
45
apparent outlet* such as the Dead sea* many lakes in Africa* and other places. These two seas are by no means so salt as the Mediterranean or the ocean ; and all travellers affirm that the navigation in the Black and Caspiaa seas* upon account of their shallowness and quantity of rocks and quicksands* are so extremely dangerous* that only small vessels can be used with safety* which further proves they must not be looked upon as guiphs of the ocean* but as immense bodies of water collected from great rivers.
A considerable irruption of the sea would doubtless take place upon the earth* if the isthmus which separates Africa from Asia were divided* as the Kings of Egypt* and afterwards the Caliphs projected ; and I do not kuow that the communication between the Red Sea and Mediterranean is sufficiently established* as the former must be higher than the latter. The Red sea is a narrow branch of the ocean* and does not receive into it a single river on the side of Egypt, anfl very few on the opposite coast; it will not therefore be subject to diminution, like those seas and lakes which are constantly receiving slime and sand from those rivers that flow into them. The
ocean46
BUFFO, S
ocean supplies the Red Sea with all its water and the motion of the tides is very evident in it; of course it must be effected by every move** meat of the ocean. But the Mediterranean must be lower than the ocean, because the current passes with great rapidity through the strait; besides it receives the Nile* which flows parallel to the west coast of the lied sea, and which divides Egypt, a very low country; from all which it appears probable that the Red sea is higher than the Mediterranean, and that if the isthmus of Suez was cut through there would be a great inundation, and considerable augmentation of the Mediterranean would ensue ; at least if the waters were not restrained by dykes and sluices placed at proper distances, and which was most likely the case if the ancient canal of communication ever had existence.
Without dwelling longer upon conjectures, which, although well founded, may appear hazardous and rash, we shall give some recent and certain examples of the change of the sea into land, and the land into sea. At Venice the bottom of the Adriatic is daily rising, and if great care had not been taken to clean and empty the canals the whole would long since
haveNATURAL HISTORY.
47
liave formed part of the continent; the same may be said of most ports, bays,, and mouths of rivers. In Holland the bottom of the sea has risen in many places; the gulph of Zuy-derzee, and the strait of the Texel cannot receive such large vessels as formerly. At the mouth of all rivers, we find small islands, and banks of sand and earth brought down by the waters ; and it is certain, the sea will be tilled up in every part where great rivers empty themselves. The Rhine is lost in the sands which itself accumulated. The Danube, and the JSdie, and all great rivers, after bringing down much sand and earth, no longer comes to the sea bv a single channel, they divide into different branches, and the intervals are filled up by the materials they have themselves brought thither. -Morasses daily dry up; lands forsaken by the sea are cultivated, we navigate countries now covered by waters ; in short, we see so many instances of land changing into water, and water into land, that we must be convinced of these alterations having, and will continue to take place ; so that in time, gulphs will become continents; isibmuss&*.$Straits; morasses, dry lands; and
the£8	buffok’s
the tops óf our mountains the shoals of thè
«èà.
Since then the waters have covered, and may successively cover every part of the present dry land, our surprize must cease at finding every where marine production and còtìipósitiòn& which could only be the works of the waters« We have already explained how the horizontal strata of the earth were formed, but the perpendicular divisions that are commonly found in rocks, clays, and all matters of which the "globe is composed, ¿till remain to be considered. These perpendicular strata, are, in fact, placed much further from each other than the horizontal, and the softer the matter, the greater the distance ; in marble and hard earths, they are frequently found Only a few feet ; but if the mass Of rock be very extensive, then these fissures are at some fathoms distant; some** times they descend from the top of the rock to the bottom, and sometimes terminate at an horizontal fissure. They are always perpendicular in the strata of calcinable matters, as chalk, marie, marble> &c. but are more oblique and irregularlyp laced in verifiable substances, brown free-stoné, and rocks of flint, where they are frequently adorned with
chry stala49
IS A T U E A L IIT 3 T OIIT,
chrystals, and other minerals. In quarries of marble or calculable stone, the divisions are filled with spar, gypsum, gravel, and an earthy sand, which contains a great quantity of chalk. In clay, marles, and every other kind of earth, excepting turf, these perpendicular divisions are either empty or filled with such matters as the water has transported thither.
We need seek very little' 'further for the cause and origin of those perpendicular cracks. The materials of which the different strata are composed being carried by the water, and deposited as a kind of sediment, must necessarily at first contain a considerable share of water, which as they began to harden they Would part witii by degrees, and as they must necessarily lessen in the course of drying, that decrease would occasion them to split at irregular distances. They naturally split in a perpendicular direction, because in that direction, the action of gravity of one particle upon ano ther has no actual effect, while on the contrary it is directly opposite in an horizontal situation ; the diminution of bulk therefore could have no sensible effect but in a vertical line. I say it is the diminution by drying, and not the
vol. I,	XI	contained50
B U FIONAS
contained water forcing a place to ¡»sue, that is the cause of these perpendicular fissures, for I have often observed that the two sides of those fissures, answer throughout their whole height, as exactly as two sides of a split piece of wood; their insides is rough and irregular, whereas if they had been made by the motion of the water, they would have been smooth and polished ; therefore these cracks must be produced suddenly and at once, or by degrees in drying, like the flaws in wood, and the greatest part of the water they contained evaporated through the pores. The divisions of these perpendicular cracks vary greatly as to the extent of their openings ; some of them being not more than half an inch, others increasing to one or two feet; there are some many fathoms, and form those precipices so often met with in the Alps and other high mountains. The small ones are produced by drying alone, but those which extend to several feet are the effects of other causes ; for instance the sinking of the foun^ dation on one side while the other remained unmoved ; if the base sinks but a line or two, it is sufficient to produce openings of many feet in a rock of considerable height. Sometimes rocks which are founded on clay or sand,
inclineNATURAL HISTORY.
51
incline to one side, by which motion, the perpendicular cracks become extended.
I have not yet mentioned those large openings which are found in rocks and mountains, and which must have been produced by great sinkings, as of immense caverns, unable longer to support the weight they were encumbered with, but these intervals were very different from perpendicular fissures; they appear to be vacancies opened by the hand of Nature for the communication of nations. In this manner all vacancies in large mountains and divisions, by straits in the sea, seem to present themselves; such as the straits of Thermopylae the ports of Caucasus, the Cordeliers, the extremity of the straits of Gibraltar, the entrance of the Hellespont, &c. these could not have been occasioned by the simple separation by drying of matter, but by considerable part of the lands themselves being sunk, swallowed up, or overturned.
These great sinkings, though produced by accidental causes, hold a first place in the principal circumstances in the history of the earth, and not a little contributed to change the face of the globe ; the greatest part of them have been produced by subterraneous fires, whose
explosionsD%	" BUJFFON’S.
explosions cause-earthquakes . and volcanos ; the force of these inflamed and confined* matters in the bowels of the earth is beyond compare; by it cities have been swallowed up, provinces, overturned and mountains overthrown. But however great this force may be, and prodigious as the effects appear, we cannot assent to the opinion of th$s@' authors who suppose these subterraneous fires proceed from an immense abyss of flame in the center of the earth, neither cati we give credit to the common notion that they proceed from a great depth below the surface of the earth, air being absolutely necessary for the support of inflammation. In examining the materials which issue from volcanos, even in the most violent eruptions, it appears very plain, that the furnace of the inflamed matters is not at any great depth, as they are similar to those found on the side of the mountain, only disfigured by calcination, and the melting of the metallic parts which they contain; add to be convinced that the matters cast out by volcanos do not come from any great depth, we have only to consider the height of the mountain, and judge of the immense force that would be necessary to cast up stones and minerals to the height of half a 8	league;NATURAL HISTORY.
53
league ; for iEtna, Heel a, ami many other volcanos, have at least that elevation from the plains. Now it is perfectly well-known that the action of fire, is equal in every direction ; it cannot therefore act upwards with a force capable of throwing large stones half a league high, without an equal re-action downwards, and on the sides ; and w hich re-action must very soon pierce and destroy the 'mountain, on every side, because the materials which compose it are more dense and firm than those thrown out ; how then can it be imagined that the cavity, which must be considered as the tube or cannon, could resist so great a force as would be necessary to raise those bodies to the mouth of the volcano ? Besides, if this cavity were deeper, as the external orifice is not great, it would be impossible for so large a quantity of inflamed and liquid matter to issue out at once, without clashing against the sides of the tube, and by passing through so long a space they would run the chance of being extinguished and hardened. We often see rivers of bitumen and melted sulphur, thrown out of the volcanos, with stones and minerals, flow from fhe tops of the mountains into the plains : is it natural to imagine that matters so fluid, and
so54
BUFFOft S
so-little able to resist violent'action, should be elevated from any great depth ? All the observations that can he made on this subject -will prove that the fire of the volcano is not far from the summit of the mountain, and that it never descends to the level of the plain.
This idea of volcanos does not however render it inconsistent that they are the cause of earthquakes, and that their shocks may be felt on. the plains to very considerable distances ; nor that one volcano may not communicate with another by means of subterraneous passages ; but it is of the depth of the fire’s confinement that we now speak, and which can only be at a small distance from the mouth of the volcano. It is not necessary that the bottom of the volcano should be below the level of that plain, in order to produce an earthquake on a plain, nor that there should be internal cavities filled with the same combustible matter ; for a violent explosion, such as generally attends an eruption may, like that of a powder magazine, give so great a shock by its re-action as to pro^ duce an earthquake that might be felt at a considerable distance.
I do not mean to say that there are no earthquakes produced by subterraneous fires, but
merelyNATURAL HISTORY.
53
merely that there are some which proceed only from the explosion of volcanos. In confirmation of what has been advanced on this subject, it is certain that volcanos are seldom met with on plains ; on the contrary, they are constantly found in the highest mountains, and their mouths at the very summit of them. If the internal tires of the volcanos extended below the plains, would not passages be opened in them during violent eruptions ? In the first eruption would not these fires rather have pierced the plains, where, by comparison, the resistance must be infinitely weaker, than force their way through a mountain more thau half a league in height.
The reason why volcanos appear alone in mountains, is because much greater quantities of minerals, sulphur, and pyrites are contained in mountains, and more exposed than in the plains ; besides which those high places are more subject to the impressions of air, and receive greater quantities of rains and clamps, by which mineral substances are capable of being heated and fermented into an absolute state of inflammation.
In short, it has often been observed, that after violent eruptions, the mountains have
shrunk66
buffon’s
shrunk and diminished in proportion to the quantity of matter which has been thrown out; another :pf oof that the volcanos are not situated at the bottom of the mountain, but rather at no great distance from the very summit;
In many places therefore earthquakes have formed considerable hollows, and even separations in mountains ; all other inequalities have been produced at the same time with the mountains themselves by the currents of the sea, for iii everyplace where there has not been a violent convulsion, the strata of " the mountains are parallel, and their angles exactly corresponck Those subterraneous cavehis which have been produced by volcanos are easily distinguishable from those formed by water; for thew7ater having washed away the sand and clay with which they were filled, leaves only the stones and rocks, and this is the origin of caverns upon hills; while those found upon the plains are commonly nothing but ancient pits and quarries, such as the salt quarries of Maestricht, and the mines of Poland, &c. But natural caverns belong to mountains ; they receive the water from the summit and its environs, from whence it issues over the surface whenever it can obtain a passage ; and these are the sources of springs
andNATURAL HISTORY.	57
and rivers, and whenever a cavern is filled by any part falling in, an inundation generally ensues.
From what we have said, it may easily be seen how much subterraneous fires contribute to change the surface and internal part of the globe. This cause is sufficiently powerful to produce very great effects : but it is difficult to conceive how the winds should occasion any sensible alterations upon the earth. The sea appears to be their empire, and indeed, excepting the tides, nothing has so powerful an influence upon the ocean; even the former move in a uniform manner, and their effects are regularly the same: but the auction of the winds is capricious and violent: they sometimes rush on with such impetuosity, and agitate the sea with such violence, that from a calm, smooth, and tranquil plain, it becomes furrowed with waves rolling as high as moun* tains, and dashing themselves to pieces against the rocks and shores. The winds cause constant alterations on the surface of the sea, but the surface of the land, w hich ha$ So solid an appearance, we should suppose, would not be subject to similar effects. By experience, however, it is known that the winds raise mountains of
tOL L	I	sand58
bufFgn’s
sand in -Arabia and Africa; that they cover plains with it; and that they frequently transport this sand to great distances, and many miles into the sea, where it accumulates in such quantities as to form banks, downs, and even islands. It is also known that hurricanes are the scourge of the Antilles, Madagascar, and other countries, where they act w ith such fury, as to sweep away trees, plants, and animals, together with the soil which gave them subsistence : they force rivers to ascend and become dry : they produce new ones ; they overthrow rocks and mountains; they make holes and gulphs in the earth, and entirely change the face of those unfortunate countries where they take place. Happily there are but few climates exposed to the impetuosity of those dreadful agitations of the air.
But the greatest and most general changes in the surface of the earth are produced by rains* floods, and torrents. Their origin proceeds from the vapours which the sun raises above the surface of the ocean, and which the wind transports through every climate* These va-pours, which are sustained in the air, and conveyed at the will of the winds, are stopped in their progress by the tops of the hills which
theyNATURAL HISTORY.
59
they encounter, where they accumulate until they become clouds and fall in the form of rain, dew, or snow. These waters at first descend upon the plains without any fixed course, but by degrees hollow out a bed for themselves; by their natural bent they run to the bottom of mountains, and penetrating or dissolving the land easiest to divide, they carry earth and sand away with them, cut deep channels the plains, form themselves into rivers, and open a passage into the sea, which constantly receives as much water from the land rivers as it loses by evaporation. The windings in the channels of rivers have sinuosities, whose angles are correspondent to each other, so that where the waves form a salient angle on one side, the other has an exactly opposite one 5 and as hills and mountains, which may be considered as the banks of the vallies which separate them, have also sinuosities in corresponding angles, it seems to demonstrate that the vallies have been formed, by degrees, by the currents of the sea, in the same manner as the rivers have hollowed out their beds in the earth«
The waters which flow on the surface of the earth, and support its verdure aud fertility, are not perhaps one half of those which the vapours x 2	produce $60
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produce ; for there are many veins of water that sink to great depths in the earth. In some places we are certain to meet with water by digging ; in others, none can be found. In almost all vallies and low grounds, water is certain to be met with at moderate depths; but on the contrary, in all high places it cannot be extracted from the bowels of the earth, but must be collected from the heavens. There are countries of great extent where a spring cannot be found, and where all the water which supplies the inhabitants and animals with drink, is contained in pools and cisterns. In the East, especially in Arabia, Egypt, and Persia, wells are extremely scarce, and the people have been obliged to make reservoirs of a considerable extent to collect the waters as it falls from the heavens. These works, projected and executed from public necessity, are the most beautiful and magnificent monuments of the eastern nations; some of the reservoirs occupy a space of two square leagues, and serve to fertilize whole provinces, by means of baths and small rivulets that let it out on every side. But in low coun, tries where the greatest rivers flow, we cannot $}ig far from the surface, without meeting with
water*NATURAL HISTORY.
6l
water, and in fields situated in the environs of rivers, it is often obtained by a few strokes with a pick-axe.
This quantity of water, which is found in low grounds, comes principally from the neigh-homing hills and eminences, for at the time of great rains or the sudden melting of snow, a part of the water flows on the surface, but most of it penetrates through the small cracks and crevices it finds in the earth and rocks. This water springs up again to the surface wherever it can find vent; but it often filters through the sand until it comes to a bottom of clay or solid earth, where it forms subterraneous lakes^ rivulets, and perhaps rivers, whose courses are entirely unknown ; they must, however, follow the general law of nature, and constantly flow from the higher grounds to the lower, and consequently these subterraneous waters must, in the end, fail into the sea, or collect in some low place, either on the surface or in the interior part of the earth ; for there are several lakes into which no rivers enter, nor from which there is any issue; and a much greater number, which do not receive any considerable ¿aver, that are the sources of the greatest rivers62
BuryoN^
ob earth : such as the' lake of St, Lawrence.; the take Chiam6, whence spring two great rivers that water the kingdoms of Asam and Pegu; the lake of Assiniboil in America; those 6f Ozera in Muscovy, that give rise to the fiver Bog, those which produce the Irtis, and a great number of others. These lakes, it is evident, must be produced by the waters from the high lands passing through subterraneous passages, and collecting in the lowest places» Some indeed have asserted that lakes are to be found on the summit of the highest mountains ; but to this no credit can be given, £01° those found on the Alps, and other elevated places, are all surrounded by much more lofty mountains, and derive their origin from the waters which run down the sides, or are filtered through those eminences, in $he same manner as the lakes in the plains obtain their sources from the neighbouring hills which overtop them.
We are therefore to expect, and in fact we find, lakes in the bow els of the earth, especially under large plains and extensive vallies. Mountains, hills, and all eminences have either a erpendicular or inclined situation, and are
exposedNATURAL lit STORY.
63
exposed on all sides ; the waters which fall on their summits, after having penetrated into the earth, cannot fail, from the declivity of the ground, of finding issue in many places, and breaking out in forms of springs and fountains ; and consequently there will be little, if any water remain in the mountains. On the con* trary, in plains, as the water which filters through the earth can find no vent, it must collect in subterraneous caverns, or be dispersed and divided among sand and gravel. Tt is these waters which are so universally diffused through low grounds. The bottom of a pit or well is nothing else but a kind of bason into which the waters that issue from the adjoining lands insinuate themselves, at first falling drop by drop, but afterwards, as the passages are opened, it receives supplies from greater distances, and then continually runs in little streams or rills; from which circumstance, although we can find water in any part of a plain, yet we can obtain a supply but for a certain number of wells, proportionate to the quantity of water dispersed, or rather to the extent of the higher lands from whence they come.
In the greater part of plains it is unnecessary to dig below the level of the river to find
water 5water; it is generally met with at much less* depths, and there is no appearance that the waters of rivers filter far through the earth. The origin of waters found in the earth below the level of rivers is not to be attributed to them ; for in rivers or torrents which are dried up, or whose courses have been turned, we find no greater quantity of water by digging in their beds than in the neighbouring lands at an equal depth.
A piece of land of five or six feet in thickness is sufficient to contain water, and prevent it from escaping; and I have often observed that the banks of brooks and pools are not sensibly wet at six inches distance from the water.
It is true that the extent of the filtration is according as the soil is more or less penetrable ; but, if we examine the standing pools with sandy bottoms, we shall perceive the water to be confined in the small compass it had hollowed itself, and the moisture spread but a very few inches ; even in vegetable earth it has no great extent, which must be more porous than sand or hard soil. It is a certain fact, that in a garden we may almost inundate one bed without those nearly adjoining feeling
an$*NATURAL HISTORY»
65
any moisture from it#. I have examined pieces of garden ground, eight or ten feef thick, which had not been stirred for many years, and whose surface was nearly level, and found that the rain water never penetrated deeper than three or four feet; and on turning it up in the spring, after a wet winter, I found it as dry as when first heaped together.
I made the same observation on earth which had Iain in ridges two hundred years; below three or four feet it was as dry as dust; from which it is plain that water does not extend so far by filtration as has been generally imagined.
By this means, therefore, the internal part of the earth can be supplied with a very small part; but water by its own weight descends from the surface to the greatest depths; it sinks through natural conduits, or penetrates small passages for itself; it follows the roots of trees, the cracks m rocks, the interstices in the earth, and divides and extends on ah sides into an infinity of small branches and rills, always descending until its passage is opposed by clay voL. i.	K	or
* These facts are so easily demonstrated? that the foaUect •bservatioii will prove their veracity.66
buffon’s
or some solid body, where it continues col** leering, and at length breaks out in form of springs upon the surface.
It w ould be very difficult to make an exact calculation of the quantity of subterraneous waters which have no apparent vent. Many have pretended that it greatly surpasses all the waters that are on the surface of the earth,
Without mentioning those who have maintained that the interior part of the globe is entirely filled with water, there are some who believe an infinity of floods, rivulets, and lakes to be in the bowels of the earth. But this opinion does not seem to be properly founded, and it is more probable that the quantity of subterraneous water, which never appears on the surface, is not very considerable: for if these subterraneous rivers be so very numerous, why do we never see any of their mouths forcing their way through the surface ? Besides, rivers, and all running waters, produce great alterations on the surface of the earth; they transport the soil, wear away the most solid rocks, and displace all matters which oppose their passage. It would certainly be the same in subterraneous rivers 5 the same effects w ould
beNATURAL HISTORY.
07
T&e produced ; but no such alterations have ever as yet been observed ; the different strata remain parallel, and every where preserve their original position ; and it is but in a very few places that any considerable subterraneous veins of water have been discovered. Thus water in the internal part of the earth, though great, acts but in a small degree, as it is divided in an infinity of little streams, and retained by a number of obstacles ; and being so generally dispersed, it gives rise to many substances totally different from primitive matters, both in form and organization.
From all these observations we may fairly conclude, that it is the continual motion of the flux and reflux of the sea which has produced mountains, valiies, and other inequalities on the surface of the earth ; that it is the currents of the ocean which have hollowed valiies, raised hills, and given them coiresponding directions ; that it is those waters of the sea which, by transporting earths, and depositing them in horizontal layers, have formed the parallel strata ; that it is the waters from heaven, which by degrees destroy the effects of the sea, by continually lowering the summit of mountains, filling up valiies, and k 2	stopping68
botfon’s
^topping the mouths of gulphs and rivers, and which, by bringing all to a level, w ill, in the course of time, return this earth to the sea, and which will leave new continents exposed, containing vallies and mountains exactly similar to those which we at present inhabit«.
BKOOFSNATURAL HISTORY.
es
TROOPS OF THE
THEORY OF THE EARTH
Feeitjue cadendo XJndique ne caderet. Manil.
ARTICLE l.
ON THE FORMATION OP THE PLANETS.
OUR object being Natural History, we would willingly dispense with astrono* mical observations; but as the nature of the earth is so closely connected with the heavenly bodies, and as such observations are calculated to illustrate more fully what has been said, it is necessary to give some general ideas of the formation, motion, and figure of the earth and other planets.
The earth is a globe of about three thousand leagues diameter; it is situated at thirty millions of leagues from the sun, around which it makes its revolution in tbiee hundred and sixty-five days. This revolution is the
resultBUFFO N?$
TO-
res uli of two forces; the one maybe consider* ed as an impulse from right to left, or from left to right, and the other as an attraction from above downwards, or beneath upwards, to a common centre. The direction of these two forces, and their quantities, is so nicely combined and proportioned, that they produce an almost uniform motion in an ellipse, very near to a circle. Like the other planets the earth is opaque ; it throws out a shadow ; it receives and reflects the light of the sun, round which it revolves in a space of time proportioned to its relative distance and density. It also turns round its own axis once in twenty-four hours, and its axis is inclined 66| degrees on the plane of the orbit of its revolution. Its figure is spheroidical, the two axes of which differ about 175th part from each other, and the smallest axis is that round which the revolution is made. These are the principal phenomena of the €arth, the result of discoveries made by means of geometry, astronomy, and navigation. We shall not here enter into the detail of the proofs and observations by which those facts have been ascertained, but only make a few remarks to dear up what is still doubtful, and at the came time, give our ideas respecting the formationnatural history»
73
lion of the planets, and the different changes through which it is possible they have passed before they arrived at the state we at present see them.
There have been so many systems and hypotheses framed upon the formation of the terrestrial globe, and the changes which it has undergone, that we may presume to add our conjectures to those who have written upon the subject, especially as we mean to support them with a greater degree of probability than has hitherto been done : and we are the more inclined to deliver our opinion upon this subject, from the hope that we shall enable the reader to pronounce on the difference between an hypothesis drawn from possibilities, and a theory founded on facts; between a system, such as we are here about to present, on the formation and original state of the earth, and a physical history of its real condition, which has been given in the preceding discourse.
Galileo having found the laws of falling bodies, and Kepler having observed that the area described by the principal planets in moving round the sun, and those of the satellites round the planets to which they belong, are proportionable to the time of their revolutions,
and27
BUFFON S
and that such periods were also in proportion to the square roots of the cubes of their distances from the sun, or principal planets; Newton found that the force which caused heavy bodies to fall on the surface of the earth, extended to the moon, and retained it in its orbit ; that this force diminished in the same proportion as the square of the distance increased, and consequently that the moon is attracted by the earth ; that the earth and planets are attracted by the sun ; and that in general all bodies which revolve round a centre, and describe areas proportioned to the times of their revolution, are attracted towards that point. This power, known by the name of gravity, is therefore diffused throughout all matter ; planets, comets, the sun, the earth, and all nature, is subject to its laws, and it serves as a basis to the general harmony which reigns in the universe. Nothing is better proved in physics than the actual existence of this power in every material substance. Observation has confirmed the effects of this power, and geometrical calculations have determined the quantity and relations of it.
This general cause being known, the effects would easily be deduced from it, if the action
of
tNATURAL HISTORY.
73
of the powers which produce it were not too complicated. A single moment’s reflection upon the solar system will fully demonstrate the difficulties that have attended this subject; the principal planets are attracted by the sun, and the sun by the planets; the satellites are also attracted by their principal planets, and each planet attracts all the rest, and is attracted by them. All these actions and reactions vary according to the quantities of matter and the distances, and produce great inequalities and irregularities. How is so great a number of connections to be combined and estimated ? It appears almost impossible in such a crowd of objects to follow any particular one; nevertheless those difficulties have been surmounted, and calculation has confirmed the suppositions of them ; each observation is become a new demonstration, and the systematic order of the universe is laid open to the eyes of all those who can distinguish truth from error.
Only one thing is a sort of check, and that is, in fact, independent of this theory : it is, the force of impulsion. We evidently see that the force of attraction always drawing the planets towards the sun, they would fall in a perpen-
vox*. i.	JL	dicular74
BUFFOVS
dicular line, on that planet, if they were not repelled by some other power that obliges them to move in a straight line, and which impul-sive force would compel them to fly off the tangents of their respective orbits, if the force of attraction ceased one moment. The force of impulsion was certainly communicated to the planets by the hand of the Almighty, when he gave motion to the universe ; but as we ought, as much as possible, to abstain in physics from having resource to supernatural causes, it ap~ pears that a probable reason may be given for this impulsive force, perfectly accordant with the law of mechanics, and not by any means more astonishing than the changes and revolutions which may and must happen-in the universe.
The vast extent of the solar system, or, what is the same, the sphere of the suns attraction, does not confine itself to the orbs of the planets, but extends to a remote distance, always decreasing in the same ratio as the square of the distance increases ; it is demonstrated that the comets which are lost to our sight, in the regions of the sky, obey this power, and by it their motions, like that of the planets, are regulated. All these stars, whose tracts are so
different,NATURAL HISTORY.
5
different, move round the sun, and describe areas proportioned to the time; the planets,in ellipses more or less approaching a circle, and the comets in narrow ellipses of a great extent. Comets and planets move, therefore, by virtue of the force of attraction and impulsion, which continually acting at one time, obliges them to describe these courses ; but it must be remarked that comets pass over the solar system in all directions, and that the inclinations of their orbits are very different, insomuch that, although subject like the planets to the force of attraction, they have nothing in common with respect to their progressive or impulsive motions, but appear in this respect independent of each other : the planets, on the contrary, move round the sun in the same direction, and almost in the same plane, never exceeding 71 degrees of inclination in their planes, the most distant from the orbits. This conformity of position and direction in the motion of the planets, necessarily implies that their impulsive force has been communicated to them by one and the same cause.
May it not be imagined, with some degree of probability, that a comet falling on the surface of the sun, will have displaced this body, L 2	and76
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and that it will also have separated small particles, to which it will have communicated a motion of impulsion m the samé manner and by the same shock; so that the planets formerly belonged to the body of the sun, and w7ere detached from thence by an impulsive force common to all, and which they have preserved to the present moment ?
This supposition appears to be at least as well founded as the opinion of Leibnitz, who supposes that the planets of the earth were formerly suns; and his system, of which an account will be given in the fifth article, would have been more comprehensive and more agreeable to probability, if he had raised himself to this idea. We agree with him in thinking that this effect was produced at the time when Moses said that God divided light from darkness ; for, according to Leibnitz, light was divided from darkness when the planets were extinguished; but in our supposition there was a real physical separation, since the opaque bodies of the planets were divided from the luminous matter which composes the sun.
This idea of the cause of the impulsive force of the planets will be found much less objectionable, when an estimation is made of
theNATURAL HISTORY.
77
the analogies and degrees of probability, by which it may be supported. The first is, that common direction of their motion of impulsion, by which six of the planets are made to move from west to east; and therefore, according to calculation, it is sixty^four to one that such would not have been the case, if they had not been indebted to the same cause for their impulsive forces.
This, probably, will be considerably augmented by the second analogy, viz. that the inclinations of the planes of the orbits do not exceed 7 k degrees; for, by comparing the spaces, we shall find there are twenty-four to one, that two planets are found in their most distant places at the same time, and consequently or 7j692j624 to one, that all six would by chance be thus placed; or, w hat amounts to the same, there is a great degree of probability that the planets have been impressed w ith one common moving force, and which has given them this position. But what can have bestow ed this common impulsive motion, but the force and direction of the bodies by which it was originally communicated ? It may therefore be concluded, with great probability, that the planets received their impulsive motion by one single stroke. This likelihood,BUFFON^
78
hood, which is almost equivalent to a certainty,, being established, I seek to know what moving bodies could produce this effect, and I find nothing but comets capable of communicating a motion to such vast bodies.
By examining the course of comets, we shall be easily persuaded, that it is almost necessary for some of them occasionally to fall into the sun. That of 1G80 approached so near, that at its perihelion, it was not more distant from the sun than a sixth part of its diameter, and if it returns, as there is every appearance it will, in the year 2255, it may then possibly fall into the sun ; that must depend on the rencounters it w ill meet with in its road, and on the retardment it suffers in passing through the atmosphere of the sun*.
We may, therefore, presume with the great New ton, that comets sometimes fall into the sun; but this fall may be made in different directions. If they fall perpendicularly or in a direction not very oblique, they will remain in the sun, and serve for food to the fire which that luminary consumes, and the motion of impulsion which they will have communicated to the sun, will produce no other effect than that of removing it more or less, according as*
tlm
* Vide Newton, 3d edit, page 525,N ATUftAL H!ST011Y.
79
the mass of the comet will be more or less considerable; but if the fall of the comet is in a very oblique direction, which will most frequently happen, then the comet w ill only graze the surface of the sun, or slightly furrow it; and in this case it may drive out some parts of matter to which it will communicate a common motion of impulsion, and these parts so forced out of the body of the sun, and even the comet itself, may then become planets, and turn round this luminary in the same direction, and in almost the same plane. We might perhaps calculate what quantity of matter, velocity, and direction a comet should have, to impel from the sun an equal quantity of matter to that which the six planets and their satellities contain ; but it will be sufficient to observe here, that all the planets, with their satellites, do not make the 650th part of the mass of the sun,* because the density of the large planets, Saturn and Jupiter, is less than that of the sun; and although the earth be four times, and the moon near five times more dense than the sun, they are nevertheless but as atoms in comparison with his extensive body.
How ever inconsiderable the 650th part of a whole may be, yet it certainly at first appears
to
* Vide Newton, page 405*80
buffon’s
to require a very powerful comet to separate even that much from the body of the sun; but if we reflect on the prodigious velocity of comets in their perihelion, a velocity so much the greater as they approach nearer the sun; if, besides, we pay attention to the density, fixity, and solidity of the matter of which they must be composed, to suffer without being destroyed, the inconceivable heat they endure; and consider the bright and solid light which shines through their dark and immense atmospheres^ which surround, and must obscure them, it cannot be doubted that the comets are composed of extremely solid and dense matter, and that they contain a great quantity of matter in a small compass; that consequently a comet of no extraordinary bulk may have sufficient weight and velocity to displace the sun, and give a projectile motion to a quantity of matter, equal to the SoOtli part of the mass of this luminary. This perfectly agrees with what is known concerning the density of planets, which always decreases as their distance from the sun is increased, they having less heat to support; so that Saturn is less dense than Jupiter, and Jupiter much less than the earth; therefore if the density of the planets be, as Newton asserts, proportionable to the quan-*	tityNATURAL HISTORY.
81
taty of heat which they have to support. Mercury will be seven times more dense than the earth, and twenty-eight times denser than the sun ; and the comet of 1680 would be 28,000 times denser than the earth, or 112,009 times denser than the sun; and supposing it as large as the earth, it would contain a quantity of matter nearly equal to the ninth part of the sun ; or by giving it only the 100th part of the size of the earth, its mass would still be equal to the 900th part of the sun. Hence, it is easy to conclude, that such a body, though it would be but a small comet, might separate and drive off from the sun a 900th or a 6o0th part, particularly if we attend to the immense acquired velocity with which comets move when they pass in the vicinity of the sun.
Another analogy which merits some attention is the conformity between the density of the matter of the planets, and that of the sun. It is well known that both on and near the surface of the earth, there are some matters 14 or 15,000 times denser than others. The densities of gold and air are nearly in this relation* But the internal parts of the earth and planets are composed of more uniform matters, whose comparative density varies much less; and the vol. I.	M	.conformity82
buffo n's
conformity in the density of the planets and that of the sun is such, that of 650 parts which compose the whole of the matter of the planets, there are more than 640 of the same density as the matter of the sun, and only ten parts out of these 650 which are of a greater density; for Saturn and Jupiter are nearly of the same density as the sun, and the quantity of matter which these planets contain, is at least 64 times greater than that of the four inferior planets, Mars, the Earth, Venus, and Mercury. We must, therefore, admit, that the matter, of which the planets are generally composed, is nearly the same as that of the sun, •and that consequently the one may have been separated from the other.
But it may be said, if the comet, by falling obliquely on the sun, drove off the matter which composes the planets, they, instead of describing circles of which the sun is the centre, would, on the contrary, at each revolution have returned to the same point from whence they departed; as every projectile would, which might be thrown off with sufficient force from the surface of the earth, to oblige it to turn perpetually : for it is easy to demonstrate that such, in that instance, would be the case, and 5	therefor«NATURAL HISTORY.
83
therefore that the projection of the planets from the sun cannot be attributed to the impulsion of a comet.
To this I reply, that the matter which composes the planets did not come from the sun in ready formed globes, to which the comet could have communicated its motion of impulsion, but in the form of torrents, the motion of the anterior parts of which were accelerated by that of the posterior; and that the attraction of the anterior parts also accelerated the motion of the posterior; and that this acceleration, produced by one or other of these causes, or perhaps by both, might be s© great as to change the original direction of the motion occasioned by the impulse of the comet; from which cause a motion has resulted, such as we at present observe in the planets : especially when it is considered that the sun is displaced from its station by the shock of the comet. An example will render this more intelligible. Let us suppose, that from the top of a mountain, a musket ball is discharged, and that the strength of the powder was sufficient to send it beyond the semi-diameter of the earth; it is certain, that this ball would pass round the earth, and at each revolution return
to84
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to the spot whence it had been discharged: but, if instead of a musket ball, we suppose a rocket had been discharged, wherein the action of the fire being durable, would greatly accelerate the motion of impulsion, this rocket, or rather the carteuch which contained it, would not return to the same place like the musket-ball, but would describe an orbit, whose perigee w ould be much further distant from earth, as the force of acceleration would be greater and have changed the first direction.
Thus, provided there had been any acceleration in the motion of impulsion communicated to the torrent of matter by the fall of the comet; it is probable that the planets, formed in this torrent, acquired the motion which we know they have in the circles and ellipsis of which the sun is the centre and focus.
The manner in which the great eruptions of volcanos are made, may afford us an idea of this acceleration of motion. It has been remarked that when Vesuvius begins to roar and eject the inflamed matter it contains, the first cloud has but a small degree of velocity; this, however, is soon accelerated by the impulse ©f the second ; the second by the action of a i	third,NATURAL HISTORY.	gj
third, and so on, until the heavy mass of bitumen, sulphur, cinders, melted metal, and huge stones, appear like massive clouds, and although they succeed each other nearly in the same directions, yet they greatly change that of the first, and drive it far beyond what it would have reached of itself.
In answer to this objection, it may be further observed, that the sun having been struck by the comet, received a degree of motion by the impulse, which displaced it from its former situation, and that although this motion of the sun, is at present too little sensible for the notice of astronomers, nevertheless, it may still exist, and the sun describe a curve round the centre of gravity of the whole system; and if this be so, as I presume it is, we see perfectly that the planets, instead of returning near the sun at each revolution, will, on the contrary, have described orbits, the points of the perihelion of which will be as far distant from the sun, as it is itself from the place it originally occupied.
It may also be said, that if this acceleration of motion is made in the same direction, no change in the perihelion will be but, can it be thought, that in a torrent, the particles of
which86
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which succeed each other, there has been no? change of direction ? It is, on the contrary very probable that a considerable change did *ake place, sufficient to cause the planets to move in the course they at present occupy.
It may be further urged, that if the sun had been displaced by the shock of a comet, it would move uniformly, and that hence this motion being common to the whole system, no alteration was necessary; but might not the sun, before the shock, have had a motion round the centre of the cometary system, which primitive motion, may have been augmented or diminished by the stroke of the comet; and would not that fully account for the actual motion of the planets ?
If these suppositions be not admitted, may it not be presumed, without any offence to probability, that in the stroke of the comet against the sun, there was an elastic force which raised the torrent above the surface of the sun, instead of directly impelling it? which alone would be sufficient to remove the perihelion, and give the planets the motion they have retained. This supposition is not unlikely for the matter of the sun may possibly
beNATURAL HISTORY.
87
be very elastic, since light, the only part of it we are acquainted with, seems by its effects to be perfectly so. I cannot, I own, determine whether it be by the one or the other of these reasons, that the direction of the first motion of the impulse of the planets has changed, but they suffice to shew that such an alteration is not only possible but even probable, and that is sufficient for my purpose.
But, without dwelling any longer on the objections which might be made, or on the proofs that analogy might furnish in support of my hypothesis, I shall pursue the subject and draw the fair conclusions Let us, therefore, first see what might happen when these planets, and particularly the earth, received their impulsive motion, and in what state they were, after having been separated from the sun. The comet, having by a single stroke communicated a projectile motion to a quantity of matter equal to the 6o0ih part of the sun’s mass, the light particles would of ;uurse separate from the dense, and form by tNdr mutual attraction globes of different densities: Saturn being composed of the most gross and light parts, would be the most remote from the sun : Jupiter being more dense than Saturn would be less distant, and so on. The larger
andbuffon’s
m
and least solid planets are the most remote* because they received an impulsive motion, stronger than the smallest and more dense; for, the force of impulsion communicating itself according to the surface, the same stroke will have moved the grosser and lighter parts of the matter of the sun with more velocity than the smallest and most weighty; a separation therefore will be made of the dense parts of different degrees, so that the density of the sun being equal to 100, that of Saturn w ill be equal to 67* that of Jupiter to §4|, that of Mars to 200, that of Earth to 400, that of Venus to 800, and that of Mercury to 2800. But the force of attraction not communicating like that of impulsion, according to the surface, and acting on the contrary on all parts of the mass, it will have checked the densest portions of matter; and it is for this reason that the densest planets are nighest the sun, and turn round that planet with greater rapidity than the less pense planets, which are also the most remote.
Jupiter and Saturn, which are the largest and principle planets of the solar system, have retained this relation between their density and impulsive motions, in the most exact proportions ; the density of Saturn is to that of Jupiter as 67 to 941 and their velocities are *
nearlyNATURAL HISTORY.
89
nearly as 88| to ISO/*, or as 67 to 90||; it is seldom that pure conjectures can draw such exact relations. It is true, that by following this relation between the velocity and density of planets, the density of the earth ought to be only as SOand not 400 ; from hence it may be conceived, that our globe was formerly less dense that it is at present. With respect to the other planets, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, as their densities are known only by conjecture we cannot be certain whether this circumstance will destroy or confirm our hypothesis. The opinion of Newton is, that density is so much the greater, as the heat to which the planet is exposed is the stronger; and it is upon this principle, that we have just said that Mars is one time less dense than the Earth, Venus one time more dense, Mercury seven times more dense, and the comet in 1680, 28,000 times more dense than the earth : but this proportion between the density of the planets and the heat which they sustain, seems not well founded, when we consider Saturn and Jupiter, which are the principal objects ; for according to this relation between the density and heat, the density of Saturn would be about 4/g, and that of Jupiter as 14l|, instead of 67 vol» i.	N	and90
BU FFON'S
and 94|, a difference too great to be admitted, and must destroy the principles upon which it was founded. Thus, notwithstanding the confidence which the conjectures of Newton me« rit, I cannot but think that the density of the planets has more relation with their velocity than with the degree of heat to which they are exposed. This is only a final cause, and the other a physical relation, the preciseness of which is remarkable in Jupiter and Saturn ; it is nevertheless true, that the density of the earth, instead of being 206f, is found to be 400, and that consequently the terrestrial globe must be condensed in the ratio of 206f, to 400.
But have not the condensations of the planets some relation with the quantity of the heat of the sun which they sustain ? If so, Saturn, which is the most distant from that luminary, will have suffered little or no condensation; and Jupiter will be condensed from y0f§ to 94f. Now the heat of the sun in Jupiter being to that of the sun upon the earth as are to 400, the condensations ought to be in the same proportion. For instance, if Jupiter be condensed, as 90~f to94f, and the earth had been placed in his orbit, it would have been condensed from 2Q6£ to 21599 Q, but the earth 2	beingNATURAL HISTORY*
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being nearer the sun, and receiving a heat, whose relation to that which Jupiter receives is from 400 to 14|J, the quantity of condensation it would have experienced on the orbit of Jupiter is in the proportion of 400 to 1which gives nearly 2341 for the quantity which the earth would be condensed. Its density was 2361 ; by adding the quantity of its acquired condensation, we find 400|- for its actual density, which nearly approaches the real density 400, determined to be so by the parallax of the moon. As to other planets, I do not here pretend to give exact proportions, but only approximations, to point out that their densities have a strong relation to their velocity in their respective orbits.
The comet, therefore, by its oblique fall upon the surface of the sun, having driven from it a quantity of matter equal to the 650th part of its whole mass; this matter, which must be considered in a liquid state, will at first have formed a torrent, the grosser and less dense parts of which will have been driven the furthest, and the smaller and more dense, having received only the like impulsion, will remain nearer its source ; the force of the sun’s attraction would inevitably act upon all the N 2	parts92
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parts detadied from him, and constrain them to circulate around his body ; and at the same time the mutual attraction of the particles of matter would form themselves into globes at different distances from the sun, the nearest of which necessarily moving with greater rapidity in their orbits than those at a distance.
But another objection may be started, and it may be said, if the matter which composes the planets had been separated from the sun, they, like him, would have been burning and luminous bodies, not cold and opake; for nothing resembles a globe of fire less than a globe of earth and water; and by comparison, the matter of the earth and planets is perfectly different from that of the sun.
To this it may be answered, that in the separation the matter changed its form, and the light or fire was extinguished by the stroke which caused the motion of impulsion. Besides, may it not be supposed that if the sun, or a burning star, moved with such velocity as the planet, that the fire would soon be extinguished ; and that is the reason why all luminous stars are fixed, and that those stars which are called new, and which have probably
changedNATURAL HISTORY.
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changed places, are frequently extinguished and lost? This remark is somewhat confirmed by what has been observed in comets; they must burn to the centre when they pass to their perihelium:	nevertheless they do not
become luminous themselves, they only exhale burning vapours, of which they leave a considerable part behind them in their course.
I own, that in a medium where there is very little or no resistance, fire tnay subsist and suffer a very great motion without being extin-tinguished: I also own, that what I have just said extends only to those which have periodical returns, and appear to disappear alternately without changing place in the heavens. The phenomena of these stars have been explained in a very satisfactory manner by M. de Mau-pertuis, in his discourse on the figures of the planets. But the stars which appear and afterwards disappear entirely, must certainly have been extinguished, either by the velocity of their motion, or some other cause. We have not a single instance of one luminous star revolving round another; and among the number of planets which compose our system, and
which94
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which move round the sun with more or less rapidity, there is not one luminous of itself.
It may also be added, that fire cannot subsist so long in the small as in large masses, and that the planets must have burnt for some time after they w ere separated from the sun, but were at length extinguished for want of combustible matter, as probably will be the sun it-self, and for the same reason; but in a length of time as far beyond that which extinguished the planets, as it exceeds them in quantity of matter. Be this as it may, the matter of which the planets are formed being separated from the sun, by the stroke of a comet, that appears a sufficient reason for the extinction of their fires.
The earth and planets at the time of their quitting the sun, were in a state of total liquid fire; in this state they remained only as long as the violence of the heat which had produced it; and which heat necessarily underwent a gradual decay ; it was in this state of fluidity that they took their circular forms, and that their regular motions raised the parts of their equators, and lowered their poles. This figure, which agrees so perfectly with the laws of hydrostatics,NATURAL HISTORY.
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drostatics, I am of opinion with Leibnitz, necessarily supposes that the earth and planets have been in a state of fluidity, caused by fire, and that the internal part of the earth must be a vitrifiable matter, of which sand, granite, &c„ av the fragments and scoria.
It may therefore be thought, with some probability, that the planets appertained to the sun, that they were separated by a single stroke, which gave to them a motion of impulsion, and that their position at different distances from the sun proceeds only from their different densities. It now only remains to complete this theory, to explain the diurnal motion of the planets, and the formation of the satellites ; but this, far from adding difficulties to my hypothesis, seems, on the contrary, to confirm it.
For the diurnal motion, or rotation, depends solely on the obliquity of the stroke, and a oblique impulse therefore on the surface of a body will necessarily give it a rotative motion ; this motion will be equal and always the same, if the body which receives it be homogeneous; and it will be unequal if the body be composed of heterogeneous parts, or of different densities ; berree we may conclude that in all the planets the matter is homogeneous, since their
diurnal96
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diurnal motions are equals aad regularly per* formed in the same period of time. Another proof that the separation of the dense or less dense parts were originally from the sun.
But the obliquity of the stroke might have been such, as to separate from the body of the principal planet a small part of matter, which would of course continue to move in the same direction; these parts would be united, according to their densities, at different distances from the planet, by the force of their mutual attraction, and at the same time follow its course round the sun, by revolving about the body of the planet, nearly in the plane of its orbit. It is plain, that those small parts so separated are the satellites ; thus the formation, position, and direction of the motions of the satellites perfectly agree with our theory; for they have all the same motion in con centrical circles round their principal planet; their motion is in the same direction, and that nearly in the plane of their orbits. All these effects, which are common to them, and which depend on an impulsive force, can proceed only from one common cause, which is impulsive motion communicated to them by one and the sa^ie oblique stroke.
Whatnatural hi Story*	97
What we have just said on the cause of the rotatory motion and formation of the satellites, will acquire more probability, if we consider all the circumstances of the phenomena* The planets which turn the swiftest on their axis, are those which have satellites. The earth turns quicker than Mars in the relation of about 24 to 15; the earth has a satellite, but Mars has none. Jupiter, whose rapidity round its axis is five to six hundred times greater than that of the earth, has four satellites ; and there is a great appearance that saturn, which has five, and a ring, turns still more quickly than J upiter.
It may even be conjectured with some foundation, that the ring of Saturn is parallel to the equator of that planet, so that the plane of the equator of the ring, and that of Saturn, are nearly the same; for, supposing, according to the preceding theory, that the obliquity of the stroke by which Saturn has been set in motion was very great, the velocity around the axis will, at first, have been in proportion as the centrifugal force exceeds that of gravity; and there will be detached from its equator and neighbouring parts, a considerable quantity of
vol. 1.	O	matter,93
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matter, which will necessarily have taken the figure of a ring, whose plane must be nearly the same as that of the equator of the planet ; and this quantity of matter having been detached from the vicinity of the equator of Saturn, must have lowered the equator of that planet j whence, notwithstanding its rapidity, the diameters of Saturn cannot be so unequal as those of Jupiter, which differ from each other more than an eleventh part.
However great the probability of what I have advanced ©n the formation of the planets and their satellites may appear to me, yet every man has his particular measurement, to estimate probabilities of this nature; and as this measurement depends on the strength of the understanding to combine more or less distant relations, I do not pretend to con» vince the incredulous. I have thought it my duty to offer these ideas, because they appear to me reasonable, and calculated to clear up a subject, on which, however important, nothing has hitherto been written; for the impulsive motion in the planets enter at lea si as one half of the composition of the universe, which gravity alone cannot unfold. I shal 6	onlyNATURAL HISTORY.
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only add the following questions to those who are inclined to deny the possibility of my system.
1.	Is it not natural to imagine, that a body in motion has received that motion by the stroke of another body ?
2.	Is it not very probable, that when many bodies move in the same direction, they have received this direction by one single stroke, or by many strokes directed in the same manner ?
3 Is it not more probable that when many bodies have the same direction in their motion, and are placed in the same plane, they received this direction and this position, by one and the same stroke, rather than by a number ?
4. At the time a body is put in motion by the force of impulsion, is it not probable that it receives it obliquely, and consequently, is obliged to turn on its axis so much the quicker, as the obliquity of the stroke will have been greater ? If these questions should not appear unreasonable, the theory, of which we have presented the outlines, will cease to appear an absurdity.
Let us now pass on to something which more nearly concerns us, and examine the
fignreICO
BUFFO N S
figure of the earth, on which so many researches and such great observations have been made. The earth being, as it appears by the equality of its diurnal motion and the constancy of the inclination of its axis, composed of homogeneous parts, which attract each other in proportion to their quantity of matter, it would necessarily have taken the figure of a globe perfectly spherical, if the motion of impulsion had been given it in a perpendicular direction to the surface : but this stroke having-been obliquely given, the earth turned on its axis at the moment it took its form ; and from the combination of this impulsive force, and the attraction of the parts there, has resulted a spheroid figure, more elevated under the great circle of rotation, and lower at the two extremities of the axis ; and this because the action of the centrifugal force proceeding from the diurnal rotation must diminish the action of gravity. Thus, the earth being homogeneous, and having received a rotative motion, necessarily took a spheroidical figure, the two axes of which differ a 230th part from each other. This may be clearly demonstrated, and does not depend on any hypothesis whatever. The laws of gravity arc perfectly
known,,NATURAL HISTORY.
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inown, and we cannot doubt that bodies attract each other in a direct ratio of their masses, and in an inverse ratio, at the squares of their distances:	so likewise we cannot
doubt, that the general action of any body is not composed of all the particular actions of its parts. Thus each part of matter mutually attracts in a direct ratio of its mass and an inverse ratio of its distance; and from all these attractions there results a sphere when there is no rotatory motion, and a spheroid when there is one. This spheroid is longer or shorter at the two extremities of the axis of rotation, in proportion to the velocity of its diurnal motion; and the earth has then, by virtue of its rotative velocity, and of the mutual attraction of all its parts, the figure of a spheroid, the two axes of which are as 229 to 230 to one another,
Thus, by its original constitution, or by its homogeneousness, and independent of every hypothesis from the direction of gravity, the earth has taken this figure of a spheroid at its formation, and agreeable to mechanical laws: its equatorial diameter was raised about 0 leagues higher than under the poles,
I shall
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I shall dwell on this article, because tilers are still geometricians who think that the figure of the earth depends upon theory ; and this from a system of philosophy they have embraced, and from a supposed direction of gravity. The first thing we have to demonstrate is the mutual attraction of every part of matter, and the second the homogeneousness of the terrestrial globe \ if we clearly prove* that these two circumstances are really so, there will no longer be arty hypothesis to be made on the direction of gravity ; the earth will necessarily have the figure Newton decided in favour of, and every othei* figure given to it by virtue of vortices dr other hypotheses, will not be able to subsist.
It cannot be doubted, that it is the force of gravity which retains the planets in their orbits^ the satellites of Saturn gravitate towards Saturn, those of Jupiter towards Jupiter, the Moon, gravitates towards the Earth: and Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Earth, Venus, and Mercury, gravitate towards the Sun: so likewise Saturn and Jupiter gravitate towards their satellites, the Earth gravitates towards the Moon, and the Sun towards the whole of
theNATURAL HISTORY.	303
the planets. Gravitation is therefore general and mutual in all the planetary system, for action cannot he exercised without a reaction; all the planets, therefore, act mutually one on the other. This mutual attraction serves as a foundation to the laws of their motion, and is demonstrated to exist by its effects. Wheu Saturn and Jupiter are jn conjunction, they act one on the other, and this attraction produces an irregularity in their motion round the Sun. It is the same with the Earth and the Moon, which likewise mutually attract each other: but the irregularities of the motion of the Moon, proceeds from the attraction of the Sun, so that the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon, mutually act one on the other. Now this mutual attraction of the planets, when the distances are equal, is proportional to their quantity of matter, and the same force of gravity which causes heavy matter to fall on the surface of the earth, and which extends to the Moon, is also proportional to the quantity of matter; therefore the total gravity of a planet is composed of the gravity of each of its parts ; from w hence all the parts of the matter, either jn the Earth or in the planets, mutually attract Cftcli other; and the Earth, by its rotation
round104
BUFFO«’»
round its own axis, lias necessarily taken tfat figure of a spheroid, the axes of which are as 229 to 230. The direction of the weight must he perpendicular to the Earth’s surface; consequently no hypothesis, drawn from the direction of gravity, can be sustained, unless the general attraction of the parts of matter be denied ; but the existence of this mutual attraction is demonstrated by .observations, and the experiment of pendulums proves, that its extension is general; therefore we cannot support an hypothesis 6n the direction of gravity, without going against experience and reason.
Let us now proceed to examine whether the matter of which the terrestrial globe is composed be homogeneous. I admit, that if it be supposed the globe is more dense in some parts than in others, the direction of gravity must be different from wliat we have just assigned, and that the figure of the Earth would also differ, agreeably to those suppositions. But what reason have we to make these suppositions ? Why, for example, should we suppose that the parts near the centre are more dense than those which are more remote ? Are not all the particles which compose the globe collected together by their mutual attraction ?
hence.NATURAL HISTORY*
ms
îiénce, ëach particle is a centre, and there is no reason to believe, that the parts which surround the centre are more dense than those which are aboiit any other point. Besides, if one considerable párt of the globe were denser than another, the axis of rotation would be found near the dense parts* and an inequality would ensue in the diurnal revolution; we should remark an inequality in the apparent motion of the fixed stars ; they would appear to move more quickly or slowly in the zenith, or horizon, according as we should be placed on the denser or lighter parts of the earth ; and thé axis of the globe no longer passing through the centre of gravity* would also very sensibly change its position : but nothing like this ever happens ; on the contrary, the diurnal motion of the earth Í3 equal and uniform. At all parts of the Earth’s surface, the stars appear to move with the same velocity, at all heights, and if there be any rotation in its axis, it is so trifling as to have escaped observation : it must therefore be concluded, that the globe is homogeneous, or nearly so in all its parts.
If the earth were a hollow and void globe* and the crust, for example, not more than two or three miles thick; it would produce vol. i	P	theseBUFFO N'S
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these effects. 1. The mountains would be inch considerable parts of the whole thickness of the crust, that great irregularities in the motions of the Earth would be occasioned by the attraction of the Moon and Sun : for when the highest parts of the globe, as the Cordilleras, should have the Moon at noon, the attraction would be much stronger on the whole globe than when she was in the meridian of the lowest parts. Q'. The attraction of mountains would be much more considerable than it is in comparison with the attraction of the whole globe, and experiments made at the mountain of Chimboraeo, in Peru, would in this case give more degrees than they have given seconds for the deviation of the plumb line. 3. The weight of bodies w ould be greater on the tops of high mountains than on the planes; so that we should feel ourselves con^ siderably heavier, and should walk with more difficulty in high than in low places. These observations, with many others that might be added, must convince us, that the inner parts of the globe are not void, but filled with a dense matter.
On the other hand, if below the depth of two or three miles, the earth were filled with*
a.matterNATURAL HISTORY.
10?
a matter much more dense than any known, it would necessarily occur, that every time we descended to moderate depths,, we should weigh much more, and the motion of pendulums w ould be more accelerated than in fact they are when carried from an eminence into a plain : thus, we may presume that the internal part of the Earth is tilled with a matter nearly similar to that which composes its surface. What may complete our determination in favour of this opinion is, that in the first formation of the globe, when it took its present spheroidical figure, the matter which composed it was in fusion, and, consequently, all its parts were homogeneous, and nearly equally dense. From that time the matter on the surface, although originally the same with the interior, has undergone a variety of changes by external causes, which has produced materials of such different densities; but it must be remarked, that the densest matters, as gold and metals, are also those that are most seldom to be met with, and consequently the greatest part of the matter at the surface of the globe has not undergone any very great changes with relation to its density; the most common materials, as sand and clay differ very little, insomuch, that we may con*’ p 3	jeeture,108	buffon’s
jecture, with great probability, that the internal part of the earth is composed of a vitrified matter, the density of which is nearly the same as that of sand, and that consequently the terrestrial globe in general may be regard* ed as homogeneous.
Notwithstanding this, it may be urged, that although the globe was composed of concen-trical strata of different densities, the diurnal motion might be equally certain, and the uniform inclination of the axis as constant and undisturbed as it could be, on the supposition of its being composed of homogeneous matter. I acknowledge it, but I ask at the same time, if there is any reason to believe that strata of different densities do exist ? If these conclusions be not rather a desire to adjust the works of Nature to our own ideas? And whether in physics, w'e ought to admit suppositions which are pot founded on observation? or analogy ?
Jt appears, therefore, that the earth, in con? sequence pf the mutual attraction of its parts and its diurnal motion, assumed the figure of a spheroid, >vhose two axes differ a 230th part; that it necessarily took that form from being in § state of fluidity; that, agreeable to the law'?
ofNATURAL HISTORY,
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of gravity and of a centrifugal force, it could have no other figure: and that, consequently, every hypothesis in which we find greater or less difference are fictions which merit no attention.
But it may be said, if this theory be true, and if £29 to £30 is the just relation of the axes, why did the mathematicians, sent to Lap-land and Peru, agree to the relation of 174 to 173? Whence does this difference arise between theory and practice ? And is it not more reasonable to give the preference to practice and measures, especially when they have been taken by the most able mathematicians of Europe*, and with all necessary apparatus to establish the result ?
To this I answer, that I have paid attention to the observations made at the equator and pear the polar circle ; that I have no doubt of their being exact, and that the earth may possibly be elevated an >75th part more at the equator than at the poles. Bui at the same time, I maintain my theory, and I see clearly how the two conclusions may be reconciled. This difference is about four leagues in the two axes, sp that the parts at the equator are
raised
* M. de Maupertuis’ Figure pi the Earth,110
,3BU:*.F0nV
raised two leagues more than they ought to he, according to my theory; this height an* swers exactly to the greatest inequalities on the surface of the globe, produced by the motion of the sea, and the action of the fluids. I will be more explicit; it appears, that when the earth was formed, it must necessarily have taken, by virtue of the mutual attraction of its parts, and the action of the centrifugal force, a speroidical figure, the axes of which differ a 230th part: the original earth must have had this figure, which it took when it was fluid, or rather liquefied by the fire; but after its formation the vapours which were extended and rarefied, as in the atmosphere and tail of a comet, became condensed, and fell on the surface in form of air and water; and when these waters became agitated by the flux and reflux, the matters were, by degrees, carried from the poles towards the equatorial parts; so that the poles were lowered about a league, and those of the equator raised in the same proportion ; this was not suddenly done, but by degrees in succession of time; the earth being also exposed to the action of the winds, air, and sun; all these irregular causes concurred with the flux and reflux to furrow its surface, hollow it into
valleysNatural history.
lit
valleys, and raise it into mountains; and producing other inequalities and irregularities, of which, nevertheless, the greatest thickness does not exceed one league at the equator; this inequality of two leagues, is, perhaps, the greatest which can be on the surface of the earth, for the highest mountains are scarce above one league in height, and there is much probability of the sea’s not being more at its greatest depth. The theory is therefore true, and practice may be so likewise; the earth at hi st could not be raised above 6% leagues more at the equator than the poles, but the changes which have happened to its surface might afterwards raise it still more. Natural History wonderfully confirms this opinion, for we have proved in the preceding discourse that the flux and reflux, and other motions of the water, have produced mountains and all the inequalities on the surface of the globe, that this surface has undergone considerable changes, and that as the greatest depths, as well as on the greatest heights, bones, shells, and other wrecks of animals, which inhabit the sea and earth, are met with.
It may be conjectured, from what has been said, that to find ancient earth, and matter* which have never been removed from the spot
itsBUFFON*S
JÎ2
in which they were first placed, we must Sg hear the poles, where the bed of the earth must be thinner than in the Southern climates.
On the whole if we strictly examine the measures by which they have determined the Configuration of the earth, we shall perceive that this hypothesis enters into such determination, for it supposes the earth to have the figure of a regular curve; whereas from the Constant changes the earth is continually undergoing from a variety and combination of Causes, it is almost impossible that it should have retained any regular figure; and hence the poles might, originally, only be flattened a 230th part, as Newton says, and as my theory requires. Besides, although we had exactly the length of the degree at the polar circle and equator, have we not also the length a the degree as exactly in France? And the measure of M. Picard has it not been verified ? Add to this that the augmentation and diminution in the motion of the pendulum, do not agree with the result drawn from mea* sûrement, and that, on the contrary, they differ very little from the theory of Newton. This is surely more than is requisite to convince us that the poles are not flattened more than a 230th part, and that if
thereNATURAL HISTORY
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mere is any difference, it can proceeckmly from die inequalities, which the water and other external causes have produced on its surface ; hut these inequalities being more irregular than regular, we must not thence form any hypothesis, nor suppose, that the meridians are ellipses, or any other regular curves. From whence we perceive, that if we should successively measure many degrees of the earth in all directions, we should still not be certain by that ■alone, of the exact situation of the poles, nor whether they were depressed more or less than the 230th part.
May it not also be conjectured, that if the inclination of the axis of the earth have changed, it can only have been produced by the changes which have happened to the surface, since all tire rest of the globe is homogeneous; that consequently this variation is not sufficiently obvioys to be perceived by astronomers, and that if the earth is not encountered with a comet, or deranged, by any other external cause, its axis will remain perpetually inclined as it is aft present, and as it has always been ?
And lastly, that we may not omit any conjecture which appears reasonable, may it not be said that as the mountains and inequalities which are
VOL. i.	Q
on114
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on the surface of the earth have been formed by the flux and reflux of the sea* the mountains and in equalities which we remark on the surface of the moon, have been produced by a similar cause? they certainly are much higher than those of the earth* but then her tides are also much stronger* occasioned by the earth’s being considerably larger than the moon* and consequently producing her tides with a superior force ; and this effect would be much greater if the moon had* like the earth* a rapid rotation ; but as the moon presents always the same superficies to the earth* the tides cannot operate but in proportion to the motion arising from her libration* by which it alternately discovers to us a segment of its other surface.; this* however* must produce a kind of flux and reflux* quite different from that of our sea* and the effects of which will be much less considerable than if this motion had for its cause a revolution round its own axis* as quick as the rotation of the terrestrial globe.
1 should furnish a volume as large as that of Burnet or Whistons* if I ’were to enlarge on the ideas which arise in support of the above ; and by giving them a geometrical air* in imitation of the last author* I might add considerably to
theirNATURAL HISTORY»
n$
their weight; but, in my opinion, hypothesis, however probable, ought not to be treated with such pomposity; for it approaches tpo much towards empiricism.
ARTICLE II.
OF TIIE SYSTEM OF WHISTON*.
rJpHIS Author commences his treatise on the Theory of the Earth by a dissertation on the creation of the world ; he says that the account of it given by Moses in the text of Genesis has not been rightly understood ; that the translators have confined themselves too much to the letter and to the first meaning that presented itself, without attending to nature, reason, and philosophy. The common notion of the world being made in six days, he says is absolutely false, and that the description given by Moses, is not an exact and philosophical narration of the creation and origin of the universe, but only an Q 2	historical
* A New Theory of the Earth by William Wliislon, 1708.il6
ttUFFON-V
historical representation of the terrestrial globe. The earth, according to him, existed previously in chaosand, at the time mentioned by Moses,, it received the form, situation and consistency necessary to be inhabited by the human race« I shall not enter into a detail of his proofs, nor undertake their refutation. The exposition we have just made, is sufficient to demonstrate the difference of his opinion with scripture, and* consequently the insufficiency of his proofs. On the whole, he treats this matter as a theological controver.tist, rather than as an enlightened philosoper.
Leaving these erroneous principles, lie flies to ingenious suppositions, which, although extraordinary, yet have a degree of probability to hose who, like him, incline to the enthusiasm of system. He says*, that the ancient chaos, the origin of our earth, was the atmosphere of a comet: that the annual motion of the earth began at the time it took its new form; but that its diurnal motion began* only when the first man fell; that the ecliptic at that time cut the tropic of cancer, opposite to the terrestrial. paradise, which was situated on the north-west side of the frontiers of Assyria: that before the deluge, the year began at the autumnal equinox
thatNATURAL HISTOtri.
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that the orbits of the planets, and- above all, that ef the earth were then perfect circles ;■ that the deluge began the 18th of November, 2363 of die J ulian period, or 2349 years before Christ; that the solar and lunar year were then the same, and that they exactly contained 360 days ; that a comet descending in tire plane of the ecliptic towards its perihelion, passed near the globe of the earth the same day that the deluge began: •that there is a great heat in the internal part of the terrestrial globe, which constantly -diffuses itself from the centre to the circumference; that the internal constitution and form of the earth is like that of an egg, the ancient emblem of the globe ; that mountains are the lightest part of the earth, &c. He afterwards attributes to the universal deluge, all the alterations and changes which have happened to the earth ; lie blindly adopts the theory of Woodward, and indiscriminately makes use of all the observations of that author on the present state of the globe ; but he adds much of his own when he speaks of its future state: according to him it will be consumed by fire, and its destruction will be preceded by terrible earthquakes, thunder, and4 frightful meteors; the sun and moon will have i hideous aspect; the heavens will appear to
fall,BUFFON'S
fall,, and the flames will be general all over the earth; but when the fire shall have devoured all the impurities it contains; when it shall be vitrified and rendered transparent as a crystal, the saints and the blessed spirits wall return and take possession of it, and their remain till the day-of judgement.
All these hypotheses, appear at the first glance, to be rash and extravagant assertions ; yet the author has managed them with such address, and treated them with such strength, that they cease to appear absolutely chimerical. He supports his subjects with as much science, and as much ingenuity as belong to them ; and it is surprising that, from a mixture of ideas so very absurd, a system could be formed with an air of probability. It has not affected vulgar minds so much as it has dazzled the eyes of the learned, because they are more easily deceived by the glar$ of erudition, and the power of novel ideas. Mr. W histon was a celebrated astronomer, in the constant habit of considering the heavens, observing the stars, and contemplating the wonderful course of nature ; lie could never persuade himself that this small grain of sand, this Earth which wrc inhabit, occupied more the attention of the Creator than the universe, the vast extent of which
containsNATURAL HISTbllY,	I 1 f/'
contains millions of other Suns and Eartlis. He pretends, that Moses has not given us the history of the first creation of this globe, but only a detail of the new form that it took when the Almighty turned it from the number of the comets into a planet, and formed it into a proper habitation for men. Comets are, in fact, subjected to terrible vicissitudes on account of the eccentricity of their orbits. Sometimes, like that in 1680, they are a thousand times hotter than red-hot iron; and sometimes a thousand times colder than ice ; if they are, therefore, inhabited, it must be by strange creatures, of whieli we can have no conception.
The planets, on the contrary, are places of rest, where the distance of the sun not varying much, the temperature remains nearly the same, and permits different kinds of plants and animals to grow and multiply.
in the beginning, God created the world; but, observes our author, the earth w as then an uninhabitable comet, suffering' alternately the excess of heat and cold, in which its substances liquifying and freezing by turns formed a chaos, or an abyss, surrounded with thick darkness : “ and darkness covered the face of the deep,” &; tenehra erant super facium abissi. Tins-cha-os was the atmosphere of the comet,
a bodyi m
?C-FFO!tV
^ body composed of heterogeneous matters, the centre occupied by spherical,, solid, and hot substances, of about two thousand leagues in dia-meter, round which a very great surface of a thick fluid extended, mixed with an uushapca snd confused matter, like the chaos of the ancients rudis if indigcstaqm moles.
This vast atmosphere contained but very Jew dry, solid, or terretnal particles, still less aqueous or aerial, but a great quantity of fluid, dense and heavy matters, mixed, agitated and jumbled together in die greatest disorder and confusion. Such was the earth before the six days, but on the first day of the creation, when tfee eccentric orbit of the comet had been changed, every thing took its place, and bodies arranged themselves according to the law o| gravity, the heavy fluid descended to the lowest places, and left the upper regions to the terrestrial, aqueous and aerial parts ; those likewise descended according to their order of gravity ; first the earth, then the water, and last of all the air. The immense volume of chaos was thus reduced to a globe of a moderate size, in the centre of which is the solid body that still retains , the heat which the sun formerly communicated to it, when it belonged to a comet.NATURAL HISTORY.
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met. This heat may possibly endure six thousand years, since the comet of 1680 required fifty thousand years to cool. Around this solid and burning matter, which occupies the centre of the earth, is found the dense and heavy fluid, which descended the first, and this is the fluid which forms the great abyss on which the earth is borne, like cork on quicksilver ; but as the terrestrial parts were originally mixed with a large quantity of water, in descending they have dragged with them a part of this water, which, not being able to re-ascend after the earth was consolidated, formed a concentrical bed with the heavy fluid which surrounds this hot substance, insomuch that the great abyss is composed of two concentrical orbs, the most internal of which is a heavy fluid, and the other, water; and this last serves for a foundation to the earth. It is from this admirable arrangement, produced by the atmosphere of a comet that the Theory of the Earth, and the explantion of all its phenomena are to depend.
When the atmosphere of the comet was once disembarrassed from all the solid and terrestrial matters, there remained only the lighter an*, through which the ray» of the yol. i.	R	sunsun freely passed and instantly produced light: u Let there be light, and there was light/’ The columns which composed the orb of the Earth being formed with such great precipitation is the cause of their different densities ; consequently the heaviest sunk deeper into this subterraneous fluid than the lightest; and it is this which has produced the vallies and mountains on the surface of the earth. These in^ equalities were, before the deluge, dispersed and situated otherwise than they are at present. Instead of the vast valley, which contains the ocean, there were many small divided cavities on the surface of the globe, each of which contained a part of this water : the mountain» were also more divided, and did not form chains as at present: nevertheless, the earth contained a thousand times more people, and was a thousand times more fertile; and the life of man and other animals w ere ten times longer, all which was effected by the internal heat of the earth that proceeded from the centre, and gave birth to a great number of plants and animals, bestowing on them a degree of vigour necessary for them to subsist a long time, and multiply in great abundance. But this heat, by increasing the strength of
bodies^NATURAL HISTORY.
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todies, unfortunately extended to the heads of men and animals; it augmented their passions; it deprived man of his innocence, and the brute creation of part of their intelligence ; all creatures, excepting fish, who inhabited a colder clement, felt the effects of this heat, became criminal and merited death. It therefore came, and this universal death happened on Wednesday the (¿8th of November, by a terrible deluge oi forty days and forty nights, and was caused by the tail of another comet which encountered the earth in returning from its perihelion.
The tail of a comet is the lightest part of its atmosphere; it is a transparent mist, a subtile vapour, which the heat of the sun exhales from the body of the comet: this vapour, composed of extremely rarefied aqueous and aerial particles, follows the comet when it descends to its perihelion, and precedes it when it re-ascends, so that it is always situated opposite to the sun, as if it sought to be in the shade, and avoid the too great heat of that luminary. The column which this vapour forms is often of an immense length, and the more a comet approaches the sun, the longer and more extended is its tail, and, as many comets descend below the annual orb of the earth, it is not sur-R 2	prising124
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prising that the earth is sometimes found surrounded with the vapour of this tail. This is precisely what happened at the time of the deluge; in two hours the tail of a comet will evacuate a quantity of water equal to what is contained in the whole ocean. In short, this tail was what Moses calls the cataracts of Heaven, “ and the cataracts of Heaven w ere opened.” The terrestrial globe meeting with the tail of a comet, must, in going its course through this vapour, appropriate to itself a part of the matter which it contains ; all w hich, coming within the sphere of the earth’s attraction, must fall on it, and fall in the form of rain, since this tail is partly composed of aqueous vapours. Thus rain may come down in such abundance as to produce an universal deluge, the waters of which might easily surmount the tops of the highest mountains. However, our author, cautious of not going directly against the letter of holy w rit, does not say that this rain was the sole cause of the universal deluge, but takes the water from every place he can find it. The great abyss as we have seen contains a Considerable quantity. The earth at the approach of the comet, would^experience the force of its attraction; and the waters
containedK AT U It AX HISTORY*
1£5
tcontaincd in the great abyss would be agitated by so violent a kind of flux and reflux, that the superficial crust would not resist, but split in several places, and the internal waters be dispersed over the surface, “ And the fountains of the abyss were opened.”
But what became of these waters, w hich the tail of the comet and great abyss furnished so liberally ? Our author is not the least embarrassed upon this subject. As soon as the earth, continuing its course, removed from the comet, the effects of its attraction, the flux and reflux in the great abyss ceased of course, and immediately the upper waters precipitated back with violence by the same roads as they had been forced upon the surface. The great abyss absorbed all the superfluous waters, and was of a sufficient capacity not only to receive its own waters, but also all those which the tail of the comet had left, because during its agitation, and the rupture of its crust, it had enlarged the space by driving out on all sides the earth that surrounded it. It was at at this time also the figure of the earth, which till then was spherical, became elliptic. This effect was occasioned by the centrifugal force caused by its diurnal motion, and by the attraction of the
comet,I £6
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comet, for the earth, in passing through the tail of the comet, found itself so placed that it presented the parts of the equator to that planet; and the power of the attraction of the comet, concurring with the centrifugal force of the earth, caused the parts of the equator to be elevated, and that with the more facility as the crust was broken and divided in an infinity of places, and because the flux and reflux of the abyss drove against the equator more violently than elsewhere.
Here then is Mr. Whiston’s history of the creation ; the causes of the universal deluge; the length of the life of the first men; and the figure of the Earth ; all which seem to have cost our author little or no labour; but Noah’s ark appears to have greatly disquieted him. In the midst of so terrible a disorder occasioned by the conjunction of the tail of a comet with the waters of the great abyss, in that terrible moment when not only the elements of the earth were confused, but when new elements concurred to augment the chaos, how can it be imagined that the ark floated quietly with its numerous cargo on the top of the waves ? Here our author makes great efforts to arrive at and give a physical reason for the
preservationNATURAL HISTORf.
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preservation of the ark, but which has always appeared to me insufficient, poorly imagined* and but little orthodoxical: I will not here relate it, but only observe, how hard it is for a man who has explained objects so great and wonderful, without having recourse to a supernatural power, to be stopt by one particular circumstance ; our author, however, chose rather to risk drowning with the ark, then to attribute to the immediate bounty of the Almighty the preservation of this precious vessel.
I shall only make one remark on this system, of which I have made a faithful abridgement:	which is, whenever we are
rash enough to attempt to explain theological truths by physical reasons, or interpret purely by human views, the divine text of holy w?rit, or when we endeavour to reason on the will of the Most High, and on the execution of his decrees, we consequently involve ourselves in the darkness and chaos of obscurity and confusion, like the author of this system, which, in defiance of its absurdities, has been received with great applause* He doubted neither the truth of the deluge, nor the authenticity of the sacred writ; but as he was less employed with it than with physiology
andl£g	buffon’s
and astronomy, he has taken passages of the? scripture for physical fasts, and the results of astronomical observations ‘ and has so strangely blended the divine knowledge with human science as to give birth to the most extraordinary system that possibly ever was or ever will be conceived.
ARTICLE III.
OF THE SYSTEM OF BUIFNET. *
rjpHIS author is the first who has treated this subject generally and in a systematical manner. He was possessed of much understanding, and was a person well acquainted with the belles lettres. His work acquired great reputation, and was criticised by many of the
learned
* Thomas Burnet. Telluris theoria sacra, orbis nostri eriginem & mutationes generales, quas aut jam subiit, aut «iiiB subiturus est, comphctcns. Londina. 1681.
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learned, among the rest by Mr. Keil; who has geometrically demonstrated the errors of Burnet; in a treatise called Examination of the Theory of the Earth.” Mr. Keil also refuted Whiston's system ; but he treats the last author very different from the first; and seems even to be of his opinion in several cases, and looks upon the tail of a comet to be a very .probable cause for the deluge. But; to return to Burnet; his book is elegantly written; he knew how to paint noble images and magnificent scenes. His plan is great; but the execution is deficient for want of proper materials: his reasoning is good; but his proofs are weak; yet his confidence in his writings is so great; that he frequently causes his readers to pass -over his errors.
He begins by telling us, that before the deluge the earth had a very different form from that which it has at present; it was at first; he says; a fluid mass, compounded of Hiatterg of all kind«; and all forts of figures; the heaviest descended towards the centre; and formed a hard and solid body; round this the waters collected; and the air; and all the liquors lighter than water; surmounted them. Between the orb of air and that of water; was an wb of
vol. i.	S	*oily130
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pily matter, but as the air was still very impure, and contained a great quantity of small particles of terrestrial matter, they by degrees descended on the coat of oil, and formed a terrestrial orb blended with earth and oil; and this was the first habitable earth, and the first abode of man. This was an excellent soil, light, and calculated to yield to the tenderness of the first germs. The surface of the terrestrial globe was at first equal, uniform, without mountains, without seas, and without inequalities ; but it remained only about sixteen centuries in this state, for the heat of the sun by degrees drying the crust, split it at first on the surface, soon after, these cracks penetrated farther and increased so considerably by time, that at length they entirely opened the crust; in an instant the whole earth fell into pieces in the abyss, of water it surrounded ; and this was} the cause of the deluge,
But all these masses of earth, by falling into the abyss, dragged along with them a great quantity of air ; these struck against each other, divided, and accumulated so irregularly, that great cavities filled with air were left betw een them. The waters by degrees opened these cavities, and in proportion as they filled them,
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thé surface of the earth discovered itself in the highest parts ; at length water alone remained in the lowest parts ; that is to say, the vast val-lies which contains the sea. ThuS our ocean is a part of the ancient abyss, the rest is entered into the internal cavities with which the ocean Communicates. The islands and sea rocks are the small fragments, and continents are the great masses of the old crust. As the rupture and the fall of this crust were made suddenly and with confusion, it was tiot surprising to find eminences, depths, plains, and inequalities of all kinds on the surface of the earth.
ARTICLE IV.
PROM THE SYSTEM OP WOODWARD»
"I T may be said of this author, that he at-tempted to raise an immense monument on a less solid base than the moving sand, and to construct a world with dust ; for he pretends^ that at the time of the deluge a total dissolution of the earth took place. The first idea S %	which!S£	BTJFFON S
which presents itself, after having gone through his book *, is, that this dissolution was made by the waters of the great abyss. He asserts,, that the abyss where the water was included* opened all at once at the command of God, and dispersed over the surface an enormous quantity of water necessary to cover the top& of the highest mountains, and that God suspended the cause of cohesion, whence all solid bodies were reduced into dust, &e. He did not consider that by these suppositions he added other miracles to that of the universal deluge,, or at least physical impossibilities, which agree neither with the letter of the holy writ, nor with tlie mathematical principles of natural philosophy. But as this author has the merit of having collected many important observations, and as he was better accquainted with the materials of which the globe is composed than those who preceded him, his systeift, although badly conceived, and worse digested, has nevertheless dazzled many people, who* seduced by the truth of some particular circumstances, put confidence in his general conclusions j we shall, therefore, give a short view
of
« An Essay towards the Natural History of the Earth* See*. V* John Woodward.■NATURAL II 1ST ORA'«
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of Lis theory, in which, by doing justice to the author s merit, and the exactness of his observations, we shall put the reader in a state of judging of the insufficiency of his system, and of the falsity of some of his remarks. Mr. Woodward speaks of having discovered by ocular demonstration, that all matters which compose the earth of Great Britain from the surface to the deepest places into which he has descended, were disposed by beds of strata, and that in a great number ofthese there were shells and other marine productions; he afterwards adds, that by his correspondents and friends lie was assured, that in other countries the earth is composed of the same materials and that shells are found there, not only in the plains but on the highest mountains, in the deepest quarries and in an infinity of different places. He perceived these strata to be horizontal, and disposed one over the other, as matters are which are transported by the waters, and deposited in form of sediment. These general remarks, which are true, are followed by particular observations, in which he demonstrates, that fossils found incorporated in the strata are real shells and marine productions, not minerals and singular bodies, the sport of nature, &c.
Tom
BUFFO N*$
To these observations, though partly made before him, which he has collected and proved/ he adds others less exact. He asserts, that alt matters of different strata are placed one on the Other in the order of their specific gravity.
This general assertion is not true, for we daily see rocks placed above clay, sand, coal/ and bitumen, and which certainly are specifically heavier than either of these latter materials. If, we really found throughout the earth that the first strata was bitumen, then chalk, then marl, clay, sand, stone, marble, and at last metals, so that the composition of the earth exactly followed the law of gravity, there would be an appearance that they might have been precipitated at the same time, which our author asserts with confidence, hr spite of the evidence to the contrary; for, without being a naturalist, we need only have our eye-sight to be convinced that heavy strata are often found above lighter, and that consequently these sediments were not precipitated all at one time, but have been brought and deposited successively by the water. As this is the foundation of his; system, and this is manifestly false, we shall follow it no farther than to shew how far an erroneous
principle
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principle may produce false combinations and erroneous conclusions.
All the matters, says our author, which compose the earth, from the summits of the highest mountains, to the greatest depths of mines, are disposed by strata, according to their specific weights; therefore he concludes that the whole has been dissolved and precipitated at one time. But in what mannei, and at what time was it dissolved? In water, replies he, and at the time of the deluge. But there is not a sufficient quantity of water on the globe for this to be effected, since there is more land than water, and the bottom of the sea itself is earth. This he admits, but says, there is more water than is requisite at the centre of the earth, that it was only necessary for it to ascend, and possess a power of dissolving every substance but shells, afterwards to find the means for this water to re-enter the abyss, and to make all this agree with the history of the deluge. This then is the system, of which the author does not entertain the least doubt; for when it is opposed to him that water cannot dissolve marble, stone, and metals, especially in forty days, the duration of the deluge, he answers simply, that nevertheless it did happen
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m. When fee is asked, what the virtue of this water of the abyss was, to dissolve all the earth, and at the same time preserve the shells? he says, that he never pretended that this water was a dissolvent; but that it is clear, by facts, that the earth has been dissolved and the shells preserved. When he is evidently shown that if he had no reason to give for, or facts to support, these phenomena, his system was useless, fee said, we have only to imagine that, during the deluge, the force of gravity and the coherency of matter ceased on a sudden, and by this supposition the dissolution of the old world would be explained in a very easy and satisfactory manner. But, it was replied) ii the power which holds the parts of matter united w as suspended, why were not the shells dissolved as well as all the rest? Here he makes a discourse on the organization of shells and bones of animals, by which he pretends to prove that their texture being fibrous, and different from that of minerals, their powrer of cohesion was different also; after all, we have, says he, only to suppose that the power of gravity and cohesion did not entirely cease, but that it was only diminished sufficient to disunite all the .parts of minerals, and not those of
animals*natural history*
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animals. To all this we cannot be prevented from discovering, that our author’s philosophy was not equal to his talents for observation; and I do not think it necessary seriously to refute opinions which have no foundation, especially when they have been imagined against the rules of probability, and drawn from consequences contrary to mechanical laws.
ARTICLE V.
AN EXPOSITION OF SOME OTHER SYSTEMS.
JT is plain that the three hypotheses above mentioned have much in common with each other. They all agree in this point, that during the deluge the earth changed its form, as well externally as internally ; but these speculators have not considered that the earth before T "	the
TO Le L13$
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the deluge was inhabited by the same species of men and animals, and must necessarily have been nearly such as it is at present. The sacred writings in fact teach us, that before the deluge there were rivers, seas, mountains, forests, and plants; that these rivers and mountains were, for the most part, retained in the same situations, for the Tigris and Euphrates were the rivers of the ancient paradise; that the mountain of Armenia, on which the ark rested, was one of the highest mountains in the world at the deluge, as it is. at present: that the same plants and animals which exist now, existed then; for we read of the serpent, of the raven, of the crow* and of the doVe> which brought the olive branch into the ark; for though Tournefort asserts there are no olive trees for more than 400 miles from Mount Ararat, and passes some absurd jokes thereonit is nevertheless certain there were olives in this neighbourhood at the time of the deluge, since holy writ assures us of it in the most .express terms; but it is by no means astonishing that in the space of 4000 years the olive trees should have been destroyed in those quarters, and multiplied in others;
it
Voyage du Levant, voi. % page 336,NATURAL HISTORY,
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it is therefore contrary to scripture and to reason, that those authors have supposed the earth was quite different from its present state before the deluge ; and this contradiction between their hypothesis and the sacred text, as well as physical truths, must cause their systems to be rejected, if even they should agree with some phenomena. Burnet gives neither observations, nor any real facts, for the support of his system. Woodward has only given us an essay, in which he promised much more than he could perform : his book is a project, the execution of which has not been seen. He has made use of two general observations ; the first, that the earth is every where composed of matters which formerly were in a state of fluidity, transported by the waters, aud deposited in horizontal strata. The second, that there are quantities of marine productions in most parts of the bowels of the earth. To give a reason for these facts, he has recourse to the universal deluge, or rather it appears that he gives them as proofs of the deluge ; but, like Burnet, he falls into evident contradictions, for it is not to be supposed with them that there were no mountains prior to the deluge, since it is expressly T 2	stated.HO
buffon’s
stated, that the waters rose fifteen cubits above the tops of the highest mountains. On the other hand, it is not said that these waters destroyed or dissolved these mountains; but, on the contrary, that these mountains remained in their places, and the ark rested on that which the water first deserted. Besides how can it be imagined that, during the short duration of the deluge, the waters were able to dissolve the mountains and the whole body of the earth r Is it not an absurdity to suppose that in forty days all marble, rocks, stones, and minerals, were dissolved by water ? Is it not a manifest contradiction to admit this total dissolution, and at the same time maintain that shells, bones, and marine productions were preserved entire, and resisted that which had dissolved the most solid substances ? I shall not therefore hesitate to say, that Woodward, with excellent facts and observations, has formed but a poor and inconsistent system.
Whiston, who came last, greatly enriched the other two, and notwithstanding he gave a vast scope to his imagination, has not fallen into contradiction; he speaks of matters indeed not very credible, but they are neither absolutely nor evidently impossible, As we are ignorant of
the
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the centre of the earth, he thought he might suppose it was a solid matter, surrounded with a ring of heavy fluid, and afterwards with a ring of water, on which the external crust was sustained; in the latter the different parts of this crust wrere more or less sunk, in proportion to their relative weights, which produced mountains and inequalities on the surface of the earth. Here, however, this astronomer has committed a mechanical blunder; he did not recollect that the earth, according to this hypothesis, must be an uniform arch, and that consequently it could not be borne on the water it contains, and much less sunk therein. I do not know that there are any other physical errors; but he has made a great number of errors, both in metaphysics and theology. On the whole it cannot be denied absolutely that the earth meeting with the tail of a comet might not be inundated, especially allowing to the author that the tail of a comet may contain aqueous vapours; nor can it be denied as an absolute impossibility that the tail of a comes, in returning from its periheiium, might not burn the earth, if we suppose, with Mr. YYhis-ton, that the comet passed very near the sun; it h the same with the rest of the system. But
though142
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though his ideas are not absolutely impossibilities, there is so little probability in them, when separately considered, that the result upon the whole puts it beyond credibility.
The three systems we have spoken of are flot the only works which have been composed on the theory of the earth. A Memoir of M. Bourguet appeared in 1729, printed at Amsterdam, with his “ Philosophical Letters on the Formation of Salts, Sec.” in which he gives a specimen of the system he meditated, but which was prevented from being completed by the death of the author. It is but justice to admit, that no person was more industrious in making observations or collecting facts. To him we owe that great and beautiful observation, the correspondence between the angles of mountains He presents every thing which he had collected in great order; but with all those advantages, it appears that he has succeeded no better than the rest in making a physical and reasonable history of the changes which had happened to the globe, and that he was very far from having found the real cause of those effects w hich he relates. To be convinced of this we need only cast our eyes on the propositionsnatural history.
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sfcions which he deduces from the phenomena, and which ought to serve for the basis of his theory. He says, that the whole globe took its form at one time, and not successively; that its form and disposition prove that it has been in a state of fluidity; that the present state of the earth is very different from that in which it was for many ages after its first formation : that the matter of the globe was at the beginning less dense than since it altered its appearance; that the condensation of its solid parts diminished by degrees with its velocity, so that after having made a number of revolutions on its axis, and round the sun, it found itself on a sudden in a state of dissolution, which destroyed its first structure. This happened about the vernal equinox. That the sea-shells introduced themselves into the dissolved matters; that after this dissolution the earth took the form it now has, and that the fire which directly infused itself therein consumes it by degrees, and that it will one day be destroyed by a terrible explosion, accompanied with a general conflagation, which will augment. the atmosphere of the globe, and dimmish its diameter, and that then the earth, instead of beds of sand or earth, will have only strata
of144
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of calcined metal and mountains composed of amalgamas of different metals*
This is sufficient to shew the system which M. Bourguet meditated; to divine in this manner the past, and predict the future, nearly as others have predicted, does not appear to me to be an effort of judgment: this author however had more erudition than sound and general viewshe appears to be deficient in that capaciousness of ideas necessary to follow the extent of the subject, and enable him to comprehend the chain of causes and effects.
In the acts of Leipsic, in 1783 p. 40, the famous Leibnitz published a scheme of quite a different system, under the title of Protogaea. The earth, according to Bourguet and others, must end by fire; according to Leibnitz it began by it, and has suffered many more changes and revolutions than is imagined. The greatest part of the terrestrial matter was surrounded by violent flames at the time when Moses says light was divided from darkness. The planets, as well as the earth, were fixed stars, luminous of themselves. After having burnt a long time, he pretends that they were extinguished for want of combustible matter, and are become opaque bodies. The fire, by melting the matteryNATURAL HISTORY.
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ter, produced a vitrified crust, and the basis of all the matter which composes the globe is glass, of which sand and gravel are only fragments. The other kinds of earth are formed from a mixture of this sand, with fixed salts and water, and when the crust cooled, the humid particles, which were raised in form of vapours, subsided, and formed the seas. They at first covered the whole surface of the globe, and even surmounted the highest mountains. According to this author, the shells and other wrecks of the sea, which are every where to be found, positively prove that the sea has covered the whole earth; and the great quantity of fixed salts, sand, and other melted and calcined matters, which are included in the bowels of the earth, prove that the conflagration had been general, and that it preceded the existence of the sea. Although, these opinions are void of proofs, they are evidently the produce of a powerful mind. The ideas have connection, the hypotheses are not absolutely impossible, and the consequences that may be drawn from them are not contradictory : but the grand defect of this theory is, that it is not applicable to the present state of the earth ; it is the past which it explains, and this past is so far back, and has left us so few remains, that we may say what vol. i.	U	we146
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we please of it, and the probability will be in proportion as a man has talents to elucidate what he asserts. To affirm as Whiston has done, that the earth was originally a comet, or, with Leibnitz, that it has been a sun, is saying things equally possible or impossible, and to which it would be ridiculous to apply the rules of probability. To say that the sea formerly covered all the earth, that it surrounded the whole globe, and that it is for this reason shells are every where found, is not paying attention to a very essential point, the unity of the time of the creation; for if that were so, it must necessarily be admitted, that shell-fish, and other inhabitants of tire sea, of which we find the remains in the internal part of the earth, existed long before man, and all terrestrial animals. Now, independently of the testimony of holy writ, is it not reasonable to think, that all animals and vegetables are nearly co-eval in point of primary existence.
M. Scheuchtzer, in a Dissertation, addressed to the Academy of Sciences in 1?08, attributes, like Woodward, the change, or rather the second formation of the surface of the globe, to the universal deluge; and to explain that of mountains, he says, that after the deluge, God chusing to return
the
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the waters into subterraneous reservoirs, broke and displaced with his all-powerful hand a mini her of beds, before horizontal, and raised them above the surface of the globe, which was originally level. The whole Dissertation is composed to support this opinion. As it was requisite that these eminences should be of a very solid consistence, M. Scheuchtzer remarks, that God only drew them from places where there w ere many stones ; from hence, says he, it proceeds that those countries, like Switzerland, which are very stony, are also mountainous; and on the contrary, those, which like Holland, Flanders, Hungary and Poland, have only sand or clay, even to a very great depth, are almost entirely w ithout mountains
This author, more than any other, is desirous of blending physiology with theology, and though he has given some good observations, the systematic part of his works is still weaker than those who preceded him. On this subject he has even fallen into declamation and ridiculous witticisms, as may be seen in his piscium querelce, Sic. without speaking of his large work in many folio volumes, Phyuca Sacra, a puerile work, and which appears to be composed U 2	less
'* See the Ilist. of the Acad. 1708, page 32,148
buffon’s
less for the instruction of men than for the amusement of children
Steno* and some others* have attributed the cause of the inequalities of the earth to particular inundations* earthquakes* &c. but the effects of these secondary causes could not have produced any thing more than slight changes. We admit these causes after the first cause* which is the motion of the flux and reflux* and of the sea from east to west. Neither Steno* nor the rest* have given theory* nor even any general facts on this matter #,
Ray pretends that all mountains have been produced by earthquakes** and he has composed a treatise to prove it; we shall shew under the article of Volcanos what little foundation his opinion is built upon.
We cannot omit to observe that Burnet* Woodward* Whiston* and most of the other authors we have mentioned* have committed an error which deserves to be removed; which is* they have looked upon the deluge as possible by the action of natural causes* whereas scripture presents it to us as produced by the immediate will of God; there is in fact* no natural cause which could produce on the whole surface of the earth*
the
* See tlie Diss. de Solido intra Soliduni, &c.NATURAL HISTORY.
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the quantity of water required to cover the highest mountains, and if even we could imagine a cause proportionate to this effect, it would still be impossible to find another cause capable of causing the water to disappear; for, allowing Whiston, that these waters proceeded from the tail of a comet, w e deny that any could proceed from the great abyss, or that they all returned into it, since the great abyss, according to him, being surrounded on every side by the crust, or terrestrial orb, it is impossible that the attraction of the comet could cause any motion to the fluids it contained; much less, as he says, a violent flux and reflux; hence there could not have issued from, nor entered into, the great abyss, a single drop of water; and unless it is supposed that the waters which fell from the comet were destroyed by a mircale, they would still be on the surface of the earth, covering the summits of the highest mountains. Nothing better characterises a miracle, than the impossibility of explaining the effect of it by natural causes. Our authors have made vain efforts to give a reason for the deluge; their physical errors on the subject of secondary causes, which they make use of, prove the truth of the fact as reported in the scriptures,
and150
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and demonstrate that it could only have been performed by the first cause, the will of the Almighty.
Besides, it is certain that it was neither at one time, nor by the effect of the deluge, that the sea left dry these continents which we inhabit: for it is clear from the testimony of holy writ, that the terrestrial paradise was in Asia, and that Asia was inhabited before the deluge ; consequently the sea, at that time, did not cover this considerable part of the globe. The earth, before the deluge, was nearly as it is at present, and this enormous quantity of water* which divine justice caused to fall on the earth to punish guilty men, brought in fact, death on every creature; but it produced no change on the surface of the earth, it did not even destroy plants which grew upon it, since the dove brought an olive branch to the ark in her beak.
Why, then, imagine, as many of our naturalists have done, that this water totally changed the surface of the globe even to a depth of two thousand feet ? Why do they wish it to be the deluge which brought the shells on the earth which we meet with at 7 or 800 feet depth in rocks and marble ? Why say, that
theNATURAL H1CTOHY.
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tlie bills and mountains were formed at that time? And how can we figure to ourselves, that it is possible for these waters to have brought masses and banks of shells one hundred leagues long ? I see not how they can persist in this opinion, at least, without admitting a double miracle in the deluge ; the first, for the augmentation of the waters; and the second, for the transportation of the shells: but as there is only the first which is related in the Bible, I do not think it necessary to make the second an article of our creed.
On the the other hand, if the waters of the deluge had retired all at once, they would have carried so great a quantity of mud and other impurities, that the Earth would not have been capable of culture till many ages after this inundation ; as is known, by the deluge which happened in Greece, where the overflowed country was totally forsaken, and could not receive any cultivation for more than three centuries We ought therefore to regard the universal deluge as a supernatural means of which the Almighty made use for the chastisement of mankind, and not as an effect of a natural cause. The universal deluge is a miracle both in its
cause
* See Acta erudit, Lips. Arm. 1691, page 100.15%
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cause and effects; we see clearly by the scripture that it was designed for the destruction of men and animals* and that it did not in any manner change the earth* for after the retreat of the waters* the mountains* and even the trees* were in their placces* and the surface of the earth was proper to receive culture and to produce vines and fruits. How could all the race of fish* which did not enter the ark* be preserved* if the earth had been dissolved in the water* or if the waters had been only sufficiently agitated to transport shells from India to Europe, &c.
Nevertheless* this supposition, that it was the universal deluge which transported the shells of the sea into every climate, is the opinion* or rather the superstition of naturalists. Woodward* Scheuchtzer* and some others* call these petrified shells the remains of the deluge; they look on them as the medals and monuments which God has left us of this terrible event* in order that it never should be effaced from the memory of the human race. In short* they have adopted this hypothesis with so much enthusiasm* that they appear only desirous to reconcile holy scripture with their opinion ; and instead of making use of their observations* and deriving light therefrom■NATURAL HI STORY.
i53
%r&m, they envelope themselves in the clouds of a physical theology, the obscurity and minute-» ness of which is derogatory to the simplicity and dignity of religion, and only affords .an opportunity for the incredulous to preceive a ridiculous mixture of human ideas and divine truths. To pretend to explain the universal deluge, and its physical causes; to attempt to teach what passed in the time of that great revolution ; to divine what were the effects of it ; to add facts to those of holy writ, to draw consequences from such facts, is only a presumptuous attempt to measure the power of the Most High. The miracles Which his benevolent hand performs, in a uniform and regular manner, are incomprehensible; and by the strongest reason, these wonderful operations and miracles ought to hold us in awful wonder, and in silent adoration.
But, say they, the universal deluge being a certain fact, is it not permitted to reason on its consequences ? It may be so ; but it is requisite that you should begin by allowing that the deluge could not be performed by physical causes ; you ought to consider it is an immediate effect of the will of the Almighty; you ought to confine yourselves to know only what v-ol. i.	X	the154
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the holy writ teaches, and particularly not tq blend bad philosophy with the purity of divine truth. These precautions, which the respect we owe to the Almighty exacts, being taken, what remains for examination on the subject of the deluge ? Does the scripture say that mountains were formed by the deluge? No, it says the contrary. Is it said that the agitation of the waters were so great as to raise up shells from the bottom of the sea, and transport them all over the earth? No; the ark floated quietly on the furface of the waters. Is it said, that the Earth suffered a total dissolution ? No: the recital of the sacred historian is simple and true, that of naturalists complex and fabulous.NATURAL HISTORY.
Uù
ARTICLE VIL GEOGRAPHY.
FjpHE surface of the Earth, is not, like that of Jupiter, divided by bands alternate and parallel to the equator; oii the centrar}*, it is divided, from one pole to the other, by two bands of earth, and two of sea. The first and principal is the ancient continent the greatest length of which is found to be in a line, beginning on the east point of the northern part of Tartarv, and extending from thence to the land which borders on the gulph of Lin-chidolin, where the Muscovites fish for whales; from thence to Tobolski, from To-bolski to the Caspian sea, from the Caspian sea to Mecca, and from Mecca to the western part of the country inhabited by the Galli, in Africa; afterwards to Monoemugi, or Mono-motapa, arid lastly to the Cape of Good Hope. This line, which is the greatest length of the X £	old
156
old continent, is about 3600 leagues, ParL< measure; it is only interrupted by the Caspian aud Red sea, the breadths of which are not very considerable, and we need not pay any regard to these interruptions, when it is considered, that the surface of the globe is divided only in four parts.
This greatest length is found, by measuring the old continent diagonally; for if measured according to the meridians, we shall find that there are only 2500 leagues from the northernmost Cape of Lapland to the Cape of Good Hope; and that the Baltic and Mediterranean cause a much greater interruption than is met with in the other way. With respect to all the other distances that might be measured in the old continent under the same meridians, we shall find them to be much smaller than this; having, for example, only 1800 leagues from the most southern point of the island of Ceylon to the northernmost coast of Nova Zembla. Likewise if we measure the continent parallel to the equator, we find that the greatest uninterrupted length is found from Trefana, on the western coast of Africa, to Ningpo oil the eastern coast of China, and that it is about 2800 leagues. Another course may be measured
fromNATURAL HISTORY.	13?
from the point of Brittany near Brest, extending to the Chinese Tartary; about £300 leagues. From Bergen in Norway to the coast of Kamschatka, is no more than 1800 leagues. All these lines have much less length than the first, therefore the greatest extent of the old continent, is, in fact, from the eastern point of the most northern part of Tartary to the Cape of Good Hope, that is about 3600 leagues.
There is so great an equality of surface on each side of this line, which is also the longest, that there is every probability to suppose it really divides the contents of the ancient continent, for in measuring on one side is found 2,471j92f square leagues, and on the other 2,469,687.
Agreeable to this, the old continent consists of about 4,940,780 square leagues, which h nearly one-fifth of the whole surface of the globe; and has an inclination iowaids the equator of about 30 degrees.
The greatest length of the new continent may be taken in a line from the mouth of the river Plata to the lake of the Assiniboils. From the former it passes to the lake Caracara; from thence to Mataguais, Pocona, Zongo, Mar riana, Morua, St. Fe, and Carthagena; it
then158
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then proceeds through the giilph of Mexico; Jamaica, and Cuba, passes along the peninsula of Florida, through Apolache, ChicachaS, and from thence to St* Louis, Fort le Suer, and ends on the borders of lake Assiniboils; the whole extent of which is still unknown.
This line; which is interrupted only by the Mexican gulph (which must be looked upon as a mediterranean sea) may be about 2500 leagues long, and divides the new continent into nearly two equal parts, the left of which contains about 1,069, 286|* leagues square, and that on the right about 1,070,226tT2;; this line, which forms the middle of the band of the new continent, is inclined to the equator about 30 degrees, but in an opposite direction, fof that of the old continent extends from the north-east to the south-west, and that of the new continent, from the north-west to the south-east. All those lands together, of the old and new continent, make about 7,080,993 leagues square, which is not near the third of the whole surface, which contains 25 millions of square leagues.
It must be remarked, that these two lines, which divide the continents into two equal parts, both terminate at the same degree of
southern1KATUUAL HISTORY.	■■ F5Q
southern and northern latitude, and that the two continents make opposite projections, which exactly face each other; viz. the coasts of Africa, from the Canary islands, to the coasts of Guinea, and those of America, from Guinea to the mouth of Rio Janeiro.
It appears, therefore, that the most ancient land of the globe is the countries on the twp .sides of these lines, at the distance of from 200 to 25Q leagues on each side. By following this idea, which is founded on the observations before related, we shall find in the old continent that the most ancient lands of Africa are those which extend from the Cape of Good Hope to the Red sea, as far as Egypt, about <500 leagues broad, and that consequently all the western coasts of Africa, from Guinea to the straits of Gibraltar, are the newest lands. So likewise we shall discover that in Asia, if we follow the line on the same breadth, the most ancient lands are Arabia Felix and Deserta, Persia, Georgia, Turcomania, part of'J artary, Circassia, part of Moscovy, &c. that consequently Europe, and perhaps also China, and the eastern part of Tartary, are more modern. In the new continent we shall find the Terra MagelUuiica, the eastern part of Brazil, the country of the
Amazons,I’GO	£UFFONyS
Amazons-, Guiana and Canada, to be the new lands, in comparison w ith Peru, Terra Firma, the islands in the gulph of Mexico, of Florida, of the Mississippi, and of Mexico.
To these observations we may add two very remarkable facts, the old and new continent are almost opposite to each other ; the old is more extensive to the north of the equator than the south: the new is more to the south than the north. The centre of the old continent is in the 16th or 18th degree of north latitude, and the centre of the new is in the l6th or 18th degree south latitude, so that they seem to be made to counterbalance each other. There is also a singular connection between the two continents, although it appears to be more accidental than those which I have spoken of, which is, that the two continents would be each divided into two parts, and all four surrounded by the sea on every side, were it not for the isthmus of Suez and Panama.
This is the most general idea which an attentive inspection of the globe furnishes us with, on the division of the earth. We shall abstain from forming hypotheses on it, and hazarding reasonings, which might lead to false conclusions; but no one haying as yet
consideredNATURAL HISTORY.
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considered the division of the globe under this point of view, I shall submit a few remarks. M is very singular that the line which forms the greatest length of the terrestrial continents divides them also into two equal parts ; it is no less so that these two lines commence and end at the same degree of latitude, and are both alike inclined to the equator. These relations may belong to some general conclusions, which may probably be hereafter discovered, but of which we are now ignorant. The inequalities in the figure of the two continents we shall hereafter examine more fully: it is sufficient here to observe, that the most ancient countries are the nearest to these lines, and are the highest ; and that the more modern lands are the farthest, and also the lowest. Thus in America, the country of the Amazons, Guiana, and Canada, will be the most modern parts; by casting our eyes on the map of this country we see water on every side, and that they are divided by numberless lakes and rivers, which al* so indicate that these lands are of a late formation ; while on the other hand Peru and Mexico are very elevated and mountainous, and situated at no great distance from the line that divides the continent, which are circumstances that seem to prove their antiquity. Africa is very moun-vol. i.	Y	tainous*i6s
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tainous, and that part of the world is also very ancient. There is only Egypt, Barbary, and the western coasts of Africa, as far as Senegal, in this part of the globe, which can be looked upon as modern countries. Asia, is an old land, and perhaps the most ancient of all, particularly Arabia, Persia, and Tartary; but the inequalities of this vast part of the globe, as well as those of Europe, we shall consider in a separate article. It might be said in general, that Europe is a new country, and such a a position would be supported both by universal tradition relative to the emigrations of different people, and the origin of arts and sciences. It is not long since it was filled with morasses, and covered with forests, whereas in the land anciently inhabited, there are but few woods, little water, no morasses, much land, and a number of mountains, whose summits are dry and barren; for men destroy the woods, drain the waters, confine rivers, dry up morasses, and in time give a different appearance to the face of the earth, from that pf uninhabited or newly peopled countries.
The ancients were acquainted with but a small part of the globe. All America, the arctic lands, theM agellanic countries, and a great part of the interior of Africa, were entirely unknown to them.
TheyNATURAL HISTORY.	16S
They knew not that the torrid zone was in* habited, although they had navigated round Africa; for it is £200 years since Neco> king of Egypt, gave vessels to the Phenicians, Who sailed along the Red Sea, coasted round Africa, doubled the Gape of Good Hope, and having employed two years in this voyage, the third year they entered the straits of Gibraltar*. Yet the ancients were unacquainted with the property of the load stone, of turning towards the poles, although they knew that it attracted iron ; they were ignorant of the general cause of the flux and reflux of the sea, nor were they certain that the ocean surrounded the globe; some, indeed, suspected it might be so, but with so little foundation, that no one dared to say, or even to conjecture, that it was possible to make a voyage round the world. Magellan was the first who attempted it in the year 1519, and accomplished the great voyage in 11 £4 days. Sir Francis Drake was the second in 1577, and he performed it in 1056 days; afterwards Thomas Cavendish made this great vtyage in 777 days, in the year 1586* These celebrated navigators were the first who demonstrated physically the sphericity and the extent of the earth’s circumference : for the * Vide Herodotus, lib. iv.
Y 2
ancientsUFF ON’S
16#
gncieosts had no .conception of the extent of this circumference, although they had thought inuch upon the subject. The trade winds, so useful in long voyages, were also unknown to them; therefore we must not be surprised at the little progress they made in geograghy, since even the knowledge we have acquired by the aid of mathematical sciences, and the discovery of navigators, has yet left many things unsettled, and vast countries undiscovered. Almost all the land on the side of the antarctic pole is unknown to us; we only know that there is some, and that it is separated from all the other continents by the ocean. Much land also remains to be discovered on the side of the Arctic pole, and it must be confessed with regret, that for more than a century the ardour for discovering new countries is extremely abated European governments seem to prefer, and possibly with reason, increasing the value of those countries we are acquainted with to the glory of conquering new ones.
Nevertheless, the discovery of the southern continent would be a great object of curiosity
* This complaint no longer exists: in no period has'the spirit of discovery been more enterprisingly enforced than in the present : the vast increase of knowledge which has been effected by the travels of Browne, Mungo Parke, Mackenzie, Barrow, &c. &c. and the impetus which has been thus given to the ardour of curiosity, leave every thing to hope as to Me perfection of knowledge in this particular,
andNATURAL HISTORY.
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and might be useful. We have discovered only some few of its coasts; those navigators who have attempted this discovery, have always been stopt by the ice. The thick fogs, which are in those latitudes, is another obstacle; yet, in defiance of these inconvenieneies, it is probable that by sailing from the Cape of Good Hope at different seasons, we might at last.dis» cover a part of these lands which hitherto make a separate world.
There is also another method which might possibly succeed better; as the ice and fogs seem to have stopped every navigator who has attempted the discovery of a southern land by th# atiantic ocean, and as the ice prevails, as well in summer as in w inter, might it not be attempted by tiie Pacific sea; sailing from Baldivia, or any other port on the coast of Chili, and traversing this sea under the 50th degree south latitude. There is not the least appearance that this navigation is perilous, and it is probable U'■' it would be attended with the discovery c: * w countries; for what remains for us to know on the coast of the southern pole, is so t. mderable, that we may estimate jf as a fourth l - t: of the globe, and of course may contain a c o’-nent as large as Europe, Asia, and Africa,
$ . ' her.
, we are not at all acquainted with this 5	part166
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part of the globe, we cannot justly know the proportion between the surface of the Earth and that of the sea; but, as far as may be judged by inspection of what is known, there is more sea than land.
If we would have an idea of the enormous quantity of water which the sea contains, we must suppose a medium depth, and by computing it on at 200 fathoms or the 10th part of a league, we shall find that there is sufficient to cover the whole globe to the height of 600 feet of water, and if we would reduce this water into one mass, it would form a globe of more than 60 leagues in diameter.
Navigators pretend, that the latitudes near the south pole are much colder than those of the north, but there is no appearance that this opinion is founded on truth, and probably it has been adopted, because ice is found in latitudes where it is scarcely ever seen in the northern seas; but that may proceed from some particular cause. We find no ice in April on this side 67 and 68 degrees, northern latitude: and the savages of Acadia * and Canada saj, when it is not all melted in that month, it is a sign the rest of the year will be cold and rainy«,
In
* This is the ancient name for that part of North America? 'Which isnopw called Nova.Scotia.natural history*
167
In 17Q5 there may be said to have been no summer, it rained almost continually; and the ice of the northern sea was not only not melted in April in the 67th degree, but even was it found the loth of June towards the 41st and 42d degree*.
A great quantity of floating ice appears in the northern sea. especially at some distance from land. It conies from the Tartarian sea into that of Nova Zembla, and other parts of the frozen ocean. I have been assured by people of credit, that an English Captain, named Monson, instead seeking a passage between the northern land to go to China, directed his course strait to the pole, and had approached it within two degrees; that in this course he had found an open sea, without any ice, which proves that the ice is formed near land, and never in open sea; for if we should suppose, against all probablity, that it might be cold enough at the pole to freeze over the surface of the sea, it is still not co^ceiveable how these enormous floating mountains of ice could be formed, if they did not find a fixed point against land, from whence afterwards they were loosened by the heat of the sun. The two vessels which the East India Company
* See the Hist, of the Acad. Ann. 1725.tm
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pmj sent in 17.°)9_> to discover land in the? South seas, found ice in the latitude of 47 of 48 degrees, but this ice was not far from shore, that-being in sight, although they were unable to land. This must have been separated front the adjoining lands of the south pole, and it may be conjectured that they follow the course of Some great livers, which water this unknown land, the same as the Oby, Jenisca, and other great floods, which fall into the florth seas, carry with them the ice, which, during the greatest part of the year, stops up the straits of Waigat, and renders the Tartarian sea ¿innavigable by this course ; whereas fee)x)md Nova Zembla, and nearer the poles, where there are few rivers, and but little land, ice is not so frequently met with, and1 the sea is more navigable; so that if they would still attempt the voyage to China and Japan by the north seas, we should possibly, to keep clear from the land and ice, shape our courie to the pole, and seek the open seas, where certainly there is but little or no ice; for it is kuown that salt water can, without freezing, become colder than fresh w ater when frozen, and consequently the excessive cold of the pole may possibly render the sea colder than the ice, without the surface being frozen so much the
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«lore as at SO or 82 degrees, the surface of the sea, although,, mixed with much snow and fresh water, is only frozen near the shore. By collecting the testimonies of travellers, on the passage from Europe to China, it appears that one docs exist by the north sea, and the reason it has been so often attempted in vain, is because they have always feared to go sufficiently far from land, and approach the pole. Captain William Barents, however, who, as well as others, run aground in his voyage, did not doubt but there was a passage, and that if he had gone farther from shore, he should have found an open sea free from ice. The Russian navigators, sent by the Czar to survey the north seas, relate that Nova Zembla is not an island, but belonging to the continent of Tartary, and that to the north of it there is a free and open sea. A Dutch navigator asserts, that the sea throws up whales on the coasts of Corea and Japan, which have English and Dutch bar? poons on their backs. Another Dutchman has pretended to have been at the pole, and asserts it is as warm there as it is at Amsterdam in the middle of summer, An Englishman, named Golding, who made more than fhirty voyages tp Greenland, related to King Charles vol, i.	%	JL170
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II. that two Dutch vessels with which he had sailed, having found no whales on the coast of the island of Edges, resolved to proceed farther north, and that upon their return, at the expiration of fifteen days they told him, that they had been as far as 89 degrees latitude, (within one degree of the pole) and that they found no ice there but an open deep sea like that of the Bay of Biscay, and that they shewed him four journals of the two vessels, as a proof of what they affirmed. In short it is related in the Philosophical Transactions, that two navigators, w ho had undertaken the discovery of this passage, shaped a course 300 leagues to the eaft of Nova Zembla, but that the East Tndia Company, who thought it their interest that this passage should not be discovered, hindered them from returningBut the Dutch East India Company thought on the contrary, that it was their interest to find this passage; having attempted it in vain on the side of Europe, they sought for it by that of Japan, and they would probably have succeeded, if the Emperor of Japan had not forbidden all strangers from navigating or* the side of the land of Jesso. This passage, therefore, cannot be found but by sailing direct ♦ See the Collection of Northern Voy ages, pagt 200.
towards
8NATURAL HISTORY.	jyl
towards the pole, beyond Spitsbergen, or by keeping the open sea between Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen under the 79th degree of latitude. If this sea have a considerable breadth, we need not fear to find it frozen even under the pole itself, for reasons already alleged. In fact, there is no example of the sea being frozen at a considerable distance from the shore ; the only example of the sea being frozen entirely over, is that of the Black sea, which is narrow, contains but little salt, and receives a number of rivers from the northern countries, and which bring ice w ith them : and if we may credit historians, it was frozen in the time of the Emperor Co-pronymus, thirty cubits deep, without reckoning twenty cubits of snow above the ice. This appears to be exaggerated; but it is certain, that it freezes almost every winter, whereas the open seas, a thousand leagues nearer the pole, do not freeze at all; and this can only proceed from the saltness, and the little ice which they receive, in comparison with that transported into the Black Sea.
This ice, which is looked upon as a barrier that opposes the navigation near the poles, and the discovery of the southern continent, proves only, that there are large rivers adjacent to the Z 2	place?places where it is met with; and indicates also, there are vast continents from whence these rivers flow ; nor ought we to be discouraged at the sight of these obstacles ; for if we consider, we shall easily perceive, that this ice must be confined to some particular places; that it is almost impossible that it should occupy the whole circle which encompasses, as we suppose, the southern continent, and therefore we should probably succeed if we were to direct our course towards some other point of this circle. The description which Dampier and some others, have given of New Holland, leads us to suspect that this part of the globe is perhaps a part of the southern lands, and is a country less ancient than the rest of this unknown continent. New Holland is a low country, without water or mountains, but thinly inhabited, and the natives without industry; all this concurs to make us think that they are in this continent nearly what the savages of Amazonia or Paraguay, are in America. We have found men, under the influence of government, empires, and kings, at Peru and Mexico, which are the highest, and consequently the most ancient countries of America. Savages, on the contrary, are found in the lowest and most modern countries ; thereforeNATURAL IliSTORY.
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fore we may presume that we should also find men united by the bonds of society in the upper countries,, from whence these great rivers, which bring this prodigious ice to the sea, de'* rive their sources.
The interior parts of Africa are almost as much unknown to us, as they were to the an-cients. They had, like us, made the tour of that vast peninsula, but they have left us neither charts, nor descriptions of the coasts. Pliny informs us, that the tour of Africa was made in the time of Alexander the Great; that the wrecks of some Spanish vessels had been discovered in the Arabian sea, and that Hanno, a Carthaginian general, had made a voyage from Gades* to the Arabian sea, and that he had written a relation of it. Besides that, Cornelius Nepos, says he, tells us, that, in his time, one Eudoxus, persecuted by king Lathurus, was obliged to fly from his country ; that departing from the Arabian gulpli, lie arrived at Gades, and that before this time, they traded from Spain to Ethiopia by sea-f*. Notwithstanding these testimonies of the ancients, we are persuaded that they never doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and the course which the Porta-
* The modern Cadi;:. + Vide PJiny, Hist, Nat VoL 1. lib.
guesei?4
buFfon?s
guese took to go to the East-Indies, was looked upon as a new discovery ; it will not perhaps* therefore* be deemed amiss to give the belief of the 9th century on this subject.
€( In our time an entire new discovery ha» been made, which was wholly unknown to those who lived before us. No one thought* or even suspected* that the sea* which extends from India to China, had a communication with the Syrian sea. We have found, accord-* ing to what I have learnt, in the sea Roum, or Mediterranean, the wreck of an Arabian vessel, shattered to pieces by the tempest, some of which were carried by the wind and waves to the Cozar sea* and from thence to the Mediterranean* and was at length thrown on the coast of Syria. This proves that the sea surrounds China and Cila, the extremity of Tur-questan, and the country of the Cozars ; that it afterwards flows by the strait till it has washed the coast of Syria. The proof is drawn from the construction of the vessel, for no other vessels, but those of Siraf, are built without nails, which, as was the wreck we Speak of, are joined together in a partiaular manner, as if they were sewed* Those* of all the vessels of the Mediteranean and of the
coastNATURAL HISTORY.	175
coast of Syria, are nailed and not joined in this manner
To this, the translator of this ancient relation adds,—1“ Abuziel remarks, as a new and very extraordinary thing, that a vessel was carried from the Indian sea and cast on the coasts of Syria. To find a passage into the Mediterranean, lie supposes there is a great extent of sea above China, which has a communication with the Cozar sea, that is, with Muscovy. The sea which is below Cape Current, was entirely unknown to the Arabs, on account of the extreme danger of the navigation, and from the continent being inhabited by such a barbarous people, that it was not easy to subject them, nor even to civilize them by commerce. From the Cape of Good Hope to Soffala, the Portuguese found no established settlement of Moors, like those which they afterwards found in ail the maritime towns as far as China, which was the farthest place known to geographers; but they could not tell whether the Chinese sea, by the extremity of Africa, had a communication with the sea of Barbary, and they contented themselves with describing it as far as
* See the Ancient Relations of Travels by Land to China* page 53 ^nd 5$,	-
theBUFFON' S
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the coast of Zing, or Caffraria. This is the reason why we cannot doubt that the first discovery of the passage of this sea, by the Cape of Good Hope, was made by the Europeans, under the conduct of Vasco de Gama, or at least some years before he doubled the Cape, if it be true that there are marine charts of an older date, where the Cape is called by the name of JFrontiera da Africa. Antonio Galvan testifies, from the relation of Francisco de Souza Tavares, that, in 1528, the Infant Don Ferdinand shewed him such a chart, which he found in the monastery of Acoboca, dated 120 years before, copied perhaps from that said to be in the treasury of St. Mark at Venice, which is supposed to have been copied from that of Marco Polo, and which also marks the point of Africa, according to the testimony of Ramusio,
The ignorance of those ages, on the subject of the navigation around Africa, will appear perhaps less singular than the silence of the editor of this Ancient Relation on the subject of the passages of Herodotus, Pliny, &c. which \ye have quoted, and which proves that the ancients had made the tour of Africa. Be it as it may, the African coasts are now well known; but notwithstanding the attempts which have fieen
madeNATURAL HISTORY*
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made to penetrate into the inner parts of th£ country, we have not been able to attain suffix cient knowledge of it to give exact relations It might, nevertheless, be of great advantage* if we were, by Senegal, or some other river, to get farther up the country and establish settle* ments; as we should find, according to all appearances, a country as rich in precious mines as Peru or the Brazils. It is perfectly known that the African rivers abound with gold, and as this country is very mountainous, and situated under the equator, it is not to be doubted but it contains, as well as America, mines of heavy metals, and of the most compact and hard stones.
The vast extent of north and east Tartary has only been discovered in these latter times« If the Muscovite maps are just, we are at pre* sent acquainted with the coasts of all this part of Asia; and it appears that from the point of eastern Tartary to North America, it is not
* Since this time, however, great discoveries have been made; Vaillant has given a particular description of the country from the Cape to the borders of Caffraria ; and much information has also been acquired by the Society for Asiatic Researches, and the African Society-
A a
VOL, !»
mar fm
BUFFOiN S
more than four or five hundred leagues : it iia^-even been pretended that this tract was much shorter, for in the Amsterdam Gazette, of the £4th of January, 1747, it is said, under tile article of Peterburgh, that Mr. StoHer had discovered one of the islands of North America beyond Kamschat€a,and demonstrated that we might go thither from Russia by a shorter tract. The Jesuits, and other missionaries, have also pretended to have discovered savages in Tartary, whom they had catechised in America, which should in* fact suppose that passage to be still shorter*. This author even pretends, that the two continents of the old and new world join by the north, and says, that the last navigations of the Japanese afford room to believe, that the tract of which we have spoken is only a bay, above which we may pass by land from Asia to America. But this requires continuation, for hitherto it has been thought that the continent of the .north pole is separated from the other continents, as well as that of the south pole.
Astronomy and navigation are carried to so. high a pitch of perfection, that it may reason-
* See tiie Ilist. of New France, by the Pere Charlevoix,. Yol.IIL page 30-and 31.ATUHAL HISTORY.
m
ably be expected we shall soon have an exact knowledge of the whole surface of the globe. The ancients knew only a small part o# it» because they had not the mariner's compass. Some people have pretended that the Arabs invented the compass, and used it a long tkn# before we did, to trade on |he Indian sea, as far as China; but this opinion has always appeared destitute of all probability; for there is no word in the Arab, Turkish, or Persian languages, which signifies the compass; they make use of the Italian word Bossola; nor do they even at present know how to make a compass, or give the magnetkal quality to the needle, but purchase them from the Europeans. Father Maritini says, that the Chinese have been acquainted with the compass for upwards of 3000 years; but if that were the case, how comes it that they have made so little use of it ? Why did they, in their voyages to Cochin China, take a course much longer than was necessary? Why did they always eo-Jine themselves to the same voyages, the greatest of which was to Java and Sumatra? And why did not they discover, before the Europeans, an infinity ■of fertile islands, bc.'derinsr on their own conn« try, if they had possessed the art of navigating
A a 2	iiifcUFFQN*S
IfO
in.-the open seas ? For, a few years after the dis*> covery of this wonderful property of the loadstone, the Portuguese doubled the Cape of <3ood Hope, traversed the African and Indian seas, and Christopher Columbus made his voyage to America.
By a little consideration, it was easy to divine there were immense spaces towards the west ? for, by comparing the known part of the globe, as for example, the distance of Spain to China, and attending to the revolution of the Earth and Heavens, it was easy to see that there re* mained a much greater extent towards the west to be discovered, than what they were ae* quainted with towards the east. It was not, therefore, from the defect of astronomical know'-Jedge that the ancients did not find the new world, but only for want of the compass. The passages of Plato and Aristotle, where they speak of countries far distant from the Pillars of Hercules, seem to indicate that some navigators had been driven by tempest as far as America, whence they returned with much difficulty; and it may be conjectured, that if even the ancients had been persuaded of the existence of this continent, they would not Jiaye even thought it possible to strike out the
road,'NATURAL 11 IS TOU Y.
161'
road, having no guide nor any knowledge of the compass.
[ own, that it is not impossible to traverse the high seas without a compass, and that very resolute people might have undertaken to seek after the new world by conducting themselves simply by the stars. The Astrolabe being known to the ancients, it might strike them that they could leave France or Spain, and sail to the west, by keeping the polar star always to the right, and by frequent soundings might have kept nearly in the same latitude ; without doubt it was in this manner that the Carthaginians, of whom Aristotle makes mention, found the means of returning from these remote countries by keeping the polar star to the left; but it must be allowed that such a voyage would be looked upon as a rash enter-prize, and that consequently we must not be astonished that the ancients had not even conceived the project.
Previously to Christopher Columbus’s expedition, the Azores, the Canaries, aud Madeira were discovered. It was remarked, that when the west winds lasted a long time, the sea brought pieces of foreign wood on the coast of these islands, canes of unknown species,
-andbuffon’s
IBS
and even dead bodies, which by many marks were discovered to be neither European nor African. Columbus himself remarked, that On the side of the west certain winds blew only a fOw days, and which he Was persuaded were land winds ; but although he had all these advantages over the ancients, and the knowledge Of the compass, the difficulties still to conquer were so great, that nothing but the success lie tnet with could justify the enterprize. Sup-pose, fora moment, that the continent of the new world had been 1000 or 1500 miles farther than it in fact is, a thing with Columbus could neither know nor foresee, he would not have arrived there, and perhaps this great country might still have remained unknown. This conjecture is so much the better founded, as Columbus, although the most able navigator of his time, was seized with fear and astonishment in his second voyage to the new world; for as in his first, he only found some islands, he directed his course more to the south to discover a continent, and was stopt by currents, the.considerable extent and direction of which always opposed his course, and obliged him to direct his search to the west; he imagined that what had. hindered him from
advancingNATURAL HISTORY.
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advancing on the southern side was not currents, but that the sea flowed by raising itself towards the heavens, and that perhaps both, one and the other touched on the southern side. So true it is, that in great enterprises the least unfortunate circumstance may turn a man's brain, and abate his courage.
ARTICLE VII.
ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE STRATA, QR $EPS OF EARTH.
’Y^.E have shewn, in the first article, that by virtue of the mutual attraction between the parts of matter, and of the centrifugal force, which results from its diurnal rotation, the earth has necessarily taken the form of a spheroid, the diameters of which differ about a
S30th
6.184
BUFFO]N?S
230th part, and that it could only prcgeed from the changes on the surface, caused by the motion of the air and water, that this difference could become greater, as is pretended to be the case from the measures taken under the equator, and within the polar circle. This figure of the earth, which so well agrees with hydrostatical laws, and with our theory, supposes the globe to have been in a state of liquefaction when it assumed its form, and we have proved that the motions of projection and rotation were imprinted at the same time by a like impulsion. We shall the more easily believe that the earth has been in a state of liquefaction produced by fire, when we consider the nature of the matters which the globe incloses, the greatest part of which are vitrified or vi-trifiable; especially when we reflect on the impossibility there is that the earth should ever have been in a state of fluidity, produced by the waters; since there is infinitely more earth than water, and that water has not the power of dissolving stone, sand, and ether matters of which the earth is composed.
It is plain then that the earth took its figure at the time when it was liquefied by fire: and pursuing our hypothesis it appears, that when -	' *	'	theH A TU It AL HISTORY,
185
the sun quitted it, the earth had no other form than that of a torrent of melted and inflamed vapours ; that this torrent collected itself by the mutual attraction of its parts, and became a globe, to which the rotatory motion gave the figure of a spheroid ; and when the earth w as cooled, the vapours, which w ere first extended like the tails of comets, by degrees condensed and fell upon the surface, depositing, at the same time, a slimy substance mixed with sui» phurous and saline matters, a part of which, by the motion of the waters, was swept into thè perpendicular cracks where it produced metals, while the rest remained on the surface, and produced that reddish earth which forms the first strata ; and which, according to different places, is more or less blended with animal or vegetable particle«, so reduced that the organization is no longer perceptible.
Thus, in the first state of the earth, the globe was internally composed of vitrified matter, as I believe it is at present, above which were placed those bodies, which the fire had most divided, as sands, which are only fragments of. glass, and above these, pumice stones, and the scoria of the vitrifid matter, which formed the various clays ; the whole was covered with . a ol, i.	Bb	water1 86
t1 fON^
water 5 or 600 feet deep, produced bv the condensation of the vapours w hen the globe began to cool. This water every where deposited a; muddy bed mixed with matters! which are sublimed and exhaled by fire ;■ and the air was formed of the most subtile vapours which, by their lightness, disengaged themselves from the Waters and surmounted them.
Such was the state of the globe when the action of the tides, the winds, and the heat of the sun, began to change the surface of the earth. The diurnal motion, and the flux and reflux, at first raised the waters under the southern climate,which carried with them mud, élay, and sand, and by raising the parts of the equator, they by degrees perhaps lowered those of the poles about two leagues, as we before mentioned ; for the Waters soon reduced into powder the pomice stones ami other spon-geoLis parts of the vitrified matter fhat were at the surface, they hollowed some places, and. raised others, which in course of time became continents, and produced all the inequalities, and which are more considerable towards thè equator than the poles ; for the highest mountains are between the tropics and the middle of the temperate zones, and the lowest 4 ■	ar--KATURAL HISTORY,
1ST
are from the polar circle to the poles; between the tropics are the Cordeliers, and almost all the mountains of Mexico and Brazil, the great and little Atlas, the Moon, &c. Besides, the land which is between the tropics, from the superior number of islands found in those parts, is the most unequal of all the globe, as is also the sea.
However independent my theory may be of that hypothesis of what past at the time of the first state of the globe, I refer to it in this article, in order to shew the connection and possibility of the system which I endeavoured to maintain in the first article. It must only be remarked, that my theory does not stray far from it, as I take the earth in a state nearly similar to what it appears at present, and as 1 do not make use of any of the suppositions which are necessarily used in reasoning on the past state of the terrestrial globe. But as X here present a new idea on the subject of the sediment deposited by the water, which, in my opinion, has perforated the upper bed of earth, it appears to me also necessary to give the reason on which I found this opinion.
The vapours which rise in the air produceraii), jlew, aerial fires, thunder,, and other meteors, B b 3	These188	BUFF©N?S
These vapours are therefore blended with aqueous,, aerial, sulphureous and terrestrial particles, &c. and it is these solid and earthy particles which form the mud or slime we are now speaking of. When rain water is suffered to rest, a sediment is formed at bottom; and having col-Jected a quantity of dew, if it is suffered to stand and corrupt, it produces a kind of mud which falls to the bottom of the vessel. Dew even pro-.duces more of this mud than rain water, which is greasy, unctions, and of a reddish colour.
The first strata of the earth is composed of this mud mixed with perished vegetable or animal parts, or rather with stony and sandy particles. We may remark that almost all land proper for cultivation is reddish, and more or less mixed with these different matters; the particles of sand or stone found there are of two kinds; the one coarse and heavy, the other fine and sometimes impalpable. The largest comes from the lower strata loosened in cultivating the «arth, or rather the upper mould, by penetrating into the lower, which is of sand and other divided matters, and forms those earths we call fat and fertile. The finer sort proceeds from the air, and falls with dew and rain, and mixes intimately with the soil. This is properly
the!N AT URAL HISTORY.
189
the residue of the powder which the wind continually raises from the surface of the earth, and which falls again after having imbibed the humidity of the air. When the earth predominates, and the stony and sandy parts are but few, the earth is then reddish and fertile: if it be mixed with a considerable quantity of perished animal or vegetable substances, it is blackish, and often more fertile than the first; but if the mould is only in a small quantity, as well as the animal or vegetable parts, the earth is white and sterile, and when the sandy, stony, or cretaceous parts which compose these sterile lands, are mixed with a sufficient quantity of perished animal or vegetable substances, they form the black and lighter earths, but have little fertility; so that according to the different combinations of these three different matters, the land is more or less fecund and differently coloured.
To fix some ideas relative to these stratas ; let us take, for example, the earth of Marly-la-Yille, where the pits are very deep: it is a high country, but flat and fertile, and its strata lie arranged horizontally. I had samples brought me of all these strata which M. Dalibard, an able botanist, and versed in different sciences, 8	hadBUFFON S
190
had dug under his inspection; and after having proved the matters of which they consisted in aquafortis, I formed the following table of them.
The state of the different feus of earth, found at Mariy-la-Yille, to the depth of 100 feet.
Feet. In
1. A free reddish earth, mixed with much mud, a very small quantity of verifiable sand, and somewhat more of calculable sand -	------130
<2. A free earth mixed with gravel, and a little more verifiable sand -	-	2	6
3.	Mud mixed with vitrifiable sand
in a great quantity, and which made but very little effervescence with aqua* fords -	--	--	--	--	-3	0
4.	Hard marl, which made a very
great effervescence with aquafortis -	2	0
5.	Pretty hard marly stone ~	-	4	0
f>. Marl in powder, mixed with vitrifiable sand -
7.	Very fine vitrified sand -	-	1	6
8.	Marl very like earth mixed with
a very little vitrifiable sand ---«36
Carried over -	34 6KATUIl'AL iiSSTO’RT,	l§\
Feet. In.
Brought over ------- 34 6
9.	Hard marl, in which was real
flint ----------	3	6
10.	Gravel, or powdered marl -	1	&
11.	Eglantine, a stone of the grain
md hardness of marble and sonorous 1	6
12.	Marly gravel ** -	---16
13.	Marl in hard stone, whose grain
was very fine	-	-	-	~	~	1	(j
14.	Marl in stone, whose grain was
not so fine	-	--	--	--	-	1	6
15.	More grained and thicker marl 2	6
16.	Very fine vitri liable sand, mixed with fossil sea-shells, which had no adherence w ith the sand, and whose colours were perfect ------ j 5
17.	Very small gravel, or fine marl
powder -	--	--	-	-	-	-	2	0
18.	Marl in hard	stone	-	-	-	-	3	G
19.	Very coarse powdered marl -	1	6
20.	Hard and caleinable stone, like
marble - --------	1	a
21.	Grey vitrifiable sand mixed with fossil shells, particularly oysters ami muscles, which have no adherence
Carried over
57	%190
BUFFONS
Feet, In*
Brought over -	-	-	-	- - -	. 57 q
with the sand, and which were not petrified *---------3	0
22.	White vitrifiable sand mixed
with similar shells *-*---£	0
23.	Sand streaked red and white,
vitrifiable and mixed with the like shells	-	1	0
£4. Larger sand, but still vitrifiable and mixed with the like shells *	-	1	0
25.	Fine and vitrifiable grey sand
mixed with the like shells -	-	-	-	8	6
26.	Very fine fat sand, with only a
few shells .---.*-*30 £7. Brown free stone ----30 £8. Vitrifiable sand, streaked red and white --------40
29.	White vitrifiable sand -	-	-	3	6
30.	Reddish vitrifiable sand	-	*	15	0
Total depth -	-	-	J01	0
I have before said that I tried all these matters in aquafortis, because, where the inspection and comparison of matters with others that we, are acquainted with is not sufficient to permit
usNATURAL HISTORY«
1QB
m to denominate and range them in the class to which they belong, there is no means more ready, nor perhaps more sure, than to try, by aquafortis, the terrestrial or lapidific matter? those which acid spirits dissolve immediately with heat and ebullition are generally calculable^ and those on which they make no impression are verifiable.
By this enumeration we perceive, that tliQ soil of Marly-la-Ville was formerly the bottom of the sea, which has been raised above 75 feet, since we find shells at that depth below the surface. Those shells have been transported by the motion of the water, at the same time that the sand in which they are discovered, and the w hole of the upper strata, even to the first, have been transported after the same manner by the motion of the water, and deposited in the form of a sediment; which we cannot doubt, as well on account of their horizontal position, as of the different beds of sand mixed with shells and marl, the last of which are only the fragments of shells. The last stratum itself has been formed almost entirely by the mould we have spoken of, mixed with a small part of the marl which was at the surface..
VOL» i
Cc
I have2$4	^uffon’s
I have chosen this example, as the most disadvantageous t to my. theory, because it at first appears very difficult to conceive that the dust of the air, rain and, dew, could produce strata of free earth thirteen feet thick ; but it ought to be observed, that it, is very rare to find, especially in high lands, so considerable a thickness of cultivateable earth; it is generally about three or four feet, and often not more than one. Ip plains surrounded with hills, this thickness of good earth; is the greatest, because the rain loosens the earth of the hills, and carries it into the valljes; but without supposing any thing of tlmt kind, I find that the last strata formed by the waters are thick beds of mark It is nat ural to imagine that the upper, stratum had, at the beginning, a still greater thickness, besides the thirteen feet of marl, when the sea quitted the land and left it naked. This marl, exposed to the air, melted with the rain ; the action of the air and beat of the sun produced flaws, and reduced it into powder on the surface; the sea would not quit this land precipitately, but sometimes cover it, either !by the alternative motion of the tides, or by the extraordinary elevation of the waters in foul weather,when it mixed with this bed of marl,
mud,.NATURAL history.
m
mud, day, and other matters. When the land was raised above the waters, plants would begin to grow, and it was then that the dust in the rain or dew by degrees added to its substance and gave it a reddish colour ; this thickness aiid fertility was soon augmented by culture; by digging and dividing its surface, and thus giving to the dust, in the dew or rain, the facility of more deeply penetrating ft, which at last produced that bed of free earth thirteen feet thick.
I sháll not here examine whether the reddish colour of vegetable eàrtli, which is also that of the earths produced by mud, dew, únd rains, proceed from the iron which they contained ; but being of importance, shall take notice of it when we come to treat Of minerals ; it is sufficient to have explained our conception of the formation of the superficial strata of the earth, and by other examples we shall prove, that the formation of the interior strata, can only be the work of water.
The surface of the globe, says Woodward, this external stratum on which mèn and animáis walk, which serves as a magazine for thé for-¿nation of vegetables and animals, is, for the greatest part, composed óf vegetable or animal C c 2	matter,196	BUFF©NS
matter, and is in continual motion and variation. AH animals and vegetables which have existed since the creation of the world, have successively extracted from this stratum the matter which has composed their substances, and have, after their deaths, restored to it this borrowed matter: it remains there always ready to be retaken, and to serve for the formation of other bodies of the same species successively, for the matter which composes one body is proper and natural to form another body of the same kind. In uninhabited countries, where the woods are never cut, where animals do not brouze on the plants, this stratum of vegetable earth increases considerably. In all woods, even in those which are sometimes cut, there is a bed of mould, of six or eight inches thick, formed entirely by the leaves, small branches, and barks which have perished. I have often observed on the ancient Roman way, which crosses Burgundy in a long extent of soil, that there is formed a bed of black earth more than a foot thick upon the stones, which nourishes very high trees; and this stratum could be composed only of a black mould formed by the leaves, bark, and perished wood. As vegetables inhale for their nutriment much more
fromN A T U UAL IIIS T O R Y.	*97
from the air and water than, the earth, it happens that when they perish, they return to the earth more than they have taken from it. Besides, forests collect the rain water, and by stopping the vapours increa.se their moisture; hence in a wood which is preserved a long time, the stratum of earth w hich serves for vegetation increases considerably. But animals restoring less to the earth than they take from it, and men making enormous consumption of wood and plants for lire and other uses, it follows that the vegetable soil of inhabited countries must diminish, and become, in time, like the soil of Arabia, Petrea, and other eastern provinces, which, in fact, are the most ancient inhabited countries, where only sand and salt are now to be met with; for the fixed salts of plants and animals remain, while all the other parts volatilise, and are transported by the air.
Let us now examine the position and formation of the interior strata. The earth, says Woodward, appears, in places that have been dug, composed of strata placed one on the other, like so many sediments which necessarily fell to the bottom of the water; the deepest strata are generally the thickest, and those above, the thinnest, and so gradually lessening to 6	theigs
BUf FON’s
the surface. We find sea shells, teeth, and bones of fish in these different beds, and not only in those that are soft, as chalk and clay* but even in those of hard stone, marble, 8lc. These marine productions are incorporated with thestofte, and when separated from them* leave the impressions of the shells with the greatest exactness. (< I have been most positively assured,57 says this author, “ that in France, Flanders. Holland* Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, stone, and other terrestrial substances are disposed in strata, precisely the same as they are in England; Tthat these strata are divided by parallel fissures; that there are, inclosed within stones and other terrestrial and compact substances, a great quantity of shells and other productions of the sea, disposed in the same manner as in this Island. I am also informed that these strata are found the same in Barbary, Egypt, Guinea, and in other parts of Africa: in Arabia, Syria, Persia, Malabar, Chiua, and the rest of the provinces of'Asia ; in Jamaica, Barbadoes, Virginia, New'-England, Brazil, Peru, and other parts of America
* Essay on the iVatural History of the Earth, page 40, 4t, 42, &c.	-
ThisNATURAL HISTORY.
199
Tins author does not say how he learnt, o* hy whom he was told, that the strata of Peru contained shells; yet, as in general hi$ observations are exact, I do not doubt but he was welt informed; and am persuaded that shells may be found in the earth of Peru, as well as elsewhere. This remark is made from a doubt having been formed some time since on the subject, and which I shall hereafter consider.
In a trench made at Amsterdam, to the depth »#f 230 feet, the strata were found as follows:
7	feet of vegetable earth, 9 of turf, 9 of soft day, 8 of sancl> 4 of earth, 10 of clay, 4 of earth, 10 of sand, then 2 feet clay, 4 of white sand, 5 of dry earth, 1 of soft earth, 14 of sand,
8	of argil, mixed w ith earth ; 4 of sand, mixed with shells; then clay 102 feet thick, and at last 31 feet of sand, at which depth they ceased digging*.
It is very remarkable to dig so deep without meeting with water: and this circumstance is singular in many particulars. 1. It shews, that the water of the sea does not communicate with the interior part of the earth, by means of filtration, as is commonly believed. 2. That shells arc found at the depth of 100 feet below the
* See Yaromiii, G^ograph, Genera], page 46.
surface,BUFFON'S
200
surface, and that consequently the soil of Holland lias been raised 10 3 feet by the sediment of the sea. 3. We may draw an induction, that this strata of thick clay of 102 feet, and the bed of sand below it, in which they dug to 3i feet, and whose entire thickness is unknown, are perhaps not very far distant from the first strata of the original earth, such as it w as before the motion of the water had changed its surface. We have said in the first article, that if we desired to find the ancient earth, we-should dig in the northern countries, rather than towards the south; in plains, rather than in mountainous regions. These circumstances seem to be nearly verified in this instance, only it is to be wished they had continued the digging to a greater depth, and that the author had informed us w hether there were not shells and other marine productions, in the last bed of clay, and in that of sand beiow it. This experiment confirms what we have already said; that the more we dig, the greater thickness w e shall find the strata.
The earth is cempesed of parallel and horizontal beds, not only in plains, but hills and mountains are in general composed after the same manner ; it may l:e said, that the strata in hills and me untains are more apparent there
¿hast.NATURAL HISTORY.
£01
tiian in the plains, because the plains are generally covered with a very considerable quantity of sand and earth, which the water has brought from the higher grounds, and, therefore, to find the ancient strata, we must dig deeper in the plains than in the mountains.
I have often observed, that when a mountain is level at its summit, the strata which compose it are also level; but if the summit be not placed horizontally, but inclines towards the east, or towards any other side, the strata incline also in the same direction. I have heard that, in general, the beds of quarries inclined a little to the east; but having myself observed all the chains of rocks which offered, I discovered this opinion to be erroneous, and that the strata inclines to the same side as the hill, whether it be east, west, north, or south. When we dig stone and marble from the quarry, we take great care to separate them according to their natural position, and we cannot even get them of a large size, if we cut them in any other direction. Where they are made use of for good masonry, the workmen are particular in placing them as they stood in the quarry, for if they were placed in any other direction, they would split, and would not resist the weight with which they are loaded. This perfectly
TOi.. i	D d	confirmsBUFF ON :s
confirms the fact that stones are found in pa^-rallel and horizontal strata, which have been successively heaped one on the other, and that these strata liave composed masses whose resistance is greater in that direction than in any other.
Every strata, whether horizontal or inclined, has an equal thickness throughout its whole extent. In the quarries about Paris the bed of good stone is not thick, scarcely more than 18 or 20 feet: in those of Burgundy the stone is nnick thicker. It is the same with marble; the black and white marble have a thicker bed than the coloured; and I know beds of very hard stone, which the farmers in Burgundy make use of to cover their houses, that are not above an inch thick. The different strata vary much in thickness, but each bed preserves the same, thickness throughout its extent. The thickness of strata is so greatly varied, that it is found from less than a line to 1, 10, 20, SO, or 100 feet thick. The ancient and modern quarries, which are horizontally dug, the perpendicular and other divisions of mines> prove that there are extensive strata in all directions.
It is-thoroughly proved,” says the historian of the academy, (c that all stones have formerly been a soft paste, and as there are quarries almost in every part, the surface of
llieNATURAL HISTORY,
£0$
the earth has therefore consisted, in all these places, of mud and slime, at least to certain depths. The shells found in most quarries prove that this mud was an earth diluted by the water of the sea, and consequently that the sea covered all these places; and it could not cover them without also covering all that was level with or lower than it: and it is plain that it could not cover every place where there were quarries, without covering the whole face of the terrestrial globe. We do not here consider the mountains which the sea must also at one time have covered, since quarries and shells are often found in them.
cc The sea,” continues he, “ therefore, covered the whole earth, and from thence it proceeds that all the beds of stone in the plains are horizontal and parallel; fish must have also been the most ancient inhabitants of the globe, as there was no sustenance for either birds or terrestrial animals. But how did the sea retire into these vast basins which it at present occupies ? What presents itself the most natural to the mind is, that the earth, at least at a certain depth, was not entirely solid, but intermixed with some great vacuums, whose vaults were supported for a time, but at length X) d £	sunk£04	buffon’s
sunk in suddenly: then the waters must f have fallen into these vacancies, filled them, and left naked a part of the earth’s surface, which became an agreeable abode to terrestrial animals and birds. The shells found in quarries perfectly agree with this idea, for only the bony parts of fish could be [preserved till now. In general, shells are heaped up in great abundance in certain parts of the sea, where they are immoveable* and form a kind of rock, and could not follow the water, which suddenly forsook them : this is the reason that we find more shells than bones of the fish, and this even proves a sudden fall of the sea into its present basins. At the same time as our supposed vaults gave way, it is very possible that other parts of the globe were raised by the same cause, and that mountains were placed on this surface with quarries already formed, but the beds of these quarries could not preserve the horizontal direction they before had, unless the mountains were raised precisely perpendicular to the surface of the eartii, which could happen but very seldom : so also, as we have already observed in 1705, the beds of stone in mountains are always inclined to the horizon, though parallel with each other; for they have not
changedNATURAL HISTORY
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changed their position, with, respect. to each other, but only with respect, to the surface of the earth
These parallel strata, these beds of earth or of stone, which have been formed by the sediment of the sea,, often extend to considerable distances,, and we often find in hills,, separated by a valley, the same beds and the same matters at the same level. This observation agrees perfectly with that of the height of the opposite hills. We may easily be convinced of the truth of these facts, for in all narrow val-lies, where rocks are discovered, we shall find the same beds of stone and marble on both sides at the same height. In a country where I frequently reside, and in which I have frequently observed the rocks and quarries, I found a quarry of marble which extended more than 12 leagues in length, and whose breadth was very considerable, although I have never been able precisely to determine it. I have often observed that this bed of marble is, throughout, of the same thickness, and in hills divided from this quarry by a valley of 100 feet depth, and a quarter of a mile in breadth,I found the same bed of marble at the same height. I * See the Mem. of the Acad. 1716, page 14.
am©ukfon’s
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am persuaded it is the same in every stone and marble quarry where shells are found ; but this observation does not hold good in quarries of freestone, la the course of this work* we shall give reasons for this difference, and explain w hy freestone is not dispersed, like éther mat* ters, in horizontal beds, and why it is in irregular blocks, both in form and position.
It has also been observed that the strata are the same on both sides the straits of the sea* This observation, which is important, may lead us to discover the lands and islands which have been separated from the continent; if proves, from example, that England has been divided from France ; Spain from Africa ; Sicily from Italy ; and it is to be wished that the same observation had been made fin all the straits. I ant persuaded that we should find it almost every where true. We do not know whether the same beds of stone are found at the same height on both sides the straits of Magellan, Which are the longest ; but we see, by the parti* cular maps and exact charts, that the two high Coasts which confine it, form nearly, like the mountains of the earth, correspondent angles, which also proves that the Terra del Fuego, must be regarded as part of the continent of
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America; it is the same with Forbisher’s Strait imd the island of Friesland, which appear to have been divided from the continent of Greenland.
The Maidive islands are only separated by small tracts of sea, on each side of which banks anti rocks are found ¿composed of the same materials, and these islands, which, taken together, are nearly 200 miles long, formed anciently only one land; they are now divided into 1S provinces,called Clusters. Each cluster contains a great number of small islands, most of which are sometimes overflowed and some-times dry; but what is remarkable, these thirteen clusters are each surrounded with a chain of rocks of the same storie, and there are only three or four dangerous inlets by which they can be entered. They are all placed one after the other, and it evidently appears that these islands were formerly a long mountain capped with rocks
Many authors, as Verstegan, Twine, Som-ner, and especially Campbell, in his Description'of England, in the chapter on Kent, gives very strong reasons, to prove that England was formerly joined to France, and has been separated from it by an effort of the sea, which
* See tbe Voyages of Francis Piriard, vol, 1, page 108.
carriedbuffojn’s
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carried away the neck of land that joined then** opened the channel* and left naked a great quantity of low and marshy ground aloug the southern coasts of England. Dr. Wallis* as a corroboration of this supposition* shews the conformity of the ancient Welch and Bretagne tongues* and adds many observations* which we shall relate in the following articles.
If we consider the form of lands* the position of mountains»* and the windings of rivers* we shall perqeive that* generally* opposite hills are not only composed of the same matters on the same level*but are nearly of an equal height. This equality I have observed in my travels, and have mostly found them the same on the two sides* especially in Tallies ■ that were not more than a quarter or a third of a league broad* for in vallies which are very broad* it is difficult to judge of the height and equality of hills* because* by looking over a level plain of any great extent* it appears to rise* and hills at a distance appear to lower; but this is not the place to give a mathematical reason for this difference. \t is also very difficult to judge by the naked sight of the middle of a great valley* at least if there is no river in it; whereas in confined vallies our sight is less equivocal and our judgmentNATURAL HISTORY.
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rneut more certain. That part of Burgundy comprehended between Auxerre, Dijon, Au-tun, and Bar-sur-Seine, a considerable extent of which is called la BailUage dt la Montague, is one of the highest parts of France; from one side of the greater part of these mountains, which are only of the second class, the water flows towards the Ocean, and on the other side towards the Mediterranean. This high country is divided with many small vallies, very confined, and almost all watered with rivulets. I have a thousand times observed the correspondence of the angles of these hills and their equality of height, and I am certain that I have every where found the saliant angles opposite to the retiring angles, and the heights nearly equal on both sides. The farther we advance into the upland country, where the points of division are, the higher are the mountains; but this height is always the same on both sides of the vallies, and the hills are raised or lowered alike. I have frequently made the like observations in many other parts of France. It is this equality in the height of the hills which forms the plains in the mountains, and these plains form lands higher than others. But high mountains do not appear so equal in height ; most of them terminate in E e	points
VOL. i.210
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points and irregular peaks, and I have seen, in crossing the Alps and the Appenines, that the angles are, in fact, correspondent, but that it is almost impossible to judge by the eye of the equality or inequality in the height of opposite mountains, because their summits are lost in mists and clouds.
The different strata of which the earth is composed, are not disposed according to their specific weight, for we often find strata of heavy matters placed on those of lighter. To be convinced of this, we have only to examine the earth on which rocks are placed, and we shall find that it is generally clay or sand, which is specifically lighter. In hills, and other small elevations, we easily discover this to be the case; but it is not so with large mountains, for not only their summits are rocks, but those rocks are placed on others; there are mountains placed upon mountains, and rocks upon rocks, to such a considerable height, and through so great an extent of country, that we can scarcely be certain whether there is earth at bottom, or of what nature it is. I have seen cavities made in rocks some hundred feet in depth, without being able to form an idea where they ended, for these rocks were supported by others: nevertheless,NATURAL HISTORY*
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theless, may we not compare great with small ? and since the rocks of little mountains, whose bases are to be seen, rest on earth less heavy and solid than stone, may we not suppose that earth is also the basis of high mountains ? All that I have here to prove by these arguments is, that by the motion of the waters, it may naturally have happened that the more ponderous matters accumulated on the lighter; and, that if this in fact is found to be so in most hills, it is probable that it happened as explained by my theory ; but should it be objected that I have no authority for supposing, that before the formation of mountains the heaviest matters were below the lighter ; I answer, that I assert nothing general in this respect, because this effect may have been produced in many ways* whether the heaviest matters were upper® most or undermost, or placed indiscriminately. To conceive how the sea at first formed a mountain of clay, and afterwards capt it with rocks, it is sufficient to consider that the sediments may successively come from different parts, and that they might be of different materials. In some parts the sea may at first have deposited sediments of clay, and the waters afterwards brought sediment of strong matter* Ee £	eitherSUFFOiVsr
«12
either because they had transported all the clay from the bottom and sides, and then the waves attacked the rocks, or possibly because the first sediment came from one part, and the second from another. This perfectly agrees with observation, by which we perceive that beds of earth, stone, gravel, sand, &c. follow no rule in their arrangement, but are placed indifferently one on the other as it were by chance.
But this chance must have some rules, which can be known only by estimating the relative weight of probabilities, and the truth of conjectures. According to our hypothesis, on the formation of the globe, we have seen that the interior part of the globe must have been a vitrified matter, similar to vitrified sand, which is only the fragments of glass, and of which the clays are perhaps the scoria or decomposed parts ; and by this supposition, the centre of the earth, and almost as far as the external circumference, must be glass, or a vitrified matter: and above this we should find sand, day, and other scoria. Thus the earth, in its first state, was a nucleus of glass, or vitrified matter: either massive like glass, or divided like sand, because that depends on the degree of heat it had undergone. Above this matter
wasNATURAL HISTORY.
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"was sand, and lastly clay. The soil of the waters and air produced the external crust* which is thicker or thinner according to the situation of the ground; more or less coloured, according to the different mixtures of mud, sand, clay, and the decayed parts of animals and vegetables; and more or less fertile, according to the abundance or want of these parts. To shew that this supposition on the formation of sand and clay is not chimerical, X shall add some particular remarks.
I conceive, that the earth, in its first state, was a globe, or rather a spheroid of compact glass, covered with a light crust of pumice stone and other scoria of the matter in fusion. The motion and agitation of the waters and air soon reduced this crust into powder or sand, which, by uniting afterwards, produced flints, and owe their hardness, colour, or transparency and variety, to the different degrees of purity of the sand which entered into their composition.
These sands, whose constituting parts unite by fire, assimilate, and become very dense, compact, and the more transparent as the sand is more pure ; on the contrary, being exposed a long time to the air, they disunite and exfoliate, descend in the form of earth, and it is probable
theBUFFO N*S
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the different clays are thus produced. This dust, sometimes of a brightish yellow, and sometimes like silver, is nothing more than a very pure sand somewhat perished, and almost reduced to an elementary state. In the course of time, particles will be so far attenuated and divided, that they will no longer have power to reflect the light, and acquire all the properties of clay.
This theory is conformable to what every day is seen; let us wash sand immediately upon its being dug, and the water will be loaded w ith a black, ductile and fat earth, which is genuine clay. In streets paved with free-stone, the dirt is always black and greasy, and when dried appears to be an earth of the same nature as clay. Let us wash the earth taken from a spot where there are neither free-stone nor flints, and there will always precipitate a great quantity of vitrifiable sand.
But what perfectly proves that sand, and even flint and glass, exist in clay, is, that the action of fire, by uniting the parts, restores it to its original form. Clay, if heated to the degree of calcination, will cover itself with a very hard enamel \ if it is not vitrified internally, it nevertheless w ill have acquired a very great hardness, so as to resist the file ; it w ill emit fire 9	underNATURAL HISTORY.
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under the hammer, mid it has ail the properties of flint; a greater degree of heat causes it to flow, and converts into real glass.
Clay and sand are therefore matters perfectly analogous, and of the same class: if clay, by condensing, may become flint and glass, why may not sand, by dissolution, become clay ? Glass appears to be true elementary earth, and all mixed substances disguised glass. Metals, minerals, salts, &c are only vitnfiable earth ; common stone and other matters analogous to it, and testaceous, and crustaceous shells, &c. are the only substances which cannot be vitrified, and which seem to form a separa'e class. Fire, by uniting the divided pasts of the first, forms an homogeneous matter, hard and transparent, without any diminution of weight, and to which it is not possible to cause any alteration; those, on the contrary, in which a greater quantity of active and volatile principles enter, and which calcine, lose more than one-third of their w eight in the fire, and retake the form of simple earth, without any other alteration than a disunion of their different parts: these bodies excepted, which are no great number, and whose combinations produce no great varieties In nature, every other substance, and particularlyBUFFOtf'S
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larly clay* may be converted into glass* and are consequently only decomposed glass. If the fire suddenly causes the form of these substances to change by vitrifying them* glass itself, whether pure* or in the form of sand or flint* naturally* but by a slow and insensible progess* changes into clay.
Where flint is the predominant stone* the country is generally strewed with parts of it* and if the place is uncultivated* and these stones have been long exposed to the air, without having been stirred* their upper superficies is always white* whereas the opposite side* which touches the earth* is very brown* and preserves its natural colour. If these flints are broken, we shall perceive that the whiteness is not only external* put penetrates internally* and there forms a kind of band* not very deep in some* but which in others occupies almost the whole flint. This white part is somewhat grainy* entirely opaque* as soft as free-stone* and adheres to the tongue like the boles* whereas the other part is smooth* has neither thread nor grain* and preserves its natural colour* transparency* and hardness. If this flint is put into a furnace* its white part becomes of a brick colour* and its brown part
ofNATURAL .HISTORY.	£17
x£ a very fine white. Let us not say with one of our most celebrated naturalists, that these «tones are imperfect flints of different ages, which have not acquired their perfection; for why should they be all imperfect ? Why should they be imperfect only on the side exposed to the weather ? It, on the contrary, appears to me more reasonable that they aye Hints changed from their original state, gradually decomposed, and assuming the form and property of clay or bole. If this is thought to be only conjecture, let the hardest and blackest flint be exposed to the weather, in less than a year its surface will change colour; and if we have patience to pursue this experiment, we shall see it by degrees lose its hardness, transparency and other specific character, and approach every day nearer and nearer the nature of clay.
What happens to flint happens to sand; cadi grain of sand may possibly be considered as a small flint, and each flint as a mass of extremely fine grains of sand. The first example of the decomposition of sand is found in the brilliant opaque powder called Mica, in which clay and slate are always diffused. The entirely iransparent flints, the Quartz, produce by decomposition fat and soft talks, such as those of vol, ie	F f	Venice418
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Venice and Russia, which are as ductile and yitrifiable as clay: and it appears to me, that talk is a mediate between glass or transparent flint and clay ; whereas coarse and impure flint, by decomposing, passes to clay without any intermedium.
Our factitious glass undergoes the same alterations : it decomposes and perishes, as it were, in the air. At first it assumes a variety of colours, then exfoliates, and by working it we perceive brilliant scales fall off; but when its decomposition is more advanced, it crumbles between the fingers, and is reduced into a very white fine talky powder. Art has even imitated nature in the decomposition of glass and flint. a Est etiam certa methodus solius aquae communis ope sílices et arenam in liquorem viscosum, eumdemque in sal viride convertendi, et hoc in oleum rubicundum, &c. Solius ignis et aquae ope speciali experimento durissimos quosque lapides in mucorem resolvo, qui dis-tillatus subtilem spiritum exhibet et oleum nub lis laudibus proedicabile
These matters more particularly belong to pactals, and when we come to them, shall be fully treated on; therefore we shall content * See Becher, Phys, suhter.
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ourselves here with adding, that the different strata which cover the terrestrial globe, being materials to be considered as actual vitrifications or analogous to glass, and possessing its most essential qualities; and as it is evident, that from the decomposition of glass and flint, which is every day made before our eyes, a genuine clay remains, it is not a precarious supposition to advance, that clays and sands have been formed by scoria, and vitrified drops of the terrestrial globe, especially when we join the proofs a priori, which we have given to evince the earth has been in a state of liquefaction caused by fire.
ARTICLE VIII.
©N SHELLS, AND other marine productions
FOUND IN THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH.
J HAVE often examined quarries, the banks of which were filled with shells; I have seen entire hills composed of them, and chains of jocks which contained them throughout their F f 2	wholebu^fonV
«220
whole extent. The quantity of these marine productions is astonishing, and the number in many places sa prodigious, that it appears scarcely possible that any should now remain in the sea; it is by considering this innumerable multitude of shells, that no doubt fa left of our earth having been a long time under the water of the ocean. The quantity found in a fossil, or petrified state, fa beyond conception, and it is only from the number of those that have been discovered that we could possibly have formed an idea of their multiplicity. We must not imagine, like those who reason on matters they never saw, that shells are only found at random, dispersed here and there, or in small heaps, as oyster shells thrown before our doors; on the contrary, they form mountains, are met with in shoals of 100 or 200 miles length, nay, they may sometimes be traced through whole provinces in masses of 50 or 60 feet thick. It is from these circumstances alone that we can reason on the subject.
We cannot give a more striking example on this subject than the shells of Touraine. The following is the description given of them by die historian of the Academy
* Anno ITyO', p. 5o
“ TheA A T u R A I, IK ST O R Y.
2ul
>’* The number of iigured stones and fossil shells found in the bowels of the earth were re* marked in all ages and nations, but they were considered merely as the sports of nature, am! even by philosophers themselves,- as the productions of chance or accident; they regarded them with a degree of surprise, but passed then* own’ with a slight attention, and all this phenomena perished w ithout any fruit for the progress of knowledge, A potter in Paris, who knew neither Latin nor Greek, was the ins? man who dared to affirm,towards the end of tie: 16th century, in opposition to the learned, ilia? the fossil shells were real shells formerly deposited by the sea in those places w here they were found; that animals, and particularly fish, had given to stones all these different figures, eke and he defied the whole school of Aristotle to contradict his proofs. This was Bernard Pa-lissy, as great a natural genius as nature alone could form: his system slept near 100 years, and even his name was almost forgotten. At length the ideas of Palissy w ere revived in the mind of several philosophers ; and men of science profited by all.the shells and figured stones the earth furnishes us with ; perhaps they are at present
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become only too common^ and the conse~ quences drawn from them too incontestable.
" Notwithstanding this, the observations presented by M. Reaumur must appear wonderful. He discovered a mass of 130 million, 680 thousand cubical fathoms of shells, either whole or in fragments, without any mixture of stone, earth, sand, or other extraneous matter i hitherto fossil shells have never appeared in such an enormous quantity, nor without mix-* ture. It was in Touraine that this prodigious mass was found, more than 36 leagues from the sea; this is perfectly known there, as the farmers of that province make use of these shells, which they dig up, as manure for their lands, to fertilize their plains, which otherwise would be absolutely sterile.
“ What is dug from the earth, and which generally is no more than 8 or, 9 feet deep> are only small fragments of shells, very distinguishable as fragments, for they retain their original channels and hollows, having only lost their gloss and colour, as almost all shells do which we find in the earth. The smallest pieces, which are only dust, are still distinguishable, because they are perfectly of the same matterN AT U E A I- HI ST O R V :	QMS
m the rest* as well as of the whole shells which are sometimes found. We discover'the species as well in the whole shells as in the larger fragments. Some of these species.are known at Poitou* others belong to more remote coasts. There are even fragments of madrepores, coral, and other productions of the sea; all this matter in the country is termed Fallam, and is found wherever the ground is dug in that province for the space of nine leagues square. The peasants do not dig above twenty feet deep, because they think it would not repay them for their trouble, but they are certainly deeper. The calculation of the quantity is however taken upon the supposition of only IB feet and £200 fathoms to the league. This mass of shells of course exceeds the calculation, and possibly contains double the quantity.
u In physical points the smallest circumstances, which most people do not think worthy of remarking, sometimes lead to consequences and afford great lights. M. de Reaumur observed, that all these fragments of shells lie horizontally, and hence he has concluded that this infinity of fragments does not proceed from the heap being formed at one time, or of whole shells, for the uppermost,by their weight,
wouldBUTTON S
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would have crushed the others, and of course jheir fallings would have given an infinity of different positions. They must, therefore, have been brought there by the sea, either whole or broken, and necessarily placed horizontally; and although the extreme length of time was of itself sufficient to break, and almost calcine the greatest part, it could not change their position.
“ By this it appears, that they must have been brought gradually, and in fact how was it possible that the sea could convey at once such an immense quantity of shells, and at the same time preserve a position perfectly horizontal r They must have collected in one spot, and consequently this spot must have been the .bottom of a gulph or bason.
All this proves, that although there must remain on the earth many vestiges of the universal deluge, as recorded in scripture, the mass of shells at Touraine was not produced by that deluge, for there is perhaps not so great a mass in any part of the sea; but even had the deluge forced them away, it would have been with an impetuosity and violence that would not have permitted them to retain one uniform position. They must have been brought and deposited
gentlynatural history.
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gently and slowly, and consequently their accumulation required a space of time much longer than a year.
u It is evident therefore, that the surface of the earth, at least in some places, must have been, before or after the deluge, very differently disposed to what it is at present; that the sea and continent had another arrangement, and formerly there was a great gulph in the middle of Touraine. The changes which are known from history, or even ancient fable, though inconsiderable, give us room to imagine those which a longer time might bring about. M. de Reaumur supposes that Touraine was a gulph of the sea which communicated with the ocean, and that the shells were carried there by a current; but this is a simple conjecture laid down in room of the real unknown fact. To speak with certainty on this matter, we should have geographical maps of all the places where shells have been dug frohi the earth, to obtain which would require almost an infinity of time and observation, yet it is possible that hereafter science may accomplish it.”
This quantity of shells, considerable as it is, w ill astonish us less, if we consider the follow-ting circumstances -, first, shell fish multiply
vol. i.	Gg	prodigiously,BUFF0X?S
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prodigiously, and are full grown in a very shoTt time ; the abundance of individuals in each kind proves to us their fertility. We have a strong example of this increase in oysters, a mass of many fathoms of which are frequently raised in a single day. In a very short time the rocks to which they are attached arecon-siderably diminished, and some banks quite exhausted, nevertheless the ensuing year we find them as plentiful as before, nor do they appear to be in the least diminished ; indeed I know not whether a natural bed of oysters was ever entirely exhausted. Secondly, the substance of shells is analogous to stone ; they are along time preserved in soft matters, and petrify readily in hard ; these shells and marine productions, therefore, found on the earth, being the wrecks of many ages, must of course have formed very considerable masses.
There are a prodigious quantity of shells in marble, lime, stone, chalk, marl, &c. We find them, as before observed, in hills and mountains, and they often make more than one half of the bodies which contain them ; for the most part they appear well preserved,others are in fragments, but large enough to distinguish to what kind of shells they belong. Here our
knowledgeNATURAL HISTORY.
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knowledge on this subject, from observation, finds its limits; but I shall go further and assert, that shells are the intermedium which Nature adopts for the formation of most kinds of stones ; that chalks, marls, and lime-stone are composed only of the powder and pieces of shells; that consequently the quantities of shells destroyed are infinitely more considerable than those preserved. I shall here content myself with indicating the point of view in which we ought to consider the strata of which the globe is composed. The first stratum is composed of the dust of the air, the sediment of the rain, dew, and vegetable or animal parts, reduced to particles; the strata of chalk, marl, lime, stone, and marble, are composed of the ruins of shells, and other marine productions, mixed with fragments or whole shells ; but the verifiable sand or clay are the matters of which the internal parts of ihe globe are composed. They were vitrified when the globe received its form, which necessarily supposes that the matter was in fusion. Granite, rock, flint, &c. owe their origin to sand and clay, and are likewise disposed by strata ; but tuffa,* free-Gg 2	stone,
* A kind of soft gravelly stone.228'
BUTTON
stone, and flints (not in great masses), crj^stals, metals, pyrites, most minerals, sulphurs, &c. are matters whose formation is novel, in comparison with marbles, calcinable stones, chalk, marl, and all other materials disposed in horizontal strata, and which contain shells and other productions of the sea.
As the denominations I make use of may appear obscure or equivocal, it is necessary to explain them. By the term clay, I mean not only the white and yellow,-.but also blue, soft, hard, foliated, and other clays, which I look on as the scoria of glass, or ns decomposed glass. By the word sand I always understand vitrifi-able sand; and not only comprehend under this denomination the fine sand which produces free-stone, and which I look upon as powdered glass, or rather pumice-stone, but also the sand which proceeds from the free-stone destroyed by friction, and also the larger sandy as small gravel, which proceeds from the granite and rock-stone, and is sharp, angular, red, and commonly found in the bed of rivers or rivulets* that derive their waters immediately from the higher mountains, or hills composed of stone or granite. The river Armanson conveys a great quantity of this sand; it is large and brittle, and in fact is only fragments of rock-
stone^NATURAL HISTORY.
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stone, as calcinable gravel is of free-stone, llod:-sto7ie and granite are one and (lie same substance, but I have used both denominations, because there are many persons who make two different species of them. It is the same with respect to flints and free-stone in large pieces; I look on them as kinds of granite, and I call them largejlints,because they are disposed like calcinable stone in strata, and to distinguish them from the flints and free-stone in small masses, and the round flints which have no regular quarries, and whose beds have a certain extent; these are of a modern formation, and have not the same origin as the flints and freestone in large lumps, which are disposed in regular strata.
I understand by the term slate, not only the blue, which all the world knows, but white, grey, and red slate: these bodies are generally met with below laminated clay, and have every appearance of being nothing more than clay hardened in this strata. Pit coal and jet are matters which also belong to clay, and are commonly under slate. By the word tuffa, I understand not only the common pumice which appears full of holes, and, as I may say, organized, but all the beds of stone made by the sediment
of230
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of running -waters, all the stalactites, incrns« tations, and all kinds of stone that dissolve by fire. It is no ways doubtful that these matters are modern, and that they every day grow. Tuffa is only a mass of lapiditic matter, in which we perceive no distinct strata : this matter is disposed generally in small hollow cylinders, irregularly grouped, and formed by waters dropt at the foot of mountains, or on the slope of hills, which contain beds of marl, or soft and calcareous earth ; these cylinders, which make one of the specific characters of this kind of tuffa, are either oblique or vertical according to the direction of the streams or water which form them. These sent of spurious quarries have no continuity; their extent is very confined, and proportionate to the height of the mountains which furnish them with the matter of their growth. The tuffa every day receiving lapidific juices, those small cylindrical columns, between which intervals are Iefi, close at last, and the whole becomes one compact body, but never acquires the hardness of stone, and is what Agricola terms Margate faced Jistulosa. In this tuffa are generally found impressions of leaves, trees, and plants, like those which grow in the environs of the place w hereNATURAL HISTORY.
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it is s terrestrial shells also are often met with * but never any of the marine kind. The tufta is certainly, therefore, a new matter, which must be ranked with stalactites, incrustations, &c. and all these new mattersare kinds of spurious stones, formed at the expense of the rest, but which never arrive at true petrifaction.
Crystal, precious stones, and all those which have a regular figure, even small flints formed by concentrical beds, whether found in perpendicular cavities of rocks, or elsewhere, are only exudations of large hints, or concrete juices of the like matters, and are therefore spurious stones, and real stalactites of flint or rock.
Shells are never found either in rock, granite, or free-stone, although they are often met with in vitrifiable sand, from which these matters derive their origin; this seems to prove, that sand cannot unite to form free-stone or rock, but when it is pure ; and that if it is mixed with shells, or substances of other kinds, which are heterogeneous to it, its union is prevented. I have observed the little pebbles which are often found in beds of sand mixed with shells, but never found any shell therein : these pebbles are real concretions of free-stone formed in the sand, in the places where it is
not$32
rfUFFON*S
siot mixed with heterogeneous matters which oppose the formation of larger masses.
We have before observed, that at Amsterdam* which is a very low country, sea-shells were found at 100 feet below the earth, and at Mar-ly-Ia-Vilie, six miles from Paris, at 75 feet; we likewise met with the same at the bottom of mines, and in banks of rocks, beneath a height of stone 50, 100, 200, and 1000 feet thick, as is apparent in the Alps and Pyrermees, where, in the lower beds, shells and other marine productions are constantly found. But to proceed in order, we find shells on the mountains of Spain, France, and England ; in all the marble quarries of Flanders, in the mountains of Gudders, in all hills around Paris, Burgundy, and Champagne ; in one word, in every place where the basis of the soil is not free-stone or tuffa; and in most of these places there arc more shells than oilier matters in the substance of the stones. By shells, I mean not only the wrecks of shell-fisli, but those of crustaeeous animals, the bristles of sea hedge-hogs, and all productions of the sea insects, as coral, madrepores, astroites,&c. We may easily be convinced by inspection, that in most calcinable stones and marble, there is so
greatNATURAL HISTORY.
233
great a quantity of these marine productions, that they appear to surpass the matter which unites them.
But let us proceed ; we meet with these marine productions even on the tops of the highest mountains ; for example, on Mount Cenis, in the mountains of Genes, in the Ap pen nines, and in most of the stone and marble quarries in Italy ; also in the stones of the most ancient edifices of the Romans; in the mountains of the Tyrol; in the centre of Italy, on the summits of Mount Paterne, near Bologne; in the hills of Calabria; in many parts of Germany, and Hungary, and generally in all the high parts of Europe.*
In Asia and Africa, travellers have remarked them in several parts ; for example, on the mountains of Castravan, above Barut, there is a bed of white stone as thin as slate, each leaf of which contains a great number and diversity of fishes ; they lie for the most part very flat, and compressed, as do the fossil fern-plants, but they are, notwithstanding, so well preserved, that the smallest traces of the fins, scales, and all the parts which distinguish each kind of fish, are perfectly visible. So likewise we find many sea muscles, and petrified shells, vol. i.	H h	between
* On this subject see Stenon, Ray, Woodward, and other*.234
BUFFON S
between Suez and Cairo, and on all the hills and eminences of Barbary; the greatest part are conformable to the kinds at present caught in the Red sea.* In Europe, we meet with petrified fish in Sweden and Germany, and in the cpiarry of Oningen, &c.
The long chain of mountains, says Bour-guet, which expends from Portugal to the most eastern parts of China, the mountains of Africa and America, and the vallies of Europe, all inclose stones filled with shell-fish, and from hence, he says, we may conclude the same of all the other parts of the world unknown to us.
The islands in Europe, Asia, and America, where men have had occasion to dig, whether hi mountains or plains, furnish examples of fossil shells, which evince, that they have that in common with the bordering continents.
Here then is sufficient facts to prove that sea shells, petrified fish, and other marine productions, are to be found in almost every place we are disposed to seek them.
u It is certain,?? says an English author, (Tancred Robinson,) “that there have been sea shells dispersed on the earth by armies, and the inhabitants of towns and villages ; and Lou-here asserts, in his Voyage to Siam, that the
monkies
• See Shaw’s Voyages, Vo!, n, page 40 and 41-NATURAL HISTORY *
235
inoiikies of the Cape of Good Hope continually amuse themselves with carrying shells from the sea shores to the tops of the mountains : but that cannot resolve the question, why these shells are dispersed over all the earth, and even in the interior parts of mountains, where they are deposited in beds like those in the bottom of the sea.”
On reading an Italian Letter,* on the Changes which have happened to the Terrestrial Globe, printed at Paris in the year 1746, I found these sentiments of Loubere exactly verified. Petrified fish, according to this writer, are the only fish rejected from the Roman tables, because they were not fresh ; and with respect to fossil-shells, he says the pilgrims of Syria brought, during the times of the Crusades, those of the Levant Sea into France, Italy, and other Christian states. Why has he not added, that it was the monkies who transported the shells to the tops of these mountains, which were never inhabited by men ? his wronld not have spoiled, but rendered his explanation still more probable.
H h 2	How
* This Letter was written by Voltaire, which Buffon did not then know. He afterwards did away the sarcasm contained m the above paragraph, by a subsequent one* which may be found in the later editions of his works.236
buffon’s
How comes it that enlightened persons, who pique themselves on philosophy, have such false ideas on this subject ? But doing so, we shall not content ourselves with having said that petrified shells are found in almost every part of the earth which has been dug, nor with having related the testimonies of authors of natural history ; as it might be suspected, that with a view of some system, they perceived shells where there were none ; but quote the authority of some authors, who merely remarked them accidentally, and whose observations went no farther than recognising those that were whole and in the best preservation. Their testimony will perhaps beof a still greater authority with people who have it not in their power to be assured of the truth of these facts, and who know not the difference between shells and pétrifications.
All the world may see the banks of shells in the hills in the environs of Paris, especially in the quarries of stone, as at Chaussée, near Sève, at Issy, Passy, and elsew here. We find a great quantity of lenticular stones at Villers-Cotte-rets ; these rocks arc entirely formed of them, and they are blended, without any order, with a kind of stony mortar, which binds them together, At Chaumont, so great a quantity of
petrifiedNATURAL HISTORY.
237
petrified shells is found, that the hills appear to be composed of nothing else. It is the same at Courtagnon, near Rheims, where there is a bank of shells nearly four leagues broad, and whose length is considerably more. I mention these places as being famous, and striking the eye of every beholder.
With respect to foreign countries, here follows the observations of some travellers.
u In Syria and Phoenicia, the rocks, particularly in the neighbourhood of Latikea, are a kind of chalky substance, and it is perhaps from thence that the city has taken the name of the white promontory. Nakoura, anciently termed Scala Tyriorum, or the Tyrians' Ladder, is nearly of the same nature, and we still find there, by digging, quantities of all sorts of shells, corals, and other remains of the deluge.^*”
On mount Sinai, we find only a few fossil shells, and other marks of the deluge, at least if we do not rank the fossil tarmarin of the neighbouring mountains of Sinai among this number; perhaps the first matter of which their marble is formed, had a corrosive virtue not proper to preserve them. But at Corondel,
where
* See Shaw’s Travels,NATURAL HISTORY.
239
from M. le Maire, who, at the time he was consul at Tripoli, sent several persons thither to take cognizance of it, but also from very re* spectable persons who had been at those places.
Near the pyramids certain pieces of stone worked by the sculptor were found by Mr. Shaw, and among these stones many rude ones of the figure and size of lentils ; some even resemble barley half-peeled ; these, he says, were reported to be the remains of what the workmen ate, but which does not appear probable, &c. These lentils and barley are nothing but petrified shells, called by naturalists lentil-stones.
According to Misson, several sorts of these shell-fish are found in the environs of Maes* tricht, especially towards the village of Zickeny or Tichen, and at the little mountain called 11 uns. In the environs of Sienna, near Ceraldo, are many mountains of sand, crammed with divers sorts of shells. Montemario, a mile from Rome, is entirely filled with them; I have seen thein also, says Misson, in the Alps, France, and elsewhere. Olearius, Stenon, Cambden, Speed, and a number of other authors, as well ancient as modern, relate the some phenomena.
“ TheNATURAL HISTORY.
241
have always been looked upon, when dissolved in the juice of lemon, as a specific for the stone and gravel.”*
u M. la Roche, a physician, gave me some of these petrified olives, which grew in great plenty in these mountains, where, I am told, are found other stones, the insides of which perfectly resemble the natural parts of men and women. These are Hysterolithes.”t <c In going from Smyrna to Tauris, when we were at Tocat,” says Tavernier, u the heat was so great, as obliged us to quit the common road, and goby the mountains, where there is constantly shade and refreshing air. In many places we found snow, and a quantity of very fine sorrel; and on the top of some of those mountains, we found shells like those upon the sea shores, which was very extraordinary.” Here follows what Olearius says on the subject of petrified shells, which he remarked in Persia, and in the rocks where the sepulchres are cut out near the village of Pyr-maraus :
“ We were three in company that ascended to the top of the rock'by the most frightful vol. i.	I i	precipices,
* Shaw, Vol. ii. p. 70. f Travels of Moacomis. Part iv p, S34,
BUFtfOl^S
precipices,rautually assisting each other s hay« ing gained the summit, we found four large chambers, and within, many niches cut in the rocks to serve for beds : but diat the most surprised us was, to find in this vault, on the top of the mountain, muscle shells ; and in some places they were in such great quantities, that the whole rock appeared to be composed only of sand and shells. Returning to Persia, wc perceived many of these shelly mountains along the coast of the Caspian Sea.”
To these I could subjoin many other authorities which I suppress, not willing to tire those who have no need of superabundant proofs, and who are convinced by their sight, as I have been, of the existence of shells wherever we choose to seek for them.
In France, we not only find the shells of the French coast, but also such as have never been seen in those seas. Some philosophers assert, that the quantity of these foreign petrified shells h much greater than those of our climate; but I think this opinion unfounded ; for, independently of the shell-fish which inhabit the bottom of the sea, and are seldom brought up by the fishermen, and which consequently may be looked on as foreigners, although they exist in our seas, I see, by comparing the petrifactionsNATURAL HISTORY*	243
ir¡factions with the living analagous animals, there are more of those of our coasts than of others: for example, most of the cockles, muscles, oysters, ear-shells, limpets, nautili, stars,tubulites, corals, madrepores, &c, found in so many places, are certainly the productions of our seas; and though a great number appear which are foreign or unknown, as the cornu ammonis, the lapides judaici, &c. yet 1 am convinced, from repeated observations, that the number of these kinds is small in comparison with the shells of our own coasts: besides, what composes the bottom of almost all our marble and lime-stone but madrepores, astroites, and all those other productions, which are formed by sea insects, and formerly called marine plants ? Shells, however abundant, form only a small part of these productions, many of which originate in our seas, and particularly in the Mediterranean*
The Red Sea, of ail others, produces corals, madrepores, and marine plants, in the greatest abundance ; no part furnishes a greater variety than the port of Tor; in calm weather, so great a quantity of these plants present themselves, that the bottom of the sea resembles a forest; some of the branched madrepores are eight or
ten244
buffon’s
ten feet high. In the Mediterranean Sea, at Marseilles, near the coasts of Italy and Sicily, many are also found. In most of the gulphs of the ocean, around islands, on banks, and in all temperate climates, where the sea is but of a moderate depth, they are very com* mon.
M. Peyssonel was the first who discovered that corals, madrepores, &c. owed their origin to animals, and were not plants, as had been supposed. The observations of M. Peyssonel were for a long time doubted ; some naturalists at first rejected it with a kind of disdain ; nevertheless, they have been obliged since to acknowledge its truth, and the whole world is now satisfied, that these, formerly supposed marine plants, are nothing but hives or cells formed by insects, in which they live as fish do in their shells. These bodies were at first placed in the class of minerals, then passed into that of vegetables, and now re^ main fixed in that of animals, the genuine operations of which they must ever be con? sidered.
There are shell-fish which live at the bottom of the sea, and which are never cast on the shore : authors call them Pelagice, to distin^ guish them from the others which they call
Littorales9NATURAL HISTORY,
245
JLiltorales. It is to be supposed the'cornu ammonis, and some other kinds that are only found in a petrified state, belong to the former, and that they were filled with the stony sediment in the very places where they are found. There might also have been certain animals, whose species are perished, and among which number this shell-fish might be ranked. The extraordinary fossil bones found in Siberia, Canada, Ireland, and many other places, seem to confirm this conjecture ; for no animal has hitherto been discovered to whom such bones could belong, as they are, for the most part, of an enormous size.
These shells, according to Woodward, are met with from the top to the bottom of quarries, pits, and at the bottom of the deepest mines of Hungary. And Mr. Ray assures us, they are found a thousand feet deep in the rocks which border the isle of Calda, and in Pembrokeshire in Wales.
Shells are not only found in a petrified state at great depths, and on the tops of the highest mountains; but there are some met with in their natural condition, and which have the gloss, colours, and lightness of sea-shells : and to convince ourselves entirely of this matter, we hay» only to compare them with those
found246
BUFFOX’S
found on the sea shares. A slight exami* nation will prove, that these fossil and petrified shells are the same as those of the sea; they are marked with the same articulations ; and in the glossopetri, and other teeth of fishes, which are sometimes found adhering to the jaw-bone, the teeth of the fish are remarked to be smooth, and worn at the extremities, and that they have been made use of when the animals were alive.
Almost every where on land we meet with fossil shells, and of those of the same kind ; some are small, others large, some young, others old ; some imperfect, others extremely perfect; and we likewise sometimes see the young ones adhering to the old.
The shell-fish called purpura has a long tongue, the extremity of which is bony, and so sharp, that it pierces the shells of other fish ; by which means it draws nutriment from them. Shells pierced in this manner are frequently found in the earth, which is an incontestihle proof that they formerly inclosed living fish, and existed in those parts where there were the purpura.
The obelisks of St. Piter's at Rome, according to John of Latvan, were said to come from the pyramids of Egypt: they are of red granite,NATURAL HISTORY«
247
intc, which is a kind of rock-stone, and, as we have observed, contains no shells; but the African and Egyptian marble, and the porphyry said to have been cut from the temple of Solomon, and the palaces of the kings of Egypt, which was used at Rome in different buildings, are filled with shells. Red porphyry is composed of an infinite number of prickles of the species of echinus, or sea ches-nut; they are placed pretty near each other, and form all the small white spots which are in the porphyry. Each of these white spots has a black one in its centre, which is the section of the longitudinal tube of the prickles of the echinus. At Fichen, three leagues from Dijon, in Burgundy, is a red stone, perfectly similar in its composition to porphyry, and which differs from it only in hardness, not being more so than marble; it appears almost formed of prickles of the echini, and its beds are of a very great extent. Many beau«* tiful pieces of workmanship have been made of it in this province, and particularly the steps of the pedestal of the equestrian statue ©f Louis le Grand, at Dijon.
This species of stone is also found at Mont-bard, in Burgundy, where there is an extensive quarry ;■ it is not so hard as marble, contains
more218
BtTFPON9^
more of the echini, and less of the red matter. From this it appears, that the ancient porphyry of Egypt differs only from that of Burgundy in the degree of hardness, and the number of the points of the echini.
With respect to what the curious call green porphyry, I rather suppose it to be a granite than a porphyry ; it is not composed of spots like the red porphyry, and its substance appears to be similar to that of a common granite. InTuscany,in the stone with which the ancient walls of Volaterra were built, there are a great quantity of shells, and this wall was built 2500 years ago. Most marbles, porphyries, and other stones of the most ancient buildings, contain shells and other wrecks of marine productions, as well as the marble we at present take from the quarry ; therefore it cannot be doubted, independently even of the sacred testimony of holy writ, that before the Deluge the earth was composed of the same materials as it is at present.
From all these facts it is plain, that petrified shells are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in every place where observations have been made ; they are also found in America, in the Brasils : for example, in Tucumama, in Terra Magellanica, and in such a great quantity in the
Antilles,NATURAL HISTORY.
249
Antilles, that directly below the cultivable land, the bottom of which the inhabitants call lime, is nothing but a composition of shells, madrepores, astroites, and other prod actions of the sea. These facts would have made me think, that shells, and other petrified marine productions, were to be found in the greatest part of the continent of America, and especially in the mountains, as Woodward asserts ; but M. Conda-mine, who lived several years at Peru, has assured me he could not discover any in the Cordeliers, although he had carefully sought for them. This exception would be singular, and the consequences that might be drawn from it would be still more so ; but I own that, in spite of the testimony of this celebrated naturalist, I am much inclined to suppose, that in the mountains of Peru, as well as elsewhere, there are shells, and other marine pétrifications, although they have not been discovered. It is well known, that in matter of testimonies, two positive witnesses, who assert to have seen a thing, are sufficient to make a complete proof ; whereas ten thousand negative witnesses, and who can only assert not to have seen a thing, can only raise a slight doubt. This reason, united with the strength of analogy, induces me to persist in thinking that shells will be vol. i.	K k	found250
BUFFON5»
found on the mountains of Peru, especially if we search for them on the rise of the mountain, and not at the summit.
The tops of the highest mountains are generally composed of rock, stone granite, and other vitrifiable matters, which contain no shells.
All these matters were formed out of the beds of the sand of the sea, which covered the tops of these mountains. When the sea left them, the sand and other light bodies were carried by the waters into the plains, so that there remained only rocks on the tops of the mountains, which had been formed under those beds of sand. At two, three, or four hundred fathoms below the tops of these mountains, are often found marble, and other calcinable matter, which are disposed in parallel strata, and contain shells and other marine productions; therefore it is not surprising that M. de la Condamine did not find any shells on them, especially if he sought for them in the elevated parts which are composed of rock, free-stone, or vitrifi-able sand ; but had he examined the lower parts of the Cordeliers, he would undoubtedly have found strata of stone, marble, earth, &c. mixed with shells; for in every country
whereNATURAL HISTORY.	251
where observations have been made, such beds have always been met with.
But suppose that in fact there are no marine productions in the mountains of Peru, all that can be concluded from it will no ways affect our theory; and it might be possible, that there are some parts of the globe which never were covered with water, especially of such elevation as the Cordeliers, But in such a case there might be some curious observations made on those mountains, for they would not be composed of parallel strata, and the materials also would be very different from those we are acquainted with ; they would not have perpendicular cracks; the composition of the rocks and stones would not at all resemble those of other countries ; and lastly, in these mountains we should find the ancient structure of the earth such as it originally was before it was changed by the motion of the waters; we should see the first state of the globe, the old matters of which it was composed, its form, and the natural arrangement of its parts ; but this is too much to expect, and on too slight foundations ; and it is more conformable to reason to conclude, that fossil-shells are to be found in those mountains, as well as in every other place.
With respect to the manner in which these K k 2	shell252
BUFFON S
shells are placed in the strata of earth or sand, Woodward says, u All shells that are met with in an infinity of strata of earth and banks of rocks, in the highest mountains, and in the deepest quarries and mines, in flints, See. &c. in masses of sulphur, mareasites, and other metallic and mineral bodies, are filled with similar substances to those which contain them, and never any heterogeneous matter, fee.
u The specific weight of the different kinds of sands varies but little, being generally with respect to water as 2^ or TV to 1, and the shells of cockles, and other shells, which are nearly of the same weight but they are usually found in very great numbers, whereas it is very rare to meet with oyster-shells (w hose specific weight is but as to 1), or sea cockles (whose weight is but as 2 or 2£ to 1), or other sorts of lighter shells ; but on the contrary in chalk, (which is lighter than stone, being to water but as 2TV to 1), we find only cockles, and other kinds of lighter shells.” Page 32, 33.
It must be remarked, that what Woodward says here with respect to specific gravity, must not be looked upon as a general rule, for we find lighter and heavier shells in the same matters ; for example, shells of cockles,
of oysters, of echini, &c. are found in the
sameNATURAL HISTORY.
253
same stones and earth ; and even in the royal cabinet may be seen a petrified cockle in a cornelian, and a petrified echini in an agate, therefore the specific weight of the shells has not influenced so much, as Woodward supposes, their position in the earth. The reason why such light shells are found more abundantly in chalk is, that chalk is only the ruinated part of shells^ and that those of the echini being lighter and thinner than others, would have been most easily reduced into powder or chalk, so that the strata of chalk are only met with in the places where formerly a great abundance of these light shells were collected under the waters of the sea, the destruction of which formed that chalk, in which we find those shells, which having resisted the frictions of the waves, are preserved entire, or at least in parts large enough to discover their species.
But this subject is treated more fully in our discourse on minerals; and we shall here therefore content ourselves with saying, that a modification must be given to Woodward’s expressions. He seems to say, that shells are found in flints, cornelians, in ores, and sulphur, as often, and in as great a number as in other matters; whereas the truth is, that they are very rare in all vitrifiable or purely
inflammable§54
buffon’s
inflammable substances; and, on the contrary, are in prodigious abundance in chalk, marl, and marbles, insomuch that we cannot pretend absolutely to say, that the lightest and heaviest shells are found in corresponding strata, but only that in general they are oftener found so than otherwise. They are in fact all filled with the substance which surrounds them, whether found in horizontal strata or in perpendicular fissures, because both have been formed by the waters, although at different times and in different manners. Those found in horizontal strata of stone, marble, &c. have been deposited by the motion of the waves of the sea; and those in flints, cornelians, and all matters which are in the perpendicular fissures, have been produced by the particular motion of a small quantity of water, loaded with lapidific or metallic substances. In both cases these matters were reduced into so fine and impalpable a powder, that it filled the shells so fully and absolutely, as not to have left the least vacuum.
There is therefore in stone, marble, &c. a great multitude of shells which are whole, beautiful, and so little changed, that they may be easily compared with the shells preserved in cabinets, or found on the sea shores.
Woodward,NATURAL HISTORY.
255
Woodward, in pages 23 and 24, proceeds, “ There are, besides these, great multitudes of shells contained in stones, &c. which are entire and absolutely free from any such mineral mixture; which may be compared with those seen at present on our shores, and which will be found not to have any difference, being precisely of the same figure and size, and of the same substance and texture. The peculiar matter which composes them is also the same, and is disposed and arranged in the same manner; the direction of their fibres, and spiral lines, is the same; the composition of the small lama formed by their fibres, is the same in the one as the other; we see in the same part vestigia of tendons, by means of which the animal was fastened and joined to its shell; we see the same tubercles, stria, and pipes ; in short, the whole is alike, whether within or without the shell, in its cavity or on its convexity, in its substance or on its superficies. In other respects these fossil shells are subject to the same common accidents as those of the sea ; for example, they sometimes grow to one another, the less being adherent to the larger; they have vermicular conduits; pearls are found in them, and other similar matters which have been produced by the animal
which256
bujffon’s
when it inhabited its shell ; and their specific gravity is exactly the same as that of their kind found actually in the sea ; in all chy-mical experiments they answer exactly with seashells ; when dissolved they have the same appearance, smell, and taste ; in a word, their resemblance is perfectly exact.”
I have often myself observed with astonishment, as I have already said, whole mountains, chains of rocks, enormous banks of quarries, so full of shells, and other works of marine productions, that their bulk surpassed that of the matter in which they were deposited.
I have seen cultivated fields, in which all the stones were petrified cockles, so that a man, with his eyes shut, might wager upon the certainty of picking up a cockle : others covered with cornu ammonies, and some with cardites ; and the more we examine the earth, the more we shall be convinced that the number of these pétrifications is infinite, and conclude, that it is impossible that all the animals which inhabited these shells existed at one time.
I have even made an observation, in seeking for these shells, which may be of some utility, viz. that in all countries where we find a very great number of petrifiedNATURAL HISTORY*
257
trifled shells in the cultivated lands which are whole, well preserved, and totally apart, we may be certain that the earth of that country is gelisse, for these shells have been divided only by the action of the frost, which destroys the stone, and suffers the petrified shells to subsist a longer time.
This immense quantity of marine fossils found in so many places, proves that they could not have been transported thither by the Deluge; for if these shells had been brought on the earth by a deluge, the greatest part would have remained on the surface of the earth, or at least would not have entered to the depth of seven or eight hundred feet in the most solid marble.
In all quarries these shells form a part of the interior of the stone, and sometimes they are seen externally covered with stalactites, which is much less ancient matter than the stone which contains the shells. Another proof that this happened not by a deluge is, that bones, horns, claws, &c. of land animals, are found but very rarely, and not at all perhaps in marble and other hard stone; whereas, if it were the effect of a deluge, where, all must have erished, we should meet with the remains
VOL, i,	LI258	buffon’s
of land animals as well as those of the sea.*
It is merely a gratuitous supposition to pretend that the whole earths was dissolved at the Deluge, nor can we give any foundation to such idea, but by supposing that of a second miracle, giving to the water the property of a universal dissolvent; but of this there is no mention in holy writ. Besides, what annihilates the supposition, and renders it even contradictory is, that if all matters were dissolved by that water, yet shells wrere not, for we find them entire and well preserved in all the masses which are said to have been dissolved. This evidently proves that there never was such a dissolution, and that the arrangement of the parallel and horizontal strata was not made in an instant, but by successive sediments : for it is evident to all who will take the trouble of observing, that the arrangement of all the materials which compose the globe, is the work of the waters. The question therefore is only, whether this arrangement was made at once, or in a length of time ? Now we haves hewn it could not be done all at once, Because the materials have not kept the order of specific weight, and there has not been a general dissolution f
See Ray’s Discourses, p. 178, et seq.NATURAL HISTORY»	259
iution ; therefore this arrangement must have been produced by sediments deposited in a succession of time ; for any other revolution, motion, or cause, would have produced a very different arrangement. Besides, particular revolutions, or accidental causes, could not have produced a similar effect on the whole globe.
Let us see what the historian of the Academy says on this subject.* u The numerous remains of extensive inundations, and the manner in which we must conceive mountains to have been formed, sufficiently prove that great revolutions have happened on the surface of the earth. As far as we have been able to penetrate, we find little else but ruins, wrecks, and vast bodies heaped up together, and incorporated into one mass, without the smallest appearance of order or design* If there be some kind of regular organization in the terrestrial globe, it is deeper than we have been able to examine, and all our researches must terminate in digging among the ruins of the external coat, but which will still give sufficient employment for our philosophers,
L 1 2	“ M. de
* See Memoirs, p. 287, and History, 1703,p. 22—1706, p- 9 —1708. p. 34, and 1716, p. 8,&c.260
buffon’s
“ M. de Jussieu found in the environs of St. Chaumont a great quantity of slaty or foliated stones, every foliage of which was marked with the impression of a branch, a leaf, or the fragment of a leaf of some plant: the representations of leaves were exactly extended, as if they had been carefully spread on the stone by the hand; this proves they had been brought thither by the water, which always keeps leaves in that state : they were in different situations, and sometimes two or three of them were crossed. It may easily be supposed that a leaf deposited by water upon soft mud, and afterwards covered with another layer of mud, imprints on the upper the image of one of its two surfaces, and on the under the image of the other, and on being hardened and petrified, would appear to have taken different impressions: but, however natural this supposition may be, the fact is not so, for the two laminae of stone bear impressions of the same side of the leaf, the one in alto, the other in bas relief. M. de Jussieu observed on all the figured stones of St. Chaumont this singular phenomenon s and to him we shall leave the explication, and pass to objects which are more general and interesting.
AU the impressions on the stones of St,
ChanmontNATURAL HISTORY.
261
Chaumont are of foreign plants ; they are not to be found in any part of France, but only in the East Indies, or the hot climates of America ; they are, for the most part, capillary plants, and generally of the species of fern, whose hard and compact coat renders them more able to imprint and preserve themselves. Some leaves of Indian plants imprinted on the stones of Germany, appeared astonishing to M. Leibnitz, but here we find the same wonder infinitely multiplied. There even seems in this respect to be an unaccountable destination of nature, for in all the stones of St. Chaumont, not a single plant of the country has been found.
6t It is certain, from the number of fossil-shells in the quarries and mountains, that this country, as well as many others, must have formerly been covered with the sea. But how has the American or Indian sea reached thither? To explain this, and many other wonderful phenomena, it may be supposed, with much probability, that the sea originally covered the whole terrestrial globe: but this supposition will not hold good, because how were terrestrial plants to exist ? It evidently, therefore, must have been great inundations which have conveyed the plants of one country into another.
“ M. de Jussieu thinks, that as the bed of
the
BtJFFOX^
the sea is continually rising, in consequence of the mud and sand which the rivers incessantly convey there, the sea, at first confined between natural dykes, surmounted them, and was dispersed over the land, and that the dykes were themselves undermined by the waters, and overthrown. In the earliest time of the formation of the earth, when no one thing had taken a regular form, prodigious and sudden revolutions might then have occurred , of which we no longer have examples, because the whole is now in such a permanent state, that the changes must be inconsiderable and by degrees* u By some of these great revolutions the East and West Indian seas may have been driven to Europe, and carried with them foreign plants floating on its waters, which they tore up in their road, and deposited, gently, in places where (he water was but shallow, and would soon evaporate.”
ARTICLE IX.
ON THE INEQUALITIES OF THE SURFACE OF THE EAItTH.
rJpBE inequalities which are on the surface of the earth, and which might be regarded as an imperfection in its figure, are, however,
necessaryNATURAL HISTORY.
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necessary to preserve vegetation and life on the terrestrial globe. To be assured of this, it is only requisite to conceive what the earth would be if it were even and regular. Instead of agreeable hills, from whence pure streams of water flow, to support the verdure of the earth ; instead of those rich and flourishing meadows, where plants and animals find agreeable subsistence, a dismal sea would cover the whole globe, and the earth, deprived of all its valuable qualities, would only remain an obscure and forsaken planet, at best only destined for the abode of fishes.
But independently of moral necessity, which seldom forms a proof in philosophy, there is a physical necessity whylhe earth must be irregular on its surface ; for, supposing it was perfectly regular in its origin, the motion of the waters, the subterraneous fires, the winds, and other external causes, would, in course of time, necessarily produce irregularities similar to those now seen.
The greatest inequalities are the depths of the ocean, compared to the elevations of the mountains. Its depth is very different even at great distances from land ; it is said, there are parts above a league deep, but those are few, and the most general depths are from 60 to 130 fathoms. The gulphs bordering on the
coasts264
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coasts are much less deep, and the straits are generally the most shallow.
To sound the depths of the sea, a piece of lead of SO or 401b. is made use of, fastened to a small cord ; this is a good method for common depths, but is not to be depended upon when the depth is considerable; because the cord being specifically lighter than the water, after it has descended to a certain degree, the weight of the lead, and that of the cord, is no more than a like volume of water ; then the lead descends no longer, but moves in an oblique line, and floats at the same depth : to sound great depths, therefore, an iron chain is requisite, or some substance heavier than water. It is very probable, that for want of considering this circumstance, navigators tell us that the sea, in many places, has no bottom.
In general, the profundities in open seas increase or diminish in a pretty uniform manner, and commonly the farther from shore the greater thedepth ; yet this is notwithout exception, for there are places in the midst of the sea where shoals are found, as at Abrolhos in the Atlantic ; and others where there are banks of a very considerable extent, as are daily experienced by the navigators to the East Indies.
So, likewise, alongshore the depths are very unequal; yet we may Lay it down as a
certainNATURAL HISTORY.
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certain rule, that the depth there is always proportionate to the height of that shore. It is the same in great rivers, where the high shores always announce a great depth.
It is more easy to measure the heights of mountains, whether by means of practical geometry, or by the barometer. This instrument gives the height of a mountain very exactly, especially in a country where its variation is not considerable, as at Peru, and under the other parts of the equator. By one or other of these methods the height of most eminences has been measured; for example, it has been found that the highest mountains of Switzerland are about 1600 fathoms higher than Ca-nigou, which is one of the most elevated of the Pyrenees.* Those mountains appear to be the highest in Europe, since a great number of rivers flow from them, which carry their water into very remote and different seas, as the Po, which flows into the Adriatic; the Rhine, which loses itself in the sands of Holland ; the Rhone, which falls into the Mediterranean ; and the Danube, which goes to the Black Sea. These four rivers, whose mouths are so remote from each other, all derive a part of their waters from Mount Saint Go-vol. i.	Mm	thard,
* See History of Academy, 1708, p. 24,£66	BUFFONrS
thard, and thé neighbouring mountains, which proves, that this place is the highest in all Europe. The highest mountains in Asia are Mount Taurus, Mount Iraaus, Caucasus, and the mountains of Japan ; all which are loftier than those of Europe ; the mountains in Africa, as the great Atlas, and the Mountains of the Moon, are at least as high as those in Asia, and the highest of all are in South America, particularly those of Peru, which are more than 3000 fathoms above the level of the sea. In general, the mountains between the tropics are loftier than those of the temperate zones, and these more than those of the frigid zones, so that the nearer we approach the equator, the greater are the inequalities of the earth. These inequalities, although very considerable with respect to us, are scarcely any thing when considered with respect to the whole globe. Three thousand fathom difference ta 3000 leagues diameter, is but one fathom to "a league, or one foot to 2200 feet, which, on a globe of 2| feet diameter, does not make the 6th part of a French line. Thus the earth, which appears to us crossed and intersected by the enormous height of mountains, and by a frightful depth of sea, is nevertheless, relative to its size, but slightly furrowed with irregularities.NATURAI* HISTORY®
267
farities, so very trifling, that they can cause no difference in the general figure of the globe* In continents, the mountains are continuous, and form chains. In islands they are more interrupted, and generally raised above the sea, in the forms of cones or pyramids, and are called peaks. The peak of TenerifFe, in the island of Fero, is one of the highest mountains on the earth ; it is near a league and a half perpendicular above the level of the sea ; the peak of St. George, in one of the Azores, and the peak of Adam, in the island of Ceylon, are also very lofty. These peaks are composed of rocks, heaped one upon the other, and they vomit from their summits fire, cinders, bitumen, minerals, and stones. There are even islands which are only tops of mountains, as of St. Helena, Ascension, most of the Azores, and Canaries. We must remark, that in most of the islands, promontories, and other lands projecting in the sea, the middle is always the highest; and they are generally separated by chains of mountains, which deride them in their greatest length, as the Grampian mountains in Scotland, which extend from east to west, and divide Great Britain into two parts* It is the same with the islands of Sumatra, Lucca, Borneo, Celebes, Cuba, St. Domingo, Mm2	and268
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and the peninsula of Malaya, &c. and also Italy, which is traversed through its whole length by the Appennine mountains.
Mountains, as we find, differ greatly in height; the hills are lowest; after them come the mountains of a moderate height, which are followed by a third rant still higher, which like the preceding, are generally loaded with trees and plants, but which furnish no springs, except at their bottoms. Lastly, the highest mountains, on which we find only sand, stones, flints, and rocks, and whose summits often rise above the clouds. Exactly at the foot of these rocks there are small spaces, plains, hollows, and kinds of valleys, where the rain, snow, and ice remain, and form ponds, morasses, and springs, whence rivers derive their origin.
The form of mountains is also very different: some form chains, whose height is nearly equal in a long extent of soil; others are divided by deep valleys ; some are regular, and others as irregular as possible ; and sometimes in the middle of a valley or plain, we find a little mountain. There are also two sorts of plains, the one in the low lands, the other in mountains. The first are generally divided by some large river: the others, though of a very considerable extent, are dry, and at farthest have
onlyNATURAL HISTORY.
269
only a small rivulet. These plains on mountains are often very high, and difficult of access ; they form countries above other countries, as in Auvergne, Savoy, and many other high places ; the soil is firm, and produces much grass, and odoriferous plants, which render these plains the best pasture in the world.
The summits of high mountains are composed of rocks of different heights, which resemble, at a distance, the waves of the sea. It is not, however, on this observation alone we can rely, that the mountains have been formed by the waves, and I only relate it, because it accords with the rest; but what evidently proves that the sea once covered and formed mountains, are the shells and other marine productions which are found throughout in such great quantities, that it is not possible for them to have been transported by the sea into such remote continents, and deposited to such considerable depths ; and to this may be added, the horizontal and parallel strata every where met with, and which can only have been formed by the waters. The composition even of the hardest matters, as stone and marble, prove that they have been reduced into fine powder before their formation, and
precipitated270
buffon's
precipitated to the bottom of the water in the form of a sediment: it is proved also by the exactness with which fossil-shells are moulded in those matters in which they are found ; the inside of these shells being absa* lutely filled with the same matters as that in which they are inclosed ; the corresponding angles of mountains and hills, which no other cause than the currents of the sea could have been able to forri ; the equality in the height of opposite hills, and beds of different matters, found at the same levels, and in short, the direction of mountains, whose chains extend in length in the same direction as the waves of the sea extend, incontestibly demonstrate the fact.
With respect to the depths on the surface of the earth, the greatest, without contradiction, are the depths of the sea ; but as they do not present themselves to our sight, and as we can only judge of them by the plumb-line, we shall only speak of those which appear on dry land, such as the deep valleys between mountains, the precipices between rocks, the abysses perceived from the tops of mountains, as the abyss of Mount Ararat, the precipices of the Alps, the valleys of the Pyrenees, &c. These depths are a natural consequence of the
elevationnatural histort.
271
elevation of mountains; they receive the waters and the earth which flow from the mountains, and the soil is generally very fertile^ and is fully inhabited.
The precipices which are between rocks, are frequently formed by the sinking of one side, the base of which sometimes gives way more on outside than (he other ; by the action of the air and frost which splits and divides them, and by the impetuous violence of torrents. But these abysses, or vast and enormous preci pices, found at the summits of mountains, and to the bottom of which it is not possible sometimes to descend, although they are above a mile, or a mile and a half round, have been formed by fire. These were formerly the funnels of volcanoes, and all the matter which is there deficient has been ejected by the action and explosion of these fires, which are since extinguished through a defect of combustible matter. The abyss of Mount Ararat, of which M. Tournefort gives a description in his Voyage to the Levant, is surrounded with black and burnt rocks; as, hereafter, the abysses of Etna, Vesuvius, and other volcanos will be, when they have consumed all the combustible matters they contain.
Inbuffon’s
272
In Plot’s Natural History of Stafford* shire, in England, a kind of gulph is spo-ken of which has been sounded to the depth of 2600 perpendicular feet, without meeting with any water, or the bottom being found, as the rope was not of sufficient length to reach it.
The greatest cavities, and the deepest mines, are generally in mountains, and they never descend to a level with the plains, therefore, by these cavities, we are only acquainted with the inside of a mountain, and not with the internal part of the globe itself.
Besides, these depths are not, in fact, very considerable. Ray asserts, that the deepest mines are not above half a mile deep. The mine of Cotteberg, which, in the time of Agricola, was considered as the deepest of all known mines, was only 2500 feet perpendicular. It is true, there are holes in certain places, as that in Staffordshire, or Pool’s Hole, in Derbyshire, the depth of which is perhaps greater ; but all this is nothing in comparison with the thickness of the globe.
If the kings of Egypt, instead of having erected pyramids, and raised such sumptuous
monumentsHATtlliAfc «IST0RY*
&7$
monuments of their riches and vanity, had been at the same expence to sound the earth , and make a deep excavation to the depth of a league, they might, perhaps, have found substances which would have amply recompensed the trouble, labour, and expense, or at least we should have received information respecting the matters of which the internal part of the globe is composed, which might have been very useful, and which we at present have not,
But let us return to the mountains ; the highest are in the southern countries, and the nearer we approach the equator, the more inequalities we find on the surface of the globe* This is easy to prove, by a short enumeration of the mountains and islands.
In America, the chain of the Cordeliers, the highest mountains of the earth, is exactly under the equator, and extends on the two sides far beyond the tropics.
In Africa, the high mountains of the Moon, and of Monomotapa, the great and the little Atlas, are under the equator, or not far from it.
In Asia, Mount Caucasus, the chain of which extends under different names as fat as the mountains of China, is nearer the equator than the poles
rot, r-	N n	In.m
buffon9s
In Europe, the Pyrenees, the Alps, and1 mountains of Greece, which are only the same chai% are also less distant from the equator than the poles.
Now these mountains which we have enumerated, are all higher, more considerable, and more extended in length and breadth, than the mountains of the northern countries.
With respect to their direction, the Alps, taken in their full effect, form a chain which crosses the whole continent from Spain to China. These mountains begin at the sea coast of Galicia, reach to the Pyrenees, cross France, by Vivares and Auvergne, separate Italy, and extend into Germany, beyond Dalmatia, as far as Macedonia; from thence they join with the mountains of Armenia, Caucasus, Taurus, Imaus, and extend as far as the Tartarian Sea. So likewise Mount Atlas traverses the whole continent of Africa, from west to east, from the kingdom of Fez to the Straits of the Red Sea ; and the mountains of the Moon have the same direction.
But in America, the direction is quite contrary, and the chains of the Cordeliers, and oth^r mountains, extend from south to north more than from east to west.
What we have now said respecting the great
eminencesNATURAL HISTORY•	275
eminences of the earth, may also be observed of the greatest depths of the sea. The greatest and highest seas are nearer the equator than the poles; and there results from this observation, that the greatest inequalities of the globe are in the southern climate. These irregularities on the surface of the earth, are the causes of an infinity of extraordinary effects : for example, between the Indus and the Ganges, there is a large peninsula, which is divided through its middle by a chain of high mountains, called the Gate, and which extends from north to south, from the extremities of Mount Caucasus to Cape Comorin ; on one is the coast of Malabar, and the other Coromandel; on the side of Malabar, between this chain of mountains and the sea, the summer season lasts from September to April, during which the sky is serene and dry; on the other side the Coromandel the above period is their winter, and it rains every day plentifully; and from the month of April to the month of September is their summer, whereas it is winter in Malabar; so that in many places, which are scarcely 20 miles distant, we may, by crossing the mountains, change seasons. It is said that the same thing takes place at Cape Razalgat in Arabia,
and§76	bxjffon’s
and also in Jamaica, which is divided through its middle by a chain of mountains, whose direction is from east to west, and that the plantations to the south of these mountains feel the summer heat, at the time those to the north endure the rigour of winter.
Pern, which is situated under the line, and extends about a thousand leagues to the south, is divided into three long and narrow parts ; these the natives call Lanos, Sierras* and Andes, The Lanos, which comprehends the plains, extends along the coast of the South Sea : the Sierras are hills with some valleys, and the Andes are the famous Cordeliers, the highest mountains that are known. The Lanos is about ten leagues in length ; in many places the Sierras are twenty leagues broad, and the Andes in some places more, and in some less. The breadth is from east to west, and the length from north to south. This part of the world is remarkable for the following particulars : first, in the Lanos, the wind almost constantly blows from the south-west, Which is contrary to what happens in the torrid zone: secondly, it never rains nor thunders in the Lanos, although there is some* times plenty of dew: thirdly, it almost conti-mually rains in the Andes: fourthly, in the
Sierras,NATURAL HISTORY.	277
Sierras, between the Lanos and the Andes, it rains from September to April,
It was for a long time supposed, that the chains of the highest mountains ran from west to east, till the contrary was found in America^ where it was seen that some very considerable ranges ran from north to south. But no person, before M. Bourguet, discovered the surprising regularity of the structure of those great masses: he found (after having crossed the Alps thirty times in fourteen different parts of it, twice over the A pen nine mountains, and made divers tours in the environs of these mountains, and of Mount Jura) that all mountains are formed nearly after the man“ ner of works of a fortification. When the body of the mountain runs from east to west, it forms prominences, which face the north and south ; this wonderful regularity is so striking in valleys, that we seem to walk ii* a very regular covered way ; if, for example, we travel in a valley from north to south, we perceive that the mountain on the right forms projections which front the east, and those of the mountain on the left front the west, so that the saliant angles of one side reciprocally answer the returning angles of the other, which are always alternatively opposed to
them.278
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them. The angles which mountains form in great valleys are less acute, because the direction is less steep, and they are farther distant from each other. In plains they are not so perceptible, except by the banks of rivers, which are generally in the middle of them, and whose natural windings answer the most advanced angles, or striking projections of the mountains. It is astonishing so visible a thing was so long unobserved, for when in a valley the inclination of one of the mountains which border it is less steep than that of the other^ the river takes its course much nearer the steepest mountain, and does not flow through the middle.
To these observations we may join other particular ones, which confirm them ; for example, the mountains of Switzerland are much more steep, and their direction much greater on the south side than on the north, and on the west side than on the east. This may be perceived in the mountains of Gemmi, Brisa, and almost every other mountain in this country, The highest are those which separate Valesia and the Grisons from Savoy, Piedmont, and Tirol. These countries are only a continuation of these mountains, the chain of which extends to the Mediterranean, and continues
evenNATURAL HISTORY*
279
even pretty far under the sea. The Pyre«* nees are also only a continuation of that vast mountain which begins in Upper Valesia, and whose branches extend very far to the west and south, preserving throughout the same great height: whereas, on the side of the north and of the east, these mountains grow lower by degrees, till they become plains; as we see by the large tract which the Rhine and Danube water before they reach their mouths, whereas the Rhone descends with rapidity towards the*south into the Mediterranean. The same observation is found to hold good in the mountains of England and Norway ; but the part of the world where this is most evidently seen is at Peru and Chili; the Cordeliers are cut very sharply on the western side, the length of the Pacific Ocean, whereas, on the eastern side, they lower by degrees into large plains, watered by the greatest rivers of the world.*
M. Bourguet, to whom we owe this great discovery of the correspondence of the angles of mountains, terms it justly, “ The Key of the Theory of the Earth /” nevertheless, it appears to me, that if he had conceived all the importance of it, he would more successfully
* See Phil, Trans-Abr, VoL VL part ii, p. 158.	•mo
*t7FFON*9
fully have made use of it, by connecting it faith suitable facts, and would have given a more probable theory of the earth ; whereas* in his treatise, he presents only the skeleton of an hypothetical system, most of the con* elusions of which are false or precarious. The theory which we have given, turns on four principal facts, which cannot be doubted, after the proofs have been examined on which they are founded. The first is, that the earth is every where, and to considerable depths, composed of parallel strata, and matters which have formerly been in a state of softness: the second, that the sea has for ages covered the earth which we now inhabit; the third, that the tides and other motions of the waters produce inequalities at the bottom of the sea * and the fourth, that the mountains have taken their form and their correspondent direction From the currents of the sea.
After having read the proofs which the following articles contain, it may be determined, whether 1 was wrong in asserting that these circumstances, solidly established, also ascertain the truth of the theory ofthe earth. What! have said on the formation of mountains has no need of a more ample explanation ; but as it might be objected, that I do not assign a reason for the formation of the peaks or points of mountains,NATURAL HISTORY.
$81
tains any more than for some other particular •circumstances, I shall add the observations and ■reflections which I have made on this subject.
I have endeavoured to form a clear and general idea of the manner in which the different matters that compose the earth are arranged, and it appears to me, that they may all be reduced into two general classes. The first includes all the matters which we find placed in strata, or beds horizontally or regularly inclined; and the second comprehends all matters formed in masses, or in veins, either perpendicularly or irregularly inclined. In tire first class are included sands, clays, granite, flints, free-stone, coals, slates, marles, chalks, calculable stones^ marbles, Sec. In the second I rank metals, minerals, crystals, precious stones and small flints, These two classes comprehend, generally, all the known materials of the earth. The first ow e their origin to the sediments carried away and deposited by the sea, and should be distinguished into those which being assayed in the fire, calcine and are reduced into lime, and those which fuse and are convertible into glass. The materials of the sepond class are all vitrifiable, excepting those which the fire entirely consumes by inflammation.
In the first class we immediately distinguish
VOL. J.	O O	twoBUFl'ONS
382
two kinds of sands; the one, which is more abundant than any other matter of the globe, is verifiable, or rather, is only fragments of actual glass; the other, whose quantity is much less, is calcinabie, and must be regarded as the powder of stone, and which differs from gravel only by the size of tire grains. The vitriffable sand is, in general, deposited in beds, like all other substances; blit these beds are often interrupted by masses of free-stone, granite, and ffint; and sometimes these substances are also ih batiks of great extent.
In examining these vitriffable matters, we find only a few sea shells there, and those not placed in beds, but dispersed as if thrown there by elrance. Tor example, I have never seen them in freestone; that stone which is very plenty in certain places, is composed only of 3aftdy parts, which are united, arid are only met with in sandy soils; and the quarries of it are generally in peaked hills and in divided eminences. We may work these quarries in all directions, and if they are in large beds, they are much farther from each other than in quarries of calculable'Stone or marble. Blocks of free-stone may be cut of all dimensions and in all directions, according as it may be wanted: and, although it is difficult to work, it neverthelessNatural history.	283
less has but that degree of hardness which is sufficient to resist powerful strokes without splitting: for friction easily reduces it into sandy excepting certain black pieces found in it, and which are so very hard, that the best hies cannot touch them. Rock is vitrifiable like freestone, aud of the same nature, only it is harder and the parts* more connected. This also contains many hard pieces, as may easily be remarked on the summits of high mountains, which are, principally, of this kind of rock, and on which, it is impossible to walk long without finding the soles of the shoes destroyed. This rocky Stone, which is found at the top of high mountains, and which I look upon as a kind of granite, contains a great quantity of foliated talc, and is so hard as not to be w orked without an infinite deal of labour.
I have minutely examined these sharp pieces which are found in free-stone and rock, and have discovered them to be a metallic matter melt ed and calcined by a very violent firej and which perfectly resembles certain substances thrown out by the volcanos, of which I saw a great quantity when I was in Italy, where the people called them ScJiiurri. They are very heavy black masses, on which, neither water nor fire nor the file, can make any impression, and the o o 2	mat-BUFFONS
284.
matter of which is different from that of the lava; for this is a kind of glass, whereas the otheF appears to be more metallic than vitreous. The sharp pieces in free-stone, and rock, resemble greatly, the first matter,» which seems additionally to prove that all these matters have been formerly liquified by fire *.
We sometimes see on the highest parts of mountains, a prodigious quantity of blocks of this rock mixed with foliated talctheir position is so irregular that they appear to have been thrown there by chance, and it might be thought that they had fallen from some neighbouring height, if the places where they are found were not raised above the other parts. But their vitrifiable nature, and their angular and square figures, like those of free-stone, discover them to* be of one common origin. Thus in the great beds of vitrifiable sand, blocks of free-ston«, and rock, are formed, whose figures and situations do not exactly follow the horizontal position of these strata. The rain, by degrees, car-lied away, from the summits of the hills and* mountains, the sand which at first covered them,
* This seem? to indicate that the large masses of free-stone must owe their origin to the action of the primitive fire. I at first thought that this matter derived its hardness* arid,the firm texture of its parts, to the intermediacy of water : but I have since been' convinced that the action of fife produces the same effect.
andNATtiftAI/-HISTORY.
stud then begun to furrow and cut those hills into the spaces which are found between the nuclei in free-stone* as the hills of Fon-takibleau are intersected. Each hilly point answers tea nucleus in a quarry of free-stone, and each interval has been excavated and loosened by the rain, which has caused the sand, they at first contained, to flow into the vallies; so likewise, the highest mountains, whose summits are composed of rocks, and terminated by these-angular blocks of granite, have formerly been covered with vitrifiable sand, and the rain having carried away the sand which covered them, they remained on the tops of the mountains in the position they were formed. These blocks generally present points : they increase in sizer in proportion as they descend; one block often rests upon another, the second upon a third, and so on> leaving irregular intervals between them: and, as in time, the rain washed away alt the sand which covered these different parts on* the top of the high mountains, they would remain naked, forming larger or lesser points; and this is the origin of the peaks or horns of mountains.
For supposing, as it is easy to prove by the marine productions we find there, that the chain of the Alps "wa's formerly covered by the sea,
aud£S6	UüFFONé
and that above this chain of mountains there wa.« a great thickness of verifiable sand, which re«-* dered the whole mountains a fiat and level country. In this depth of sand, there would necessarily be formed granite, free-stone, fiint> and all matters which take their origin and figure in sand, nearly in a similar manner to that of the crystallization of salts. These blocks^ once formed, would support their positions, after the rains and torrents had carried away the sand which surrounded them, and being left bare would form all those peaks or pointed eminences which we see in so many places This is also the origin of those high and de-tached rocks found in China and other coun* tries, as in Ireland, where they are called the Devil’s stones, and whose formation, as well as that of the peaks of mountains, had hitherto appeared so difficult to explain; but the explanation which I have given is so natural, that it directly presents itself to the mind of those w ho examine these rocks, and I must here quote w hat Father Tertre says#, “ From Yanchu in-yen, We came to Hoteheou, and on the road met with something particular, rocks of an extraordinary height, of the shape of a large square
* See Letters Edifiantes. Ilec. 2. v, i p 135* &c.
tower,NATURAL HISTORY.
£3?
lower, and situate in the midst of vast plains. I cannot account for this unless by supposing they were formerly mountains, from which the rain, having by degrees washed away the'earth that surrounded them,. thus left the rocks entirely bare. What strengthens this conjecture is, that we saw some which towards the base, are still covered with earth to a considerable height.”
The summits of the highest mountains are therefore, generally composed of rocks, and various species of granite, free-stone, and other hard and verifiable matters, and this often as deep as two or three hundred fathoms; below7 which we often meet with quarries of marble, or hard stone, filled with fossil-shells, and whose matter is calculable; as may be remarked in the Great Chartreuse, in Dauphiny, and on Mount Cenis, where the stone and marble, which contain shells, are some hundred fathoms below the summits, points and peaks of high mountains ; although these stones thus filled with shells, arc more than a thousand fathom above the level of the sea. Thus mountains, whereon we see points or peaks, are generally verifiable rock, and those whose summits are flat, mostly contain marble and bard stones .filled with marine productions. I t is the same with respect to .hills for those
: , 8
con-WFF'ON S
containing granite, or free stone, are mostly intersected with points, eminences, cavities, depths and small intermediate .valleys; on the contrary, those which are composed of cat doable stone are nearly equal in height, and are only interrupted by greater and more regular vallies, whose angles are correspondent; and they are crowned with rocks whose position is regular and level.
Whatever difference may appear at first between these two species of mountains, their forms proceed from the same cause, as we have already observed; only it may be remarked, that these calculable stones have not undergone any alteration nor change since the formation of the horizontal strata; whereas those of vi-trifiable sand, have been changed and interrupted by the posterior production of rocks and angular blocks formed within this sand. These two kinds of mountains have cracks which are, almost always, perpendicular in those of calculable stones; but those of granite and free-stone apr pear to be a little more irregular in their direction. It is in these cracks that metals, minerals, crystals, sulphurs, and all matters of the second class are found, and it is below these cracks that the water collects to penetrate the earth, and form those veins of water which are every where found below the surface.
ARTICLENATURAL HISTORY *
<289
ARTICLE X.
OF RIVERS.
wE have before said that, generally speaking, the greatest mountains occupy the middle of continents; that others occupy the middle of islands, peninsula and lands projecting into the sea; that in the old continent the greatest chains of mountains are directed from west to east, and that those which incline towards the north or south are only branches of these principal chains; we shall likewise find that the greatest rivers follow the same direction as the greatest moimtains, and that there are a few which follow the course of the branches of those mountains. To be assured of this, we have only to look on a common globe, and trace the old continent from Spain to China. We shall find, by beginning at Spain, that the Vigo, Douro, Tagus and Guadiana run from east to west, and the Ebro from west to east, and that there is not one remarkable river whose course is directed from south to north, or from north to south, although Spain is entirely surrounded by the sea on the VOL'l	Pp	westl290
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west side, and almost so on the north. This observation on the direction of rivers in Spain not only proves that the mountains in this country are directed from west to east, but also that the southern lands, which border on the streights, and the streights themselvesyire higher than the coasts of Portugal; and on the northern coast, that the mountains of Galicia, the Asturias, &c. are only a continuation of the Pyrennees; and that it is this elevation of the country, as well north as south, which does not permit the rivers to run into the sea that way.
It will also be seen, by looking on the map of France, that there is only the Rhone which runs from north to south, and nearly half its course, from the mountains to Lyons, is directed from the east towards the west; but that on the contrary all the other great rivers, as the Loir, the Charante, the Garorine, and even the Seine, have a direction from east to west.
it will be likewise perceived, that in Germany there is only the Rhine, which like the Rhone shapes the greatest part of its course from north to south, but that the others, as the Danube, the Drave, and all the great rivers which fall into them, flow from the west to e&st into the Black Sea.
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It will be perceived that this Black Sea, which should rather be considered as a great lake, than as a sea, has almost three times more extent from east to west than from north to south, and consequently its direction is similar to the rivers in general. It is the same with the Mediterranean, whose length from east to west is about six times greater than from north to south*
The Caspian sea, indeed, according to the chart drawn by the order of Czar Peter L has more extent from the south to the north than from east to west; but in the ancient chans it appears almost round, or rather more broad from east to west than from south to north. If however we consider the lake Aral as a part of the Caspian sea, from which it is separated only by plains of sand, we shall find that the length from the western edge of the Caspian sea to the eastern border of Lake Aral, is greater than the length from the southern border of the same sea to the northern one.
So likewise the Euphrates, the Persian gulph, and almost all the rivers in China run from west to east; all the rivers in Africa beyond Barbary flow from east to west, or from west to east, and there are only the rivers of Barbary and the Nile, which flow from south to north. There are, indeed, great rivers in p p %	Asia,:buffon?»
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Asia, which partly run from north to south, as the Woiga, the Don, &c. but by taking the whole length of their course, we find that they only turn from the south to run into the Black and Caspian seas, which are only inland lakes.
it may therefore be said, in general, that in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the rivers, and other mediterranean water, extend more from east to west than from north to south, a circumstance which proceeds from the chains of mountains being for the most part so directed, and that the w hole continent of Europe and Asia is broader in this direction, than the other ; for there are two modes of considering the direction of mountains. In a long and narrow continent, like South America, in which there is only one prin-? cipal chain of mountains which stretches from, south to north, the rivers not being confined by any parallel range, necessarily run perpendicularly to the course of the mountains, that is, from east to west, or from west to east; in fact, it is in this direction all the rivers of America flow. In the old as well as in the new continent most of the waters have their greatest extent from west to east, and most of the rivers flow in this direction; yet this similar direction is produced by different causes; for instance, those in
thenatural history.
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ihe old continent flow from east to west, because they are bounded by mountains whose direction is from west to east; whereas those in. America preserve the same course from there being only one chain of mountains that extends from north to south.
In general, rivers ran though the centre of Vailles, or rather the lowest ground between two opposite hills or mountains. If the two hills have nearly an equal inclination the river will be nearly in the middle of the intermediate valley, let the valley be broad or narrow'. Ga the contrary, if one of the hills have a steeper inclination than the other, the river will not be in the middle of the valley, but much nearer the hill whose inclination is greatest, and that too in proportion to the superiority of its declivity : in this case, the* lowest ground is not in thé middle of the valley, but inclines towards the highest hill, and which the river must necessarily occupy. In all places where there is any considerable difference in the height of the mountains, the rivers flow at the foot of the steepest hilis, and follow them throughout all their directions, never quitting their course while they maintain the superiority of height. In length of time, however, the steepest hills A
are294
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are diminished by tile rain acting upon thetti with a greater degree of force, proportionable to their height, and consequently carry away the sand and gravel in more considerable quantities, and with greater violence. The river is then constrained to change its bed> and seek the lowest part of the valley: to this may be added, that as all rivers overflow at times, they transport and deposit mud and sand in different places, and that sands often accumulate in their own beds, and cause a swell of the water, which changes ~ the direction of its course. It is very common to meet, in vallies* with a great number of old channels of the river, particularly if it be subject to frequent inundations, and carries off much sand and mud.
In plains and large \allies, where there are great rivers, the beds are generally the lowest j>art of the valley, hut the surface of the water is very often higher than the ground adjacent. For example, when a river begins to overflow* the plain will presently be inundated to a considerable breadth, and it will be observed that the borders of the river will be covered the last; which proves that they are higher than the rest of the ground, and that from the banks to a
certainNATURAL HISTORY.
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certain part of the plain, there is an insensible inclination, so that the surface of the water must be higher than the plain when the river is full. This elevation on the banks of rivers proceeds from the deposit of the mud and sand at the time of inundations. The water is commonly very muddy in the great swellings of rivers ; when it begins to overflow, it puns very gently over the banks, and by depositing the mud and sand purifies itself as it advances into the plain; so that all the soil, which the currents of the river does not carry along, is deposited on the banks, which raises them by degrees above the rest of the plain.
Rivers as is well known are always broadest at their mouths; in proportion as we advance in the country, and are more remote from the sea, their breadth diminishes; but what is more remarkable, and perhaps less known is, that in the inland parts they flow in a direct line, and in proportion as they approach their mouths the windings of their course increases. I have been informed by M. Fabry, a sensible traveller who went several times by land into the w estern part of North America, that travellers, and even the savages, are seldom deceived in the distance they are from the sea if they follow the banks of a large river; when the direction of
theBU FFOft's
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the river is straight for 15 or 20 leagues, they know themselves to be a great distance from the coast; but, on the contrary, if the river winds, and often changes its dnection, they are certain of not being far from the sea. M. Fabry himself verified this remark in his travels over that unknown, and almost uninhabited, country. In large rivers there is a considerable eddy along the banks, which is so much the more considerable in proportion as the river is less remote from the sea, which may also serve as a guide to judge whether we are at a great or short distance from the mouth; and as the windings of rivers increase in proportion as they approach the sea, it is not surprising that some of them should give way to the water, and be one reason why great rivers generally divide into many arms before they gain the sea.
The motion of the waters in rivers is quite different from that supposed by authors who attempt to give mathematical theories on this subject; the surface of a river in motion is not level when taken from one bank to the other, but according to circumstances the current in the middle is considerably higher or lower than the water close to the banks; when a river swells by a sudden melting of snow, or when
byNATURAL HISTORY*
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by some other cause its rapidity is augmented, if the direction of the river is straight, die middle of the water where the current is, rises, and the river forais a convex curve, of a very sensible elevation. This elevation is sometimes very considerable ; M. Hwpeau, an able engineer of bridges, omé measured the river Avoir on, and found the middle was three feet higher than near the bank. This, in fact, must happen every time the water has a very great rapidity; the velocity with which it is carried, diminishes the action of its weight in the middle of the current, so that it has not time to sink to a level with that near shore, and there-âV)i e remains higher. On the other hand, near the mouths, it often happens that the water which is near the banks is higher than that of die middle, although the current be ever so rapid. This happens whenever the action of the tides is felt in a river, which in great ones often sensibly extends as far as one or two hundred leagues from the sea ; it is also a well known tact that the current of a river preserves its motion in the sea to a considerable distance^ There is, in this case, therefore, two contrary motions in a river; the middle, which forms the current precipitates itself towards the sea, vol. j*	‘ Q q	andbuffon’s
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and the action of the tide forms a counter-cur« rent, which causes the water near the banks to ascend, while that in the middle descends, and as then all the water must be carried down by the current in the middle, that of the banks continually descends thereto, and decends so much the more as it is higher, and counteracted with more force by the tide.
There are two kinds of ebbings in rivers; the first which lids already been mentioned is a strong pow er occasioned by the tide, which not only opposes the natural motion of the river, but even forces a contrary and opposite current. The other arises from an inactive cause, such as a projection of land, an island, Sec. This does not commonly occasion a very sensible counter-current, yet it is sufficient to impede the progress of boats and craft, and necessarily produces w hat is called a dead wrater, w hich does not flow like the rest of the river, but whirls about in such a manner that when boats are drawn into it, it requires great strength to get them out. These dead waters are very perceptible at the arches of bridges in rapid rivers. The velocity of the water increases in proportion as the diameter of the channel through which it passes diminishes, the impelling force being sup-?
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posed the same ; the velocity of a river,, therefore,, increases at the passage of a bridge, in an inverse proportion of the breadth of the arches to the whole breadth of the river. The rapidity being very considerable in coming through the arch* it forces the water against the banks, from whence it is reflected with such violence as to form dangerous eddies and whirlpools. In going through the bridge St. Esprit, the men are forced to be careful not to lose the stream, even after they are past the bridge* for if they suffer the boat to go either to the rfght or left, it might be driven against the shore, or forced into the whirling waters, which would be attended with great danger. When this eddy is very considerable, it forms a kind of small gulph, the middle of which appears hollow, and forms a kind of cylindrical cavity, around which the water whirls with rapidity : this appearance of a cylindrical cavity is produced by the centrifugal force, which causes the water to endeavour to remove itself from the centre of the whirlpool. When a great s4well of water happens; the watermen know it by a particular motion, and they then say the water at the bottom flows quicker than common: this augmentation of rapidity at the bottom, according to them, al-9 q 2	waysmo
»üMoS’s
vi-âys announces a sudden rise of the Waiéf The motion and weight of the upper water cómtóimmates this motion to them ‘r for in certain respects wè must consider a river as a pillar of water contained in a tube, and the whole channel as à fèry Imi g canal where è very motion must be communicated from one end to the other. Now, independently of the motion <§f"the upper waters, their weight alone might causé the rapidity of the river to increase, and perhaps move it at bottom *, for it is known* that by putting many boats at one time into the water, we at that instant increase thè rapidity of the under part of the river, as well as retard that of the upper.
The rapidity of running waters does no! exactly, nor even nearly, follow the proportion of the declivity of their channels. A river whose inclination is uniform and double that of another, ought, according to appearance, to flow Only as rapid again, but in fact it flows much faster. Its rapidity, instead of being double* is sometimes triple, quadruple, Sic. This rapidity -depends' much more on the quantity of water and the weight of the upper waters than on thé declivity. When we are desirous t& hdllow the bed of a river, we need not equally 2	distribute*NATURAL HISTORY,
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distribute the inclination throughout its whole length-■; in order to give a greater rapidity, as if is more easily effected by making the descent much greater at the beginning, than at the month, where it may almost be insensible, as we see it in natural rivers, and yet they preserve a rapidity so much the greater as the river is fuller of water 5 in great rivers, where the ground is level, the water does not eease flowing, and even rapidly, not only with its original velocity, but also with the addition of that which it has acquired by the action and weight of the upper waters. To render this fact more intelligble, let us suppose the Seine between the Font-neei and Pont-royal to be perfectly level, and ten feet deep throughout: let us then suppose that tire bed of the river below Pont-royal and above Pont-neuf were suddenly left entirely dry, the water, which we had supposed to be perfectly level would instantly run up and down the chan-fcel, and continue to do so until it had recovered an equilibrium; for the weight of the water would keep it in motion, nor Would it cease flowing until it& particles became equally pressed and have sunk to a perfect level. The weight of water therefore greatly Contributes to its velo-c0:), and this is the reason why the greatest ra-BUFFON 9É
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pidity of tìie current is neither of thè surface* nor at the bottom of the water, but nearly in? the middle of its depth, being pressed by the action of its weight at its surface, and by the re-action from the bottom. Stili more, if a river has acquired a great rapidity, it will not only preserve it in passing a level country, but even surmount an eminence without spreading much on either side, or at least without causing any great inundation<*
We might be inclined to think that bridges, locks, and other obstacles raised on rivers,' considerably diminish the celerity of the wa-* ter’s- course ; nevertheless these occasion but little difference. Water rises on meeting with any obstacle, and having surmounted it, the elevation causes it to act with more rapidity in its fall, so that in fact it suffers little or no diminution in its celerity by these seeming retardments. Sinuosities, projections, and islands also, diminish, but very little, the velocity of the course of rivers. A considerable diminution is produced by the sinking of the water, and, on the contrary, its augmentation increases its velocity ; thus if a river is shallow the stream passes slowly along, and if deep with a propor«* lionate rapidity.
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If rivers were always nearly of an equal fulness, the best means of diminishing their rapidity, and confining them within their banks, would be to enlarge their channel; but as almost all rivers are subject to increase and diminish, to coniine them, we must retrench the channel, because, in shallow waters, if the channel be very broad, the water, which passes in the middle, hollows a winding bed, and when it begins to swell follows the direction it took in this particular bed, and striking forcibly against the banks of the channel destroys them rand does great injuries. These effects of the water’s fury might be prevented by making, at particular distances, small gulphs in the earth: that is, by culling through one of these banks to a certain distance ill the land. In order that these gulphs might be advantageously placed, they should be made in the obtuse angle of the river, for then the current of the water in turning would run into them, and of course its velocity would be diminished. This mode might be proper to prevent the fall of bridges in places whore it is not possible to make bars pear the bridge which sustain the action of the weight of the waterBUTTON**
The manner in which inundations are oeea-‘oned merits peculiar attention. When , a river swells,, the rapidity of the water always increases till it begins to overflow the banks; at that instant the velocity diminishes, which causes inundations to continue for several days; for were there even a less quantity of water-after the overflowing than before, the inundation will still continue, because it depends much more on the velocity of the water than bn the quantity; if it were not so, rivers would overflow for an hour or two, and then return to their beds, which never occurs, the inundations always remaining for several days, whether the rain ceases, or a less quantity of water is brought, because the overflowing has diminished the velocity, and consequently, although the like quantity of water is no longer carried in the same time as before, yet the effects are the same as if the greater quantity had come there. It might be remarked on the occasion of this diminution, that if a constant wind blows against the current of the river, the inundation will be much greater than it would have been without this accidental cause, which diminishes the celerity of the
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water; on the con rary, if the wind blows in the same directions with the current, the inundation will be much less and will more speedily decline.
“ The swelling of the Nile”, says M. Granger* u and its inundations have a long time employed the learned; most of them have looked upon it as marvellous) although nothing can be more natural, and is every day to be seen in every country throughout the world. It is the rains w7hich fall in Abyssinia and Ethiopia w hich cause the swelling and inundation of that river-though the north wind must be regarded as the principal cause, f. Because the north wine} drives the clouds which contain this rain into Abyssinia. 2. Because blowing against the mouths of the Nile it causes the waters to return against the stream, and thus prevents them from running out in any great quantity into the sea. This circumstance may be every season observed, for when the wind, being at the north, suddenly veers to the south, the Nile loses in one day more than it gathers in four.”
Inundations are generally greatest in the upper parts of rivers, because the velocity of a river continues always increasing until it arrives at the sea, for the reasons which we have stated,
*rOL. I.	Rr	Fatherbuffon’s
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Father Costelli, who has written very sensibly on this subject, remarks, that the height of the banks which are made to confine the Po from overflowing diminishes as they advance towards the sea; so that at Ferrara, which is 50 or 60 miles from the sea, they are near 20 feet high, above the common surface of the Po; but that at 10 or 12 miles from it they are not above 12 feet, although the channel of the river is as narrow there as at Ferrara*.
On the whole, the theory of the motion of running waters is still subject to many difficulties, nor is it easy to lay down rules which might be applied to every particular case. Experience is here more useful than speculation. We must not only know the general effects of rivers, but we must also know, in particular, the river we have to do with, if we would reason justly, make useful observations, and draw lasting conclusions. The remarks which I have given above are mostly new ; it is to be wished that others may be collected and then possibly, in time, we may obtain a sufficient knowledge of the subject to lay down certain rules to coniine and direct rivers, and prevent the ruin
* See fiacolta d’autori che traltano del inoto dell’ aequo* f'ol, i. pa^e 123,
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af bridges, banks, and other damages, which the impetuosity of the water occasions.
The greatest rivers in Europe are the Wol-ga, which is about 6.50 leagues in its course from Reschow to Astracan, on the Caspian sea; the Danube, whose course is about 450 leagues from the mountains of Switzerland to the Black Sea; the Don, which is 400 leagues in its course from the source of the Sosna, which it receives, to its mouth in the Black Sea; the Dnieper, whose course is about 350 leagues, and which also runs into the Black Sea; the Duine is about 500 leagues in its course, and empties itself into the White Sea, &c.
The greatest rivers in Asia are the Koanho of China, whose course is 850 leagues, taking its source at Raja-Rihron, and falls into the sea of China, in the middle of the gulpk Changi: the Jenisca of Tartary, which is about 800 leagues in extent, from the lake Selinga to the northern Sea of Tartary; the river Oby, which is about 600 leagues from Lake Kila, to the Northern Sea, beyond the Strait of Waigats. The river Amour, of eastern Tartary, which is about 575 leagues in its course, reckoning it from the source of R r 2	thebu^fons
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the river Kerlon, to the sea of Kamtschaitka. The river MeMmcoii* whose mouth is at Poiila Condor* may be measured from the source of the Loiigimi which falls into it; the Kiati^ whose course is about 650 leagues from the source of the river Kinxa, which it receives, to its mouth in the Chinese Sea; the Ganges is also about 550 leagues* and the Euphrates 500, taking it from the source of Irma, which it receives. The Indus about 400 leagues, and which falls into the Arabian Sea, on the east of Guzarat. The Sirderoias, which is about 400 leagues long, and falls into Lake Aral.
The greatest rivers in Africa are the Senegal, which is 1125 leagues long, comprehending the Niger, which in fact is a continuation of it, and the source of Gombarou, which falls into the Niger. The Nile 970 leagues long, and which derives its source in Upper Ethiopia, where it makes many windings. There are also the Zaira, the Coanza, and the Couma, which are known as far as 400 leagues, but extend much farther; the Quilmanci, whose whole course is 400 leagues, and which derives its source in the kingdom of Gingiro.
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The greatest rivers of America, and which are also the greatest in the world, are thè river of Amazons, whose course is more than 1200 leagues, if we go up as far as the Lake near Guanaco, 30 leagues from Lima, where the Maragnon takes its source; and even reckon^ ing from the source of the river Napo, some distance from Quito, the course of the river of Amazons is more than a thousand leagues.
It might be said that the course of the river St. Lawrence, in Canada, is more than 900 leagues from its mouth to the lake Ontario, from thence to lake Huron, afterwards to the lake Alemipigo, and to the lake Assiniboils ; the waters of these lakes falling one into another, and at last into the St. Lawrence.
The river Mississippi is more than 700 leagues long from its mouth to any of its sources, which are not remote from the lake of the Assiniboils.
The river de la Plata is more than 800 leagues long, from the source of the rivér Parana, which it receives.
The river Oroonoko runs mòre than 575 leagues, reckoning from the source of the river Caketa, near Pasto, part of which falls into
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the Oroonoko, and part flows also towards the river Amazons.
t The river Madera, which falls into the A marc ns, is more than 660 leagues.
In order to ascertain nearly the quantity of water the sea receives by all the rivers which fall into it, let us suppose that one half of the globe is covered by the sea, and that the other half is land, which is nearly the fact; let us suppose also, that the medial depth of the sea is 230 fathom. The surface of all the earth being 170,931,012 square miles; and that of the sea 85,490,506 square miles, which being multiplied by (the depth of the sea) gives 21,372,626 cubical miles for the quantity of water contained in the whole ocean. Now to calculate the quantity of water which the ocean receives from the rivers, let us take some great river, w hose rapidity and quantity of waters are known; for example, the Po, which runs through Lombardy, and waters a track of land 380 miles long, according to Riceioli; its breadth, before it divides into many trenches, is 100 perches of Boulogne, cr 1000 feet, its depth 10 feet, and it runs four mile an hour; therefore the Po supplies the sea with 200,000 cubical perches of water in an hour, or four.
millionsNATURAL HISTORY.
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millions 800 thousand in a day; but a cubical mile contains 123 millons of cubical perches ; therefore 26 days is required to convey a cubical mile of water to the sea: it remains therefore only to determine the proportion between the river Po, and all the rivers of the earth taken together, which is impossible to do precisely. But to know it pretty exactly, let m suppose that the quantity of water which the sea receives by the large rivers in all countries is proportional to the extent and surface of these countries, and that consequently the country watered by the Po, and other rivers which fall into it, is in the same proportion oh the surface of the whole earth, as the Po is to all the rivers of the earth. Now by the most correct charts the Po, from its source to its mouth, traverses a tract 380 miles long, and the rivers which fall into it, on each side proceed from the springs and rivers 60 miles distant from the Po, therefore this great river, and the others it receives, waters a tract 380 miles long, and 120 miles broad, which makes 430,600 square miles, but the surface of all the dry laud is 83,490,306 square miles; consequently all the w ater which the rivers carry to the sea, will be 1874 times
greater;5l£	kUF£QN*S
greater than the quantity which the Po fur* nishes ; but as £6 rivers equal to the Po, fur^ nishes a cubical mile of water to the sea in a day, of course 1874 rivers like tjie Po, would supply the sea with £6,303 cubical miles of Water ip a year, and that ip the space of 8}£ years all the rivers would supply the sea with 2},37£,6$6 cubical miles of water; that is to say, as much as there is in the ocean, and therefore 81$ years is only required to fill it#.
The result of this calculation is, that the quantity of water evaporated from the spa, and which the winds convey on the earthy is about 245 lines, or from 20 to £ 1 inches a year, or about two-|thirds of a line each day; this is a very trilling evaporation even when trebled, in order t.o estimate the water which refalls in the sea, and which is not conveyed over the earth. Mr. Halley, in the Phil. Transactions, page .192, evidently shews, that the vapours >yhich rise above the sea, and which the Winds convey over all the earth, are sufficient to supply ail the rivers in the world.
* See Keil’s Examination of Burnet’s Theory» page 126.
Next
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Next to the Nile, the river Jordan is the most considerable in the Levant, or even hi Bar^ bary; it supplies the Dead Sea with about six million tons of water every day ; all this water, and more, is raised by evaporation; for, according to Halleys calculation of 6914 tons evaporated from each mile, the Dead Sea, which is 72 miles hi length by IS broad, must every day lose near nine million tons of water, that is, not only, all the water it receives from the river Jordan, but also that of the small rivers which come into it from the mountains of Moab and elsewhere; consequently, there is no necessity for its communicating with any other sea by subterraneous canals
The most rapid rivers ar e the Tigris, tire Indus, the Danube, the Yrtis, in Siberia, tfre Malmistra, in Silesia, &e. but, as we have already observed, the proportion of the rapidity of rivers depends upon the declivity and upon the weight and quantity of water. By examining the globe, we shall find that the Danube ¿s much less inclined than the Po, the Rhine, or the Rhone, for the Danube has a much longer course than any of these other rivers, and falls into the Blaci Sea, which is higher than the vol. i.	S s	Mediter-
* See Shaw’* Travel?, vqI. IT. page 71.<>14	BIT-F FOILS’
Mediterranean, and perhaps more so than the ocean*
All large river» receive many others in the extent of their course; for example, the Danube receives more than 200 rivulets ami rivers; but by reckoning only such as are considerable rivers^ we shall find that the Danube receives 31, the Wolga 32, the Don 5 or 6>, the Nieper IQ or 20, the Duine 11 cr 12 ; so likewise in Asia the Hoanho receives 34 or 35, the Jenisca 60, the Qby as many, the Amour about 40, the Kian, or river Nankin about 30, the Ganges upwards of 20, the Euphrates 10 or 11, &c. In Africa, the; river Senegal receives upwards of 20 rivers: the Nile does not receive any river for upwards of 500 miles from its mouth; the last which falls therein is the Moral)a, and from this place to its source it receives about 12 or 13 rivers. In America, the river Amazons receives more than 60, all of which are very considerable; the river St. Lawrence about 40, by reckoning these which fall into the lakes; the Mississippi more than 40, the Plata more than 50, Sec.
There are high countries on the earth, which seem'to be points of division marked by nature for the distribution of the waters. In Europe, 1	theNATURAL HISTORY.	SI.>
ifoe environs of Mount St. Goddard are one of these points; another is situate bet een the provinces of Belozera and Wologda, in Muscovy, from whence many rivers descend, some of which go to the White Sea, others to the Black, and some to the Caspian. In Asia there are several, in the country of Mogul Tartary, from whence livers flow into Nova Zetnbla, others to the Gulph Linchidolin, others to the sea of Corea, others to that of China: and so likewise the Little Thibet, whose waters how towards the sea of China; the Gulph of Bengal, the Gulph of Cambay, and the Lake Aral; in America, the province of Quito; whose rivers run into the North and -South Seas and the Gulph of Mexico.
In the old continent there are about 430 rivers, which fall directly into the ocean, or into the Mediterranean and Black Seas; but in the new continent, not more than 180 rivers are known, which fall directly into the sea: in this number I have comprehended only those which are at least as large as the Somme m Picardy.
All these rivers carry to the sea a great quantity of mineral and saline particles, which s s 2	theybuffon’s
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they have washed from the different soils through which they have passed. The particles of salt,, which are easily dissolved, are conveyed to the sea by the water of rivers. Some philosophers, and among thfe-rest Halley* have pretended that the Saltness of the sea proceeded only from the salts Of the earth, which the rivers transport into it. Others assert, that the salt-ness of the sea is as ancient as the sea itself, and that this salt was created that the waters might nbt corrupt $ but we may justly suppose that the sea is preserved from corruption by the agitations produced by the winds and tides, as much as by the salt it contains ; for when put in a barrel it corrupts in a few days, and Boyle relates that a mariner who was becalmed tor 13 days, found at the end of that time, the water so infected, that if the calm had not ceased, the greatest part of his people would have perished. The water Of the sea is also mixed with a bituminous oil, Which gives it a disagreeable taste, and renders it Very unheal thful. The quantity of salt contained instea water is about a fortieth part, and is nearly equally saline throughout, at top as Well as bottom, under the line, arid at the Cape of Good Hope 5 although there are
severalnatural history.
31?
several places as off the Mosambique Coast, where it is more salt than elsewhere It is also asserted not to be so saline under the Arctic Circle, which may proceed from the amazing quantities of snow, and from the great rivers which fall into those seas, and because the heat of thej> sun produces but little evaporation in hot climates.
Be this as it may, I conceive that the saltness of the sea is not only caused by the banks of salt at the bottom of the sea, and along the coasts, but also by the salts of the earth, which the rivers continually convey into if; and that Halley had some reason to presume that in the beginning of the world the sea had but little or no saltness; that it has become so by degrees, and in proportion as the rivers have brought salts into it ;*that this saltness is every day increasing, and that consequently, by computing the wholp quantity of salt, brought by all the rivers, we might attain the knowledge of the age of the world by the degrees of die saltness of the sea. Divers and pearl fishers assert, according to Boyle, that the deeper they descend into the sea, the colder is the water; and that the cold is so intense at considerable depths, * that they Cannot remain there so long under water, but
* Set? Doyle, vol. iii. page Z\7,
are3f$ *
BUFFO iN’«
are obliged to iome up again much sootier than ‘when they descend to only a moderate one. It appeared to me that the weight of the water might be as much die cause of compelling them to shorten the usual time as the iatenseness of the cold, when they descend to a depth of 3 or 400 fathoms; hut, in fact, divers scarcely ever descend above a hundred feet. Tlic same «Hither relates, that in a voyage to the East-Indies, beyond the line at about S3 degrees south latitude, a sounding lead of 30 or 3-5 lb. weight was Stink to the depth of 400 fathoms, and that being* pulled up again, it had become as cold as ice. ft is also a frequent practice with mariners to ‘ cool their wine -at -sea by sinking their bottles to the depth of several fathoms, and they •affirm, the deeper the bottles are sunk, the cooler is the wine.
These circumstances might induce us to presume that the sea is salter at the bottom than at the surface; but we have testimonies which prove the contrary, founded on experiments which have been made to fill vessels with sea water, which 'were not opened till they were sunk toa certain depth, and the water was found to be tio salter than at the surface. There are even £ome places where the water at the surface is
«alt,NATT)KAL HISTORY.
sw
salt, and that at the bottom fresh; and this Rinat always be the ease, where there are springs at the bottom of the sea, as near Goo, Ormufo and even in the sea of Naples, where there are hot springs at the bottom«.
There are oilier places where sulphurous springs and beds of bitumen have been discovered at the bottom of the sea, and on land there are many of these springs of bitumen: which run into it.
At Barbadoes there is a pure bitumen spring , which flows from the rocks into the sea: sail and bitumen, therefore, are predominant matters in the seawater; but it is also mixed with many other matters ; for the taste of water is not the same in every part of the sea ; besides, the agitation and the heat of the sun alters the natural taste which the sea should have ; and the different colours of different seas, at different times, prove that the waters of the sea contain several kinds of matters, either which it loosens from, its own bottom, or are brought thither by rivers.
Almost all countries watered by great rivers are subject to periodical inundations, 'those which are low7, and derive their sources from, a great distance, overflow the most regularly.
EveryS20
mjFFoVs
¿Every person almost has heard of the inundations of the Nile, which preserves the sweetness and whiteness of its waters, though extended over a vast track of country and into the sea. Strabo and other ancient authors have written that it had seven mouths, but there now7 remains only two which are navigable ; there is a third canal which descends to Alexandria, and dlls the cisterns there, and a fourth which is still smaller ; but as they have for a longtime neglected to clean their canals, they are nearly choaked up. The ancients employed a great number of workmen and soldiers, and every year, after the inundation, they carried away the mud and sand which was in these canals. Tire cause of the overflowing of the Nile proceeds horn the rains which fall in Ethiopia. They begin in April and do not oease till September ; during the first three months. Ère days are serene and fair, but as soon as the sun goes down the rains begin, nor stop till it rises again, and are generally accompanied with thunder and lightning. The inundatioji begins in Egypt about the 17th of June, it generally increases during 40 days, and diminishes in about the same time; all the flat country of Egypt is overflowed; but this inundation is much less
nowNATURAL HISTORY.
321
«ow than it was formerly, for Herodotus tells us, that the Nile was 100 days in swelling, and as many in abating: if this be true, we can only attribute the cause of it to the elevation of the land, which the mud of the waters has heightened by degrees, and to the diminution of the mountains in Africa, from whence it derives its source. It is very natural to believe that these mountains have diminished, because the abundant rains which fall in these climates during half the year, sweep away great quantities of sand and earth from the mountains into the valleys, from whence the torrents wash them into the Nile, which carries great part into Egypt, where it deposits them in its overflowings.
The Nile is not the only river whose inundations are regular: the river Pegu is called the Indian M/e, because it overflows regularly every year; it inundates the country for more than 30 leagues from its banks; and, like the Nile, leaves an abundance of mud, w hich so greatly fertilizes the earth, that the pasturage, is excellent for cattle, and rice grows in such great abundance, that every year a number of vessels are laden with it, without leaving a scarcity in the countryThe Niger, or what
* See Ovington’s Travels, vol. i,i, page 290.
vol, i,	T t	amountsbuffon’s
322
amounts to the same, the upper part of the Senegal, likewise overflows and covers all the flat country of Nigritia; it begins nearly at the same time as the Nile, towards the 15th of June, and increases also for 40 days: the river de la Plata, in Brasil, also overflows every year, and at the same time as the Nile. The Ganges, the Indus, the Euphrates, and some others, overflow annually; but all rivers have not periodical overflowings, and when inundations happen, it is the effect of many causes, which combine to supply a greater quantity of water than common, and, at the same time, to retard its velocity. We have before observed, that in almost all rivers the inclination of their beds diminishes towards their mouths in an almost insensible manner; but there are some whose declivity is very sudden in some places, and forms what is termed a cataract, which is nothing more than a fall of water quicker than the common current of the river. The Rhine, for example, has two cataracts, the one at Bilefield, and the other near Schaf hausen: the Nile has many, and among the rest two which are very violent, and fall from a great height between two mountains; the river Wologda, in Muscovy, has also two near Ladoga ; the Zaire, a river of Congo, begins by a
veryNATURAL HISTORY.
323
very large cataract, which falls from the top of a mountain; but the most famous is that of Niagara,, in Canada, that falls from a perpendicular height of 156 feet, like a prodigious torrent, and is more than a quarter of a mile broad: the fog, or mist, which the water makes in falling, is perceived at five miles distance, and rises as high as the clouds, forming a very beautiful rainbow when the sun shines on it. Below this cataract there are such terrible whirlpools, that nothing can be navigated thereon for six miles distance, and above the cataract the river is much narrower than it is in the upper lands *. The description given of it by Father Charlevoix is as follows :
“ My first care, when I arrived, was to visit the most beautiful cascade that is, perhaps, in nature; but I soon discovered that Baron la Hontain was deceived so greatly, both in its height and figure, that one might reasonably imagine he had never seen it.
“ It is true, that if we measure its height by the three mountains you are obliged to ascend in going to it, there is not much abatement to be made of the 600 feet, which the map of M.
See Phil. Trans, Abr. vol. vi.part ii. page 119.
T t 2	Delislebuffon’s
‘524
Delisle gives it, who doubtless advanced thfe paradox only on the credit of the Baron la Hon-tain and Father Honepin; but after I arrived at the top of the third mountain, I observed that in the space of three leagues, which I afterwards had to go to this fall of water, although you are forced sometimes to ascend, you must nevertheless descend still more, and this is w hat travellers do not appear to have paid proper attention to. As we can approach the cascade only on one side, nor see it but in the proiile, it is not easy to measure its height by instruments: experiments have been made to do it by a long cord tied to a pole, and after having often attempted this manner, it was found to be only 115 or 120 Feet high; hut it is impossible to ascertain whether the pole was not stopped by some projection of the rock, for although when drawn up again the end of the cord was always wet, yet that is no proof, since the water which precipitates from the mountain flies up again in foam to a very great height: for my own part, after having considered it on every side that I could examine it to advantage, I think that w e cannot allow it to be less than 140 or 150 feet.
“ Its figure is that of a horse-shoe, and its circumference is about 400 paces; but exactly
inNATURAL HISTORY.

m its middle, it is divided by a very narrow island, about half a quarter of a league long. It is true these two parts join again; that which Was on my side, and of which I could only ha vs a side view, lias several projecting points, but that which I beheld in front, appeared to be perfectly even. The Baron has also mentioned a torrent, which, if not the offspring of his own indention, must fall into some channel Upon the melting of the snow.7’
There is another cataract, three miles fro nr Albany, in the province of New-York> whose Height b 50 feet perpendicular, and from which the re arises a mist that occasions a faint rainbow
In general, in all countries where mankind are not sufficiently numerous to form polished societies, the ground is.more irregular, and the beds of rivers more extended* less equal* and often abound with cataracts. Many aces were required to render the Rhone and the Loirs navigable. It is by confining waters, by directing their course, andbv'‘cleansing the bottom of rivers/ that they obtain a fixed and regular course; in all countries * thinly inhabited Nature is rude, and often deformed,
* Phil. Trans, tol. vi..pnu ii. jpa/e liU
ThemS26
buIpfon’s
There are rivers which lose themselves hi the sands, and others which seen to precipitate into the bowels of the earth: the Guadalquiver in Spain, the river Gottenburg in Sweden, and the Rhine itself lose themselves in the earth* It is asserted, that in the west part of the island of St* Domingo there is a mountain of a considerable height, at the foot of which are many caverns, into which the rivers and rivulets fall with so much noise, as to be heard at the distance of seven or eight leagues *.
* The number of rivers which lose themselves in the earth is very few, and there'is no appearance that they descend very low; it is more probable that they lose themselves, like the Rhine, by dividing among the quantity of sand; this is very common to small rivers that run through dry and sandy soils, of which we have several examples in Africa, Persia, Arabia, &c.
The rivers of the north transport into the sea prodigious quantities of ice, which, accumulating, form those enormous masses so destructive to mariners. These masses are the most abundant in the Strait of Waigats, which is entirely frozen over the greatest part of the year,
* See Varenii Geogrstph, gen, page 43.
andNATURAL HISTORY.
327
and are formed by the great flakes which the river Oby almost continually brings there; they attach themselves along the coasts, and heap up to a considerable height on both sides, but the middle of the strait is the last part which freezes, and where the ice is the lowest. When the wind ceases to blow from the North, and comes in the direction of the Strait, the ice begins to thaw and break in the middle; afterwards it loosens from the sides in great masses, which are carried into the high sea. The wind, which all winter blows from the north over the frozen countries of Nova Zembla, renders the country watered by the Oby, and all Siberia, so cold, that even at Tobolski, which is in the; 57th degree, there are no fruit trees, while at Sweden, Stockholm, and even in higher latitudes, there are both fruit trees and pulse. This difference does not proceed, as it has been thought, from the sea of Lapland being warmer than the Straits; nor from the land of Nova Zembla being colder than Lapland, but solely from the Baltic, and the Gulph of Bothnia, tempering the rigour of the north winds, whereas in Siberia there is nothing that can temper the cold. It is a fact, founded on experience, that it is never so cold on the sea coasts as in the
inlandBUFFONS
328
inland parts of a country. There are plants which stand the winter in London exposed to the open air, that cannot be preserved at Paris; and Siberia., which is a vast continent, is for this reason colder than Sweden, which is surrounded on all sides by the sea.
The coldest country in the w orld is Spitsbergen: it lies in the 78th degree of north latitude ,* and is entirely formed of small peaked mountains ; these mountains are composed of gravel, and flat stones somewhat like slate, heaped one on the other ; which, it is affirmed by navigators, are raised by the w ind, and increase so quick, that new ones are discovered every year. The rein deer is the only animal seen here, which feeds on a short grass and iKos's. On the top of these little mountains,and at more than a mile from the sea, the mast of a «hip was found with a pulley fastened to one of its ends, which gives room to suppose that the sea once covered the tops of these mountains, and that this country is but of modern date ; it is uninhabited, and uninhabitable; the soil of these small mountains has no consistence,' but is loose, and so cold and penetrating a vapour strikes from it, that it is impossible to remain any length of time thereon.
5	^	TheNATURAL HISTORY.
329
The vessels which go to Spitzbergen for the w hale fishery, arrive there early in the month of July, and take their departure from it about the 15th of August, the ice preventing them from entering that sea earlier, or quitting it after. Prodigious pieces of ice, 60, 70, and 80 fathoms thick, are seen there, and there are some parts of it where the sea appears frozen to the very bottom* : this ice, which is so high above the-* level of the sea, is as clear and transparent as glass.
There is also much ice in the seas of North America, as in Ascension Bay, in the Straits of Hudson, Cumberland, Davis, Forbishers, &c* Robert Lade asserts that the mountains of: Friezeland are entirely covered with snow, and its coasts with ice, like a bulwark, which prevents any approaching them; “ It is, says he, very remarkable that in this sea we meet with islands of ice more than half a mile round, extremely high, and 70 or 80 fathoms deep; this ice, which is sweet, is perhaps formed ini the rivers or straits of the neighbouring lands,
* In contradiction to this idea it is now a generally received opinion, that the mountains of ice in the North and South seas are exactly the same depth under as they are high above the surface of the water.	,
U u	&c.
VOL, I.530
BtJFFOfl?S
&c. These islands or mountains of fee, are so moveable, that in stormy weather, they follow the track of a ship as if they were drawn along in the same furrow by a rope. There are some of them tower so high above the water, as to surpass the tops of the masts of the largest vessels*.1”
In the collection of voyages made for the service of the Dutch East India Company we meet with the following account of the ice at Nova Zembla:—“ At Cape Troost the weather was so foggy as to oblige us to moor the vessel to a mountain of ice, which was 36 fathoms deep in the water, and about 16 fathoms out of it.
“ On the 10th of August, the ice dividing, it began to float, and then we observed that the large piece of ice, to which the ship had been moored, touched the bottom; as all the others passing by, struck against without moving it. We then began to fear, being inclosed between the ice that we should either be frozen in or crushed to pieces, and therefore endeavoured to avoid the danger by attempting to get into another latitude, in doing which, the vessel was forced through the floating ice which made a * See the voyages of Lade« Voh rr. page §05, &c.
tre-natural history.
331
tremendous noise, and seemingly to a great distance; at length we moored to another mountain for the purpose of remaining there that night.
“ During the first watch the ice began to split with an inexpressible noise, and the ship keeping to the current, in which the ice was now floating, we were obliged to cut the eable to avoid it; we reckoned more than 400 large mountains of ice, which were 10 fathoms under and appeared more than 2 fathoms above water.
“ We afterwards moored the vessel to ano?-ther mountain of ice, which reached above 6 fathoms under water. As soon as we were fixed we perceived another piece beyond us, which terminated in a point and went to the bottom of the sea; we advanced towards it, and found it 20 fathoms under water and near 12 above the surface.
“ The 11th we reached another large shelve of ice, 18 fathoms under water, and 10 above it.
“ The 21st the Dutch got pretty far in among the ice, and remained there the whole night; the next morning they moored their vessel to a large bank of ice which they ascended, U u 2	anaBUFFON’S
332
and considered as a very singular phenomenon, that its top was covered with earth, and they found near 40 eggs on it. The colour was not the common colour of ice, but a fine sky blue. Those who were on it, had various con-jectures from this circumstance, some contending it was an effect of the ice, while others maintained it to be a mass of frozen earth. It was about eighteen fathoms under water, and 10 above
Wafer relates, that near Terra del Fuega he met with many high floating pieces of ice, which he at first mistook for islands. Some appeared a mile or two in length, and the largest not less than 4 or 500 feet above the water.
All this ice, as X have observed in the 6ih article, was brought thither by the rivers; the ice in the sea of Nova Zembla and the Straits of Waigat, come from the Oby, and perhaps from the Jenisca, and other great rivers of Siberia and Tftrtary ; that in Hudson’s Straits, from Ascension Bay, into which many of the North Ameri. can rivers fall; that of Terra del Fuega from the southern continent. If there are less on the North coasts of Lapland, than on those of Si-jberia and the Straits of Waigat, it is because
’ ^Voyage of the Dutch to the North» Voh r, p, 46. thiyd voyage of the Dutch,
5	$natural history.
23$
jail the rivers of Lapland fall into the Gulph of Bothnia, and none go into the northern se&. The ice may also be formed in the straits where the tides swell much higher than in the open sea, and wher e consequently the ice, which is at the surface, may heap up and form those mountains which are several fathoms high; but with respect to those which are 4 or 500 feet high, they appear to be formed on high coasts, and I imagine that when the snow, which covers the top of these coasts, melts, the water flows on the flakes of ice, and being frozen thereon, thus increases the size of the first until it comes to that amazing height. That afterwards, in a warm summer, the hills of the ice loosen from the coasts, by the action of the wind, and motion of the sea, or perhaps even by their own weight, and are driven as the wind directs, so that they at length may arrive into temperate climate# before they are entirely melted.
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Buffons Natural History*
CONTAININ G
A THEORY OF THE EARTH,
A GENERAL
HISTORY OF MAN,
OF THE BRUTE CREATION, AND OF VEGETABLES, MINERALS,
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OS'
THE SECOND VOLUME.
Proof of the Theory of the Earth.
Page
ARTICLE XI. Of Seas and Lakes - i Article XII. Of the Flux ami Reflux - 08 Article XIII. Of the Inequalities at the Bottom of the Sea, and of Currents -	-	-	-	71
Article XIV. Of regular Winds - - -	86
Aiticle XV. Of irregular Winds, Hurricanes, and other Phenomena,caused by the Agita-
tion of the Sea and Air -	108
Article XVI. Of Folcanos and Earth
quakes -	-	- 133
1	ArticleI iv 1
Article XVII. Of New Islands, Ca-
verns, Perpendicular Clefts, fyc. -	- - -
Article XVIII. Of the Effects of Rain —of Marshes, Sublet* raneom tVoodand TVa-
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171
ter.....................203
Article XIX. Of the Changes of Land * zV/io and Sea into Land ------ 247
Conclusion of the Theory of the Earth 251
History of Animals*
Chapter I. A Comparison between Animals, Vegetables and other Productions of Nature -	255
Chapter ÏI. Of Reproduction in general 272 Chapter HI. Of Nutrition and Growth 2U8 Chapter IV. Of the Generation of Animals ------	311
Chapter V. Exposition of the Systems
in Generation - -	-	329BUFFON'S
NATURAL HISTORY.
PROOF OF THE THEORY OF THE EARTH~
ARTICLE XI,
OF SEAS AND LAKES,
^pHE ocean surrounds the earth on all sides, and penetrates into the interior parts of different countries, often by large openings, and frequently by small straits; it forms mediterranean seas, some of which participate of its motions of flux and reflux, and others seem to have nothing in common with it except the continuity of water. We shall follow the ocean through all its extent and windings, enu-vol. ii«,	B	merating2
j&UFFON 8
merating at the same time all the mediterranean seas, and endeavour to distinguish them from those which should be called only bays, or gulphs, and lakes,
The sea which washes the western coasts of France forms a gulph between Spain and Bretagne. This gulph, which mariners call the Bay of Biscay, is very open, and the point which projects farthest inland is between Bayonne and St. Sebastian; another great projection is between Rochelle and Rochefort: this gulph begins at Cape Ortegal, and ends at Brest, where a strait commences between the south point of Bretagne and Cape Lizard. This strait, wbicb at first is very large, forms a small gulph in Normandy, the most projecting point of which is at Avranche; it continues pretty broad until it comes to the channel at the foot of Calais, where it is very narrow ; afterwards it grows broader on a sudden, and ends between the Texel and the coast of England at Norwich; at the Texel it forms a small mediterranean sea,* called Zuydtr-zee, and* many other great canals, which are not very deep.
After that the ocean forms a great gulph called the German Ocean; it begins at the
northernNATURAL HISTORY.
3
northern point of Scotland, runs along-the eastern coast of Scotland and England as far as Norwich, from thence to the Texel, along the coasts of Holland and Germany, J utland and Norway, and above Bergen. This gulph might be considered as a mediterranean sea, because the Orkney islands partly shut up its opening, and seem to be directed as if they were a continuation of the mountains of Norway. It forms a large strait, which begins at the southern point of Norway, and continues very broad to the Island of Zetland, where it narrows all at once, and forms, between the coasts of Sweden, the islands of Denmark, and of Jutland, four small straits; after which it widens to a small gulph, the most projecting point of which is at Lubec : from thence it continues pretty broad to the southern extremity of Sweden, when it grows broader and broader, and forms the Baltic Sea, which is a mediterranean one, extending from south to north near 300 leagues, comprehending the gulph of Bothnia, which is, in fact, only a continuation of it. This sea has, besides, two more gulphs, that of Livonia, whose most projecting point is near Mittau and Riga, and that of Finland, which is an arm of the Baltic, extending between Livonia and Finland to Pe-B 2	tersburgh ,4
UUFVOV'S
tersburgh, and communicating with the lake Ladoga, and even with the lake Onega> which communicates by the river Onega to the White yea. All this extent of water, which forms the Baltic sea, thegulphs of Bothnia, Finlandv and Livonia, must be looked upon as one great lake, supported by a great number of rivers which it receives, as the Oder, the Vistula, the Niemen, tjie Droine, in Germany and Poland; other rivers in Livonia and Finland; others still greater, which come from Lapland, such as the Torneao, the Calls, Lula, Pithea, Uina, and many others that come from Sweden. These rivers, which are very large, are more than 40, including the rivers they receive, which cannot fail of producing a quantity of water sufficient to support the Baltic. Besides, this sea has no flux nor reflux, although it is very narrow; but it is not very salt. If we consider also the bearing of the country, and the number of lakes and morasses in Finland and Sweden, we shall be incliuedto look on it not as a sea, but as a great lake formed by the abundance of waters from the adjacent lands, and which Have forced a passage near Denmark into the ocean, where in fact, according to the account of mariners, they still continue to flow.
Fromnatural history.
From the beginning of the gulph which forms the German Sea, and which terminates above Bergen, the ocean follows the coasts of Norway, Swedish Lapland, North Lapland, and Russian Lapland, at the eastern part of which it forms a large strait, which borders a mediterranean called the White Sea, which may be likewise regarded as a great lake; for it receives 12 or 13 rivers, all very considerable, and which are more than sufficient to support it; its water is but a little salt. Besides, in many parts it very nearly communicates with the Baltic Sea; it has even a real communication with the gulph of Finland, for, by ascending the river Onegar, we come to a lake of the same name; from this lake Onega there are two rivers of communication with the lake Ladoga; this last communicates, by a large arm, with the gulph of Fin* land; and there are many parts in Sw edish Lapland, the waters of which run almost indifferently either into the White Sea, or the gulphs of Bothnia and Finland; and all this country being full of lakes and morasses, the Baltic and White Seas seem to be the receptacles of its waters, and which afterwards
discharge
6(j	btjffon\s
discharge themselves into the Frozen anch German Sea.
Quitting the White Sea, and coasting the island of Candenos.and the northern shores of Kussia, the ocean forms a small arm in the land at the month of the river Petzora. This arm, which is aboul 40 leagues long, by 8 or 10 broad, is rather a mass of water formed by the river than a gulph of the sea, and also has but litth? saltness. The land there forms a projecting cape, terminated by the small islands of Maurice and of Orange; and between this promontory and the lands which border the Strait of Waigats to the south, there is a small gulph about SO leagues depth inland. This gulph belongs to the ocean, and is not formed by the land waters. We afterwards meet with Waigat’s Strait, which is nearly under the 70th degree of north latitude. This strait is not more than 8 or 10 leagues long, and communicates with the sea which waters the northern coast of Siberia. As this strait is shut up by the ice the greatest part of the year, it is very difficult to get into the sea beyond it. The passage has been attempted in vain by a great number of navigators, and those who fortunately passed it have Jeft us no exact charts
ofNATURAL HISTORY.
7
of that sea, which they have termed the Pacific Ocean. All that appears by the most recent charts, and by Senex's globe of 1739* is, that this sea might be entirely mediterranean, and not communicating with the great sea of Tartary, for it appears to be enclosed and bounded on ihe south by the country of the Samoides, which is at present well known, and which extends from the Straits of Waigat to the river Jenisca; on the east it is bounded by Jelmor-laud, on the west by N ova Zembla; and although we are not acquainted with the extent of this sea to the north and north-east, yet as there does not appear any interruption of the lands, there is great probability of its being only a mediterranean, and bounded by land on that side: what indeed proves this is, that by leaving Waigat’s Strait you may coast Nova-Zembla all along its western and northern coasts as far as Cape Desire, that after having past this cape, keeping along the coast to the east of Nova Zembla, you arrive at a small gulph, which is about the 75th degree, and where some Hollanders passed a dreadful winter in 1596; that beyond this gulph the country of Jelmorland was discovered in 1664, which is only a few leagues distant from Nova Zembla,B
BUFFON S
so that the only land which has not yet been discovered is a small spot near this little gulph; and this part is perhaps not thirty leagues long. Hence, if the Pacific Sea communicated with the ocean it must be at this little gulph, which is the only way by which they can join; and as this small gulph is in the 7oth degree, even if the communication should exist, we must always keep five degrees towards the north to gain the great sea. It is evident, therefore, that if we would attain the northern route to China* it would be much better to pass by the north of Nova Zembla, at the 77th or 78th degree, where the sea is more open, and has less ice, than to attempt the road through the icy strait of Waigats with the uncertainty of getting out of this sea, which there is so much reason to believe mediterranean.
By following, therefore, the ocean along the coasts of Nova Zembla and Jelmorland, these lands are discoverable as far as the mouth of Cbotanga, which is about the 73d degree, beyond which there are unknown coasts of about ;£00 leagues : we have only an account of them from the Muscovites, who, have travelled by land into those climates; they state the country to he uninterrupted, have marked out the riversNATURAL I-flSTORYe	§
in their charts, and called the people populi pataii. This interval of coasts, still unknown, extends from the mouth of Chotanga to that of Kauvoina, in the 66th degree of latitude: the ocean there forms a bay, wtiOse most projecting point of land is at the mouth of the Len, which is a very considerable river. This bay is very open, belongs to the Tartarian sea, and is called the Lmchidolin, where the Muscovites have a whale hiliery.
From the mouth of the Len we may follow the coasts of Tartary more than 500 leagues towards the east, to a peninsula inhabited by the chelates. This is the most northern extremity of Tartary, and is situate about the 7£d degree of latitude. In this 500 leagues the ocean makes no interruption by bays nor arms, only a considerable elbow from the peninsula of the Schelates to the mouth of the river Korvinea. This point of land also forms the eastern extremity of the old continent, and whose western is at Cape North in Lapland, iso that the old continent has about 1700 leagues northern coasts, comprehending the ¿miuosities of tire bays, from Cape North in Lapland to the farthest point of laud belonging YOI^Lt*	C10
BUFFOÎ^S
to the Schelates, and about 1100 leagues in a straight line.
Let us now take a view of the eastern coasts of the old continent, beginning at the farthest point of land, which the Schelates inhabit, and descending towards the equator. The ocean at first forms an elbow between the country of the Schelates, and the land inhabited by the people called Tschutschi, which projects a con-, siderable way into the sea. To the south of this land it forms a small bay, called the Bay of Suctoikret, and afterwards another smaller bay, which projects like an arm 40 or 50 miles into Kamscbatka; the ocean then enters into the land by a long strait, filled with many small islands between the southern point of Kamtschatka and the northern point of Jesso, and forms a great mediterranean, which it it is. proper we Ihould nqw trace throughout. The first is the sea of Kamtschatka, in which is a very considerable island, called lié Amour, or Love Island. This sea has an arm to the north-, east ; but ibis arm, and the sea of K^mschatka, itself, migh possibly be, at least in part, formed by the rivers, which run therein, from, the lands of Kamtschatka and from Tartary*
BeNAT13HAL HISTORY.
11
Be this as it will, the sea of Kamtschatka communicates with the sea of Corea, which makes the second part of this mediterranean; and all this sea, which is more than 600 leagues in length, is bounded upon the west and north by Corea and Tartary, and on the east and south by Kamtschatka, Jesso, and Japan, without having any other communication with the ocean than that of the fore-mentioned strait, for it is not certain whether that which is set down in some maps between Japan and Jesso really exists; and even if this strait does exist, the sea of Kamtschatka and Corea will still be regarded as forming a great mediterranean, divided from the ocean on every side, and could not be taken for a bay, for it has no direct communi nication with the ocean by its southern strait, but with the sea of China, which is rather a mediterranean than a gulph of the ocean.
It has been observed in the preceding article, that the sea had a constant motion from east to west ; and that, consequently, the great Pacific Sea made continual efforts against the eastern countries; an attentive inspection of the globe will confirm the consequences which we have drawn from this observation; for from Kamschatka to New Britain, discovered in C 2	1700n
buffon’s
3700 by Dampier, and which is in the 4th or 5th degree in the south latitude, the ocean appears to have washed away part of the land on these coasts for upwards of 400 leagues, and consequently the eastern bounds of the old continent formerly extended much farther than at present; for it is remarkable, that New Britain and Kamtschatka, which are the most projecting lands towards the east, are under the same meridian. All countries have their greatest extent from north to south- Kamtschatka reaches at least 16Q leagues from north to south, and that point which is washed by the Pacific Sea on the east, and on the other by the mediterranean sea above mentioned, is divided in the direction from north to south by a chain of mountains.
After these the lands of Jesso and Japan form another extent of land, whose direction is also north and south, extending upwards of 400 leagues, between the Great Sea and that of Corea. The chain of mountains of Jesso, and of Japan, cannot fail of being directed from north to south, since these lands, which are 400 leagues iu this direction, are not more than 50 or 60 from east to west. Therefore the lands of Kamtschatka, Jesso, and the eastern part of Japan, must be regarded as contiguous, and directedK A T U RU HI ST O P, Y.
15
reeled from north to south. Still pursuing the same direction, after having passed Cape Ava at Japan, we meet with the iiland of Barnevelt, and three other islands, which are placed in the direction of north and south, and extend about 100 leagues. We afterwards meet with three other islands, called the islands of Callanos, then the Ladrones, which are fourteen or fifteen in number, all placed in the same direction from north to south, and altogether occupying a space of more than 500 leagues in this direction, hv so trifling a breadth, that its greatest does not exceed seven or eight leagues from east to west. It therefore appeals to me that Kamtschatka, Jesso, eastern Japan, the islands of Barnevelt, the Callanos, and the Ladrones, are only the same chain of mountains, and the remains of an old country, which the ocean has, in times past, gradually covered. All these countries in fact appear to be only mountains, and the islands to be their points or peaks, while the low lands are covered with the ocean. What is related in Letircs, Edtifi antes, appears to be true, that in fact a quantity of islands have been discovered, called the new Phillippine [{lands, that their position is really such as is given by father Gobien and it cannot be doubted but
that14
buffon’s
that tlie most eastern of these islands are a continuation of the chain of mountains which forms the Ladrones, for these eleven eastern islands are all placed in the same direction from norih to south, occupying a space of more than 200 leagues in length, the broadest of which is not more than 7 or 8 leagues from east to west.
But if these conjectures be thought too presumptuous on account of the great intervals between the islands bordering oil Cape Ava Japan, and the Calíanos, and between these islands and the Ladrones, and between the Ladrones raid the new Phillippines, the first of which is in fact about l60 leagues, the second Ó0 or 60, and the third near 160, I shall answer that the chains of mountains often extend much farther under the water? of the sea* and that these intervals are small in comparison of the extent of land which these mountains in the above direction present, which is 1100 leagues, computing them from the interior part of Kamtschatka. In short, if we wholly reject this idea, as to the quantity of land the ocean must have gained on the eastern coasts of the continent, and on that suite of mountains, still it must be allowed that Kamtschatka, Jessu,
Japan,NATURAL HISTORY.
io
Japan, the islands Bongo, Tanaxima, those of Great Lequeo, King’s Island, Formosa, Vaif, Basha, Babuyane, Lucca, Mindano, Gilolo, &c. and lastly, Guinea, which extends to New Britain, and is situate under the same meridian as Kamtschatka, do not form a continuation of land of more than 2200 leagues, interrupted only by small intervals, the greatest of which perhaps is not more than 20 leagues, so that the ocean has formed in the lands of the eastern continent a great bay, which commences at Kamtschatka and ends at New Britain. This bay is interspersed with many islands, and has every appearance of having been gained from the land, consequently we may suppose, with some probability, that the ocean, by its constant motion from east to west, has by degrees acquired this extent on the eastern continent, and has formed mediterraneans, such as Kamtschatka, Corea, China, and perhaps all the Archipelago; for the earth and sea are there so blended that it evidently appears to be an inundated country, of which we only see the eminences and high lands, while the lower are hid under the waters of the ocean. This supposition appears to be in some measure confirmed by the water being, more shallow than
inIf)
St) FF'O N'*S
in other seas, and the innumerable islands 'it* semhling the tops of mountains.
If we particularly examine these seas we shall find that the sea of China forms a very deep bay in its northern part, which commences at the island of Fungma, and terminates at the frontier of the province of Pekin, about 50 leagues distance from that capital of the Chinese empire. This bay. in its most interior and narrowest part, is called the Gulph of Changi. It is very probable that this gulph, and a part of the sea of China, have been formed by the ocean, which has submerged all the.an* cient country, of which only the islands before-mentioned are now to be seen. In this southern part are the bays of Tonquin and Siam, neat which is the peninsula of Malacco, formed by a long chain of mountains, whose direction is from north to south, and the Andaman islands, another chain of mountains in the same direction, and which appear to be only a succession of the mountains of Sumatra.
The ocean afterwards forms the great Gulph of Bengal, in which \ve may remark, that the peninsula of India forms a concave curb towards the east, nearly like the great bay of the eastern continent, which seems to have been
also
1NATURAL HISTORY.
17
also produced by the same motion of the ocean from east to west. In this peninsula are the mountains of Gates, which have a direction from north to south, as far as Cape Cormorin, and the Island of Ceylon seems to have been separated from this part of the continent. The Maldiva islands are only another chain of mountains, whose direction is also the same. After these follows the Arabian Gulph, which sends out four arms into the country; the two greatest oil the western side, and the two smallest on the east. The first of these arms on the east side is the Bay of Cambaia, which is not above 50 or 60 leagues in length: this receives two very considerable rivers, viz. the Tapti and the Baroche, which Pietro de Valle calls the Mehi: the second arm, towards the east, is famous for the velocity and height of its tides, which are greater than in any other part of the world, and which extends for more than 50 leagues. Many livers fall into this gulph, as the Indus, the Padar, &c. which have brought so great a quantity of earth and mud to their mouths as to raise the bottom almost to a level, the inclination of which is so gentle, that the tide extends to a very great distance. The first arm on the west side in the vol. ii,	D	Persian18
buffon5s
Persian Gulph, which spreads more than Q5Q leagues on the land; and the second is the Red Sea, which extends more than 680, computing it from the island Socotora. These two arms should be regarded as two mediterranean seas, taking them from beyond the straits of Ormuz and Babelmandel: they are both subject to the tides, but this is occasioned by their being so near the equator, where the motion of the tides is much greater than in any other climate; and besides they are both very long and nar* row. The motion of the tides is more rapid in the Red Sea than in the Persian Gulph, because the Red Sea is near three times longer and quite as narrow. The Red Sea does not receive any river whose motion might oppose the tides, whereas the Persian Gulph receives three very considerable ones in its most projecting extremity. It appears very apparently that the Red Sea has been formed by an eruption of the ocean, for the bearing of the lands are exactly similar, the coasts on each side of the straits follow the same direction, and evidently appear to have been cut by waters.
At the extremity of the Red Sea is that celebrated neck of land called the Isthmus of
Suez,NATURAL HISTORY.	39
Suez, which forms a barrier to the Red Sea, and prevents its communication with the Mediterranean. In a preceding article we noticed the reasons which inclined us to think that the Red Sea is higher than the Mediterranean, and that if the Isthmus of Suez were cut through, an inundation and an augmentation of the latter might ensue. To this we shall now add, that if even it should not be agreed that the Red Sea is higher than the Mediterranean, it cannot be denied that there is neither flux nor reflux in the Mediterranean, adjoining to the mouths of the Nile; and that, on the contrary, in the Red Sea the tides are very considerable, and raise the water several feet, which circumstance alone would suffice to send a quantity of water into the Mediterranean if the Isthmus were broken. Besides, we have an example on this subject quoted by Varenius, who says in page 100 of his Geography: (i Gceanus Germa-f( nicus, qui est Atlantici pars, inter Frisian* “ et Hollandium se effundens, efticit sinum “ qui, etsi parvis sit respectu celebrium sinum “ maris, tamen et ipse dicitur mare, aluitque u Hollandiae emporium celeberrimum, Am~ i( stelodamum. Non procul inde abest lacus *( Harlemensis, qui etiam mare Harlemense D 2	“ dicitur.20
BÜFFON-S
“ dicitar. Hujas altitudo non est minor, alti*
“ tudine sinus illius Belgici, quern diximus, t€ et niittit ramum ad urbem Leidam, ubi in ■e varias fossas divaricate. Quoniam itaque “ nec lacus hie, ñeque sinus ille Roilandici maris inundant adjacentes agros (de naturali “ censtistutioue loquor, non ubi tempestatibus “ urgentur, propter quas aggeres fact; sunt) “ patet inde, quod non sint altiores quam agri (< Hollandiæ. At vero Oceanum Germani-“ cum esse altiorem quam terras hasce, experti “ sunt Leidenses, cum suscepissent fossam seu “ alveum ex urbe sua ad Oceani Germanici “ littora, propè CaUorum vicum perducere u (distantìa est duorum milliarium) ut, recepta “ per alveum hunc mari, possent navigationen} “ instituere in Oceanum Germanicum, et “ bine in varias terras regiones. Verum enim-i( verò cum magnam jam alvei partem perfe?
cissent, desistere çoacti sunt, quoniam tirai " domimi per observationeip cognitum est fr Oceani Germanici aquam esse altiorem “ quàm agrum inter Leidam et littus Oceani illius; undè lacus ille, ubi fodere desierunt ** ëickur, ìlei malle Gat. Oeeamis itaque i( Germanicus est aliquantum altior quam fr ille Hollandicus, &c.” Therefore,
«NATURAL HISTORY.	21
as the German Sea is higher than that of Hoi-land* there is no reason why we should not believe the Red Sea may be higher than the Mediterranean. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus speak of a canal of communication between the Nile, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea, and M. Delisle published a map in 1704, in which lie traces one end of a canal to the most eastern part of the Nile, and which he judges to be a pa? c of that which formerly joined the Nile with the Red Sea *.
In the third part of a book entitled, Con-noissance de C And en Monde, or “ the Knowledge of the Old World,” printed in 1707, we meet with the like sentiment; and it is there said, from Diodorus Siculus, that ft was Neco, King of Egypt, who began this canal, that Darius, King of Persia, continued it, and that it was finished by Ptolemy II. who conducted it as far as the city Arsinoe, and that it could be opened and shut when they found it needful. Without wishing to deny these circumstances, I must own, that to me they appear doubtful. { do not know whether the violence and height pf the tide in the Red Sea, would not be necessarily communicated to this canal; it appears to
* See Mem. de l’Acad. Sciences, 1704.
me,BtJFiWs
me, at least, that it would have required great precautions to confine the waters, to avoid inundations and to preserve this canal in good repair. Though historians assert that this canal was undertaken and finished, yet they do not tell us the length of its duration; and the remains which are pretended to be even now perceptible, are perhaps all that was ever done of it. The name of the Red Sea has been given to this arm of the ocean, because it has the appearance of that colour in every part, where corals, or madrepores, are met with at the bottom. In the Histoire General des Voyages, vol. i. pages 191 and 1Q9j it is said, u Before he quitted the Red Sea, D. Jean examined what might have been the reason why that name was given to it by the ancients, and if, in fact, this sea differed from others in its colour. He knew that Pliny had given several opinions on the origin of this name. Some derived it from a king named Erythos, who reigned in those parts, and which, in the Greek language, signifies red. Others imagined that the reflection of the sun produces a reddish colour ou the surface of the w7ater, and others that the water was naturally red. The Portuguese, who had made several voyages to the
entranceNATURAL HISTORY.
23
entrance of the straits, asserted that all the coasts of Arabia were very red, and that the sand and dust which the wind carries into the sea, tinged the water of the same colour.
“ D. Jean, who examined the nature of the water* and the qualities of the coasts as far as Suez, asserts, that far from being naturally red* the water is of the same colour as in other seas, and that the sand and the dust having nothing red in themselves could not give this tinge to the water. The earth of both countries, he says, is generally brown; it is even black in some places, and ia others w hite. On the coasts of Suaquem, where the Portuguese had not penetrated, he saw three mountains streaked with red, but tliey were of a very hard rock, and the neighbouring country was of the common colour.
“ The truth is, that this sea is, throughout, of a uniform colour, which is easy to be demonstrated ; but it must also be owned, that in some parts it appears to be red through chance, and in others green and white ; the explanation of which phenomena is as follows: From Suaquem to Kossir, that is, for the space of 136 leagues, the sea is filled with shoals and rocks of coral; this name is given to them, by
reasonu
BtfFFGN^S
reason that their form and colour render theft! so extremely like coral, that it requires great circumspection not to be deceived* There are two sorts of them, the one white and the other red; in many parts they are covered with a kind of gum, or glue> of a green, and in others w ith a deep orange. Now the water of this sea is so transparent tliat the bottom may be seen at 20, fathoms deep, especially from Suaquem to the extremity of the gulph; it appears, therefore^ to take the colour of the matters it covers; as for example, when the rocks are covered with a green gum, the water above appears of a deeper green than the rocks themselves; and when the bottom is only sand, the water appears white: so likewise when the rocks are corah the w ater seems to be tinged with red; and as these last coloured rocks are more frequently met with there than any other, D. Jean concludes, that the name of the Red Sea was affixed to the Arabian Gulph in preference to the Green or White. He felicitates himself on this discovery, because the method by w hich he ascertained it left him no room for doubt He caused a float to be moored against the rocks in the parts which were not deep enough to permit vessels to approach them, and the sailors could . 9	*	oftenNATURAL HISTORY#	25
bfteh execute his orders with facility, without the sea being higher than the stomach at more than half a league from the rocks. The greatest part of the stones and pebbles which they drew up, in those parts where the water appeared red> was also of that colour: in the water which appeared green, the Hones were green, and if the water appeared white, the bottom was white sand, without any other mixture.”
The direction of the coast of the Red Sea, from Cape Guardafu to the Cape of Good Hope, is pretty equal; in the course of which there are no bays, excepting an arm on the coast of Melinda, that might be supposed as belonging to a large one provided the island of Madagascar joined the continent, which most probably was formerly the case, notwithstanding it is now divided by the straits of Mozambique. The coast bears the same direction from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Negro on the west side of Africa; it has the appearance of being a chain of high mountains, extends about 500 leagues, but contains scarcely aiiy. rivers of importance. Beyond Cape Negro however the land is much lower, and is supplied by several considerable rivers beside the Coanza and the Zaire; and between that
voi, if.	E	andbuffonV
20
and Cape Gonsalvez, which is computed to fee about 420 leagues, there are the mouths of no less than twenty-four large rivers; from this last Cape to Cape Trois-pointes it is an open bay, in about the centre of which is a considerable projection called Cape Formosa. On the southern side are the islands Fernanda, St. Thomas, and the Prince’s Island, and which there is reason to suspect are part of a chain of mountains from Rio del Rey to the river Jamoer. The water turns somewhat into the land between Cape Trois-pointes to Cape Palmas, from the latter of which it is an open sea to Cape Tangrin; beyond this Cape there is a small bay towards Sierra Leona, and another in which are the islands of Bisagas. We then come to a considerable projection into the ocean called Cape Verd; of which the islands of that name are supposed to be a continuation, although it is more probable they are so of Cape Blanc, which is both higher and extends farther into the sea. From Cape Blanc to Cape Bajador is a mountainous and hard coast to which the Canary Islands seem to belong.
Turning from Africa we lind an open bay extending to Portugal, and in about the centre of which are the straits of Gibraltar, through
whichNATURAL HISTORY *
S7
which the water runs with great rapidity into the Mediterranean, which flows almost 9^0 leagues into the interior part of land, and is the cause, of many curious circumstances; 1st, it has no tides, at least that are visible, excepting in the Gulph of Venice and what are almost imperceptible at Marseilles and at Tripoli; 2dly, it surrounds a number of extensive islands, for instance, Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Cyprus, Majorca, and one of the largest peninsula’s (Italy) that is known. It has also a fertile Archipelago; indeed it is from the Mediterranean Archipelago, that all collections of islands have been so denominated ; this indeed has the appearance of belonging more to the Black Sea than the Mediterranean ; nor is it in the least unlikely that Greece was at one time covered with the waters of the Black Sea, which, empties itself into the Marmora, and from thence finds its way into the Mediterranean.
Some have asserted there was a double current in the Straits of Gibraltar, the one superior, which carries the water of the ocean into the Mediterranean, and the other inferior, which carries them in the contrary direction; but this opinion is evidently false, and contrary to the laws of hydrostatics: it has likewise been asserted to he the case in many other places, asBUFFONSS
28
in the Bosphorus, the Strait of Sand, &c. and Marsilli relates even experiments made in the Bosphorus, to prove the truth of these opposite currents; but the experiments must have been badly made, since the matter is totally repugnant to the nature and motions of the waters; besides Greaves in his Pyramidography, page 101 and 102, proves, by able experiments, that there is no such thing as a current in the Bosphorus, whose direction is opposite to the superior : what may have deceived Marsilli and others, is possibly the circumstance, that in the Bosphorus, the Straits of Gibraltar, and in all rivers which flow with rapidity, there is a con-? siderable eddy along the shores, the direction of which is generally contrary to the principal current of the waters.
Let us now briefly trace all the coasts of the new continent. Cape Hold-with-Hope, lying in the 73d degree north latitude, is the most northern land we are acquainted with in New Greenland, and is not above 160 or 180 leagues distant from Cape North in Lapland. From this Cape we may follow the coast of Greenland as far as the polar circle, where the ocean forms a broad strait between Iceland and Greenland. It is pretended that this country, adjacent to Iceland, is not the ancient Greenland which *
theKATUBAL history.	29
the Danes formerly possessed as a province dependant on their kingdom; for in that there were civilized Christians, who had bishops, churches, and several towns wherein they carried on their commerce. The Danes also visited it frequently, and as easily as the Spaniards can go to the Canaries: there still exists, as it is asserted, laws and ordinances for the government of this province, and those not very ancient : nevertheless, without attempting to divine how this country became absolutely lost, it is certain, that not the least trace of what we have related is to be met with in New Greenland. The people are wild and savage; there are no vestiges of any edifice; nor have they a word in their language which has an affinity with the Danish; in short, there is nothing which can give us room to judge that this is the same country. It is even almost a desert, and surrounded with ice for the greatest part of the year. But as these lands are of a vast extent, and as the coasts have been but little frequented by modern navigators, they may have missed the spot where the descendants of these polished people inhabit; or the ice, having become more abundant in this sea, may prevent any approach to the shore near them: yet, if we can
relym
buffon’s
rely on maps,, this whole country has been coasted, and according to them it forms nearly a peninsula, and at the extremity of it are the two Straits of Forbishers and of Friesland, where it is extremely cold, although they are not higher than the Orkneys, that is, at 60 degrees.
Between the west coast of Greenland and that of Labrador, the ocean forms a gulph, and afterwards a large mediterranean se,a, which is the coldest of all seas, and the coasts of which are not yet perfectly known. By following this tract due north, we came to Davis’s Strait, which leads to the Christian Sea, and is terminated by Baffin’s Bay, which has the appearance of forming a kind of road into Hudson’s Bay. Cumberland Strait, which as well as Davis’s, may lead to the Christian Sea, is narrower arid more liable to be frozen: that of Hudson, though much more to the south, is also frozen during one part of the year. A very strong motion of the tide has likewise been remarked in these straits, which is quite contrary to what is the case in the inland seas of Europe, as neither the Baltic nor Mediterranean have any. This difference seems to arise from the sea’s motion, which always moving from east to west, occasions high tides
iaNATURAL HISTORY.
Si
in the Straits, whose openings are turned to-wards the east; whereas, in those of Europe, which open to the west, there is no motion*. The ocean by its general movement enters into the iirst, and avoids the last; and this is the reason why there are such violent tides in the seas of China, Corea, and Kamtschatka.
Proceeding from Hudson’s Strait towards Labrador, we come to a narrow opening, in which Davis, in 1586, sailed as far up as 30 leagues, and trafficked with the inhabitants; but no one that I know has since attempted a discovery of this arm of the sea, and we are only acquainted (of all the adjacent land) with the country of the Esquimaux. The fort Pontchartrain is the only and the most northern habitation of this country, which is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the little strait of Belleisle, which is not much frequented. As the eastern coast of Newfoundland is in the same direction as the coast of Labrador, we must regard the lat~ t?r as apart of the continent, the same as Isle-royal appears to have been a part of Acadia. There is no very considerable depth either on the great or other banks, where they fish for the cod; but as they slant for a distance under water, very violent currents are produced- BetweenBUFFO
S2
tween Cape Breton and Newfoundland is a very broad Strait, by which we enter a small mediterranean sea> called the Gulph of St. Lawrence. This sea has an arm which extends far into the country, and seems to be only the mouth of the river St. Lawrence. The. motion of the tides is extremely plain in this arm of the sea; and even at Quebec, which projects more into the country, the waters rise several leet. On quitting the Gulph of Canada, and following the coast of Acadia, we meet with a small gulph called Boston-Bay, which forms a small square inlet into the land. But before we trace this coast farther, it is necessary to remark, that from Newfoundland to the most projecting of the Antille islands, and even to those of Guiana, the ocean forms a very great bay, which reaches as far as Florida, being at least 500 leagues in depth. This bay of the new continent is similar to that of the old, of which we have taken notice, where the ocean, after having made a gulph between Kamtschatka and New Britain, afterwards forms a vast mediterranean, which comprehends the seas of Kamtschatka, Corea, China; &c. so that in the new continent the ocean, after having formed a great gulph between Newfoundland and Guiana, forms a very large 2	mediterranean,natural History*
33
mediterranean sea, extending from the Antilles to Mexico, which confirms our observations on the motion of the sea from east to West, for it appears that the ocean has equally gained oil the eastern coasts of America and of Asia. The great gulphs in the two continents are under the same degrees of latitude, and nearly of the same extent.
If we examine the position of the Antilles.» beginning at Trinidad, which is the most southern, we cannot doubt but that Tobago> Trinidad, Grenada, St. Vincent, Martinico, Mary Galante, Antigua, and Barbadoes, with every other island adjacent, at one time formed a chain of mountains, whose direction was from south to north, like that of the island of Newfoundland, and the country of the Esquimaux; afterwards the direction of the Antilles is from east to west, beginning at Barbadoes, then passing by St. Bartholomew, Porto Rico, St. Domingo, and Cuba, and nearly the same as Cape Breton, Acadia, and New England. All thésé islands are so adjacent to each other, that they may bé looked upon as an uninterrupted tract of land, and as the summits of a submerged Country. Most of them in fact are only points
yol. ii.	F	of&4	bdffon's
of mountains, and the sea which surrounds them is a real mediterranean where the motion of the flux and reflux is scarcely more sensible than in our Mediterranean, although the openings they present to the ocean are directly opposite to the motion of the waters from east to west, which must contribute to elevate the tides in the gulph of Mexico : but, as this sea is very broad, the flux and reflux communicated to it by the ocean, dispersing over so large a space, becomes almost insensible at the coast of Louisiana, and many other places*
Both the old and new continent appear, therefore, to have been encroached upon by the ocean in the same latitudes. Both have a vast mediterranean and a great number of islands, which are situated nearly in the same latitudes; the only difference is, that the old continent being much broader than the new', there is in the western part of it a mediterranean, of which nothing* similar can be found in the new; but it appears that all which lias happened to the eastern countries of the old world has also happened to the eastern part of the ne\w, and that the greatest revolutions are
nearlyNATURAL HISTORY.
35
nearly in the middle and towards their equators, where the most violent motion of the ocean is made.
The coasts of Guiana, comprehended between the mouth of the river Oroonoko and the Amazons, present nothing remarkable; but the latter, which is the broadest in the universe, forms a considerable extent of water near Coropa, before it arrives at the sea, by the two different mouths which surround the island of Caviana. From the mouth of the Amazons to Cape St. Roche, the coast runs almost straight east; from Cape St. Roche to St. Augustine it runs south, and from Cape St. Augustine to the Bay of All Saints it turns towards the west, so that this part of Brazil forms a considerable projection into the sea, which directly faces a like projection of land in Africa. The Bay of All Saints is a small arm of the ocean, miming about 50 leagues into the land, and is much frequented by navigators. From this bay to Cape St. Thomas the coast runs direct south, and afterwards in a south-west direction as far as the mouth of the Plata, w here the sea forms an aim projecting nearly 100 leagues into land. From thence to the extremity of America, the ocean forms a great gulph, ter-F 2	urinated36
J3UFF0N S
minated by the adjacent lands of Terra del Fuego, as Falkland Island, Cape Assumption, and the land discovered in .167 1. At the bottom of this bay is the Straights of Magellan, which is the longest in the world, and where the tides fl-ovv extremely high. Beyond Magellan is that of La Maire, which is shorter, and at last Cape Horn, w hich is the south point of America.
We must remark, on the subject of these points formed by the continents, that they all face the south, and most of them are intersected by straits which run from east to west; the first is that of South America, which faces the southern pole, and is cut by the Strait of Magellan ; the second, that of Greenland, which also directly faces the south, and is also intersected from east to west by Fcrbisher’s Strait; the third that of Africa, which also faces the south; and beyond the Cape of Good Hope are banks and shoals, that appear to have been divided from it; the fourth, the peninsula of India, which is cut by a strait thalt forms the island of Ceylon, and facing the south like all the rest. Hitherto we (;an perceive no s eason for this similarity and can only remark that such are the facts.
FromNATURAL HISTORY.
37
From Terra del Fuego, all along the western coast of South America, the ocean penetrates very considerably into the land ; and this coast seems exactly to follow the direction of the lofty mountains which cross all South America, from south to north, from the equator to Terra del Fuego. Near the equator, the ocean forms a considerable gulph, beginning at Cape St. Francois, and reaching as far as Panama, the famous isthmus, which, like that of Suez, prevents the communication of the two seas, and without which there would be an entire separation of the old and new continents. From thence to California there is nothing remarkable. Between the latter and New Mexico an arm branches off, called Vermilion Sea, at least 200 leagues in length. In short, the western coasts of California have been followed to the 43d degree, at which latitude Drake, who was the first that made the discovery of the land to the north of California, and who called it New Albion, was obliged, through excessive cold, to change his course, and to anchor hj a small bay which bears his name, so that these countries have not been discovered bey ond the 43d and 44th degree, any more than the lands of North America beyond Moo.
zemiaki38	euffon's
zemlaki under the 48th degree, and the Assini-boils under the olst. The country of the first savages extends much more to the west than the east. All beyond, throughout an extent of more than 1000 leagues in length, and as many in breadth, is unknown, excepting what the Russians pretend to have discovered in their excursions from Kamtschatka to the eastern part of North America.
The ocean, therefore, surrounds the whole earth without any interruption, and the tour of the globe may be made from the south point of America; but it is not yet known whether the ocean surrounds the northern part of the globe in the like manner ; and all mariners, who have attempted to go from Europe to China by the north-east or north-west, have alike miscarried in their enterprises.
The lakes differ from the mediterraneans ; the first do not receive any water from the ocean ; on the contrary, if they have communication with the seas, they furnish them with water. Thus, the Black Sea, w hich some geographers have regarded as an arm of the Mediterranean, and consequently as an appendage of the ocean, is only a lake, because, in place of receiving water from the Mediterranean,NATURAL HISTORY.
B§
iiean, it supplies it with some, and flows with rapidity through the Bosphorus into the lake ealled the Sea of Marmora, and from thence through the Strait of the Dardanelles into the Grecian Sea. The Black Sea is about 250 leagues long by 100 broad, and it receives a great number of rivers, as the Danube, the Nieper, the Don, the Boh, the Donjec, &c. The Don, which unites with the Donjec, forms, before it arrives at the Black Sea, a lake, called the Pal us Meotis, which is more than a 100 leagues in length by 20 or 25 broad. The sea of Marmora, which is below the Black Sea, is a smaller lake than the Pains Meotis, being not more than 50 leagues long and 8 or Q broad.
Some ancients, and among the rest Diodorus Siculus, have asserted that the Euxiiie, or Black Sea, was formerly only a large liver or lake, and had no communication with the Grecian sea; but being considerably increased with time by the rivers which fell into it, the waters forced a passage at first on the side of the Cyanean islands, and afterwards on the side of th! Hellespont. This opinion appears to be very probable, and the operation is easily explained; for supposing the bottom of the
Ehek40
riJUFFON*S
Black Sea was formerly lower than it is at present^ then the rivers which come into it would have raised it by the mud and sand which they brought with them, until the surface of the water became higher than the land., when consequently it would have forced a passage for itself, and as the rivers still continue to bring sand and earth, and at the same time the quantity of water diminishes in the rivers, in proportion as the mountains from which they drew their sources are lowered, it may happen in a course of years that the Bosphorus will be again filled up ; but as these effects depend on many causes, it is scarcely possible to give more than mere conjectures thereon. From this testimony of the" ancients, Mr. Tournefort, in his voyage to the Levant, says, on ancient authority, that the Black Sea receiving the waters of a great part of Europe and Asia, aftet being considerably increased, opened itself a passage by the Bosphorus, and afterwards formed the Mediterranean, or so considerably augmented it, that it became a great sea, and forced itself a road through the strait of Gibraltar, by which the island of Atalantis, mentioned by Plato, was entirely overflowed'. This opinion has no foundation, since wc are 1	certainNATURAL Hf STORY.
41
Certain that it is the ocean which flows into the Mediterranean, and not the Mediterranean into the ocean. Besides, M. Toumefort, has riot combined two essential facts, both of which he mentions : the first is, that the Black Sea receives nine or ten rivers, not one of which bnt supplies it with more than the Bosphorus throws out: and the second, that the Mediterranean does not receive more water from rivers than the Black Sea, although it is seven or eight time larger, and that what the Bosphorus supplies it with does not make the tenth part of what falls into the Black Sea. How* then could this tenth part of what falls into a small sea have formed not only a larger sea, but have also so greatly increased the waters, as to have broken down the lands at the strait of Gibraltar, and overflow an island larger than the whole of Europe ? It is easy to perceive that this passage of M. Toumefort has not been well founded. The Mediterranean receives at least ten times more water from the ocean than from the Blade Sea, because the Bosphorus is only 806 feet broad in its narrowest part, whereas the strait of Gibraltar is more than 5000, and even supposing their ve-rfh.n.	G	locitybuffon’s
4$
locity to be equal, still the depth of the straits of Gibraltar is by far the greatest.
M. de Tonrnefort, who ridicules Polybius for his prediction that the Bosphorus would be filled up in time, did not pay sufficient attention to circumstances, when he asserted that event to be impossible. This sea receives eight or ten great rivers, and as most of them bring sand and mud, must it not gradually be choaked up ? Must not the winds and the natural current of the waters towards the Bosphorus, convey thither a part of these matters ? It is therefore very probable that in a course of time the Bosphorus will be filled, when the water of the rivers which come into the Black Sea shall be greatly diminished; now all rivers daily diminish, because the vapours collected by the mountains being the first sources of rivers, their quantity must decrease as the mountains diminish in height.
The Black Sea in fact receives more water from rivers than the Mediterranean; and the same author observes, “ the greatest rivers in Europe fall into the Black Sea, by means of the Danube, in which the rivers of Suabia, Franconia, Bavaria, Austria, Hungary, Moravia,
Corinthia,
8NATURAL HISTORY.
43
Corinthia, Croatia, Bothnia, Servia, Transil-vania, Wallachia, empty themselves; those of Black Russia and Podolia go into the same sea by the Niester; those of the southern and eastern parts of Poland, of the northern parts of Muscovy, and the country of the Cossacks enter therein by the Nieper or the Boristhenes ; the Tanais and Copa also fall into the Black Sea by the Cimmerian Bosphorus; the rivers of Mingrelia, of which Phasis is the principal, also voids itself into the Black Sea, as does the Casalmac, the Sangaris, and other rivers of Asia Minor which have their course towards the north; nevertheless the Thracian Bosphorus, which is the only outlet from it, is not comparable to any of these great rivers,”
These facts prove, that evaporation alone carries off a very considerable quantity of water, and it is on account of this great evaporation from the Mediterranean that the ocean continually flows thither through the straits of Gibraltar. It is difficult to estimate the quantity of water any sea receives; for we should be acquainted with the breadth, depth, and rapidity of all the rivers which enter into it, how much they increase and dimmish in the different ¿seasons qf the year, and how much it loses by
G %	evapo*?44
BUFFO N^5
evaporation; tire last of which is most difficult; for even supposing it proportional to the surfaces, it must be more considerable in a hot than in a cold climate; besides, water mixed with salt and bitumen, evaporates more slowly than fresh water ; a troubled sea more quickly than one that is tranquil; and the difference of depth has also some effect: in short, so many circumstances enter into this theory of evaporation that it is scarcely possible to make any exact calculations on it.
The water of the Black Sea appears to be less clear, and less saline than that of the ocean» There are no islands in it, and its tempests are more violent and more dangerous than in the ocean, because the whole body of its waters be^ ing contained in a bason, which has but a small outlet w hen they are agitated, they have a kind of whirling motion, which strikes the vessels on every side with an insupportable violence *.
Next to the Black Sea the greatest lake in the universe is the Caspian Sea, whose extent in length from north to south, is about 300 leagues, and scarcely more than fifty broad, This lake receives the Wolga and some other considerable rivers, as the JCur the Faie, and
*-S«e the Toy age« of	n, p. 14$,-
tk>NATURAL HISTORY.
45
Che Gempo; but what is singular, it does not receive any on its eastern side. The country on that side being only a desert of sand almost unknown. Czar Peter I. sent some engineers there to design a chart of the Caspian Sea, who discovered that its figure was quite different from that given by former geographers, who had represented it to be round, whereas it it very long and narrow. The eastern coasts of this sea, as w ell as the neighbouring country, were unknow n: even the existence of lake Aral, which is 100 leagues distant from it towards the east, w as doubtful, or at least thought to be a part of the Caspian Sea, so that before th« discoveries of the Czar, there was unknown land in this climate upwards of 300 league» long by 100 or 150 broad. Lake Aral ifc nearly an oblong, and may be 90 or 100 leagues long, by 50 or 60 broad : it receive* two very considerable rivers, the Sideroias and the Oxus, but as well as the Caspian, has n® outlet for its waters; and it bears the further resemblance, for as the Caspian receives n® river on the east, so lake Aral receives none on the west, from which we may presume, that formerly these two lakes wrere but one, and that the rivers having by degrees diminished, left
a great46
buffon's
a great quantity of sand and mud, and wliieTi forms the country that now divides them. There are some small islands in the Caspian, and its waters are much less saline than those of the ocean; storms are here very dangerous, and large vessels are not used in it for navigation, because it has many sand banks, shoals, and rocks scattered under the surface of the water. Pietro della Valle says, “ The largest vessels employed in the Caspian sea, along the coasts of Mazanda in Persia, where the town of Fer-babad stands, although they are called ships, appear smaller than our Tartanes. Their sides are high, and they draw but little water, having a flat bottom. They give this form to their vessels not only because this sea is shallow, but because it is filed with shoals and sand banks; so that if the vessels were not fabricated in this manner they could not be used with safety. Indeed I was astonished why at Ferhabad they fish only for salmon, which are found at the mouth of the river, some poor sturgeons and other sort of fresh water fish, of little value: I at« tributed the cause of it to their ignorance of the arts of fishing and navigation until the Cham of Esterabad, whose residence is at a sea port, informed me that the waters are so shallow 2047
NATURAL HISTORY.
or 30 leagues from shore, that it was impossible to cast their nets with the chance of taking any. fish, and that it was for this reason they give the abovementioned form to their vessels, which are not mounted with any cannon, as but few corsairs and pirates ever visit this sea.
Struys, P. Avril, and other travellers have asserted, that in the neighbourhood of Kilam there were two gulphs wherein the waters of the Caspian were ingulphed, and carried afterwards by subterranean canals into the Persian gulph. De Fer and other geographers have even marked out these gulphs in their maps, nevertheless we are assured by the people sent by the Czar that they do not exist
The circumstance of willow leaves being seen in great quantities on the Persian gulph, and which are supposed, by the same authors, to come from the Caspian sea, because there are no such trees on the Persian gulph, is fully as improbable as their subterraneous gulphs, and which Gemelli Carreri, as well as the Russians, assert are entirely imaginary. In fact, the Caspian is near one third smaller than the Black Sea, which last also receives much more water by rivers than the former:
* See Mem, Acad, Sciences, 1721.	*	' -
theBtTFFO^S
the evaporation, therefore is sufficient to carry off all its water; nor is it necessary to suppose subterraneous gulphs in the Caspian any more thim in the Black Sea.
There are lakes which do not receive any rivers, and from which none go out. There are others which both receive and discharge, and gome* that only receive them. The Caspian Sea, lake Aral., and the Dead Sea, are of the last kind, they receive the waters of many rivers and con-tain them. In Asia Minor there is a small lake of the like kind, and one much larger in Perea, m which the town of Marago stands; its figure is oval, and it is about ten or twelve leagues long, by six or seven broad; it receives the river Tauris, which is not very considerable. There is also a similar small lake in Greece, about IS or 15 leagues from Lepanto, which are the only lakes of that kind known in Asia. In Europe there is not one which is considerable: i® Africa there are many small ones, m those which receive the rivers Ghir, Zez, Touguedout, and Tasilefc These four lakes ace pretty near each other, and situate towards? the frontiers of • Barbary- near the deserts q£ Zara; there is another situate in the country of Kovar, which receives the river of Ber-
doa*NATUUAL- »1STORY,
49
doa. In* North .America, where there are more hakes than- in any other part of the world, not one of this kind is known» at- least if we except two small collections of water formed by rivulets, the one near Guatimapo, and the Other some leagues from Realnuevo, both in Mexico. Rut in South America, at Peru, there are two contiguous lakes, one of which, lake Titicaca, is very large,, and receives a river whose source is not very remote from Cusco, and from which no river issues: there is one smaller in Tucuman, which receives the river Sala; and another larger in the same country, whicn receive» the- river Santiago, and three or four others between Tucumati and
Chili.
The lakes which receive :oo rivers, and front which no rivers issue, are greater in number than those just spoken of, these lake»'are a sort of pools where the- rain- water collects-; or may proceed from--subterraneous- waters, which-issue in- the-form-- of spring», in low places,., w here' they cannot afterwards find' any drain-; The rivers which overdo'w may likewise- leave stagnant waters-in-the country,, which may remain ft» % long time, and only be replenished' by*- other inundations* The- sea has- often- muadated-kn# wi*, n,	H	and50
buffon’s
and formed saline lakes in them, like that at Harlem, and many others in Holland, to which, no other origin can be attributed; or by losing its natural motion, might quit some land, and leaving water in the lowest places may have formed lakes, which have continued to be supported by rains. In Europe, there are many small lakes of this kind, as in Ireland, Jutland, Italy* in the country of the Grisons, Poland, Muscovy, Finland, and in Greece. But all these lakes are very inconsiderable. In Asia there is one near the Euphrates, in the desert of Irac, more than 15 leagues long : another in Persia nearly of the same extent, and on which the tow ns of Kela, Tetuan, Yastan, and Van, are situated: another small one in Chora-* zan near Ferrior; another in Independent Tartary, called Lake Levi; two in Muscovy Tartary, another in Cochin China, and one in China very large, and not far distant from Nankin; this last, nevertheless, communicates with the adjacent sea, by a canal several leagues in length. In Africa there is a small lake of the same kind in the kingdom of Morocco; another near Alexandria, which appears to have been left by the sea; another very con* siderable. one formed by the rain in the desert
Azarad,NATURAL HISTORY.	5!
Azarad> about the 30th degree latitude; this lake is eight or ten leagues long; another still larger on which the town of Gaoga is situate in the 27th degree; another much smaller, near the town of Kanum, under the 30th degree ; one near the mouth of the river Gambia ; many more in Congo, about the 2d or 3d degree of south latitude : two more in the country of the Caifrees, one called the Lake Kofumbo, of no great length, and another in the province of Arbuta, which is perhaps the greatest lake of this kind, being about 25 leagues in length by seven or eight in breadth; there is also one of these lakes at Madagascar, near the east side, about the 2Qth degree of south latitude*
In America there is one of these lakes in the middle of the peninsula of Florida, and in its centre is an island called Serrope; the lake of Mexico is also of this kind; and this is almost round, and about 10 leagues diameter; there is another still larger in New Spain, 25 leagues distant from the coast of Campeaehy Ba}', and another smaller in the same country near the coast of the South Sea. Some travellers have asserted that there is in the inland part» of Guiana a very great lake of that kind; it is H 2	calledm

called	0 olden Lake, or Lake Fortran,
*1 hey have related surprising things of the riches of the neighbouring country* and of the quantity of gold dust that is found in this lake* They give it an extent of more than 400 leagues in length, and 1£5 in breadth. No river, they say, goes out nor enters in; although many geographers have marked this lake in I heir maps, it is not probable there is any such existing.
But the most general and largest lakes are those which receive and give rise to other great rivers: as their number is very great I shall Speak only of the most considerable, or of the most remarkable. Beginning at Europe, we have in Switzerland the lakes of Geneva, Constance, &c.; in Hungary, the lake Balaton ; in Xavonia, a large lake, and w hich separates this province from Russia; in Finland, the lake .Xapwert, which is very long, and is divided into many amis, and Lake Oula, which is of M round figure; in Muscovy, lake Ivadoga, more than €5 leagues long by above IQ broad. Lake Onega is as long, but not so broad, Lakes Ilmen and Belozo, whence issue one of the sources of the Wolga; the Iwan-t)ser^ whence issues one of the sources of the
Don;NATURAL HISTORY®	35
Don i two other lakes whence the Vitzogda derives its origin; in Lapland, the lake from which issues the river Khni; another much larger near the coast of Wardhus, and many others, whence issue the rivers Lula, Pith a, and Urna. These are not very considerable. In Norway two more of nearly the same size as those of Lapland: in Sweden, lake Vener, which is as large a lake as Meier, on which Stockholm is situated; and two others less considerable ; one is near Eveldal, and the other near Lincopin.
In Siberia, in Muscovy, and in Independent Tartary, there are a great number of these lakes, the principal of which is the great lake Barbara, which is more than 100 leagues long, and whose waters fall into the Iris; the great lake Estraguei, the source of the same river; Biany other smaller, the sources of the Jenisca; the great lake Kita, the source of the Oby; another larger, the source of the Angara ; lake Baical, which is more than TO leagues long, and is formed by the same river Angara; lake Pehu, from which issues the river Urack, kcv 1» China and Clwnese Tartary, lake Dalai, from whence issues the large river Argus, which falls halo the river Amour; the lake of54	B ITFFOSF's
the three mountains, the source of the river Helum ; the lakes Cinhal, Cokmor, and So-rama, the sources of the river Honaho ; two other lakes adjacent to the river Nankin, Sec, In Tonquin, lake Guadag, which is very considerable, In India, the lake Cliiamat, from whence issues the river La quia, adjacent to the sources of the rivers Ava, Longenu, &c. This lake is more than 40 leagues broad by 50 long. There is another at the origin of the Ganges ; and one bordering on Cashmere is the source of the river Indus, Sec.
In Africa is lake Cayar, and two or three others adjacent to the mouth of Senegal river. Lakes Guarda and Sigismus make but one lake, of a triangular form, about 100 leagues long by 75 broad, and contain a very considerable island. In this lake the Niger loses its name, and lakes that of Senegal, in the course of which, towards the source, we meet with another considerable lake, called Bournou, where the Niger again loses its name, for the river which comes therein is called Gainbaru. In Ethiopia, at the sources of the Nile, is the great lake Gambia, upwards of 50 leagues lOiig. There are also many lakes on the coast of Guinea, which appear to have been formed
inKATl'RAL HISTOR f.
35
by the sea, and there are only a few lesser lakes in the remaining part of Africa.
North America may be styled the country of lakes ; the greatest are lake Superior, upwards of 125 leagues long by 50 broad; lake Huron, upwards of 100 leagues long by 40 broad; lake Illionois, .which, comprehending the Bay of Puanto> is quite as extensive as lake Huron; lakes Erio, and Ontario, together upwards of 80 leagues long, from 20 to 25 broad; the lake Mistasin, to the north of Quebec, is about 50 leagues in length; and lake Champlain, to the south of it, is nearly of the same extent; lake Alemipigon, and the lake Christinaux, both to the north of lake Superior, are also very considerable ; the lake Assiniboils contains many islands, and is upwards of 75 leagues long; there are also, independent of that of Mexico, two large lakes in that .country, the one called Nicaragua, in the province of that name, which is upwards of 70 leagues long.
In South America there is a small lake, the source of the Maraguon, and another larger which is the source of the river Paraguay; also the lake Titicares, which falls into the river Plata; two smaller lakes which flow into the
same
y
56
same river, and some others, not. very cornj-derable, in the inland part of Chili.
All lakes from which rivers derive their orh gin, those which fall into the course of rivers^ and which carry their water thereto, are not salt, Almost all those, on the contrary, which receive rivers without others issuing thereout are salt; this seems to favour the opinion, that the salt-ness of the sea arises from the salts' which rivers wash from the earth, and continually convey into it; for evaporation cannot carry off fixed salts, and consequently those which rivers carry into the sea remain therein. Although river w ater appears to taste fresh, we well know that it contains a small quantity of salt, and in course of time might have acquired such a considerable degree, as to occasion the present saltness of the sea, and w hich must still continue increasing. It is thus therefore, as I imagine, that the Black Sea, the Caspian, lake Aral, &c. have become salt. With respect to lakes, which do not receive any river, nor from which does any issue, are either fresh or salt, according to their different origins; those near the sea are generally salt, and those remote from it are fresh, because the one has been formed by the inundations of theNATURAL HISTORY,
sea, and the others proceed from springs of fresh water.
The lakes any ways remarkable are the Dead Sea, the waters of which contain much more bitumen than salt: it is called the Bitumen of Judea, but is no other than the As-phaltes, which has caused some authors to call it the Asphaltic Lake. The lands which border this lake contain a great quantity of this bitumen; and many have supposed, as the poets feign of lake Avernus, that no fish could live therein, and birds which attempted to fly over it were suffocated ; but neither of these lakes produce such mortal events; fish live in both, birds pass over them, and men bathe therein without the least danger.
At Boleslaw in Bohemia there is said to be a lake, wherein are holes, whose depth is unfathomable, from which impetuous winds issue, which are carried over all Bohemia, and in winter raise pieces of ice, of a hundred weight in the air,
A petrified lake in Iceland is also mentioned; and lake Neagh in Ireland has abo the same property ; but these petrifactions are no other than incrustations, like those made by the water of Arcaeii.
VOL. IX,	I	ARTICLEbuffon's

ARTICLE XXL
OF THE FLEX AND REFLUX«
W ater has but one natural motion;
like other fluids it always descends from the higher into the lower places, unless obstructed by some intervening obstacle. When it reaches the lowest place it remains there calm and motionless, unless some foreign cause agitates and disturbs it. All the waters of the ocean are collected in the lowest parts of the surface of the earth; of course the motions of the sea must proceed from external causes, the principal of which is the flux and reflux, which is alternately made in a contrary direction, and from which results a general and continual motion in the sea from east to west. These two motions have a constantNATURAL HISTORY.	5§
stant and regular relation with the motions of the moon. When the moon is new, or at the full, this motion from east to west is more sensible, as well as that of the tides, which upon most shores ebb and flow every six hours and a half: that it is always high tide whenever the moon is at the meridian, whether above or below the horizon of the place; and low tide when the moon rises or sets. The motion of the sea from east to west is constant and invariable, because the ocean in its flux moves from east to west, and impels towards the west a great quantity of water, and the re-* flux seems to be made in a contrary direction, on account of the small quantity of water then driven towards the west; the flux, therefore, must rather be regarded as a swelling, and the reflux as a subsiding of the water, which instead of its disturbing the motion from east to west, produces and continually restores it, although in fact it is stronger during the rise, and weaker during the fall from the above cause.
The principal circumstances of this motion are, 1. That it is more sensible when the moon is new, or at the full, than in the quadratures : in spring and in autumn it is also more violent than at any other time of the I 2	year;(Jo	BUI'TON'S
year; and it is weaker in the solstices, which is occasioned by the combination of the attraction of the moon and sun. 2. The wind often alters the direction and quantity of this motion, particularly that which constantly blows from the same quarter. It is the same with respect to large rivers which convey their waters into the sea and produce a current there, often extending several leagues, which is strongest when the direction of the wind agrees with the general motion. Of this we have an example in the Pacific Ocean, where the motion from east to west is constant and very perceptible. 3. We must remark that when one part of a fluid moves the whole mass receives the motion; now in the motion of the tides a great part of the ocean moves in a very sensible manner, and consequently the ocean is agitated by this motion throughout its w hole extent.
To comprehend this perfectly we must attend to the nature of the power which produces the tides. We have observed that the moon acts upon the earth by a power called attraction by some, and by others gravity : this force penetrates through the globe, is exactly proportioned to the quantity of matter, and
decrease*NATURAL HISTORY.	Cl
decreases as the square of the distance increases. Let us next examine what must happen to the waters when the moon is at the meridian of any one place.—The surface of the waters being immediately under the moon is then nearer that planet than any other part of the globe; hence this part of the sea must be elevated towards the moon, by forming an eminence, the summit of which must be opposite to the moon’s centre; for the formation of this eminence the waters at the bottom, as well as at the surface, contribute their share, in proportion to their proximity to the moon, which acts upon them in the inverse ratio of the squares of their distances: thus the surface of that part of the sea is first raised; the surface of the neighbouring parts will be likewise elevated, but to a less height, and the water at the bottom of all these parts will be raised by the same cause; so that all this part of the sea growing higher and forming an eminence, it is necessary that the water of the remote parts, and on which this force of attraction does not act, should proceed with precipitation to replace the waters which are thus elevated and drawn towards the moon. This is what produces the flux, or high tide,
which6&
BUFFO IS S
which is more or less sensible on different coasts, and which agitates the sea not only at its surface but even to the greatest depths-The reflux, or ebb, happens afterwards by the natural inclination of tire water, for when the moon no longer uses its power, the water which was raised by this foreign power retakes its level, and returns to the shores and places it had been forced to quit. When the moon passes to the antipode, or opposite meridian, the- same effect ensues, though from a different cause. In the first case the waters rise because they are nearer the planet than any other parts of the globe; and in the second it is from the contrary reason, they rise because she is the most remote from them, and this it is easily perceived must produce the same effect, for the waters of this part being less attracted than those of the opposite hemisphere, they will naturally recede and form an eminence, the summit of which will answer to the point of the least action that is directly opposite to the moon’s station, or where she was thirteen hours before. When the moon arrives at the horizon the tide is at ebb, the sea is then ki its natural state, and the water in a direct eqtt.librium > but when she is at the opposite
me»NATURAL HISTORY.
63
meridian this equilibrium can no longer exist, since the waters of the part opposite to the moon being at the greatest distance possible from her, they are less attracted than the remaining part of the globe, and hence their relative weight, which always retains them in an equilibrium, impels them towards the opposite point to the moon. Thus in the two eases, when the moon is at the meridian of a place, or at the opposite meridian, the water must be raised nearly to the same height, and consequently fall and rise, when the moon is at the horizon either at her rising or setting. Thus a motion, such as we have just mentioned, necessarily disturbs the whole mass of the sea, and agitates it throughout its whole extent and depth; and if this motion appears insensible in the open seas, it is nevertheless no less real; but as the winds cannot ruffile the bottom in an equal degree with the surface, the motion of the tides is necessarily more regular there, although directed alternately in the same manner as at the top.
From this alternate motion of flux and reflux there results, as already observed, a coo-initial motion of the sea from east to west, be-
causeBUFFONS
ti-F
cause the moon, which produces the tides, pro^-ceeds from east to west, and successively acting in the same direction, the water follows her course. This motion is most considerable in all straits; for example, at the straits of Magellan the water rises nearly 20 feet, and continues so for six hours, whereas the reflux lasts only tw oand the water runs towards the west. This evidently proves that the re-» flux is not equal to the flux, and that there results from both a motion towards the w est, much stronger in the time of the flux than in that of the reflux. This is the reason that in open seas, remote from land, the tides are only felt by the general motion of the w aters from east to west.
The tides are stronger in the torrid zone between the tropics than in the rest of the ocean ; they are also more sensible in places which extend from east to wrest, in long and narrow gulphs, and on the coasts where there are isles and promontories. The greatest know n flux is at one of the mouths of the river Indus, where the water rises thirty feet. It rises also very remarkably near Malay, in the straits of
* Sec Narborougli’s Voyage.
S mida,
9NATURAL HISTORY.	65
Blinda, in the Red Sea, in Nelson’s Bay, at the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, on the coasts of China, Japan, Banama, in the Gulph of Bengal, &c.
The motion of the sea from east to west is more sensible in particular places. Marinerà have observed it in sailing from India to Madagascar and Africa ; it is also very perceptible in the Pacific Sea, and between the Malaccas and Brazil : but this motion is most violent in the Straits ; for example, the waters are carried with such force in that direction through thé Straits of Magellan that it is felt to a great distance in the Atlantic ; and it is supposed that this caused Magellan to conjecturé there Was a strait by which the two seas had a communication. In the Manilla straits, and in all the channels which divide the Mâldivé islands, the sea flows from east to west, as well as in the Gulph of Mexico, between Cuba attê Jucatan. In the gulph of Paria this motion is* so violent that the strait is called the Dfdgonrs Mouth. In the Canadian and Tartarkn Seas it flows also with violence, as well as in thé Strait of Waigats, through which it conveys enormous masses of ice into the northern seas of Europe« The Pacific Ocean flows from east VOL* li,	K	to66
BUFFON*S
to west, through the Straits of Java; the sea of Japan flows towards China, the Indian Ocean flows towards the west, through the Straits of Java and other Indian islands; we cannot, therefore, doubt that the sea has a constant and general motion from east to west, and it is certain that the Atlantic flows towards America, and that the Pacific Sea goes from it, as is evident at Cape Current between Lima and Panama.
In short, the alternations of the flux and reflux are regularly made in six hours and a half on most coasts, though at different hours, according to the climate and position of the lands: thus the sea coasts are continually beaten I?y the waves which at each time wash away some small parts of their matters, which they transport to a distance, and deposit at the bottom of the sea ,* so likewise the waves convey and leave on the lower shores, shells, sands, &c. these by degrees form horizontal strata; which accumulating, become downs and hills, exactly similar to others, both as to form and internal composition. From this constant action, the sea naturally shuts itself out from the lowest coasts, and gains upon the highest.
ToNATURAL HISTORY.
Q7
To give an idea of the effects of a troubled sea against coasts, I shall relate a fact which has been affirmed to me by a credible person, and which I the more willingly believe from having seen something nearly similar. In the principal islands of the Orkneys there are coasts composed of rocks perpendicularly divided to the surface of the sea, to the height of near 200 feet. The tides in this place rise very considerable, as is common in all parts where there are projecting lands and islands ; but when the wind is very strong, and the sea swells at the same time, the motion is so great, and the agitation so violent, that the water rises to the summit of these rocks, and hills again in the form of rain: it throws to this great height gravel and stones from the foot of the rocks, and some of them even broader than the hand* In the port of Livourne, where the sea is much more calm, I saw a tempest in December, 1731* in which they were obliged to cut down the masts of some vessels that had been forced from their anchors by the wind, and driven into the road. The sea swelled above the fortifications, which were of a considerable height, and as I was ou one of the most projecting works,
I could not regain the town before I was wet-K 2	tedbfffon’s
$8
ted by the sea-w ater much more than I could have been by the most plentiful rain.
These examples are sufficient to shew with what violence the sea acts against some coasts. This continual agitation destroys and diminishes by degrees the land. The water carries away all these matters, and deposits them as soon as it arrives at a part where the troubled sea subsides into a calm. In tempestuous weather the water is foul, from the mixture of matters detached from the shore and bottom of the sea, and it then casts on the coasts a number of things that it brings from a distance, and which are never met with but after storms ; as amber^ gris on the west of Ireland, and yellow amber on those of Pomerania, cocoa-nuts on the coasts of India, &c. and sometimes pumice and other singular stones. We can quote on this occasion a circumstance related in the new travels to the American Islands. “ Being at St. Domingo, says the author, among other things they gave me some light stones, which the sea brought to the coast when there had been strong southerly winds; there w as one two feet and a half long by eighteen broad, and one thick, w hich did not quite weigh five pounds: they are as white as snow, muc\\
harderNATURAL HISTORY.
m
harder than pumice, of a fine consistency, having no appearance of being porous, but when thrown into water, rebounded like a ball thrown on the ground, and it was with great difficulty they could be forced under the water with the hand.” The stone must have been a very fine and close-grained pumice,, which had issued from some volcano, and which the sea had conveyed, as it transports ambergris, cocoa-nuts, common pumice-stone, seeds of plants rushes, &c. Observations of this kind have been generally made on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. The sea by its general motion from east to west must convey the productions of our coast to those of America; and it is by some irregular motions that the productions of the East and West Indies, as well as the northern climates, are brought upon our shores. There is a great probability that the winds cause those effects ; large spots have often been observed in the open sea, far from shore, covered with pumice-stones ; and they could only come from the volcanoes in islands or on the continent, and which the current had transported to the middle of the seas. Before the southern part of America was known, and in the time w hen the India Sea was thought to
have70
buffon’s
have no communication with our ocean* ap* pearances of this kind afforded the first supposition of it.
The alternate motion of the flux and reflux* and the constant motion of the sea from east to west* presents different phenomena in different climates* according to the bearing of the land and the height of the coasts. There are parts where the general motion from east to west is not perceptible; there are others where the sea has even a contrary motion* as on the coast of Guinea. But these contrary motions are occasioned by the w inds* by the position of the lands* by the waters of large rivers* and by the disposition of the bottom of the sea; all these causes produce currents w'hich alter, and often change the general motion in many parts of the sea; but as the motion from east to west is the greatest* most general and constant* it must also produce the greatest effects* and all taken together* the sea must gain ground towards the west* and lose it towards the east; although it may happen that on those coasts where the west winds blow7 during the greatest part of the year* as in France and England* the sea may gain on the east* yet these particular exceptions do not destroy the effect of the general cause.NATURAL HISTORY.

ARTICLE XIII,
OF THE INEQUALITIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, AND OF CURRENTS.
rpiHE coasts of tlie sea may be distinguished into three kinds, 1st, the elevated coasts, which are rocks and hard stones, generally divided perpendicularly, and w hich rise sometimes to the height of 7 or 800 feet. 2d, The low coasts, some of w hich are almost level w ith the surface of the water, and others rising w ith a moderate elevation, often bounded by rocks at the water’s edge, forming shelves and breakers, which render the approach to shore very difficult and dangerous. 3dly, Downs, which are coasts formed by sand w hich the sea accumulates, or brought or deposited by
2	rivers;
n
rivers; tliese downs form hills more or less elevated, according to the accumulated sand.
The coasts of Italy are bordered by several sorts of marble and stone; tliese rocks appear at a distance, like so many pillars of marble perpendicularly divided. The coasts of France from Brest to Bourdeaux are almost surrounded with rocks just at the water’s edge, which occasion dangerous breakers. The coasts of England, Spain, and many others, are also bordered with rocks and hard stone; excepting some parts which are used for bays, ports, and havens.
The depth of water along the coasts is in proportion to their elevation. The inequalities at the bottom of the sea near the coasts, correspond also with the inequalities of the surface of the ground along the shore. A celebrated navigator has made the following observations on this subject.
“ I have constantly remarked, that where the coasts are defended by steep rocks, the sea is there very deep, and seldom affords a probability of anchoring; and, on the contrary, where the ground inclines from the coast to the sea, however elevated it may be further
inlandNATURAL HISTORY.	7£
nland, the bottom is good there/ and consequently admits of anchorage.
“ According to the declivity of land, as it approaches the water’s edge, so we generally .find our anchor ground, and either approach Or keep at a distance from shore agreeable tp the steepness of the land; for I nev*er saw nor heard of a coast where the land is of a continual height, without some vallies lying intermixed with the high lands: they are the subsiding of low lands, and afford good anchoring* the earth being lodged deep under water; for this reason it is we find good harbours upon Coasts which abound with steep cliffs, because the land has subsided between them. But where the declension from the hills is not withih land but towards the main sea, as at Chili and Peru, and the coasts are nearly perpendicular, as in the countries running from the Andes, it is very deep and has scarcely any creeks or harbours. The coasts of Gallicia, Portugal, Newfoundland, the islands of Juan Fernando and St. Helena, &c. are somewhat similar to those of Peru, yet good harbours are not so scarce, as there is always good anchorage where there are short ridges of land. In general the land under water seems to be exactly pro-vol, 11.	L	portioned74
buffon's
portioned to tlie rising of the contiguous part above, and therefore where the land upon the shores are steep, there is but little security for ships, they being very easily driven from their moorings; yet although steep cliffs denote this disadvantage, they assure us of this benefit also, that we can sail close to them with safety, besides being able to see them at a considerable distance; whereas low lands are frequently not discovered until we are near, and always experience the hazard of running aground. This fact of good achorage where the lands on the coast are low, might be illustrated by many instances in the bays of Campeachy, Honduras, Panama ; the coasts of Porto Bello, Carthagena, Guinea, California, China, Coromandel, &c. but going into particulars would be almost endless, as I very seldom found it otherwise than that deep waters and high shores went together, as well as low lands and shallow seas.”
The fact therefore of there being considerable mountains and other inequalities at the bottom of the sea is fully confirmed by the observatioxxs of navigators. Divers also assure us, there are smaller inequalities formed by rocks, and that it is much the coldest in the vallies of
theNATURAL HISTORY.
75
the sea. In general the depths in great seas, as we have already observed, increase propor-tionably to their distance from shore. By Mr. Buache s chart of that part of the ocean between the coasts of Africa and America, and by the divisions he has given of the sea from Cape Tagrin to Rio-Grande, there appears to be similar inequalities in the ocean to those on land. That the Albrolhos, where there are some rocks at the surface of the water, are only the tops of very large and lofty mountains, of v.hich Dolphin island is one of the highest peaks. That the islands of Cape de Verd are also the tops of mountains; that there are a great number of shoals in the sea, which round the Albrolhos descend even to unknown depths.
With respect to the quality of the different soils which form the bottom of the sea, as we must rely on divers and the plumb, we can say nothing exact or precise concerning it ; we only know that there are parts covered with mud to a considerable thickness, on which anchors have no hold; in these parts probably the mud of rivers are deposited. In other parts are sands similar to those on land. In others are shells, heaped up together, madre-L 2	poresbipeson’s.
7'®
pores, corals, and other productions of insects, which begin to unite and appeal* like stones; ill others are fragments of stones* gravely and often entire stones mid marble. For example in the Maldivian islands the buildings are made of a hard stone weighed up from several fathoms under water. At Marseilles very good marble is obtained from the bottom of the sea., which so far from wasting and spoiling stone and marble, in our discourse on minerals we shall prove they are formed and preserved therein, whereas, the sun,, earth, air, and rain water corrupts and destroys them.
The bottom of the sea must be composed of the same matters as our habitable land because the very same substances are contained in the one as the other ; places are found at the bqt^ tom of the sea covered with shells, madrepores, and other productions of sea matters, as we meet with on earth an infinity of quarries and banks of chalk and other matters replete, with the same sort of shells, madrepores, &c. so that in all respects the dry parts of the globo rer semble those covered; hy the water, both in compositioa of matters*, and; inequalities- of the superficies,NATOT&&& HISTORY.
77
It is to these inequalities at the bottom of the sea we must attribute the origin of currrents, for if the bottom was equal and levels there would be no other current than the general motion from east to west, and a few others which might be caused by the action of the winds ; but a, certain proof that most currents are produced by the flux and reflux, and directed by the inequalities at the bottom of the sea* is, that they regularly follow the tides, and change their direction at each ebb and flow. See Pietra della Valle on the subject of the currents of the giilph of Cambay, and the accounts of all navigators, who unanimously assert that in those parts where the flux and reflux of the sea is the most violent the currents are also most rapid.
It cannot therefore be doubted but that the tides produce currents whose-direction always answers that of the opposite hills and mountains between which they flow. Currents produced by winds also follow the direction of those hills which are under the water, seldom running opposite to the wind which produces them, any more than: those which are occasioned by the tides follow the direction of their original cause.
ToBUFFOSi’s
4 O
To give a clear conception of the productions of currents we shall first observe they are to be met with in every sea, that some are rapid, and others flow; that some are of great extent, both in length and breadth, and others short and narrow; that the same cause, whether the wind or tides, which produces these currents, frequently gives to each of them a velocity and direction very different; that a north wind, for example, which should give the water one general motion towards the south, on the contrary produces a number of currents, separated from each other, and very different both in extent and direction ; some flowing towards the south, others south-east, and others south-west; some are very rapid, others slow : some long and broad, others short and narrow; in fact, their motions are so various that we have no idea left of their original cause. When a contrary wind succeeds, all these currents take an opposite course, and follow in a contrary direction, precisely in the same manner as would be the case upon land between two opposite and adjacent hills, provided it was covered with water, as is seen at the Maidive and all the islands of the Indian seas, where, the currents run, and the winds blow, for six months in a
contrary
1NATURAL HISTORY.
79
contrary direction. The same remark has been made on currents between shoals and sandbanks. In general all currents, whether caused by the motion of dux or reflux, or the action of the wind, have the same extent and direction throughout their whole course, yet differ from each other in most respects which can proceed only from the inequalities of the hills, mountains, and vallies at the bottom of the sea, it being certain that the current between two islands follows the direction of the coasts; and the same is observable between banks of sand, shoals, &c. we must therefore look on the hills and mountains at the bottom of the sea as banks which direct the current; and hence a current is a river^ the breadth of which is determined by that of the valley through which it flows: its rapidity depends on the force which produces it, combined with the breadth of the interval through which it must pass; and its direction is traced by the position of the hills and inequalities between which it must take its course.
We shall now give a reason for the singular correspondence between the angles of mountains and hills, which are to be met with in every part of the world. We have already
remarkedso
suffon’s
remarked that when a river, &c. forms aw elbow, one of the borders forms on one side a projection inland, and the other forms a point from land, and that through all the sinuosities of their course this correspondence is always found. This fact is founded on the laws of hydrostatics. It would be easy to demonstrate the cause of this effect; but it is sufficient that it is general and universally known, and that all the world may be convinced of it by their own eyes, that when the banks of a river forms a projection inland to the left hand, the other shore forms a projection from land to the right.
Hence the currents of the sea must be looked upon as great rivers, subject to the same laws as those on land, and will, like them, form in the extent of their course many sinuosities, whose projections or angles will correspond ; and as the banks of currents are hills and mountains, above or below the surface of the water, they will have given these eminences the same form as is remarked on the shores of livers; therefore we must not be astonished that our hills and mountains, which have been formerly covered by the sea, and formed by the sediments which the waters have left should,
byNATURAL HISTORY.
81
"by the motion of its currents have taken this regular figure, and all the angles are alter* nately opposite; they have been the shores of the currents or rivers of the sea, and have therefore necessarily taken a figure and direction similar to those of the shores of the rivers of the earth.
This alone, independently of the other proofs Which we have given, would be sufficient to shew that the earth of our continent and islands has been covered with waters of the ocean, and it throws great light irpon the Theory the truth of which I have endeavoured to establish ; for it was not sufficient to have proved that the strata of the earth were formed by the sediments of the sea ; that the mountains were elevated by the successive accumulation of such sediments; and that they were composed of shells and other marine productions; but it required also a reason why the angles of mountains so exactly correspond; this could only be done by an investigation into the real cause, which had not hitherto been attempted, and which, being united with the rest, forms a body of proofs as complete as can be had in physics; and proves my Theory to be founded up facts, independently of all hypothesis.
M
VOL. II.
Thebuffgn’s
se
The principal currents of the ocean are those observed in the Atlantic Sea, near Guinea. They extend from Cape Verd to the Bay of Fernandes. Their motion is from west to east; that is contrary to the general motion of the sea. These currents are so rapid that vessels sail in two days from Moura to Rio de Benin, a course of 1 dO leagues; but they require six or seven weeks to return; nor would it be possible to get out of these climates if advantage was not taken of the tempestuous winds which suddenly rise in them; but there are entire seasons during which vessels cannot stir, the sea being continually calm, excepting what arises from the currents, which is always directed towards the coasts, and never extend more than c20 leagues from the shore. Near Sumatra there are rapid currents, which flow from south to north, and which probably formed the gulph at Malacca. There are also considerable currents between Java and Magellan, the Cape of Good Hope and the island of Madagascar, especially on the coast of Africa, between Natal and the Cape. In the Pacific Sea, on the coast of Peru, and the rest of America, the sea moves from south to north, and a south wind continually blowing there seems to be
theNATURAL HISTORY.
the cause. The like motion is observed on the coasts of Brazil ; from Cape St. Augustine to the Antilles ; from the mouth of the Manilla strait to the Phillipine islands; and in the port of Kubuxia at Japan *.
There are violent currents in the sea adjacent to the Maldivian islands; and between those islands these currents flow, as already observed, constantly for six months from east to west , and during the other six months they follow the direction of the monsoons, and it is probable they are produced by those winds.
We speak here only of currents, whose extent and rapidity are very considerable, for in every sea there are an infinity of currents, though of no great importance. The flux and reflux, the winds, and all other causes which agitate the waters, produce currents, more or less perceptible, in different parts. We have observed that the bottom of the sea, like the surface of the earth, is overspread with mountains intersected with inequalities and divided by banks of sand. In all mountainous places currents w ill be violent; in all places where the bottom of the sea is level they will be almost imperceptible; the
* See Yaren. Geography, page 140.
M 2	rapidity84
»UEFO$$
rapidity of the current will increase in proportion to the obstacles the water meets with, of rather to the contraction of the spaces through which they incline to pass« Between two chains of mountains the current will be so( much the stronger as the mountains are near. It will be the same between two banks of sands, or two neighbouring islands. It is also remarked in the Indian ocean, which is divided with an infinity ef islands and banks, there are rapid currents throughout which render the navigation of that sea dangerous.
It is not merely inequalities, at the bottom of the sea which form currents* but the coasts, themselves have a similar effect, according as? the water is repelled at greater or lesser distances ,• this repulsion of the waters is a kind of current depending upon local circuip-sances; the oblique position of a coast, the vicinity of a bay, or of some great river, a promontry, in one word, every particular obstacle Which opposes the general motion, will always produce a current. iSow, as nothing? is more irregular than the bottom and border^ of the sea, we must cease to, be surprised af the great number of currents which every where appear.
AHNATURAL HISTORY.
85
All currents have a determinate breadth, which depends on that of the interval between the two eminences which serves it for a bed. The currents flow into the sea as l ivers flow on land; and they produce similar effects. They form their bed, and give to eminences corresponding angles. In fact, it is these currents which hollowed our rallies, formed our mountains, and gave to the surface, of the earth, when it was under water, the form it now retains.
If any doubt of the correspondence of the angles of mountains remains, I appeal to the sight of every man who makes the observation. Every traveller, with the smallest attention, will perceive that the opposite sides of a hill exactly correspond. Whenever the hills to the right of the valley form a projection, those opposite recede to the left. These hills have also nearly the same elevation, and it is very rare to seeany great inequality of height in the two hills separated by a valley. I can assert, that the; more I have looked on the circumference and heights of hills, the more I have been convinced of the correspondence of the. angles, and of the resemblance they have with the beds and borders of rivers; and it is by reiterated
observationsbuffon’s
88
observations on this surprising regularity and resemblance that my first ideas of this Theory of the Earth arose. Let us add to those observations that of the parallel and horizontal situation of the strata, that of the shells being dispersed throughout the earth, and incorporated in every matter ; and it must be admitted, that on a subject like this we cannot have a greater degree of probability.
ARTICLE XIV.
OF REGULAR WINDS.
J^OTHJNG can appear more irregular and variable than the force and direction of winds in our climates; but there are countries where this irregularity is not so great, and others where the winds constantly blow in one direction, and with almost the same degree of strength.
AlthoughNATURAL history.
87
Although the motion of the air depends on a great number of causes, there are nevertheless principal ones, of which it is difficult to estimate the effects, because of their modifications from secondary causes. The most powerful cause is the heat of the sun, which produces successively a considerable rarefaction in different parts of the atmosphere, and gives rise to an east wind that constantly blows between the topics, where rarefaction is the greatest.
The force of the sun’s attraction, and even that of the moon on the atmosphere, are inconsiderable in comparison with that just mentioned ; it is true, this force produces in the air a motion similar to that of the flux and reflux in the sea, yet it must not be supposed that the air, because it has a spring, and is 800 times lighter than w ater, receives, by the action of the moon, a more considerable motion than that of the waters of the sea; for the distance of the moon being the same, a sea of any fluid matter will have nearly the same motion, because the force which produces it penetrates the matter, and is in proportion to its quantity ; thus a sea of water, air, or quicksilver, would elevate itself nearly to the same height, by the action of the sun and moon; hence we see that
theSB
BUFrON’s
the influence of the planets in the atmosphere is not considered, and although it must cause a slight motion of the air from east to west, this motion is insensible in comparison with that produced by the heat of the sun; but as the rarefaction will be always greatest when the sun is at the zenith, the current of air must follow the sun, and form a constant wind from east to west. This wind blows continually over the sea in the torrid zone, and in most parts of the land between the tropics ; it is this wind we feel at the suns rising; and in general the east winds are more frequent and impetuous than the west; this general wind from east to west extends even beyond the tropics, and blow s so constantly in the Pacific Sea, that vessels which sail from Acapulco to the Philippines, perform their voyage, which is more than £700 leagues without any risque, and almost without any need of directing their course. In the Atlantic, between Africa and Brazil, this wind is also constant: it is felt also between the Philippines and Africa, but not in so constant a manner, by reason of the islands, and different obstacles that are met with in that sea, for during the months of January, February, March, and April, it blows between 1	theNATURAL HISTORY.	8g
the Mozambique coast and India, but during the other months, it gives place to different winds: and although this east wind is less felt on the coasts than in the open sea, and still less in the middle of continents than on the coasts; nevertheless there are places where it blows almost continually, as on the east coasts of Brazil, on the coasts of Loango, in Africa, &c.
This east wind continually blowing under the line, is the reason, why, sailing from Europe to America^ the course of the vessel is directed from the north to the south, along the coasts of Spain and Africa, to within 20 degrees of the equator, where this east wind is met with, which carries them directly to the coasts of America.-The voyage from Acupulco to the Philippine islands, is made in two months by the means of this east wind: but the return from them to Acupulco is longer and more difficult. At 28 or SO degrees on this coast from the line, the western wind is nearly as constant, which if the reason that vessels returning from the East Indies to Europe, do not follow the same track as in going; those from New Spain sail north along the coasts till they arrive at the Havan-nah, in the island of Cuba, and from thence vot,, ii.	N	they90
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they continue northward, until they meet with the westerly winds, which carry them to the Azores and afterwards to Spain. So likewise in the South Sea, those which return from the Philippines, or China, to Peru, or Mexico, sail north as far as Japan, and navigate under that parallel to a certain distance from California, whence, coasting along New Spain, they arrive at Acapulco. These winds do not always blow from one point, but in general from the south-east from April to November, and from the northeast from November to April.
The east wind, by its action, increases the general motion of the sea from east to west; it also produces currents which are constant, so mellowing from east to w est, others from the east to the south-west or north-west, following the direction of the eminences and chains of mountains at the bottom of the sea, the vallies that divide them serving as channels to these currents. The alternate winds which blow sometimes from the east, and sometimes from the south, produce also currents which change their direction at the same time with these winds.
The winds which blow continually for some months, are generally followed by contrary
winds,N ATlTlt AL HISTORY,
9i
winds,, and therefore mariners are obliged to wait for that which is favourable to their voyage. When these winds change, a calm or dangerous tempest generally ensues, which continues for several days, sometimes a month, and has been known for more than two.
These general wind« caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere, are differently combined and modified by different causes in different climates. In that part of the Atlantic, under the temperate zone, the north wind blows almost constant during the months of October, November, December and January, w hich makes those months the most favourable to embark from Europe to India, in order to pass the line by the aid of these winds; and it is known by experience, that ships which quit Europe in the month.of March frequently do not arrive sooner at Brazil than those which sail in the October following. The north wind almost continually reigns during winter in Nova Zembla, and other northern coasts. The south wind blows during the month of July at Cape de Verd, when the rainy season, or winter of these climates sets in. At the Cape of Good Hope the north-west wind blows dining the month of September. At Patna, *	'	N 2	inm
JBUFFON*#
in the East Indies, the north-west wind blows during the months of November, December* and January, and produces heavy rains; but the east wind blows during the other nine months. In the Indian ocean, between Africa and India, as far as the Malacca islands, the monsoons reign from east to west from January to the beginning of June, the west winds begin in the months of August or September; during the interval of June and July, there are dreadful tempests generally from the north winds ; but on the coasts these winds vary much more than in the open sea.
In the kingdom of Guzarat, and on the coasts of the neighbouring sea, the north winds blow from Marcli till September, and during the other months south winds almost always reigr. The Dutch, to return from Java, generally set sail in the month of January or February, when they have the assistance
of an easterly wind, which is felt as far as the ^ *
18th degree of south latitude; afterwards they meet with the south winds w hich carry them to Si. Helena *.
There ate regular winds produced by thp melting of snows, which the ancient Greeks
* Sec Vercii* Geography* gejier. cap. £0*
haveNATURAL HISTORY.
93
have noticed. During summer a north-east wind,, and in winter one from the south-east, were noticed in Greece, Thrace,, Macedonia, the Egean sea, and as far as Egypt and Africa; the same kind of winds have been remarked at Congo, at Gu2arat, and at the extremity of Africa, which are all produced by the melting of the snows. The flux and reflux of the sea also produce regular winds which remain only a few hours, and in many places winds are observed to blow from the land during night, and from the sea during the day, as on the coasts of New Spain, Congo, the H$-yannah, &c.
The north winds are pretty regular in the polar circles ; but the nearer we approach the equator, the weaker they become : a circumstance equally common to the two poles.
In the Atlantic and Ethiopic ocean within the tropics there is an east wind which blows all the year without any considerable variation, excepting some few small places, where it changes according to circumstances and the position of the coasts. First, near the coasts of Africa, having passed the Canary islands, about the 28th degree of north latitude, a fresh wind blowing from the north-east or north-
north*
Bl'PFON S
north-east, is sure to be met with:' this wind accompanies the vessels to the iOth degree of the same latitude; about 100 leagues from the coast of Guinea; where at the 4th degree north latitude they meet with cairns and tornadoes* Secondly, in going to America by the Caribbee islands, this wind is found to veer more and more to the east, in proportion as they approach the coast. Thirdly, the limits of these variable winds in the Atlantic, are greater on the American coasts than on those of Africa. A south or south-west wand blows continually all along the coast of Guinea for a space of 500 leagues from Sierra Leona to the island of St. Thomas ; the narrow est part of that sea is from Guinea to Brazil, being not more than 500 leagues across. Nevertheless, ships which sail from Guinea do not direct their course straight to Brazil, especially when they sail in the months of July and August, for the purpose of taking advantage of the south-east winds which prevail at that time*.
In the Mediterranean the east wind blow's from the land in the evening at the sun’s setting, and the west wind from the sea at its rising in the morning. The south wind, which is com"
* See Abridg. Phil. Trail, vol. 11, page 129.
monlyNATURAL HISTORY.
Q5
monly attended with rains, and which generally blows at Paris, Burgundy and Champagne about the beginning of November, gives place to mild and temperate breezes that produce that fair wetalur vulgarly called the summer of St. Martin’s.
Doctor Lister pretends that the east wind that blows between the tropics all the year, is produced by the vapour of the plant called sea lentil, which is extremely plentiful in those climates, and that the difference of the winds on the land proceeds only from the different disposition of the trees and forests ; and he very seriously gives this ridiculous fancy for a cause of the wind, by saying, that at noon the wind is strongest because the plants are hotter and respire the most, and that it blows from east to west, because all plants, somewhat like sunflowers, turn and respire with the sun *.
Other authors have mentioned the motion of the earth on its axis as the cause of this wind: but this opinion is only specious; and every person, even but little initiated in mechanics, must ccnprehend, that no fluid which surrounds the earth can have a particular motion from the rotation of the globe ; that the air can have no other motion than that of the earth,
* See Philosophical Transactions No. 156.
andbuffon’s
Í)S
and that all terming together at one time, this rotatory motion must be as insensible in the atmosphere, as it is on the surface of the earth.
The principal cause of the winds, as we have observed, is the beat of the sun ; on this subject we refer to Halley’s Treatise in Phil. Trans. All causes which occasion rarefaction or condensation in the air will produce winds, whose directions will be opposite to the places where is the greatest rarefaction or condensation.
The pressure of the clouds, the exhalations of the earth, the inflammation of meteors, Sic. are causes which also produce considerable agitations in the atmosphere. Each of these causes combining in different manners, produces different effects. It appears to me, therefore, a vain attempt to assign a theory of the winds, for which reason I shall limit myself to the study of their history.
If we had a course of observations on the direction, power, and variation of the wind in different climates; and if these observations were exact and extensive enough for us to perceive the result of these vicissitudes of the air in every country, we should arrive
atNATURAL HISTORY.
97
tit that degree of knowledge, from which at present we are very remote. But a short time has passed since meteorological observations have been made, and possibly much more will pass before we know how to employ the results of them, although they are the only means which we have of arriving at some positive knowledge on this subject.
On the sea, the winds are more regular than on land, because the sea is an open space, in which nothing opposes their direction, while on land, mountains, forests, and towns, form obstacles which change their course. Winds, reflected by the mountains, are often as impetuous as in their first direction: these winds are very irregular, because their course depends on the size, height, and situation of the mountains which reflect them. The sea winds blow with greater power than the land w inds, are not so variable, and last longer. Land winds, however violent, have moments of remission, and sometimes of quiet, but at sea their currents are constant and continual, without my interruption.
In general, on the sea the east wind* and those which come from the poles, are stronger
vol. ii.	O	thanbuffon’s
9$
than the west and those which proceed from the equator. On the land the west and south winds are more or less violent, according to the situation of the climates. In spring and au„ tumn all winds are more violent than in sum* mer or winter, and for these reasons; first, in spring and autumn are the highest tides, and consequently the winds that these tides produce are most violent at those seasons; secondly, the motion which the action of the sun and moon produce in the air is also greater in the season of the equinoxes; thirdly, the melting of the snbws in spring, and the condensation of the vapours that the sun raises during summer, which subside in plentiful rains during autumn, produce or at least increase the wind; fourthly, the change from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, cannot be made without increasing and diminishing considerably the volume of air, which alone must produce very high winds.
Contrary currents are often observed in the air; some clouds move in one direction, while others, which are higher or lower, move in a directly opposite one; but this contrariety of motion does not remain, being commonly produced by the resistance of some large clouds
thatNATUkAL HISTORY.
99
that Force the wind into another course, but Which returns again as soon as the obstacle is removed.
The winds are more violent in mountainous places than in plains, and increase until we reach the common height of thé clouds, that is to say, to abolit one quarter, or one third of a league perpendicular height; beyond that height the sky is generally serene, at least during the summer, and the wind gradually diminishing. It is even asserted to be quite insensible at the summit of the highest tfionntains ; but these Summits being covered with snow and ice, it is natural to suppose that this region of air is agitated by the wind when the snow falls, and only during summer that the winds are not to be perceived. In summer the light vapours which are raised above the summit of these mountains fall in the form of dew, whereas in winter they condense and fall in snow or ice, which in winter may raise considerable winds, even at that height.
A current of air increases in velocity where the space of its passage is straitened : the same w ind w hich was moderate in an open plain becomes violent in passing through a narrow passage in a mountain, or between -two lofty 0 2	buildings;100
BUFFONS
buildings ; and its most violent action is at the top of these structures or mountains, for air being compressed by these obstacles, its density and mass becomes increased, and as the velocity remains, the force or momentum of the wind naturally becomes much stronger. This is the cause that near a church or castle the winds seem to be stronger than at a distance from them. I have often remarked, that the wind reflected from a lone building is more violent than the direct wind which produced it. This can only be occasioned by the impelled air being compressed against the building, and by that means adds to its force.
The density of the air being greatest at the surface of the earth, we might be led to imagine that the greatest action of the wind would be there also; and I indeed think this is really the case when the sky is serene; but when it is covered with clouds, the most violent action of the wind is at the height of these clouds, which generally fall in rain or snow. The strength of the wind, therefore, must be estimated, not only by the velocity, but also by the density of the air; for it will often happen that one wind, which shall have no more velocity than another, will, nevertheless, 2
rootNATURAL HISTORY.
101
root up trees and overturn buildings, only from the air impelled by this wind being denser ; and this evinces the imperfection of the machines invented to measure the velocity of the wind.
Particular winds, whether direct or reflected* are more violent than general ones. The interrupted action of land winds depends on the compression of the air, which renders each blast much more violent than if the wind Mowed uniformly. A strong continued wind never occasions such disasters as the rage of those produce which blow, as it were, by fits ; but we shall give examples thereof in the following article.	*
We may consider the winds, and their directions, under general points of view, from which possibly we may derive useful instructions ; for example, we might divide the winds into zones. The east wind, which extends to about 25 or 30 degrees on each side the equator, exerts its action round the globe in the torrid zone ; the north wind almost always as constantly in the frigid zones. Therefore it may be said that the east wind occupies the torrid zone, the north wind the frigid zones, and with respect to the temperate zone, the winds which reign there are merely currents
of102
bíjffonV
of air produced by these two winds, whósé direction tends to the eastern points. With respect to the westerly winds, which often reign in the temperate zones, both in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, they may be regarded as winds reflected by the lands of Asia and America, deriving their origin from thé east and north winds.
Although we have said that, generally speaking, the east winds reign round the globe to about 25 or 30 degrees on each side thé equator, it is nevertheless certain, that in some parts they do not extend so far, and their direction is not always from east to west, for on this side the equator it is east-north-east, and beyond the equator it is east-south-east, and the further we remove from the equator the more the direction is oblique. The equator is the line under which the direction of the wind from east to west is the most exact ; for example, in the indian ocean, the general wind from east to west scarcely extends beyond ] 5 degrees. Sailing from Goa to the Cape of Good Hope this wind is not felt till we have past the equator ; but after arriving at the 12th degree south latitude, it continues to the 28th degree. In the sea which divides Africa from
'AmericaNATURAL HISTORY.	10$
America there is an interval from the 4th degree north latitude to the 10th or 11th degree south, where this general wind is not perceivable ; but beyond the 10th or 11th degree it reigns as far as the 30th.
There is also much exception with regard to the trade winds, whose motion is alternative. Some remain a longer or a shorter time, others extend to greater or less distances; others are more or less regular, and more or less violent. Yarenius speaks thus of a principal phenomena of these w inds, “ In the ocean between Africa and India, as far as the Malaccas, the east winds begin to reign in January and last to the beginning of June ; in August or September the west winds begin and continue during three or four months. In the interval of these monsoons, that is from the end of June to the beginning of August, there is no wind on that sea, but they have violent storms which come from the north.
“ These winds are subject to the greatest variations near the land, for ships cannot depart from the Malabar coast, nor other western ports on the coasts of the peninsula of India, to sail to Africa, Arabia, or Persia, but from January to April or May; for from the end of
May,104
butfon’s
May, and during the months of June, July, and August, there are such violent tempests from the north or north-east that ships are not able to keep the sea. On the other side of this peninsula, in the sea which bathes the Coromandel coast, these tempests are not known.
“ To sail from Java, Ceylon, and many other places, to the Malacca islands, the month of September is the most proper time, because •the west wind begins to blow in these parts ; nevertheless, at 15 degrees south of the equator, we lose this west wind and meet with the general winds, which blow south-east. To sail from Cochin to Malacca they depart in March, because the west winds begin to blow at that time ; therefore these westerly winds blow at different times in different parts of the Indian sea ; and it is necessary to sail at different periods in going from Java to the Malaccas, from Cochin to Malacca, from Malacca to China, and from China to Japan.
i( At Banda, the west winds finish at the end of March, calms reign during April, in May the east winds begin again with great violence. At Ceylon, the west winds begin about the middle of March, and remain till the beginning of October, when the east or rather north-
easiNATURAL HISTORY.
105
east wind returns. At Madagascar, from the middle of April to the end of May, the north and north west winds are constant; but in February and March, the east and south winds reign. From Madagascar to the Cape of Good Hope, the north and collateral winds blow during March and April. In the Gulph of Bengal, the south w ind prevails after the iOth of April, before which time the south-west or north-west winds are predominant. The west w inds are also violent in the sea of China, in June and July, which is likewise the most suitable season to go from China to Japan; but to return from Japan to China, February, and March are preferred, because the east or north-east winds prevail.
“ There are winds which may be regarded as peculiar to certain coasts; for example* the south wind is almost continual on the coasts of Chili and Peru; it begins at the 46th degree south latitude, and extends beyond Panama, which renders the voyage from Lima to Panama, much easier than the return. The west wind blow7s continually on the Magellanic coasts, and in the straits of Le Maire. The north and north-west winds almost continually reign on the Malabar coast. The vql. n.	P	north-105
jsuffon’s
north-west wind is very frequent on the coast of Guinea. The westerly winds reign on the coasts of Japan, in the months of November and December.”
The alternate, or periodical winds of which we have just been speaking are sea winds; but there are also land winds which are periodical, and return either at a certain season, or in certain days, or even at certain hours; for example, on the Malabar coast, from September to April a land wind blows from the eastern side ; it generally commences at midnight, and finishes at noon, and is not felt beyond 12 or lo leagues from the coast; and from noon till midnight a gentle wind blows from the west. On the coast of N e w Spain, in America, and on that of Congo, in Africa, land winds reign during the night, and sea winds during the day. At Jamaica the winds blow from all parts of the coast at once during the night, and therefore vessels cannot go in, nor depart from it with safety, but in the day time.
In winter the port of Cochin is not to be entered, nor can any vessel quit it, because the winds blow with such impetuosity, that ships cannot remain at sea; and besides the west winds, which blow with such fury, bring to
thenatural history.
107
the mouth of the river so great a quantity of sand as prevents the possibility of ships of any size from entering it during six mounths of the year; but the east winds which blow during the other six months repel these sands, and render the entrance of the river free. At the strait of Babelmandei there are south-east winds which reign throughout the season, and are always succeeded by north-east. At St. Domingo there are two different winds which regularly rise almost every, day the one a sea wind proceeding from the east, and commences at 10 o’clock in the morning; the other a land wand comes from the west, rises at six or seven o’clock in the evening, and remains all night. There are many other facts of this nature to be extracted from travellers, the knowledge of which might perhaps lead to a history of the winds which would be a work equally useful to navigation and physics.
P %
ARTICLE108
BUF FON’s
ARTICLE XV,
OF IRREGULAR WINDS,, HURRICANES, AND OTHER PHENOMENA, CAUSED BY THE AGITATION OF T£E SEA AND AIR.
HE winds are more irregular on the land than on the sea, and in high places than in low. The mountains not only alter the direction of winds, but even produce some which are either constant or variable according to different causes. The melting of snow upon the summits of mountains, generally produces constant winds which sometimes remain a considerable time; the vapours that are stopt by mountains accumulate there, and produce variable winds, very frequent in all climates: and there are as many variations in the motions
ofNATURAL HISTORY.
109
of air, as there are inequalities on the surface of the earth. We can give therefore only examples, and relate circumstances which are attested ; and as we are deficient in a series of observations on the variation of winds, and even of the seasons in different countries, we do not pretend to explain all the causes of these differences, but confine ourselves to those which appear the most probable.
In straits, on all projecting coasts, at the extremity of all promontories, peninsulas and capes, and in all narrow bays, storms are frequent ; but without these there are some seas much more tempestuous than others. The Indian ocean, the Japan and the Magellan seas, that of the African coast beyond the Canaries, and on the other side towards the coast of Natal and the Red Sea, are very liable to storms. The Atlantic is more stormy than the ocean, which from its tranquillity is called the Pacific Sea; this sea, however, is not absolutely tranquil, except between the tropics, for the nearer w e approach the poles, the more we are subject to variable winds, whose sudden changes are frequently the causes of tempests.
Allno
BUFFON'S
All continents are subject to variable winds, which often produce singular effects; in the kingdom of Cash mire, which is surrounded by the mountain of Caucasus, at the mountain Pirepenjale, extraordinary and sudden changes are experienced; we pass, in less than an hour s travelling, from summer to winter; at this place are two winds, a north and south, and which, according to Bernier, we successively feel in less than £00 feet distance from each other; the position of this mountain must be singular, and merits observation. In the penin* sula of India, which is crossed from north to south by the mountains of Gate, it is winter on one side, and summer on the other at the same time. The like difference is met with on the two sides of Rozalgate Cape in Arabia; the sea to the north of the cape is perfectly tranquil, while in the south violent tempests are experienced. It is the same in the island of Ceylon, where winter and high winds are experienced in the northern parts of the island, while in the southern there is fine summer weather. This contrariety of seasons at the same time not only happens in many parts of the Indian continent, but also in many islands; for example, at Ceram,NATURAL HISTORY.
I i i
a long island in the neighbourhood of Amboyna they have winter in the northern part, and summer in the southern at the same time, and the interval that divides the two seasons is not above three or four leagues.
In Egypt they have a south wind in summer, so hot as to prevent respiration, and raises such great quantities of sand, that the skv seems covered with thick clouds; this sand is so fine, and driven with such force, that it penetrates even into the closest chests. When these winds last many days they cause epidemical diseases, which are often followed by a great mortality. It seldom rains in Egypt, nevertheless every year there are some days of rain in the months of December, January, and February. Thick mists are more frequent there than rain especially in the environs of Cairo; these mists begin in jNovember, and continue all the winter; and during the whole year there falls so plentiful a dew, even when the sky is serene, that it might be taken for a slight rain.
In Persia winter begins in November mid casts till March: the cold is intense enough to form ice: much snow falls on the mountains, and often a little in the plains. From March
to112
BUFFO N*S
to May the winds blow with great violence, and bring heat with them. From May to September the sky is serene, and the heat moderated by fresh breezes, which, rise every evening, and remain till morning. In autumn they have violent winds, like those of the spring; nevertheless, although these winds are very violent they scarcely ever produce tempests or hurricanes ; but in summer there often arises along the Persian Gulph a very dangerous wind, called by the natives Sctm iel; it is still hotter and more terrible than that of Egypt. This wind is mortal, aud acting like an inflamed vapour, it suffocates every person unfortunately enveloped within its vortex. In summer there also rises a wind of the same kind along the Red Sea, which suffocates men and cattle, and which conveys so great a quantity of sand that many persons conceive this sea will in time be chocked up with what falls into it. There are often clouds of sand in Arabia which darken the air and form dangerous whirlwinds. At Vera Cruz, when the north winds blow, the houses of the town are almost burned under the sand. In summer, hot winds rise also at Negapatam, in the peninsula of India, likewise at Pctapoali and Masuli-
patan.NATURAL HISTORY.	113
|>afan. These burning winds, which destroy people, are fortunately of short duration, but they are Aery violent, and the greater swiftness they come with the more dreadful are their heats, whereas all other winds refresh so much the more as their velocity is greater. This difference proceeds from the degree of heat in the air, for while the heat of the air is not so great as that of the body of animals, the motion of the air is refreshing; but if the heat of the air exceeds that of the body, then its motion heats and burns. At Goa the winter, or rather the rainy and tempestuous season, is in May, and June, and without which rains the heat would be perfectly insupportable in that country.
The Cape of Good Hope is celebrated for its tempests, and the singular cloud which pro* duces them. This cloud appears at first like a small round spot in the sky, called by the Sailors the Ox’s Eye. Probably its appearing so minute is owing to its exceeding great height.
Of all travellers who have spoken of tbit cloud, Kolbe appears to have examined it with the most attention; his words are, ** The cloud which is seen on the mountains ©f the Q	Table,114
BUFFO^V
Table, or of the Devil, or of the Wind, is coimposed, if I am not deceived,, of an infinity of small particles, impelled first against the mountains of the Cape towards the east, by the easterly winds which blow during almost the whole year in the torrid zone; these particles are stopt in their course by these high mountains, and collect on their eastern side; they then become visible and form those assemblages of clouds, which being incessantly driven by the east wind, rise to the summit of these mountains; they do not long remain there at rest, biit being obliged to advance, they ingulph themselves between the hills before them, where they are bound and confined as in a canal; the wind presses them from above, and the opposite sides of the two mountains retain them in a direct line : in advancing they arrive at the foot of a mountain, where the country is a little more open, they then expand, and become again invisible; but they are shortly driven against other mountains, by clouds which are behind them, and thus proceed with much impetuosity until they arrive at the highest mountains of the Cape, w hich are those of the w ind, or table, where they have to encounter a wind blowing in an exactly contrary direction ; this
occa-NATURAL HISTORY.
115
occasions a dreadful conflict, for the vapours being impelled behind and repelled before, produce horrible whirlwinds either on the high mountains of the Table, or adjacent vallies. When the north-west wind yields, the southeast increases, and continues to blow with more or less violence for six months: it reinforces itself while the cloud of the Ox’s Eye is thick, because the vapours collected behind press forward, and it diminishes as soon as its thickness is lessened, because there are fewer particles and less pressure, and it is entirely lowered when the Ox’s Eye is no longer apparent, because no new or not sufficient vapours cqme any longer from the east.
“ All the circumstances attending this phenomenon lead to an hypothesis, which well explains every part of it: First, behind the. mountain of the Table we remark a train of light white mists, which, commencing on the eastern descent of this mountain, incline to the sea, and occupy the mountains of Stone throughout all their extent; I have often contemplated this train, which according to my opinion was caused by the rapid passage of the vapour abovementioned, from the mountains of Stone to that of the Table,
Q 2
“ Secondly.,11«

“ Secondly, These vapours must fee ex* tremely impeded in their road, by the fre* quent shocks and counter shocks caused, n$t only by the mountains, but .also by the south and east winds which reign at places circum* jacent to the Cape : I have already spoken of the two mountains called Hanging Lip and Norvege, situated on the points of False Bay; when the particles which I conceive are impelled on these mountains by the easterly winds, they are repelled from them by the south, which carries them on the neghbouring mountains ; they are stopt there and appear like clouds, which is often the ease upon the mountains of False Bay. These clouds are frequently very thick above the land which the Dutch are in possession of, on the mountains of Stellenbosch, of Drakenstein, and Stone, but particularly on the mountains of the Table, and of the Devil.
cc In short* what confirms me in my opinion is, that constantly two or three days before the south-east wind blows on the Lioiis Head, small black clouds are perceived above it; these clouds, according to my opinion, are composed of the particles or vapours which I have spoken of. If the north-west wind prevails 6	whenNATURAL HUTOItY.
VI?
w\m\ they arrive there, they are stopped in their course, but they are never driven to a great distance till the south-east winds commence.’
The first mariners who approached the Cape of Good Hope were ignorant of the effects of these cloyds, which appear to form in the air so slowly, and w ithout any motion, but which in a moment excite the most dreadful storms which precipitate the largest vessels to the bottom of the sea. In the country of Natal, a small cloud similar to the Ox’s Eye at the Cape produces the like effects. In the sea between Africa and America, especially near the equator, these kind of tempests very often arise. Near the coast of Guinea, three or four of these storms sometimes happen in a day, and they are also caused and announced by small black clouds; the rest of the sky being generally serene, and the sea perfectly calm. The first blast which issues from these clouds is furious, and would sink ships in open sea, if they did not take the precaution to furl the sails. It is principally in April, May, and June, that these tempests are experienced on the coast of Guinea, because no regular wind blows then. The stormy season on the coasts of Loango is
inBTJPFON S
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m January, February, March, and April. On the other side of Africa, at Cape of Gardafu, these kinds of tempests rise in May, and the clouds which produce them are generally in the north like those of the Cape of Good Hope.
All these tempests are produced by winds which issue from a cloud, and which have directions either from north to south, or northeast to south-west, &c. but there are other kinds which are still more violent, and in which the winds seem to proceed from every, quarter at once ; they have a whirling motion, which nothing can resist. These are called Hurricanes. A calm generally precedes these horrible tempests; but in an instant the fury of the winds raises the waves as high as the clouds. There are parts of the sea which cannot be approached, from there being a perpetual alternation of calms and hurricanes in them. The Spaniards have called these places Calms and Tornados; the most considerable are near Guinea, at two or three degrees north latitude; they are 300 or 350 leagues in length by as many in breadth, which form a space of more than 100,000 leagues square.
When contrary winds come all at once in the same place, as to a centre, they produce
whirl*NATURAL HISTORY.	I]<>
whirlwinds by the contrariety of their motions ; but when these winds meet with others in opposition, which counterbalance their action* they then revolve in a considerable circle, and occasion a dead calm within it, through which it is impossible for vessels to make their wav. These places of the sea are marked in Senex’s globes. I am inclined to think that the contrariety of the winds alone could not produce this effect if the direction of the coasts, and the particular form of the bottom of the sea, did not contribute to it. I imagine that the currents caused by the winds, but directed by the form of the coasts and the inequalities of the bottom of the sea, end at these places, and that their opposite and contrary direction, in a plain surrounded on all sides by a chain of mountains is the real cause of these tornados.
Whirlpools appear to be no other than the eddies of the water formed by the action of two or more opposite currents. The Euripus, so famous for the death of Aristotle, alternately absorbs and rejects the water seven times in twenty-four hours. This whirlpool is near the Grecian coast. The Charybdis, which is near the straits of Sicily, rejects and absorbs the water thrice in twenty-four hours. We are jiot quite certain as to the number of alternate
motions120

motions ili these whirlpools. Doctor Maceri-ti a, in his treatise of Egeo Redivivo, says, that the Euripus has irregular motions for eighteen or nineteen days every month, and regular ones for the other eleven ; that in general it swells about one foot, and seldom two : he says likewise that authors do not agree as to the tides of tire Euripus; that some assert it is twice> some seven, others fourteen times in twenty-four hours, but that Loirius having examined it attentively, observed it rose regularly every six hours, and with so violent a motion, that it was sufficient to turn the wheel of a mill*
The greatest known whirlpool is that in the Norwegian sea, which is affirmed to be upwards of twenty leagues in circumference. It absorbs, for six hours, water, whales, ships, and every thing that comes near it, and afterwards returns them in the same quantity of time as it drew them in.
It is not necessary to suppose that them are boles and abysses in the bottom of the sea, which swallow up the waters continually, to assign a reason for whirlpools, it is Well known that wbeYi Water has two contrary directions, thè combination óf thesè motions produces a whirling, and seem to form à void place in the centre. It is the Samewith respect to whirlpoolsNATURAL HISTORY.
121
pools in the sea; they are produced by two or three contrary currents ; and as the flux and reflux, which run every six hours in contrary directions, are the principal cause of currents, it is not astonishing that whirlpools, which re« suit from them, attract and swallow up all that surrounds them, and afterwards reject all they have absorbed in the same portion of time.
Whirlpools, therefore, are produced by opposite currents, and hurricanes by the meeting of contrary winds. These hurricanes are common m the seas of China and Japan, near the Antilles, and in many other parts of the sea, particularly near projecting lands and high coasts; but they are still more frequent upon land, and their effects are sometimes prodigious. “ I have seen/’ says Bellarmin, “ an “ enormous ditch dug up by the wind, and tc the earth of it carried to a distance; so that the place from whence it had been u taken appeared a frightful hole, and the a village upon w hich it was dropped was en-tirely covered with it*.*1 In the history of the French Academy, and in the Philosophical Transactions, are the detail of the effects of many hurricanes, w hich appear inconceivable and scarcely credible, if the facts
* B ell ar minus, de ascmsu mentis in Deum• VOL. II.	R
were122	buffon’s
were not attested by a great number of intelligent testimonies.
It is the same with respect to water spouts, which mariners never see without fear and amazement; these are very frequent near certain coasts of the Mediterranean, especially when the skv is cloudy and the wind blows at the same, time from various coasts. They are more common near the coasts of Laodicea, Grecgo, and Carmel, than in other parts of the Mediterranean. Most of them are, large cylinders of water which fail from the clouds, although it appears, when we are at some distance, that the water of the sea rises up in the clouds*.
But there are two kinds of water spouts : the first, which is alluded to above, is no other than a thick compressed cloud, reduced to a small space by contrary winds, which, blowing at the same time from many corners, give it a cylindrical form, and causes the water to fall by its own weight. The quantity of water is so great, and the fall so sudden and precipitate, that if unfortunately one of these spouts breaks on a vessel it shatters it to pieces, and sinks it in an instant. It is asserted, and possibly with truth, that these spouts may be broken and
* See Shaw’* Travels, vol. II. page 56.
destroyed
,5NATURAL HISTORY.
ies
destroyed by the commotion which the firing of cannons excite in the air; which answers to the effect of dispersing thunder and hail clouds by the ringing of bells.
The other kind of water-spout is called a typhon, which many authors have confounded with the hurricane, in speaking of the storms of the Chinese sea, which is in fact subject to both. The typhon does not descend from the clouds, but rises up from the sea with groat violence. By whirlwinds, sands, earth, houses, trees and animals, are raised in the air and transported to different parts, but typhous, on the contrary, remain in the same place, and can only have subterraneous fires for their origin; for the sea is then in the greatest agitation, and the air so strongly filled with sulphurous exhalations, that the sky appeals covered with a copper-coloured crust, although there are no clouds, and the sun or stars nifty be seen through the vapour. It is to these subterraneous fires that the warmth of the sea of Cfiiua in winter must be attributed, as these typhous are there very frequent*.
Thevenot, in his voyage to the Levant, says, u we saw water-spou s in the Persian Guiph,
See Acta Erud. Lips. Supplementum, vol. I. p. 405.
R 2	betweenite
buefon’s
between the islands Quesomo, Lareca, and Ormus. I think tew people have considered water-spouts with so much attention as 1 have done. I shall mention my remarks with all possible simplicity, in order to render them plain and easy to be conprehended.
“ The first that we saw appeared on the northern coast, between us and the island Quesomo, about^^gun-shot from the ship: we directly pesceived the water boiled on the surface ot the sea, and was raised about a foot: it was whitish, and the top appeared like a thick black smoke, so that it properly resembled some burning straw', which only smoked. It made a noise like a torrent that runs with rapidity into a deep valley. This noise was mixed with another, similar to the hissing of serpems: a little afterwards vve perceived something like a dark pipe, which resembled smoke ascending townsds. the clouds, turning round with great velocity: this appealed about the ihuLucsscf my finger, and the same noise still continued. After this it disappeared, having rtmaimd somewhat less than a quarter of an hour. 1 his over, we perceived another on the south side, which began in the same manner as the preceding:HATTIRAL HISTORY.
125
directly after a third made its appearance on the west, and then a fourth by its side. The farthest of them was not more than a musket-shot from us. They all appeared like burning heaps of straw, a foot and a haJf or two feet hi-h, and were attended with the same noise as the first. We afterwards saw three pipes or canals descending from the clouds to the water. They were broad at the top and lessened downwards, something in the shape of a trumpet, or as the paps of an animal, drawn perpendicularly down by a heavy weight. These canals appeared of a darkish white, occasioned, as I think, by the w aters which were in them ; for apparently they w ere formed before the water entered, as when they were empty they were no longer to be seen, like as a clear glass tube placed at some distance before our eyes, is not perceptible if it is not filled w ith some coloured liquor. 1 hese pipes were not strait but crooked in some places; they were not even perpendicular, but Irom the clouds, where they were jemed to the parts w hich drew in the whaler, they wer e very much bent; and w hat is more particular, the cloud, to w hich the second of the three was fastened, having been driven by the wmd, this pipe followed it without break-
ing125
buffon’s
ing or quitting the place where it drew in the water, and passing behind the first, they had for some time the form of St. Andrew’s cross. At the beginning neither of them , was more than an inch in thickness, excepting just at the top, but afterwards the first of the three increased considerably. The two others scarcely remained longer than that which we saw on the north side. The second, on the south side, remained about a quarter of an hour, but the first on that side remained longer, and gave us some apprehensions. At fi st it was not bigger than my finger, afterwards it swelled as thick as my arm, then as my leg, and at last as the trunk of a large tree, which a man might encompass with both his aims. We distinctly perceived water through this transparent body, which ascended in a serpentine manner. Sometimes it diminished in size at the top, and sometimes at the bottom, then it exactly resembled a tube with some fluid matter pressed with the fingers, either above to make this liquor descend, or at bottom to cause it to ascend ; and I am persuaded that it was the violence of the wind which caused these changes, pressing the pipe in a similar manner. After this it diminished less than iny arm, then
returnedNÀTrHAL HISTORY.
m
returned as large as my thigh, and'then again became very small; at last I saw the water that was raised from the surface began to lower, and the end of the pipe divided from it, when, by the change of light from a cloud, it was lost to our sight; I continued, however, to observe whether it returned, because I had remarked that the pipe of the second lead appeared to be broken in the middle, and directly after we saw it w hole. This we found w7as occasioned by the light which hid the half from us, but the last we saw no more.
“ These water-spouts are very dangerous, for if they fall on a vessel they entangle in the sails so much that sometimes they raise it up, and afterwards let it fall with such violence as to sink it; at least if they do not hit the vessel up they tear all the sails and let tire water they contain fall on it, and winds often sinks it to the bottom. There cannot be the least doubt but it is by similar accidents that many ships, of which we have heard no accounts, have been lost, since there are but lew examples of those that we have know u irom certainty to have perished in this m diner.”
I suspect there are many optical illusions in .the above account, but 1 have detailed them
asBTJFFON S
KS
as related, in erder that we might compare them with those of other travellers. The following description is by M. Gentil, in his voyage round tile v orld : ft At eleven o’clock in the morning, the air being filled with clouds, we perceived about our vessel, at a quarter of a mile distance, six water-spouts, which made a noise similar to that of water flowing in subterraneous canals, and increased until it resembled the whistling which an impetuous wind makes among the cordage of a ship. \\ e at first observed the water to boil up about a foot and a half above the surface. Above this boiling there appeared a mixed or rather a thick smoke, which formed a kind of canal, that ascended to the clouds. These canals inclined according as the wind moved the clouds to which they were attached, and in spite of the wind’s impulsion they not only adhered to them, but even lengthened and shortened themselves in proportion as the clouds rose higher or lower in the atmosphere.
“ These phenomena terrified us greatly, and our sailors, instead of being bolder, exaggerated their fears by the dismal tales they told each other. If these spouts, said they, fall on our vessel, they will lift her up, and then she will
sink-NATURAL HISTORY.
139
»ink by the violence of her fall. Others, and they were the officers, contended, in a decisive tone, that they would not raise the vessel up, but if they met it in their course, being full of water, the ship would break the communication they had with the sea, and the whole body of the water would fall perpendicularly on the deck of the vessel and split her to pieces.
" To prevent this misfortune the cannon \n as loaded, the sailors pretending that the re* port of a cannon, by agitating the air, dissipated these phenomena; but we had no need of having recourse to this remedy, for when they had run about ten minutes about the ship, some at a quarter of a league, others at a les& distance, we perceived the canals to grow nar* rower by degrees, till they got loose from tho surface of the sea and then dissipated.”
It apears, from the description given by these two travellers, that water-spouts are pro-* duced, at least m part, by the action of a fire or smoke which rises from the bottom of tho sea with great force, and that they are quits different from those produced by contrary winds.
u The water-spouts, says Mr. Shaw, which I had an opportunity of seeing, appeared like so
vol, ii,	S	manyB*JFFO>rs
13b
many cylinders of water which fell from th^ clouds, although by the reflection of the columns which descend, or by the drops which detach themselves from the water they contain*, it sometimes seems, especially when we are at some distance, that the water is drawn up from the sea. To render a reason for this phenomena, we may suppose that the clouds being collected in one part by opposite winds, they •forcer them by pressing them with violence to condense and descend in this manner
There still remain many facts to be acquired before we can give a complete explanation of these phenomena; it appears to me, that if there are, under the waters of the sea, at particular places, soils mixed with sulphur, bitumen, and minerals, which cannot be doubted, these matters may be inflamed and produce a great quantity of air, which being newly generated and prodigiously rarefied, ascends with rapidity, and may raise these w ater-spouts from the sea to the sky; so likewise, if by inflammation of the sulphurous matters which a cloud contains, a current of air is formed, which des-\ cends perpendicularly from the clouds toward« the sea, all its water may follow the current of air, and form a water-spout which will fall from 2	theNATURAL HISTORY.	131
the sky upon the sea; but it must be allowed that the explanation of this kind of water-spout, as well as that which we have given of those produced by contrary winds, is not satisfactory; and it might be asked why these kinds of waterspouts, which fall perpendicularly from the clouds, are not as often seen on the land as oil the sea/
The History of the Academy, for the year 1727* mentions a land watcr-spout which appeared at Capestan, near Beziers; it descended from a cloud like a black pillar, which diminished by degrees, and at length terminated in a point upon the surface of the earth. It obeyed the wind which blew from west to south-west. It was accompanied with a very thick smoke, and made a similar noise to that of a troubled sea. It tore up and carried away trees to the distance of forty or fifty feet, marking its way by a large track, on which three carriages might have passed each other. Tfhere appeared another pillar of the same kind, but which soon joined the first; and after the whole had disappeared a great quantity of hail fell on the earth.
Tliis kind of water-spout appears to be still different from the other two: it is not mentioned to have contained water ; and it seems*
S 2	bybcffon’s
fey what I have related, and by the explanation given of it by M. Andoque, to the academy, that this water spout was'only a whirlwind, rendered visible by the dust and condensed vapours which it contained.
In the same history, for the year 1741, a water-spout is spoken of, seen on the lake of Geneva; it was a column of which the upper part was inclined to a very black cloud, aqd the lower, which w as narrower, terminated a little above the water. This phenomena remained only a few minutes, and at the mo. ment it was dissipated a thick vapour was perceived at the part where it first appeared; the waters of the lake boiled and seemed to make an effort to rise up. The air was very ealm during the w hole time; and when it disappeared neither wind nor rain ensued. u After all which we know,” says the historian of the Academy, “ concerning water-spouts, is not this another proof that they are not formed by the conflict of the winds, but almost always' produced by volcanos or subterraneous vapours, from which we know the bottom of the sea is not exempt? Whirlwinds and hurricanes, which we cpmmonly thought to be the cause of these appearances, may possibly be only the effect; or an accidental event of them/’
ARTICLEîü'AXUItAL U R,TORY.
133
ARTICLE XVI.
OF VOLCANOS AND EARTHQUAKES.
r£ HE burning mountains, called volcanos, contain in their bowels sulphur, bitumen, and other matters of an inflammable nature, the effects of which are more violent than that of gunpowder, or even thunder, and have from the earliest ages terrified mankind, and desolated the country. A volcano is an immense cannon, whose orifice is often more than half a league : from this wide mouth are vomited forth torrents of smoke and flames, rivers of bitumen, sulphur, and melted metals, clouds of cinders and stones, and sometimes it ejects enormous rocks to many leagues distance, which human powers united could not move: the conflagration is so terrible, and the quantitym
buffon’s
tity of burnt, melted, calcined and vitrified matters which the mountain throws out is so great, that they destroy cities and forests, cover fields a hundred and two hundred feet in thickness, and sometimes form hills and mountains, which are only heaps of these matters piled up together. The action of this fire, and the force of its explosion, is so violent, that it produces by its re-action successions which shake the earth,agitate the sea,overthrow mountains, and destroy the most solid towers and edifices, even to very considerable distances. These effects, although natural, have been looked upon as prodigies; and although we see in miniature, by fire, effects nearly similar to those of volcanos, yet there is something in grandeur, of w hatever nature it may be, that invariably strikes the imagination and influences the mind, and therefore I am not surprised that some authors have taken them for the vents of a central fire, and ignorant people for the mouths of Hell. Astonishment produces fear, and fear is the mother of superstition. The natives of Iceland imagine the roarings of the volcano are the cries of the damned, and its eruptions the effects of the rage of devils, and the despair of the wretched.
AllftATtfRAL HISTOHT.
135
All its effects, however, arise from fire and mnoke : veins of sulphur, bitumen, and other inflammable matters, are found in the bowels of mountains, as well as minerals and pyrites* w hich ferment when exposed to air or humidity, and cause explosions proportionate to the quantity of inflamed matters. This is the just idea of a volcano, and it is easy for a philosopher to imitate the action of these subterranean fires; for by mixing together a quantity of brimstone and iron filings, and burying them in the earth to a certain depth, a small volcano may be produced, whose effects will be exactly similar; for this mixture inflames by fermentation, throws oft the earth and stones with which it is covered, and smokes, flames, and explodes like a real volcano.
In Europe are three famous volcanos, Mount iEtna, in Sicily, Mount Hecla, in Iceland, and Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, in Italy. Mount iEtna has burnt from time immemorial, its eruptions are very violent, and the quantity of matter it throws out is so great, that after dig-ging 68 feet deep, marble pavements and the vestiges of an ancient town have been found buried tinder this thickness of matter, in the pHune manner as the city of Herculaneum has
beenUurFON’S
136
been covered by the matter thrown out from Vesuvius. New mouths in -¿Etna were opened in 1650, 1669, and at other times. We see the flame and smoke of this volcano from Malta, about. 60 leagues distance : it smokes continually* and there are times when it vomits flames, stones, and matters of every kind with impetuosity. In 1537, there was an eruption of this volcano, which caused an earthquake in Sicily that continued for VI days, and which overthrew a number of houses and public structures ; it ceased by the opening of a new mouth, the lava from which burnt every thing within five leagues of the mountain. The cinders thrown out by the volcano were so abundant, and ejected with so much force, that they were driven as far as Italy; and vessels at some distance from Sicily, were incommoded by them. Farelli says the foot of this mountain is 100 leagues in circumference.
This volcano has now two principal mouths* one narrower than the other; smoke comes continually from them, but flames never issue but during the time of eruptions; it is pretended that large stones have been thrown out by them to the distance of 60,000 feet.NATURAL HISTORY.
1S7
In 1683 a violent eruption caused a terrible earthquake in Sicily ; it entirely destroyed the town of Catanea, and killed more than 60,000 persons in that town, besides those which were destroyed in the neighbouring towns and villages.
Hecla throws out its fires through the ice and snow of a frozen land: its eruptions are nevertheless as violent as those of Ætna, and other volcanos of southern countries. It throws out cinders, lava, pumice stones, and sometimes boiling water ; the country is not habitable, within six leagues of this volcano, and the whole island of Iceland is very abundant in sulphur. The history of the violent eruptions of Hecla are recorded by Dithmar Bleffken.
Mount Vesuvius, according to historians, did not begin burning till the seventh Consulate ofTitus Vespasian and Flavius Domitian. The top being opened, it at first threw out stones and rocks, afterwards fire and lava, which burnt two neighbouring towns, and emitted such thick smoke, that it obscured the light of the sun. Pliny the elder, desirous of examining this conflagation nearer, was suffocated by the smoke *.
* See th# Epistle of Pliny, jua, to Tacitus*
VOL. It,	T	Dios138
BUFFO S93
Dion Cassius relates* that this eruption wa$ so violent, that cinders and sulphurous smoke were driven as far as Rome, and even beyond the Mediterranean into Africa. Heraclea was one of the two towns burned by this first conflagration of Vesuvius, which in these latter timet has been discovered at more than GO feet deep, the surface above which was become by length of time arable land and fit for culture. The relation of the discovery of Heraclea is in the hands of the public, and we can only wish that some person versed in Natural His* tory would examine the different matters which compose this soil of 60 feet, attending to their disposition and situation, the alterations they have produced or suffered, the direction they have taken, and the hardness they have& acquired.
There is an appearance that Naples is situate on a hollow ground, filled with burning materials, for Vesuvius and Solfatera seem to have interior communications. When Vesuvius casts out lava, Solfatera emits flames, and when the one ceases the other k extin^ guished. The city of Naples is situate nearly between them«
OneNATURAL HISTORY,
13$
Out of the last and most violent eruptions of Mount Vesuvius was in the year 1737 *. The mountain vomited, by several mouths* large torrents of burning metallic matters* which dispersed themselves over the country* and flowed into the sea. Mons. Montealegre, who communicated this relation to the Academy of Sciences, observed with horror one of these rivers of Are, whose length horn the mountain to the sea was about seven miles, its breadth about 60 feet, its depth £5 or 30 palms* and in bottoms of vallies £20: the matter which flowed was like the scum which issues from the furnace of a forge f, &c.
In Asia, particularly in the islands of the Indian Ocean, there are many volcanos; one of the most famous is Mount Albours, bear Mount Taurus, eight leagues from Herat; its summit continually smokes, and it frequently throws out flames and burning matter in such quantities, that the surrounding countiy is co* »ered with cinders. Jrt the island of Temate there is a volcano which throws out mattes
* It should be remembered, as noticed by Mr. Smellie, that ihe original of this work was published by our author in 174% *: ice when Vesuvius has undergone several eruptions.
i Sec tlw Hist Acad, an, 1737,
T 2	Ilk*140
buffon’s
like pumice-stones. Some travellers assert that this volcano is most furious at the time of the equinoxes, because certain winds then reign there, which inflame the matter that feeds, and has fed this fire for a number of years
The island of Ternate is but seven leagues round, and is only the summit of a mountain; it gradually ascends from the shore to the middle of the island, where the volcano rises to a considerable height, to the top of which it is very difficult to attain. Many rills of sweet water descend along the ridge of this mountain, and when the air is calm, and the season mild, this burning gulph is in less agitation than during storms and high winds f. This confirms what I have said in a former article, and seems to prove that the fire of volcanos does not proceed from any considerable depth, but from the top, or at least not far distant from the summit of the mountain; for if it was not so the high winds could not increase their combustion. There are other volcanos in the Malaccas. In one of the Mauritius islands, 70 leagues from the Ma~ laccas, there is a volcano, whose effects are as
* See Argeasola’s Travels, vol. I. page 21.
t See the Travels of Schotiten.
violentNATURAL HISTORY*
141
violent as those of Mount Ternate, Sorca island, one of the Malaccas, was formerly in** habited. In the middle of this island there is a lofty mountain, with a volcano at the top* In 1693 this volcano vomited bitumen and in-flamed matters in such a great quantity as to form a burning lake, and which covered the whole island
At Japan, and in the adjacent islands, there are several volcanos, which emit flames during the night and smoke in the day. At the Phil-lippine islands there are also burning mountains. One of the most famous volcanos of the islands in the Indian ocean, and the most recent, is that near the town of Panarucan, in the island of Java; it opened in 5586, and at the first eruption it threw out an enormous quantity of sulphur, bitumen, and stones. The same year Mount Gounapi, in the island of Banda, which continued only seventeen years, opened and ejected, with a frightful noise, rocks and matters of every kind. There are also some other volcanos in India, as at Sumatra, and in the north of Asia, but those are not considerable.
* See Phil, Trans, ab. v©l, IJ, page 391,
InJMJFFOK $
HA 9 •%
In Africa there is a mountain, or rather * ¿caver», called Beniguazeval, near Fez, which always emits smoke, and sometimes flames* One of the islands of Cape de Verd, called the Fuogo, is only a large mountain which burns continually; this volcano, throws out cinders and stones; and the Portugueze, who have attempted several times to erect habitations in this island, have been constrained to abandon the project through dread of the volcano* The Peak of Teneriffe, considered as one of the highest mountains of the earth, throws out fire, cinders and large stones ; from its top rivulets of melted sulphur flow across the snow, where |t forms veins that are distinguishable at a great distance*
In America there are a great number of volcanos, particularly in the mountains of Peru and Mexico; that of Arequipa is one of the most famous; it often causes earrhquakes which are more common in Peru than in any other country ¿1 the world* The volcano of Carrappa and that of Malahallo are, according to the report of travellers, the most considerable next to that of Arequipa; but there are many others in these parts of which we have no exact knowledge* M. Bourguet, in his voyage to Peru,
publishedfiATOHAL HISTbftf.
143
published in tile Memoirs of the Academy of the year 1744, mentions two volcanos, called Goto* paxi and pichincha ; the first at some distance from, the other near the town of Quito; he was witness of a conflagration of Bokhan in 1742* and of the orifice which w as made in that mountain; this eruption did no other damage than melting the snow and producing such torrents of water, that in less than three hours inundated a tract of country IB leagues in extent, and overthrew all they met with in their way.
At Mexico the most considerable volcanos are Popochampcche, and the Popoatepec; it was near this last that Cortes passed in his voyage to Mexico; some of the Spaniards ascended to the top, where they saw the mouth, which was about half a league in circumference. Sulphur» ©us mountains are also met with at Guada« loupe, Ter cera, aud other islands of the Azo-res; and if we were to consider as volcanos ail those mountains which smoke, or emit flames* we might reckon more than sixty; we have only spoken of those formidable volcanos, near which no person dares to inhabit.
These volcanos, which are in such great numbers in the Cordeliers, as I have formerly said, cause almost continual earthquakes, which pre-$	vent144
buffgn's
vent the natives from building with stone above one story high, and to construct the upper stories of their houses with reeds and light wood. In these mountains are also many precipices and large vents, the sides of which are black and burnt, as in the precipice of Mount Ararat, in Armenia, which is called the Abyss; these abysses are the mouths of extinguished volcanos.
There was lately an earthquake at lima, the effects of which were dreadful. The town of Lima and Port Callao were almost entirely swallowed up; but the evil w as still greater at Callao. The sea rose and covered every building in that town, drowned all the inhabitants, and left only one single tower remaining. Of twrenty*five ships that were in this port, four were carried a league upon land, and the rest were swallowed up by the sea. At Lima, which was a large town, there remains only twenty-seven houses standing, a great number of persons were burried in the ruins, particularly Monks and religious persons, as their buildings were h#her and constructed of more solid materials than the other houses. This misfortune happened at night, in October 1746; the shock remained fifteen minutes.
ThereSTATURAL lit STORY*
there was formerly, near the port of Pisca* in Peru, a famous city, situated on the sea shore, which was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake that happened the 19th of Q<> lober 168£; for the sea having extended beyond its common bounds, swallowed up this unfortunate place with every person that was in it.
If we consult historians and travellers, we shall find relations of many earthquakes and eruptions of volcanos, whose effects have been as terrible as those we have just mentioned. Posidonius, whom Strabo quotes in his first book, relates, that a city in Phcenicia> near Sidon, was swallowed up by an earthquake, with the neighbouring territory, and even two thirds of Sidon ; this effect was not so sudden but that many of the inhabitants had time to avoid it by flight. This shock extended throughout all Syria, and as far as the Cyclade islands, and into Euboea, where the fountains of Arethusa suddenly stopped, and did not reappear for many days after, and then by many new springs remote from the old ones; that this earthquake did not cease from shaking the island, sometimes in one part and sometimes in . another, until the earth opened in the valley vol. n.	U	of146
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of Lepanta, and ejected a great quantity of lava and other inflamed matters. Plin}r, ih his first book, chap. 84, relates, that in the reign of Tiberius an earthquake happened which overthrew twelve towns in Asia: and in his second book he mentions a prodigy caused by an earthquake. 8t. Augustine records, that bv a great earthquake there were towns overthrown in Lybia. In the time of Trajan, the town of Antioch, and a great part of the adjacent country were swallowed up by an earthquake^ and in the time of Justinian, in 528, it was a second time destroyed by the same cause, with upwards of 40,000 of its inhabitants. Sixty years after, in the time of St. Gregory, it felt the effects of a third earthquake, when 60,000 of its inhabitants perished. In the time of Saladiir, in 1182?, most of the towns of Syria and Judea were destroyed by the .same calamity. In Calabria and Apulia, there have been more earthquakes than in any other part of Europe. In the time of Pope Pius II. all the churches and palaces of Naples were overthrown, and above 30,000 of its inhabitants killed; the remainder were obliged to live in tents till houses were built. In 1629, there were earthquakes in Apulia, which
" destroyedNATURAL HISTORY.
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destroyed 7000 persons, and in 1638, the town of St. Euphemia was swallowed up, and there remains only a stinking lake in its place. Kagusa and Smyrna, at the same time, were
40«
also almost destroyed* There was was an earthquake in 1692, which extended into England, H olland, inlanders, Germany, and France; it was cliiefly felt on the sea-coasts and near large rivers, it shook at least 2600 square leagues; it lusted only two minutes, and the motion was more .considerable on mountains than in Tallies *. On the 1.0 th of July, 1688, there was an earthquake at Smyrna, which began by a motion from west to east; the castle w as first overthrown, its four w alls being divided and sunk six feet in the sea; this castle stood upon an isthmus, but is at present a real island, about 100 paces distant from the land. The avails from east to west are fallen down, those from north to south are yet standing ; the city, w hich is 10 miles from the castle, wras destroyed shortly after; in many places the earth opewfd, and subterraneous noises were heard; five or six shocks were felt as night qame on, the last continued only half a minute; the ships in the road w ere shaken; the grouncj
* .See Hay’s Discourses, page 27?.
' U ¡8148	i&irtoiBs
of the town was lowered about two feet; not above a quartet of the town withstood the shock, and those principally the houses which stood on idck£; from 15 to ¿6,000 persons are? computed to have been buried under the ruins *. In 1695, an earthquake was felt at Bologna in Italy, and it was remarked as a particular circumstance, that the water wa§ nfiuch troubled a day before
^ At ^Fercera there happened an earthquake oil the 4th of May, 1614, which overthrew in the town of Aftgra eleven churches and nine chapels, besides private houses: and in the town of Bray a it was sd terrible, that scarcely a house was left standing. On the 16th of June 16&S, there Was ah earthquake in the island of St. Michael, the eiFects of which was s6 great that in a place where the sea w as more than an 150 fathoms deep an island was thrown Up more than a league and: a half long, and Upw ards of Bo fothOms high f. Another happened in iBgi, in Hie island of St. Michael, which began the 6th of July/mill lasted till the T2th of the following month: Tercera and Fayal were agitated the he^t rooming with so
*	See the Hist, of the Acad, des Sciences, anno 1608.
*	Ibid* aunt) 1698; d Sefe the VbyAgCs of ivlandeliso.
y	muchN AT UR At HI STO R V.
149
violence/ that they appeared to move j but these frightful shocks returned there only four times, whereas at St. Michael they did not cease a moment fark several days. The islanders quitted their bouses, which they saw fall before their eyes, and remained all the time in the fields Exposed to- the injur/es of the weather* The whole town ofVilla Franca Was overthrown t$ its very foundation, and most of the inhabitants buried under its ruins. In many parts the plain# rose into hills, and in others mountains were flattened into vallies. A spring of water issued from the earth, which flowed for four days, and then ceased all on a sudden. The air and sea, still more agitated, resounded with a noise which might have been taken for the roaring of a number of wild ani^ jnals. Many persons died with the fright; the ships in the harbour suffered dangerous shocks, and those which were at anchor, or under sa$ at 20 leagues distant from the islands, received great damage. Earthquakes are frequent ini the Azores, and about twenty years before a mountain in St. Michael was overturned by one of them #.
V In Manilla, in the month of September
* Hist, of Voyages,
1627,150
buffon’s
3627* an earthquake levelled one of the two mountains called Carvallos, in the proviuce of Cagayan; in 1645, one third of the town was destroyed by a like accident, and S00 persons perished. The succeeding.year it experienced another ; .and the ancient Indians say they were more terrible formerly, which was the reason they built their houses only of w ood; a custom still continued, and which the Spaniards follow.
fS The number of volcanos in this island confirms that assertion; because at certain times they vomit forth flames, shake the earth and perform all the effects which Pliny attributes to those of Vesuvius; that is, they change the beds of rivers, drive back the adjacent sea, fill with cinders the neighbouring plains, and throw out stones to great distances, with re^-ports louder than those of cannons
u In 1646, a mountain in the island of Ma-chian split by an earthquake, with a dreadful noise; from this opening issued a number of flames which destroyed several plantations with the inhabitants and all that was on them. In the year 1685, this prodigious crack w as to be $een and probably is still apparent; it is called
* See le Voyage de Gemelli Carrreri, page 120.
theHATTJRAL HISTORY.
lb I
the wheel rut of Machian, because it descends from the top to the bottom, like a road hollowed out, but which at a distance appears like a wheel rut
The history of the French Academy mentions in the following terms the earthquakes that took pace in 1702 and 1703.	“ The
earthquakes began in Italy in October 1702, and continued till July 1705; the country which suffered the most by them, and where they began is the town of Norcia, with its dependencies under the ecclesiastical government, and the province of Abruzzo, which are situated at the foot of the Appenines on the south-side.
“ They were often accompanied with terrible noises in the air, which also were heard without any dreadful effects when the sky was serene. The earthquake which happened oil the 2d of February 1703 was the most violent; it was accompanied, at least at Rome, with a great serenity of sky and calmness in the air. It lasted at Rome half a minute, and at Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, three hours. It destroyed the whole town of Aquila, buried 5000 persons under the ruins, and made great havock in the environs The vibration of the earth, ac-
* See the Hist, of the Conquest of the Malaccas, vcL 1IL » 013,
cordingBtJFTr01S5S
1
j c/-*
cording to the observations made by the lamps in the churches, was from north to south.
“ It opened two places in a held whence issued a great quantity of stones, which entirely covered it, and rendered it barren; after tl'ie stones, water issued from these apertures, and ascended above the height of trie trees: this lasted half an hour, and inundated the adjacent fields. The water was whitish, like soap suds^ and had not any remarkable tasje.
“ A mountain near Sigillo, a city twenty-two miles distant from Aquila, had on its summit a very large plain surrounded with rocks like a wall. The earthquake of the 2d of February changed this plain into a gulph of unequal breadth, whose greatest diameter is twenty-five fathoms, and the least twenty; the depth of it has not been discovered, although a line 300 fathoms has been let down in it. At the time this opening was made, flames were seen to issue out, and afterwards a great smoke which lasted three days with some interruptions.
“ At Genoa, on the 1st and .2d of July, 1703, there were two slight earthquakes, the last was felt only by the people on the pier; at the same time the sea in the port sunk six feet, and remained so a quarter of an hour.
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The sulphurous water in the road from Rome to Tivoli was diminished two feet and a half, both in the bason and in the canal. In many places of the plain, called 'Festine, the springs and rivulets, which formed morasses* are all dried up. The waters of the lake called i’Enfer is also lowered three feet. In place of the ancient springs new ones have appeared at about a league distance, so that possibly they are the same waters which have changed direction
The same earthquake which, in 1638, formed Monti di Ciñere, near Pouzzol, filled lake Lu-crin with stones, earth, and cinders, so that this lake is now a marshy ground 'f.
There are earthquakes also felt at some distance at sea. Mr. Shaw says that in 1774* being on board the Gazella, an Algerine vessel, mounting 50 guns, three violent shocks were felt one after the other, as if every time a weight of 20 or 30 tons had been thrown on the ballast. This happened in a part of the Mediterranean that-was more than 200 fathom, deep. -He relates also, that others had feltr earthquakes much more considerable in other
* Anno 1704, papy 10. t See Hay's Di*cou(ses, page 12.
yom II.	parts,154
BimONTS
parts, arid ôrie among the rest at 40 leagues west from Lisbon
Schouten, speaking of an earthquake in the Malacca islands, says, that the mountains were shaken, and the vessels at anchor in 30 or 40 fathoms water were shook, as if they had struck against rocks or banks. “ Experience, continues he, teaches us every day that th$ same happens in the open sea, where no bottom is to be met with, and that ships are tossed to and fro by earthquakes, even where the sea is tranquil.”
Gentil, in his voyage round the world, speaks of earthquakes in the following terms : “ I have, says he, made some remarks on these earthquakes ; first, that half an hoar before the earth is agitated every animal is struck with fear ; horses snort, break their fastenings, and fly from the stable ; dogs bark ; birds, as if ¿tupified, % into houses for safety ; and rats and mice quit their holes. Secondly, that vessels at anchor are so violently agitated, that every part of them seems as if going to pieces^ $’ie cannons force themselves loose, and the masts break in several places. These facts I should scarcely have given credit to if many
* See Shaw’s Travels, vol. I. p. 303.
unanimousNATURAL HISTORY.
15.0
unanimous testimonies had not convinced ui*. I know the bottom of the sea is a continuation ©f the land, and that if one is agitated it wil^ communicate to the other; but L could not conceive how every part of a vessel, floating in a fluid, should be affected in the same manner as if she were on the earth: it appeared to me that her motion should have been such as she experiences in a storm ; besides, in the circumstance which I speak of, the surface of the sea was smooth, and there was no wind. Thirdly, if the cavern of the earth, where this subterraneous fire is contained, has a direction from north to south, and if the buildings of an adjacent town are in a parallel line with it, all the houses are overthrown, whereas if this vein or cavern executes its effects by the breadth of the town, the devastation of the earthquake is much less considerable
In countries subject to earthquakes when a new volcano breaks out, earthquakes cease, and are only felt in the violent eruptions of the volcano, as is observed in the island of St. Christopher t.
* See Gen-til’s Voyages, vol. L page its?, &c. t See Abridgement of Phil. Trans, vol ii. page $9$.
X 2	The156
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The enormous ravages produced by earthquakes have made some naturalists think that mountains and other inequalities of the surface of the globe were only the effects of subterraneous fires, and that all these irregularities must be attributed to the violent shocks which they have produced. This, for example, is the ©pinion of Mr. Ray. He imagines that all mountains have been formed by earthquakes, or the explosion of volcanos, as Monti di Cenere, the new island near Santorini, See. but he has not considered that the slight elevations formed by the eruption of a volcano, or by the action of an earthquake, are not internally composed of horizontal strata, as all other mountains are : for bv digging in the Monti di Cenere we meet with calcined stones, cinders, burnt earths, metallic dross, pumice-stones, See. all mixed and confounded like a heap. Besides, if earthquakes and subterraneous fires had produced the great mountains of the earth, as the Cordeliers, Mount Taurus, the Alps, &c. the prodigious force necessary to raise these enormous masses might, at the same time, have destroyed a great part of the surface of the globe; and earthquakes requisite to produce such effects, must have been of inconceivableNATURAL HISTORY
157
ceivable violence, since the most famous of which history makes mention have not had sufficient power to form a single mountain* for example, in the time of Valentinian I. an earthquake happened, which was felt throughout all the known world * ; and yet not a mountain was thrown up by it.
It is nevertheless certain, that although we might be able to find an earthquake sufficiently powerful to throw up the highest mountains, it w ould not be sufficient to disorder the rest of the globe.
For supposing that the chain of the highest mountains which cross South America from the Magellanic lands to New Grenada, and the Gulph of Darien, had been produced by an earthquake, let us see by calculations the effect of this explosion. This chain of mountains is near 1700 leagues in length, and commonly forty in breadth, comprehending the Si-erasf which are not so lofty as the Andes. The surface therefore is 68,000 square leagues ; I suppose the thickness of the matter displaced by the earthquake to be about one league, that is, the height of these mountains
* As AnunUnus MarceUiiius relates# lib. 26. cap. 14.
taken158
bhffon’s
taken from the top to the bottom; or rathefr to the caverns, which according to this hypothesis must support them is one league ; then 1 say, the power of an explosion must have raised a quantity of earth to a league in heighty equal to 68>000 cubical leagues. Now the action being equal to the re-action, this explosion must have communicated the same motion to the rest of the globe. The whole globe consists of 12,310,5£S>801 cubical leagues, from which subtracting 68,000, there remains 123510,455,801 cubical leagues, the quantity of which motion will be equal to that of 68,000 cubical leagues raised one league } from whence we perceive that the force which would have been great enough to elevate 68,000 cubical leagues would not have dis* placed the \}liole globe a single inch*
There would therefore be no absolute impossibility in the supposition that mountains have been raised by earthquakes, if their internal composition as well as their external form were not evident proofs of their being the work of the sea. Their internal parts ara composed of regular and parallel strata, inters mingled with shells, and their external consists of a figure w hose angles are every where correspondent :NATURAL HISTORY,
159
respondent:	is it credible tlien tlmt this
uniform composition and regular form should have been produced by irregular shocks and spdden explosions ?
But has this opinion lias prevailed among some philosophers, and as the nature and effects of earthquakes are not well understood, it may perhaps be necessary to hazard a few ideas with a view of explaining these intricate subjects.
The earth has undergone great changes on its surface; we find at considerable depths, holes, caverns, subterraneous rivulets, and void places, which sometimes communicate by chinks, &c. There are two kinds of caverns; the first are those produced by the action of Subterraneous fires and volcanos; the action of this fire uplifts, burns, and throws out to a distance the matters that are above, and at the same time divides and deranges those which are on the sides, and thus produces caverns, grottos, and irregular holes, but which however is only effected in the environs of volcanos; and these kind of caverns are more rare than those produced by water. We have already-observed that the different strata which compose %e terrestrial globe are all interrupted by
per.
71§0
BUFF'Ott’s
perpendicular fissures: die waters w hicli fall on the surface descend through them, collect when stopped by clay, and form springs and rivulets ; by their natural propensities they seek out cavities or small vacancies, and always incline to open a passage till they find a vent, carrying along with them sand, gravel, and other matters they can divide and dissolve; by degrees, in the internal part of the earth they form small trenches; and at last issue forth in the form of springs, either at the surface of the earth, or bottom of the sea, the matters w hich they carry along w ith them, leave caverns w hose extent may be very considerable, the origin of which is quite different from those produced by volcanos or earthquakes.
There are two kinds of earthquakes, the one caused by the action of subterraneous fires, and the explosion of volcanos, which are only felt at small distances at the time of eruptions; w hen the matters which form subterraneous fires ferment, heat and inflame, the fire makes au effort on every side to get out, and if it does not find a natural vent, it raises the earth above and forces itself a passage by throwing it out; such is the beginning of a volcano whose effects and continuation are in proportion to the quantify of inflammable matters they contain. If
thetfATUftAL „HISTORY.
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•the quantity of matters is not considerable, an earthquake may ensue, without.a volcano being formed. The air, rarefied by the subterraneous lire, may also escape through small vents,, and in this case there will be only a shock without any eruption or volcano. But when the inflamed matter is in great quantities and confined by solid and compressed bodies, then a commotion and volcano is certain to ensue; but all these commotions form only the .first kind of earthquakes^ and can only shake a small space of ground. A violent eruption of iEina will cause, for example, an earthquake throughout; the whole island of Sicily; but it will nevei extend to the distance of three or four hundred leagues. When any new7 mouth bursts out in Vesuvius, there are earthquakes at Naples, and in the neighbourhood of the volcano ; but these earthquakes never shake the Alps, nor extend into France, .or .other countries .remote from Vesuvius. Earthquakes therefore produced by volcanos, are limited to a small space; they are properly but the effects of the re-nclion of the fire ; and they shake the earth, as the explosion of a powder magazine produces a shock perceptible at many leagues distance.
IrOL. 1-J.
Y
But16'2
buffon's
But there is another kind of earthquake very different in its effects, and perhaps equally so in its causes; such are felt at great distances, and shake a long course of ground, without any new volcano, or eruption in the old ones appearing, We have instances of earthquakes being felt at the same time in England, France, Germany, and even in Hungary ; these earthquakes always extend more in length than breadth; they shake a zone of ground with greater or less violence in different places, and are almost always accompanied with a rumbling noise like that of a coach rolling over the stones with rapidity.
With respect to the causes of this kind of earthquake, it must be remembered that the explosion of all inflammable matters produces, like gunpowder, a great quantity of air; that this air by the heat is in a state of very great rarefaction, and that by its state of compression in the bowels of the earth, it must produce very violent effects. Let us suppose, that at a depth of one or two hundred fathoms, pyrites and other sulphurous matters are collected in great quantities, and that by the fermentation produced by the filtration of the water, or other causes, they inflame ; what must happen? First
theseNATURAL HISTORY.
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these matters are not placed in horizontal layers, as are the ancient strata, which have been formed by the sediment of the waters; on the contrary, they are formed in perpendicular fissures, in caverns, and in other places where the \vater can penetrate. Inflaming, they produce a quantity of air, the spring of w hich being compressed in a small space, like that of a cavern, will not only shake the ground directly above, but will seek out for passages by which it may escape. The roads which offer themselves are caverns and trenches, formed by sub« terraneous rivulets: into these the rarefied air will precipitate with violence, form in them a strong wind, the noise of w hich will be heard at the surface, accompanied with shocks of the earth, &c. this subterraneous wind, produced by the fire, will extend as far as the subterraneous cavities, and cause an agitation more or less violent as it is distant from the vent, and finds the passages of a larger or lesser extent: this motion being made longitudinal, the shock will be the same, and the earthquake be felt through a long zone of ground. This air will not produce any eruption, or volcano, because it will find sufficient space to expand, or rather because it w ill have found vents, and issue forth in form Y 8	of104
stJFroiiV
of wind and vapour. Even should it nbt bfcr allowed that there exists internal passages, by which the air and vapours can pass, it may be conceived that in the place where the first explosion is made, the ground being lifted up to a considerable height, that the most adjoining to this spot must divide and split in an horizontal manner by the force of its motion; and by this means passages communicating one with the other may be opened to great distances ; and this explanation agrees with every phenomena. It is not at the same moment or hour that an earthquake is felt in two distant places. Neither fire nor eruption attend those earthquakes which are heard at a distance, and the noise always marks the progressive motion of this subterraneous wind. This theory is confirmed by two other facts; it is well known that mines exhale unhealthy air and suffocating vapours, independent of the wind produced by the current of water: it is also known that there are holes, abysses and deep lakes in the earth, which produce winds, as the lake Bo-lesiaw, in Bohemia, which we have already spoken of.
All this being considered, I do not see how it can be imagined that earthquakes produce 3
rnoun-fcATTJRAL HtSTORY.
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Mountains, since the cause itself of these earthquakes are mineral and sulphurous matters, which are generally found only in perpendicular clefts of mountains and other cavities of the earth; the greatest number of which have been produced by the operation of water; since this matter by inflaming produces only a momentary explosion and a violent wind which follows the subterraneous roads of the water : since the duration of the earthquakes at the surface of the earth is so short that their cause can only be explosion and not a durable fire: and in short, since these earthquakes, which extend to a con« »iderable distance, very far from raising chains of mountains, do not produce the smallest hills throughout their whole extent.
Earthquakes are, in fact, most frequent in places near volcanos, as in Sicily and Naples, but it is known, by observations, that the most violent earthquakes happen in the time of the greatest eruptions of volcanos; that they are very limited, and cannot produce a chain of mountains.
It has been sometimes observed, that the matters thrown out of Mount ¿Etna, after laying for many years, and afterwards moistened with the rain, have rekindled and thrown out
flame*BbFFON’s
160
flaiT^es with such violent explosions as eveii t& produce a slight shock.
In a furious eruption of JEtna in 1669, which began the 11 th of March, the summit of the mountain sunk considerably *; which proves the fire of this volcano comes rather from the top than from the bottom of the mountain. Borelli is of the same opinion, and says, u That the fire of volcanos does not proceed from the centre, nor from the foot of the mountain, but that it issues from the summit, and flames kindle but at a small depth f.”
Mount Vesuvius, in its eruptions, has thrown out great quantities of boiling water. Mr. Ray, who thinks that the volcanic fire proceeds from a great depth, says, that it is the water of the sea which communicates by subterraneous passages with the foot of the mountain; he gives as a proof of it, the dryness of the summit of Vesuvius, and the agitation of the sea at the time of these eruptions, which sometimes retreats from the coasts, and leaves the Bay of Naples almost dry. But, if these facts be true, they do not prove, in a solid manner, that the volcanic fire proceeds from a great depth ; for
* See Trans. Phil. Abridged, Vol. II. page 387.
+ Borelli, De inctndiis Montis Etnae.
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file water which is thrown out is certainly rain water, which penetrates through the fissures, and collects in the cavities of the mountains. Rills and rivulets flow from those containing volcanos as well as other lofty mountains, and as they are hollow, and have beep more shaken, if is not astonishing that the water collects in the’r caverns in their internal part, and that these waters are thrown out in the time of eruptions with other matters. With respect to the motion of the sea, it proceeds solely from the shock communicated to the waters by the explosion, which causes them to advance or retreat according to different circumstances.
The matters which volcanos generally throw out, come forth in the form of a torrent of melted minerals, which inundates all the environs of those mountains ; these rivers of liquified matters extend to considerable distances, and, in cooling, form horizontal or inclined strata, which for position are like the strata formed by the sediment left by the w aters : but it is very easy to distinguish the one from the other. First, because strata of lava are not throughout of an equal thickness : secondly, because they contain only matters which have evidently been calcined, vitrified, or melted ;
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and thirdly, because they do not extend t© any great distance. As there are a great number of volcanos at Peru, and as the foot of most of the mountains of the Cordeliers is covered with matters thrown out by eruptions, it is not astonishing that marine shells are not met with there, as they must have been calcined and destroyed by the fire,; but I am persuaded, if we dig in argillaceous earth, which, according to M. Bourguet, is the common earth of the valley of Quito, shells would be found there, as they are in other places, at least where the ground is not covered, like that at the foot of the mountains, with matters thrown out of a volcano.
It has often b.een asked, why volcanos are all met with at the top of mountains ? I think I have partly given a satisfactory answer to this question in the preceding article, but I have thought it necessary not to finish this without farther explaining what I have said on this subject.
The peaks or points of mountains were formerly covered with sand and earth, which the rain gradually washed along with it into the vallies, and has left only the rocks and stones which formed the nucleus of the mountaip.
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This being left bare will have been still worn by the injuries of the air, and the frost will have loosened the large and small parts which of course have rolled to the bottom. The rocks, at the base of the summit, being left bare, and Ho longer supported by the earth which surrounded them, will have given way a little, and by dividing one from the other formed small intervals. This separation of the lower rocks could not be made without communicating a greater motion to the upper. By this means the nucleus of the mountain would be divided into an infinity of perpendicular clefts, from the summit to the base of the lower rocks ; the rain will have penetrated into all these clefts and loosened, in the inside of the mountain, all the mineral parts and other substances that it could carry away or dissolve : they will have formed pyrites and other combustible matters, and when, by length of time, these matters were accumulated in great quantities, they fermented, and by inflaming, produced explosions gnd other effects of volcanos ; perhaps likewise, within the mountains, there were masses of these mineral matters already formed before the rain could penetrate into therm \n that case, as soon as holes and clefts were VOL,	Z	mado,170	BUFF0N?$
made, which gave passages to the water aiicf air, these matters inflamed and formed a volcano. None of these motions could be made in plains, since all is at rest and nothing can be displaced. It is not therefore surprising that volcanos are found only in high mountains.
When coal-mines are opened, which are generally met with in argile earth, at a great depth, it sometimes happens that the mineral substances have taken fire; there are even mines of coal in Scotland, Flanders* &c. which have burnt for a number of years. The ad^ mission of the air suffices to produce this effect; but these fires produce only slight explosions* and do not form volcanos* because all being solid and full in these places, fire cannot be excited like that of volcanos, in which there are cavities and void places where the air penetrates, which must necessarily extend the conflagration and augment the action of the fire, so as to produce the terrible effects which we have described,
iiAfufcAL History.
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te
ARTICLE XVil.
fcFKEt islands, caverns, perpendicular clefts, &c. &c.
NEW. islands are formed in two ways, either ^ suddenly, by the action of subterraneous fires, or gently, by the deposit of the sediment of waters. Ancient historians and modern travellers relate facts on this subject which put it beyond all kind of doubt. Seneca assures us> that in his time the island Therasia* appeared suddenly in the sea, to the astonishment of many mariners who beheld it. Pliny relates, that formerly thirteen islands in the Mediterranean sprang at the same instant out of the sea, and that Rhodes and Delos are the principal of them ; it appears, from him, as well as Ammianus Mar-cellinus, Philo, and others, that these thirteen islands wer« not produced by an earthquake, Z 2	nor
New Santorini*J72	bvffon’s
nor by any subterraneous explosion, but that they were formerly hid under the water, which lowering, left them uncovered. Delos even had the name of Pelagia given to it, from having formerly belonged to the sea. Whether the origin of these thirteen islands is to be attributed to the action of subterraneous fires, or to soma other cause which might occasion a sinkiug of the water in the Mediterranean, is uncertain. But Pliny relates, that the island Hiera, near Therasia, had been formed of ferruginous masses, and earth thrown from the bottom of the sea ; and in chapter 89, he speaks of other Elands formed in the like manner : but on this subject we have more clear and certain facts ©f later date.
On the 23rd of May 1707» at sun rising, there was seen, at some little distance from the island of Therasia, or Santorini, something like a floating rock in the sea ; some persons to satisfy their curiosity, went towards it, and found it a shoal which had issued from the bottom of the sea; it increased under their feet, and they brought with them the pumice-stone and oysters which the rock still had attached to its surface. There was a slight earthquake at Santorini twro days before this
shoalHATtJUAL HISTORY.
17S
shoal appeared; it increased considerably till the 14th of June, it was then half a mile round, and from 20 to SO feet high; the earth was white, and a little argilaceous : after that the sea became more and more troubled; vapours arose which infected the island Santorini; and, on the l6th of July, several rocks were seen to issue at one time from the bottom of the sea, and unite into one solid body. This was accompanied with a dismal noise, which continued upwards of two months. Flames issued from the new island, which kept increasing in circumference and height, and the violent explosions frequently threw large stones to more than seven miles distance. The island of Santorini itself was deemed among the ancients as a modern production, and in 726, 1427, and 1573, it increased in size, and small islands were formed near it*. The same volcano, which in the time of Seneca formed the island of Santorini, in that of Pliny produced Hiera or Volcanella, and in our time the shoal above-m entioned.
On the 10th of October, 1720, near the island Tercera, a very considerable fire arose o»t of the sea ; some mariners were sent by
the
t S ee the Hist of the Acad? 1708? page S3* Sec,174
BUFFONS
the order of the governor to take a view of and who, having come near it, perceived, on the 19th of the same month, an island which appeared only as fire and smoke, with a prodigious quantity of ashes thrown to a distance, as if caused by the force of a volcano, with a report like that of thunder. An earthquake happened at the same time, which was felt in the circumjacent places, and great quantities of pumice-stones were observed floating on the sea around the new island; pumice-stones indeed have sometimes been seen swimming in the midst of the high seas*.
The history of the academy, anno 1.721, says on this event, that after an earthquake in the island of St. Michael, one of the Azores, there appeared between this island andTercera a torrent of fire, which gave birth to two new shoals ; and the next year he gave tiie following detail :
M. Delisle has informed the Academy of many particulars concerning the new island among the Azores, which he received in a letter . from M. de Montagnac,- consul at Lisbon..
*c Being
* See Phil, Trans, Abridg* vol. VI- part ii. page 154 4NATURAL HISTORY
175
<v Being* in a vessel* which was moored the 18th of September, 1721, before the fortress of the town of St. Michael, M. de Montagnac learnt the following account from the pilot:
“ On the night of the 7th and 8th of December, 1720, there was a great earthquake in Tercera and St. Michael, which are abont 18 leagues apart, and between which a new island sprung up ; it was remarked at the same time that the point of the island of Peak, 30 leagues distant, and which before threw out fire, was mink and emitted none ; but the new island kept throwing out a constant thick smoke, and which I plainly perceived from the vessel 1 was in. The pilot assured us that he had gone round the island, rowing as near it as he conceived to be safe. On the south side he threw a line of sixty fathoms without finding any bottom ; on the west side the water was greatly changed, appearing of a blue and green white,-and which extended two thirds of a league, where it seemed ready to boil. On-tire north-west, the part from which the smoke issued, he found, at 15 fathoms, a bottom of thick sand; he threw a stone in the sea, and where it fell the writer seemed to boil and bubble with impetuosity.: the.boUcru 'Was so' hot that it twice
melted176
BWrON’s
melted some grease fastened at the end of the sounding line. The pilot observed also on that side that smoke issued from a small lake bounded by a sand bank. This island is ah* most round, and high enough to be perceived at the distance of seven or eight leagues in clear weather.
“ It has since been learnt from a letter of M. Adrien, French consul in the island of St, Michael, dated March, 1722, that the new island had considerably diminished, that it was almost level with the water, and there was every appearance it would not last long.”
It is therefore by these, and a great number of other facts of a similar nature, very evident that inflammable matters are enclosed in the earth under the bottom of the sea, and that they sometimes cause violent explosions. The places where these happen might be termed marine volcanos, and which differ from common voU canos only by the shortness of the duration of their effects ; for the fire having opened itself a passage the water must penetrate therein and extinguish it. The elevation of new islands must consequently leave a void space which the water would shortly occupy, and this new earth* which is only composed of matters thrown out
HNATURAL HISTORY.
177
by the marine volcano, must resemble that of Monti cli Cinere and other eminences which terrestrial volcanos have formed in several places. Now, as the water rushes in, during the violence of the explosion, and fills the vacancies that it occasions, that is clearly the reason why these marine volcanos act less frequently than other volcanos, although the causes of both are the same.
It is doubtless these subterraneous, or submarine fires which are the cause of all those ebullitions of the sea, which sailors have remarked in various places, and of the water-spouts which we have before mentioned; they likewise produce storms and earthquakes, which are not less felt on the sea than on the land. Islands formed by these sub-marine volcanos, are generally composed of pumice-stone* and calcined rocks, and they produce, like those of the land, violent earthquakes and commotions.
Fires have been often observed on the surface of the water. Pliny tells us that the lake Thrasy menus appeared inflamed over all its surface. Agricola relates, that when a stone was thrown into the lake Denstad, in Thuringia, A a	it
VOL. II.17S	BUFFOK?S
it appeared, as it descended in the water,- like u train of fire.
In short, the quantities of pumice-stones which travellers affirm are met with in many parts of the ocean, and the Mediterranean, prove there are volcanos at the bottom of the sea, similar to those which we are acquainted with, and which differ not in the least from them,neither by the substances they cast out, nor by the violence of the explosion, but solely by the rarity and shortness of the duration of their effects. Hence we may fairly infer that the bottom of the sea in every respect resembles the surface of the earth.
If we reflect a little we shall find many similarities between land and sea volcanos ; both are found at the summits of mountains. The islands of the Azores and those of the Archipelago are only peaks of mountains, some of which rise above the water, and others underneath. By the account of the new islands among the Azores we see that the part whence the smoke issued was only 15 fathoms under w ater, w hich compared with the common depth of the ocean, proves that even this part is the summit of a vwountain and the same may be said of theNATURAL HISTORY.
179
Hew island near Santorini, which could not be any great depth, since oysters were found attached to the rocks which rose above the water. It appears also that marine-volcanos have, like those of the land, subterraneous communications, since the summit of the volcano of St. George, in the island Peak, sunk at the time the new island among the Azores arose. It must also he observed, that these new islands never appear but near the old ones, and that we have no example of new islands in the high seas; we must,' therefore, look on them as a continuation of the ad.	.slands: and, when
ancient islands have voica^oj, k j*> not astonishing that the ground adjacent should contain matters proper to form them, and which inflame, either by fermentation alone, or by the action of subterraneous winds.
Islands produced by the action of lire and earthquakes are but few, but there are an infinite number produced by the mud, sand, and earth, which the rivers or the sea transport into different places. As the mouth of rivers earth and sand accumulate in such quantities as to form islands of a moderate extent. The sea, retiring from certain coasts, leaves the highest parts of the bottom, naked, which A a 2	'	formsISO
buffon’s
forms so many new islands ; the sea likewise* by extending itself on certain shores* covers the lowest parts* and leaves the highest* which appear as so many islands ; and thus it is wc may account for their being so few islands in the open sea* and so many bordering on the continents.
Water and lire* whose natures appear so different and so contrary* produce many similar effects* independently of the particular productions of these two elements* some of which bear so striking a resemblance as to be mistaken for each other* as glass and crystal* natural and fictitious antimony* &c. There are in nature an infinity of great effects produced by them* which are scarcely to be distinguished. Water* as has been observed* has produced mountains and formed most islands* while others owe their origin to fire. There are likewise caverns* clefts* holes* gulphs* &c. some of which ow e their origin to subterraneous fires* and others to waters.
Caverns are met with in mountains* and few Or none in plains; there are many in the Archipelago* and in other islands* because they are in general only the tops of mountains; caverns* are formed like precipices* by the sinking of
rocks,NATURAL HISTORY.
181
rocks, or like abysses, by the action of the fire; for to make a cavern from a precipice or abyss, we need only suppose the tops of adjacent rocks had fallen together and formed an arch, which must often happen when their bottoms are shaken and dislodged by time or earthquakes. Caverns may be produced by the same causes which produce holes, the shaking and sinking of the earth, and which causes are the explosion of volcanos, the action of subterraneous vapours and earthquakes ; for they occasion caverns, holes, and hollows of every kind by their shocks and commotion.
St. Patrick’s cavern in Ireland is not so considerable as it is celebrated ; it is the same with the Dog’s Grotto in Italy; and that which throws out fire, in the mountain of Ben Gua-zeval in the kingdom of Fez. In the county of Derby, in England, there is a very considerable cavern, much larger than the famous cavern of Bauman, near the Black Forest, in Brunswick. I have been informed by a person as respectable for his merit as his name, Lord Morton, that this large cavern, called the Devil’s Hole, at first presents a very considerable opening, larger than any church door; that through this opening a rivulet flows ;
that132
kuffoiPs
that in advancing, the vault of the cavern becomes so low, that persons who are desirous of continuing their road are obliged to lie flat in a boat, and be pushed through this narrow passage, where the water almost touches the roof; but, after having passed this part of the vault, the arch rises to a considerable height, and continues so for some distance, when it sinks again so lovv as to touch the water and there the cavern ends. The source of the rivulet which issues from it sometimes increases considerably ; it transports and heaps up a great quantity of sand in one part of the cavern, which is formed like a kind of alley, w hose direction is different from that of the principal cavern.
In Carniola,nearPotpechio, is a very spacious cavern, in which is a large subterranean lake. Near Adelspergis a cavern, in which we may travel two German miles, and where very deep precipices are to be met with *. There are also large caverns and beautiful grottos under the mountains of Mendip, in Wales ; mines of lead are found near these caverns, and whole oaks at fifteen fathoms depth. In the county of Gloucester there is a very large cavern, called Pen Park-hole, at the bottom of which there is
thirtj
* See Act. erud. Lips, anno 1689, page 558*NATURAL HISTORY.
îBS
ihirty fathoms water, and mines of lead are also found.
The Devil’s Hole, and other caverns, from whence issue large springs or rivulets, have plainly therefore been formed by the water, and their origin cannot be considered as the effects either of earthquakes or volcanos.
One of the most remarkable and largest caverns known is that of Antiparos, a description of which is given by M. de Tournefort. We enter a rustic cavern about thirty feet broad, divided by some natural pillars ; between two of winch, on the right, the ground is on a gentle slope, and then becomes more steep to the bottom, about twenty feet ; this is the passage to the grotto, or internal cavern, which is very dark, and cannot be entered without stooping and the assistance of torches. We then descend a horrible precipice by the assistance of a rope, fastened at the entrance, into another still more frightful, the borders of which are very slippery, with dark abysses ou the left. By the assistance of a ladder wre pass a perpendicular rock, and then continue to go through places somewhat less dangerous ; but, when we think ourselves in a safe path, we are stopped short by a tremendous obstruction, and are obliged
to134
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to crawl on our hands and knees, or slide on our back, the length of a large rock, and then descend by a ladder. When we are at the bottom of the ladder, we still have to stumble over pieces of rocks for some time, and then we reach the celebrated grotto. It is computed to be three hundred fathoms deep from the surface <^f the earth, appears to be forty fathoms high by fifty broad. It is filled with large beautiful stalactites of various forms, as well on the roof of the vault as on the bottom #.
In that part of Greece called Livadia (the Achaia of the ancients)there is a large cavern in a mountain which was formerly famous for the oracles of Trophonius ; it is between the lake Livadia and the adjacent sea, at the nearest part it is about four miles ; and there are forty subteraneous passages across the rock, through which the waters flow *f\
In all countries which produce sulphur, volcanos, and earthquakes, there are caverns. The ground of most of the Archipelago islands are cavernous ; the islands of the Indian ocean,
* See the voyage du Levant, page 188, and also Remarks in a Journey from Paris to Constantinople, which contains a eopious description of this astonishing phenomenon.
t See Cordon’s Geography, 1733, page 179.
principallyNATURAL HISTORY.
185
principally that of the Malacca’s, appear to be supported by vaults and cavities. The island of the Azores, the Canaries, the islands of Cape de Verd, and in general almost every small island, are in many parts hollow and cavernous; because these islands, are as we have observed, only points of mountains where considerable ebullitions are made, either by the action of volcanos, of the water, of frosts, or other injuries of the weather. In the Cordeliers, where there are many volcanos, and where earthquakes are frequent, there are also a great number of caverns.
The famous labyrinth of the island of Candia, is not the work of nature alone. M. de Tourne-fort assures us that it has evidently been greatly enlarged by men ; and, most likely, this cavern is not the only one which has been augmented by human labour. Every day mines and quarries are digging, and when abandoned for a long time, it is not easy to discover whether they have been the productions of nature, or formed by the hands of men. We know of quarries of considerable extent; for example, that of Mae-stricht, where it is said 50,000 men may conceal themselves, and which is supported by upwards of 1000 pillars, twenty-four feet high, and the vol. ii.	B b	earth186	BUFFON*S
earth and rock above is more than twenty-five fathoms thick *.
The salt mines in Poland form still greater excavations than the above. There are generally vast quarries near large towns. But we cannot proceed farther in particulars : besides, the labour of man, however great, will ever hold but a small place in the history of nature.
Volcanos and waters which produce caverns internally, form also external clefts, precipices, and abysses. At Cajeta, in Italy, there is a mountain which had formerly been separated by an earthquake, in a manner so as to appear as if the division was made by the hands of men. We have already spoken of the divisions in the island of Machian, of the abyss of mount Azarat, of the gap in the Cordeliers, and that of Thermopylae, &c. To these may be added, the gap in the mountain of Troglodytes, in Arabia, which nature only sketched out, and which Victor Amadeus caused to be finished. Water, as well as subterraneous fires, produce considerable sinking of the earth, fall ef rocks, and overthrow mountains, of which we can give many examples.
“ In the month of June 1714, a part of the * See Abridg. Phil. Trans, vol. II. page 463.
mountainNATURAL HISTORY.
187
mountain of Diableret, in Valois, fell suddenly, and some time after, the sky being serene, it appeared to have taken a conical figure. Fifty-three huts belonging to the boors were destroyed, together with several people and a great many cattle, covering a square league with the ruins it occasioned. A profound darkness was caused by the dust; the heaps of stones thrown together were above thirty perches in height, stopped the currents of the water, and formed new and very deep lakes. In all this there wras not the least trace of bitumen, sulphur, lime, nor consequently any subterraneous fire, and apparently the base of this great rock was perished and reduced to dust*.”
We have a remarkable example of these sinkings near Folkstone in the county of Kent; the hills in its environs sunk gradually by an insensible motion, and without any earthquake. These hills internally are rocks and chalk, and by their sinking they have thrown into the sea rocks and earth which were adjacent to it. The relation of this fact may be seen in the Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, vol. IV. page 250.
* Histoire de l’Academie des Sciences, anno 1715, p, 4.
B b 2	In188
buffon’s
In 1618, the town of Pleurs, in Valtelino, was buried under the rocks, at the bottom of which it was situated. In 1678, there was a great inundation in Gascony, caused by the sinking of some pieces of one of the Pyrennees, which forced the water to spring forth that was contained in the subterraneous caverns of those mountains. In 1680, there happened a still greater in Ireland, by the sinking of a mountain into caverns filled with water. We may easily conceive the cause of these effects. It is well known there are subterraneous waters in an infinity of places; these waters carry off by degrees the sand and earth over which they pass, consequently may in time destroy the bed of earth on which the mountain rests ; and this bed of earth being more deficient on one side than on the other, the mountain of course must be overthrown; but if this base is worn every where alike, the mountain will sink and not be overthrown.
Having remarked on the sinkings and other changes on the earth, occasioned by what may be called the accidents of nature, we ought not to pass over the perpendicular clefts found throughout the strata of the earth: these cleftsNATURAL HISTORY.
13f
are perceptible not only in rocks and quarries of marble and stone, but also in clays and earths of every kind* which have never been removed. I call them perpendicular cMts> because, like the horizontal strata, they are oblique, by accident only. Woodward and Ray speak of these clefts, but in a confused manner, and they do not term them perpendicular clefts, because they thought they might be indifferently oblique or perpendicular. No author has explained the origin of them, although it is apparent that they have been produced, as we observed in a preceding article, by the dryness of the matters which compose horizontal beds. In whatsoever manner this drying happens, it must have produced perpendicular clefts; for the matters which compose the strata could not have diminished in size without splitting in a perpendicular direction to these strata. I comprehend under this name of perpendicular clefts all natural separations of rocks, as well as those which may have been occasioned by any convulsive accident.
When some considerable motion happens to masses of rocks, these clefts are sometimes found obliquely placed, but this is because the mass is of itself oblique, and with a little at-BUFFON S
190
tention it is always easy to discover that these clefts are in general perpendicular to the horizontal strata, particularly in quarries of marble, lime, stones, and all large chains of rocks.
Mountains internally are principally composed of stone and rocks in parallel beds : between the horizontal beds small strata of a softer matter than stone is found, and the perpendicular clefts are filled with sand, crystals, minerals, metals, &c. these last matters are of a more modern formation than the horizontal beds in which we find sea-shells. The rains have by degrees loosened the sand and the earth on the upper parts of mountains, and have left the stone and rocks entirely naked, in which we readily distinguish the horizontal strata and perpendicular clefts : in plains, on the contrary, the rain-water and floods having brought a considerable quantity of earth, sand, gravel, and other such matters havs formed a bed of tufa, soft and dissoluble stone, sand, gravel, and earth, mixed with vegetables. These beds contain no marine shells, or at least only fragments, which have been detached from mountains, with gravel and earth. We must carefully distinguish these new beds from the old, where almost always a great number of entire
shellsNATURAL HISTORY.	IQl
shells are found placed in their natural situation.
If we observe the order and internal disposition of matters in a mountain, composed, for example, of common stones, or calculable lapi-dific matters, we generally find a bed of gravel under the vegetable earth, of the nature and colour of the stone which predominates in this ground; and, under the gravel, we meet with stone. When the mountain is divided by some trench, or deep cut, we easily distinguish all the strata of which it is composed. Each horizontal stratum is separated by a kind of joint, which is likewise horizontal, and their thickness generally increase in proportion as they lower from the summit of the mountain, and are all divided vertically by perpendicular clefts. In general, the first stratum which is met with under the gravel, and even the second, are only thinner than the beds which form the base of the mountain, but are so divided by perpendicular clefts, that pieces of any length are not to be seen: they perfectly resemble the cracks of ground which is very dry, but go not very far, gradually disappearing in proportion as they descend, and towards the bottom there are no great number but where
they102
BUFFO N*S
they divide the strata in a more regular manner. These beds of stone are often, as 1 have observed before, many leagues in extent, without any interruption ; we almost always meet with the same kind of stone in the opposite mountains, whether divided by a small neck or a valley ; and the beds of stone disappear only in places where the mountain sinks and becomes level with some large plain. Sometimes between the first stratum of vegetable earth, and that of gravel, marl is found, which communicates its colour and other qualities to the other two: then the perpendicular clefts of the quarries which are beneath are filled with this marl, where it acquires an hardness in appearance equal to that of stone, but by exposing it to the air it crumbles, softens and becomes ductile.
In most quarries the beds of stone formed on the summit of a mountain are soft, and those near the base are hard; the first is commonly w hite, of so fine a grain as scarcely to be perceived; it becomes more grained and harder in proportion as it descends, and the lowest stone is not only harder than that of the upper, but it is also closer, more compact and heavier; its grain is fine and glossy, and often brittle, and breaks as clear as flint,
7
TheKATURAL HISTORY.
193
The interior part of a mountain is, therefore composed of different beds of stone, the upper cJf which are of soft stone and the lower of hard, and much broader at the bottom than at the top; which, indeed, almost necessarily follows, for as they become so much the harder as they descend, it may justly be supposed that the currents and other motions of the water which have hollowed the vallies and given a shape to the turnings of a mountain, will have laterally worked on the matters of which the mountain is composed, and have w orn them away in proportion as they were hard or soft. Now the upper strata being the softest, it will naturally have suffered the greatest diminution. This is one of the causes to which the inclination of mountains may be attributed, and this inclination will be still less steep in proportion as the earth and gravel have been washed away by the rain, and hence it is, that hills and mountains, composed of calcinable matters, have an inclination much less than those composed of live rock and flint in large masses ; the last, in general, are of considerable heights and nearly perpendicular, because, in these masses of vitrificable matters, the upper beds, as well as the
vol. ii.	C c	lower,194
BUFFON*tf
lower, are of great hardness, and have alike resisted the action of the waters.
When on the tops of some hills, whose sunt-mits are flat, and of a pretty large extent, we meet with hard stone djrectly under the stratum of vegetable earth, we may remark, that what appears to be the summit, is not so in fact, but only the continuation of some higher hill; whose upper strata are soft stone and the lower hard; and it is the prolongation of these last strata which we meet with again at the top' of the first hill.
On the summit of mountains on the contrary which are not surmounted by any considerable height it is generally only soft stone, and we must dig very deep to meet with hard. Banks of marble are never found but between these beds of hard stone, which are diversely coloured by the metallic earths which the rain introduces into the strata by filtration, and possibly in every country where there is stone, marble would be found if dug for to a sufficient depth; Quoto enim loco non suum marmor invcnitur ? says Pliny; In fact it is a much more common stone than it is thought to be, and differs from other stones only by the fineness of its grain, which renders it more compact and susceptible of a
brilliantNATURAL HISTORY#	105
Ibrilliant polish ; and from which quality it took its denomination from the ancients.
The perpendicular fissures and joints of quarries are often filled and incrusted with concretions, which are sometimes as transparent as chrystal, of a regular figure, sometimes opaque^ the water flows through the perpendicular clefts and penetrates even the compact texture of the stone ; the stones which are porous, imbibe so great a quantity of water, that the frost splits and divides them. The rain by filtrating through the beds of marie, stone, and marble, load themselves with every matter they can take up or dissolve. These waters at first run along the perpendicular clefts, afterwards penetrate the beds of stone, and deposite between the horizontal joints, as well a« in the perpendicular clefts, the matters they have brought with them, and forms these different congelations according to the nature of the matters they have deposited ; for example, when the water filters through marie, chalk, or soft stone, the matter which deposite it is a very pure and fine marie, which generally enters in the perpendicular cleft of the rocks under the form of a porous, soft, substance, commonly very white and light, Cc 2	rfhkhjg6	bxjffon’s
which naturalists have called lac lun<£, or Me* dulla Saxi.
When these streams of water, loaded with lapidific matter, How through the horizontal joints of soft stone or chalk, this matter attaches itself to the surface of the blocks of stone, and forms white, scaly, light, and spongy crust; which some authors have named Mineral Agaric from its resemblance to Vegetable Agaric : but, if the strata be of common hard stone, proper to make good lime, the filter being then more close, the water will issue from it loaded with lapidific matter, more pure and homogeneous, and whose molecules uniting more intimately, will form nearly concretions of the hardness of stone, with a little transparency, and we shall find on the surfaces of the blocks in these quarries, stony incrustations variously disposed which entirely fill np the horizontal joints.
In grottos and cavities of rocks, which may be looked upon as the basons of perpendicular clefts, the diverted direction of the streams of water, give different forms to the concretion which result therefrom. They in general have the appearance of a cone attached to the top of the vault, although they may more properly be 6
con-KATI3BAL HISTOBY.
197
considered as hollow and white cylinders, formed by a concentrical surface ; these congelations sometimes descend, by drops, to the bottom, and form pillars, and a thousand other figures, as uncouth and ridiculous as the names which naturalists have been pleased to give them, such as,Stalactites,Stelegmitesfisleocollae, See.
When these concrete juices issue immediately from marble and hard stone, the la-pidific matter conveyed by the water being rather dissolved than loosened, the small constituent parts take a regular figure, and form columns, terminated by triangular points, which are transparent and consist of oblique strata; this Js called Sparr, or Spall. It is generally tran-parent and colourless, but when the stone or marble, from whence it issues, contains metallic parts, this spar is as hard as stone ; it dissolves* like stone, by acid spirits, and calcines with th$ same heat; therefore we cannot doubt that it is real stone, and perfectly homogenous. It might even be said that it is a pure and elementary stone, under its proper and specific form.
Most naturalists nevertheless look on this matter as a direct substance, existing independent of stone ; it is the lapidific or chrystalline juice which, according to them, not only binds
the198
buffon’s
the parts of common stone, but even those of flint. This juice, say they, constantly augments the density of stones by reiterated filtra-tions, and at length converts them into real flint. When this juice is fixed in spar, it continues to receive still more pure juices, which increase its density and hardness, so that this matter successively becomes glass, then ehrystal, and at last a perfect diamond.
But if this is true, why, in whole provinces* does this crystalline juice form only stone, and in others nothing but flint ? Will they say, that the two soils are not of a like age, and that this juice has not had time to circulate and complete the end of its natural action ? This is not probable. Besides, whence does this juice proceed ? If it produce stone and flints, what is it that produces this juice ? It is very evident that it has no existence independently of these matters, which; alone, can give to the water that penetrates them a petrifying quality.> always relative to their nature and their specific character ; insomuch, that when it filtrates through stones it forms spar, and when it issues from flints, crystal; and there are as many different kinds of this juice, as matters from which they proceed. Experience perfectly agrees with
thisNATURAL HISTORY.
199
tills idea. The waters which filtrate through stone quarries, generally form soft and calcinable matters like the stone themselves : on the contrary, those which spring from rock and flint form hard andvit t illable congelations,which have all the other properties of flint, as the first have all those of stone ; so the waters which have penetrated the beds of mineral and metallic substances produce pyrites, marcasites, and grains.
We have observed, that we might divide all matters into two great classes, vitrificable and calcinable ; clay and flint, marie and stone, may be looked upon as the two extremes of each of these classes, the intervals of which are filled with an almost infinite variety of the mixed matters that have always one or other of these substances for their basis.
The substances of the first class can never acquire the nature and properties of the other. Stone w ill alw ays be as remote from the nature of flint, as potters earth is from marie; no known agent will ever be capable of making them quit the combinations peculiar to their nature ; the country which produces stone and marble will remain to do so as certainly as those wherein there is only flint and granate will never have either stone or marble.
If«00
»tli'i'ON’s
If we observe the order and distribution of matters in a hill composed of vitrificable substances, we shall commonly find, under the first bed of vegetable earth, a bed of clay, a vitrificable matter, analogous to flint, and which, as I have observed, is only a decomposed vitrificable sand : this bed of argillaceous earth or sand answers to a bed of gravel met with in hills composed of calculable matters ; beneath which we meet with some beds of free-stone scarcely ever more than six inches thick and divided into small pieces by perpendicular clefts. Under these beds are many others of the same matters, and also beds of vitrificable sand, the free-stone become* harder and its block increase in size in proportion as we descend ; underneath these we find a very hard matter which I have called live rock, or flint in large masses, which is so hard as to resist the file, graver and acid spirits, more than vitrificable sand, and even powdered glass, on which aqua fortis seems to have some effect. If struck by another hard body it emits sparks, and exhales a very penetrating smell of sulphur. This massy flint, as I have termed it, is generally found with beds of clay, earth, coals, and vitrificable sand, answers to the strata of hard stone
andKATURAL ííistóRY;
Súd marbles, which serve as a base to hills composed of ealcinable matters.
Water, by flowing through perpendicular clefts, and by penetrating the strata of these vitrificable sands,clays, and earths, becomes impregnated w ith the fine and most homogeneous parts of these matters, and forms many difieren t concretions, such as tales, amianthus’s* and Various other substances produced by dis«** filiations through vitrificable matters.
Flint, notw ithstanding its hardness and density, has, like common marble and hard stone, its exudations* whence stalactites of different kinds result, whose varieties of transparency, colours and configuration, are according to the nature of the flint which produces them, and the different metallic or heterogeneous matters which it contains. Rock crystal, all precious stones, white or coloured, and even diamonds, may be regarded as stalactites of this kind. Flints in small pieces, w hose strata are generally concentric, are also stalactites, or parasitical stones ; from flints of large dimensions, and most fine opaque stones, are only spe-fcies of flint. Matters of a vitrificable kind, as %ve have observed, do not produce so great a vol. ii,	D d	variety202
BUFFOls's
variety of concretions as those of the calculable class; and these concretions, produced by flints, are almost all hard and precious stones ; whereas those of the calcareous are only soft matters of no value.
Perpendicular clefts are found in rocks of flint, as well as in those of marble and hard stone; they are sometimes even larger there, which proves that matter is still dryer than stone: hills, whether of calculable or vitrificable matters, are supported by day or vitrificable sand ; these are the common and general matters of which the globe is composed, and which I look on as the lighest parts, or the scoria of vitrified matter, with which it is internally filled ; thus, all mountains or plains have argillaceous earth or sand for their common foundation. For example, we see that in the pits at Amsterdam and Marly la Ville, vitrificable sand Was below every other stratum.
In most naked rocks it is observable, that the sides of the perpendicular clefts, whether broad or narrow, correspond as exactly as those of a piece of slit wood. In the large quarries in Arabia, which are almost composed of granate, these perpendicular separations are very frequent,; and although some are twenty or thirtyNATURAL HISTORY.
203
yards wide, yet the ridges exactly correspond and leave a deep cavity between them It is very common to find, in perpendicular clefts, shells broken in half, and each piece remaining fastened to the stone on the opposite side; which proves these shells were placed in the solid stratum, and before the cleft was madef.
In some matters the perpendicular clefts are very wide, as in the quarries quoted by Shaw, which, perhaps, is the reason that they are not so frequently met with, in the quarries of flint and granate, the? stone may be cut out in very large pieces without the smallest inconvenience, as the obelisks and pillars seen at Rome, which are upwards of sixty, eighty, a hundred, or one hundred and fifty feet long. It appears that these large pillars were raised from the quarry, and that they are to be had of any required thickness, as well as some species of free-stone. There are other matters where these perpendicular strata are very narrow7 ; as in clay, marl, and chalk, and they ¿ire wider in marble and most hard stones. Some are imperceptible from being filled with a matter nearly similar to that of the stone itself, which
* See Shaw’s Travels, vol. II. page 83..
i See Woodward, page 2!>8.
D d 2	nevertheless.fcUFFOIs’s
% H
nevertheless breaks off the continuity of the stone, and are what the workmen call hairs. | have often remarked that in marble and stone these hairs cross the blocks entirely, and differ from particular clefts only because their sepa^ ration is not complete. These kind of clefts are filed with a transparent matter, which is a true spar. There are a great number of considerable clefts in the quarries of free-stone ; this proceeds f rom these rocks often resting on less solid bases than marble or calcinahle stones, which generally test on clay. There are many places where free-stone is not to be met with ip large masses ; and in most quarries where it is good it lies in the form of cubes and parallel pipedes placed on each other in a, very irregular manner, as in the hills of Fontaipbleau, which at a distance appear to he the ruins of ancient buildings. This irregular disposition proceeds from the base of these hills being composed of sand; which permits the rocks tq sink one oa the other, particularly in places that formerly have been worked, which has occasioned a great number ©£ eleft§ and intervals between the blocks; and we may observe, in every country where sand and free-stone ab#imd, that there are many
piecesNATURAL HISTORY.

pieces of rock and large stones in the middle of plains and Tallies; whereas in a country consisting chiefly of marble and hard stone, these scattered pieces, which have rolled from the hills and mountains, are very scarce, which proceeds only from the different solidity of the base on which these stones rest, and from the extent of the banks of marble and calculable stone, which is more considerable than that of free-stone.

ARTICLE XVIII,
¡OF THE EFFECTS OF RAIN—OF MARSHESj SUBTERRANEOUS WOOD, AND SUBTER^ RANEOUS WATERS.
.mi....¡if
WE have already observed that rains, and the currents of water, w hich they produce continually, detach from the heights of mountains, sand, earth, gravel, &c. which they
CHITBUFFON'*8
carry into plains, from whence the rivers con* vey a part of them into the sea. Plains therefore are successively tilled, and by degrees raised higher, while mountains daily diminish, Joseph Blancanus relates various facts on this subject, which were of public notoriety in his time, and which prove that mountains have been considerably lowered. In the county of Derby, in England, the steeple of the village Craich was not visible in 1572 from a certain mountain, on account of the height of another which intervened; in eighty or a hundred years after, not only this steeple but every part of the church became visible from that very spot. Doctor Plot gives a similar example of a mountain between Sibbertoft and Ashby, in Northamptonshire. The rain w aters not only carry with them the lightest parts of the mountains, as earth, gravel, and small stones, but even undermine and roll down large rocks, which considerably diminish the height of them. The mountains of Wales are very steep and high, and the fragments of these rocks are to be seen in large pieces at their feet, which, as well as all fragments of rocks met with in vallies, are the works of frosts and water. It is not mountains of sand and earth
aloneNATURAL HISTORY.
alone which the rain causes to sink, for they attack the hardest rocks, and carry with them large fragments into the vallles. In a valley in Nantphrancon, in 1685, a part of a large rock, which rested on a narrow1 base, having been undermined by the waters, fell,and broke in many pieces, the largest of which, in descending, tore up a considerable trench in the plain, and crossed a small river on the other side of which it stopped. It is to similar accidents we must attribute the origin of all the large stones found adjacent to the mountains. We must recollect, as before observed, that these large stones, scattered abroad, are more common in countries whose mountains are composed of sand and free-stone, than in those where their composition is marble and clay, because saud is a less solid foundation than clay.
To give an idea of the quantity of earth which the rain detaches from mountains and carries into the vallies, wTe shall quote a circumstance related by Dr. Plot. He says, in his Natural History of Staffordshire, that, 18 feet deep in the earth, a great number of pieces of money had been found, coined in the reign of Edward IV, two hundred years before hisittirNd â
time ; from which he concludes that the groimct which is marshy has increased above a foot in eleven years, or an inch and a twelfth every year. A similar observation occurs with respect to some trees buried seventeen feet deep from the surface tulder which medals of Julius Cœsar were found ; hence the earth, brought from the top of mountains by the waters, considerably increases the elevation of the ground of plains.
This gravel, sand, and earth which the waters from mountains convey into plains, form strata, which must not be confounded with the ancient and original strata of the globe. In the former class must be placed those of soft stone, gravel, and sand, the grains of w hich are washed and rounded : to these may be added, the strata of stones which are formed by a kind of incrustation ; neither of which owe their origin to lhe motion or sediments of the sea. In these strata of soft and imperfect Stones are found an infinity of vegetables, leaves, land and river shells, and small bones of terrestrial animals, but never sea shells, or other marine productioiis ; which evidently proves, together with their want of solidity, that these strata are formed on the 4	surface200
ATtjR AL HISTORY.
kirface of the dry land, and that they are more modem than those of marble and other stones which contain shells, and were originally formed by the sea. All these modern stones appear to be hard and solid when they are first hewn out, but, when exposed to the weather* the air and rain presently dissolve them; their substance is so different from true stone, that when reduced into minute parts, to make sand of them, they are converted into a kind of earth or clay. Stalactites, and other stony concretions, which Tournefort took for vegetated marble, are not real stones, any more than those which are formed by incrustations. We have already shewn that tufa is not of ancient forma** tion and must not be ranked in the class of stones. Tufa is an imperfect matter, differing from stone or earth, but which derives its origin from both by the means of rain water, as incrustations derive theirs from the deposit of the water of certain springs ; therefore, the strata of these matters are not ancient, nor been formed like the rest, by the sediments of the sea. The strata of turf are also modern, and have been produced by the successive assemblage of leaves and other perishable vegetables, and which are only preserved by a bitumous E e	earth.
VOL. 1IPBUFFO Ji’s
121©
earth. Among these modern strata we never meet with any marine production; but, oil the contrary, many vegetables, bones of land animals, and land and river shells, as may be seen in the meadows, near Ashby, in the county of Northampton, where a great number of snail shells, plants, herbs, and many river shells are found all in good preservation, some feet deep in the earth, but not a single marine shell among them*.
These new strata have been formed by the waters which run ©n the surface of the earth, often changing situation and dispersing on every side. Part of these waters penetrate internally and flow across the clefts of rocks and stones ; and the reason w e meet with no water in high lands, no more than on the tops of hills, is, because all elevations are generally composed of stone and rocks, therefore to find w ater we must dig through the rock till we come to clay, or firm earth, on which these rocks stand, and we shall not meet with any water until the stone is pierced to the bottom i therefore, when the thickness of the rock* which must be pierced, is very considerable, as in lofty mountains, where they are often up«
* See Philosophical Trans» Abridg. 11. page 271.
wards,NATURAL HISTORY.
21 i
wards of 1000 feet in height, it is impossible to dig to their base, and of course to have any Mater. There are even large parts of land where there is not any water, as in Arabia Petr.ea, which is a desert where no rain ever falls, where the scorching sand covers the whole surface of the earth, where there is scarcely any vegetable soil, where the few plants which are found are fickly, and where springs and wells are so very scarce that only five are reckoned between Cairo and Mount Sinai, and the water of them is salt and bitter.
When the waters on the surface cannot find
*
vent to flow they form marshes and fens. The most famous marshes in Europe are those of Muscovy, at the source of the Tanais; and those of Savolaxia and Enasak, in Finland ; there are also some in Holland, Westphalia, and otlier low countries: in Asia are the marshes of the Euphrates, of Tartary, and of the Pains Meotis : nevertheless there are fewer of them generally speaking in Asia and Africa than in Europe; but America may be said to be one continued marsh throughout all its plains, which is a greater proof of the modern date of the country, and of the small number of inhabitants than of their want of industry.
E e 2	There
£12
There are very great bogs in England, especially near the sea in Lincolnshire, which Jias lost much ground on one side'and gained it on the other. In the ancient ground a great number of trees are found buried below the pew ground, which has been deposited there by the water. The same also are met with in Scotland, particularly at the mouth of the river Ness. Near Bruges, in Flanders, in digging to the depth of 40 or 50 feet, a great quantity of trees were found, as close to each other as in a forest; the trunks,-branches, and leaves, ■were so well preserved that the different kinds were easily distinguished. About 500 years since, the land where these trees were found was covered by the sea, and, before that time there is no trace or tradition that it ever existed ; nevertheless it must have been so, when these trees stood and vegetated; therefore this ground, which formerly was covered with wood, has been overwhelmed by the sea, the waters of which has, by degrees, deposited there between 40 and 50 feet of earth upon the former surface, and then retired. A number of subterraneous trees have been also found at Youle, in Yorkshire, 12 miles below the town of York^ near the river Humber; there 4	' arcNATURAL HISTORY.
.eia
arc some large enough for building ; and it is said, perhaps improperly, that ibis wood is as durable as oak. The people cut them into long thin slips, and sell them in the neighbouring towns, where they are used for the lighting of pipes. All these trees appear broken, and the trunks are separated from the foots as if ^ they had suffered the violence of a hurricane,or an inundation. This wood greatly resembles willow, it has the same smell when burnt, and makes charcoal exactly like it In the Isle of Man there is a marsh six miles long by three broad, it is called Curragh; subtersaneous trees, like willows, are found there, and, although they are 18 or £0 feet in depth, they are, nevertheless, firm on their roots 'f. Trees are met with in almost every morass, bog, and marsh, in Somerset, Chester, Lancaster, and Stafford. There are some places where trees are found under the earth, which have been cut, sawed, squared, and worked by the labour of man ; and even wedges and saws have likewise been found by them. Between Birmingham and Bromley, in the county of Lincoln, there are lofty hills of fine light sand, which the rain and wind
* See Philosophical Transactions. No. 228,
t See Ray’s Discourses} page 232.
sweep214
buffon’s
sweep away, leaving uncovered the roots of large willow trees, on which the impression of the axe is exceedingly plain. These hills, without doubt have been formed like downs, by the accumulation of sand, which the waters of the sea have brought there and deposited at different periods. A great number of these subterraneous trees are also found in the marshy lands of Holland, Friesland, and near Groningen, whence the turfs which they burn are dug.
In the earth are found trees of almost every kind, as willows, oaks, firs, aspins, beach, yew, ash, hawthorn, &c. In the fens of Lincoln, along the river Ouse, and in Hatfield-Chace, in the county of York, these trees are as straight as we see them in a forest. The oaks are very hard and used in buildings; they are said to last a long time, but which I must doubt, as all trees that are dug out of the earth, at least all those which I have seen, whether oak or others, lose, in drying, all the solidity which they appeared to have at first. The ash is tender, and soon crumbles to dust. There are many trees which have clearly been shaped and sawed by men, and the hatchets, sometimes found near them, resemble, in form, the knives
ancientlyNATURAL HISTORY.
21$
anciently used in sacrifices. Besides trees, nuts, acorns, &c. are met with in great quantities, in many other fenny parts of England and Ireland, as well as the morasses of France, Sweden, Savoy, and Italy
In the city of Modena, and four miles round, whatever part of the earth is dug to the depth of sixty-three feet, and then bored five more with an auger, the water springs out with such great force, that the w ell is filled instantly ; and this water continues always the same, neither diminishing nor increasing by rain nor drought. Why it is more remarkable in this ground, when we reach the depth of fourteen feet, we find the ruins of an ancient town, such as paved streets, houses, different pieces of mosaic work, &c. After this is a very solid ground, which appear to have never been stirred; yet below it we find a moist earth mixed with vegetables ; and at twenty-six feet entire trees, as filberds with nuts thereon, and a great quantity of branches and leaves. At tw enty-eight feet is a stratum of chalk mixed with shells, and this bed is eleven feet in thickness ; after this we again meet with vegetables; and so on alter-
* See Philosophical Transaction? Abridge Vo2, IVV .page 218, ¿tc.
Bat-el vil6
nateiy to the depth of sixty-three feet, whed there is a bed of sand mixed with gravel and shells, like those formed on the coasts of the Italian sea ; these successive beds are always met with in the same order, wheresoever it has been dug, and very often the auger meets with large trunks of trees, which the workmen bore through with much labour. Bones of animals, coals, flint, and pieces of iron are also found. Ramazzini, who relates these circumstances, thinks that the gulph of Venice formerly extended beyond Modena, and, that by the sediments of rivers in the course of time> assisted perhaps by the inundations of the sea> this ground has been formed.
1 shall no longer dwell on the varieties in. the formation of modern strata ; it suffices to have shewn that they have been produced by no other causes than running and stagnant waters, which are upon the surface of the earth, and that they are neither so hard nor solid as the ancient strata which are formed under the waters of the sea.
ABTIC1&KATURAL HISTORY*
ni
ARTICLE XIX.
OF TI*£ CHANGES OF LAND INTO SEA, AND OF SEA, INTO LAND.
vii, vtu and ix, it appears that great and general changes have happened to the terrestrial globe ; and, it is ascertain, from what we have related in other Articles, that the surface of the earth has undergone particular alterations. Although the order or succession of these pan* ticular alterations are not perfectly known, yet we are acquainted with the principal causes ; we can even distinguish their different effects ; and, if we could collect all the facts which Natural and Civil History furnish on the subject of the revolutions which have happened to the sur-vol. ii.	F f	face
what has been said in the Articles r218
BUFFON’S
face of the earth, we do not doubt but that the Theory of the earth which we have laid down would receive an additional support.
One of the principal causes of these alterations is the motion of the sea_* a motion which it has endured from the earliest ages; for, since the sun, moon, earth} waters, air, &c. have existed from the time of the creation, the effects of the tides, the motion of the sea from east to west, as well as that of the winds and currents, must have been felt for the same space; and if we should even suppose the axis of the globe had formerly another inclination, and that the continents as well as the sea, had another disposition, it does not destroy the motion of the flux and reflux, nor alter the cause and effects of the winds; it is sufficient that the immense quantity of waters which fill the vast space of the sea is found in some part on the globe of the earth, for wherever they had been collected they would have still been subject to the same motions, and produced similar effects.
When it was once supposed that our continent was formerly the bottom of a sea, there was soon no doubt remaining thereon. The devastations of the sea, which are every where to be met with; the horizontal situation of the
strataNATURAL HISTORY.
219
stratu of the earth ; and the correspondence of hills and mountains appear as so many convincing proofs; for, by examining the plains, vallies, and hills, we clearly perceive that the surface of the earth has been formed by the waters. It is equally evident, when we look into the interior parts of the earth, that those stones which contain sea-shells have been formed by the sediments of thewaters, since the shells arefound filled with the same matter as that which surrounds them ; and lastly, by reflecting on the corresponding angles of opposite hills, we cannot doubt but their directions are the works of the currents of the sea. It is true, that since the earth has been left uncovered, the original form of the surface has been constantly changing, the mountains have diminished in height, the plains have been elevated, the angles of hills become more obtuse, many waters washed away by floods or rivers have taken a round shape, beds of gravel, soft stone, &c. have been formed; but the essential matter is still remaining, the ancient form is still apparent, and I am persuaded that all the world may be convinced by their own inspection of what has been advanced on this subject; and whoever attends to the observations and proofs I F f 2	havebuffon’s
220
have given* will not doubt the earth was for-merly covered by the waters of the sea* and that it is the currents of the sea which has given to the surface of the earth* the form we at present perceive.
The principal motion of the sea is* as vre have already observed* from east to west. It also appears that the sea lias gained above 5DO leagues of ground on the easterh coasts of both the old and new continents ; for the proofs of w hich we refer to those given in Article xi. and shall only add now* that all straits which join two seas are directed from east to west; the straits of Magellan* Frobisher, of Hudson* of Ceylon* and those of the seas of Corea and Kamtschatka have all this direction* and ap^ pear to have been formed by the currents of the waters* which being impelled from east to west* opened these passages in the same direction* and in which they preserve a more considerable motion than in any other; for in these straits there are high and violent tides* whereas in those situated on the w estern coasts* like that of Gibraltar* Sund* §ec. the motion of the tides is almost insensible.
The inequalities of the bottom of the sea change the direction of the waters’ motion;
they
4NATURAL HISTORY•
£21
they have been successively produced by the sediments of the water, and by matters transported by the tides or other motions ; for we do not consider the motion of the tides as the sole cause of those inequalities, but only as the principal and first, because it is the most constant and acts without interruption. The action of the winds is another cause; which, beginning at the surface, extends to considerable depths, as is plain from the matters that are loosened and thrown up by a storm from the bottom of the sea, and which never happens but in tempestuous weather.
We have already mentioned that between the tropics, and even some degrees beyond them, an east wind continually blows; this wind, which contributes to the general motion of the sea from east to west, is as ancient as tlie flu» and reflux, since it depends on the rarefaction of the air produced by the heat of the sun. Here then are two united causes of motion, the greatest of which is near the equator. The first, the tides which are more sensibly felt in southern latitudes; and the second, the east wind which blows continually in the same climates. These two causes have concurred, ever since the formation of the globe, to produce a motion in tha
waters$2fi	buffon’s
waters from east to west, and to agitate them more in that part of the globe than in all the rest. It is for this reason that the greatest inequalities of the surface of the globe are found between the tropics. The part of Africa comprehended between these two circles is only a group of mountains whose different chains extend for the most part from east to west, as is evident from the'direction of the great rivers of this part of the world; it is the same with those parts of Asia and America which are comprised between the tropics.
From the combination of the general motion of the sea from east to west, with the flux and reflux of the currents, and the winds, an infinite number of different effects has resulted, both on the bottom of the sea and on the coasts. Varenius says, it is very probable that the gulphs and straits have been formed by the reiterated efforts of the ocean against the land; that the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulphs of Arabia, Bengal, and Cambay, have been formed by the eruption of the waters, as well as the straits between Sicily and Italy, between Ceylon and India, between Greece and Euboea, and that it is the same with respect to the straits of the Manillas, Magellan, &c. That one proof of
theseNATURAL HISTORY.
2m
these eruptions, and that the sea has forsaken different lands is, that but few island are to be met with in the great seas, and never a great number of islands close to each other ; that in the immense space occupied by the Pacific sea, not above two or three small islands are to be found towards the middle of it; that in the vast Atlantic ocean, between Africa and the Brazils, \ve only find the small islands of St. Helena and Ascension ; but that all islands are near the great continents, as those of the Archipelago, near the continents of Europe and Asia, the Canaries, near Africa, all the islands of the Indian Sea, near the eastern coast of Asia : the Antilie islands, close to that of America, and fhat only the Azores lie at any great distance in the sea between Europe and America.
The inhabitants of Ceylon say, that their island was separated from the peninsula of India by an eruption of the ocean ; and this popular tradition is very probable. It is also imagined the inland of Sumatra has been separated from the ¿ontinent, and the great number of shoals and sand banks are a strong proof of it. The Malabars assert, that the Maldivian islands formed a part of the continent of India, and in general it may be reasonably supposed that all the
eastern8*4	feu£#oN*s
eastern islands have been divided from the coil* tinents by eruptions of the ocean*
It appears that, formerly, the island of Great Britain was part of the continent, and that England was joined to France ;# the similarity of the stones on the two coasts, and the narrowness of this strait seem plainly to indicate it. By supposing, says Dr* Wallis, “ that England formerly communicated with France, by an isthmus between Dover and Calais, it must follow that the sea would be carried against both sides of it with great violence by the tides twice in every twenty-four hours 5 the German ocean, which is between England and Holland, striking of it on the eastern side, and that of France on the Wrest, would be sufficient in time to wrear away so narrow a neck of land as we have supposed. The tides acting with great violer.ee, not only against this isthmus but also against the coasts of France and England, must have washed away a great quantity of sand, earth, and clay, from every part against which the sea was forced; but, being stopped in its course, it would not deposit, as might be supposed, their sediments against this isthmus, but transport them into the great plain that now * See Yarenius Geography, page 203, 217, and 220.
formaNATURAL HISTORY.
forms Romney Marsh, which is eight miles long by four broad; for, whoever has seen this plain, cannot doubt that it was formerly covered with the sea, as it wrould be still overflowed by spring tides if it were not for the dikes of Dimchurch.
The German sea must have acted in the same manner against the isthmus, and the coasts of England and Flanders would convey its sediments into Holland and Zealand, the ground of which, though formerly covered with water, is now forty feet above. On the coast of England, the German sea must have filled up that large valley, where the river Stour actually flows for more that £0 miles, beginning at Sanwich, passing Canterbury, Chatham, and Chilham as far as Ashford. At this place the ground is much higher than it was formerly, since at Chatham the bones of an hippopotamus were found, seventeen feet deep in the earth, together with anchors and marine shells.
It is very probable the sea may form new land, by bringing and depositing, at particular places, sand, earth, mud, &c. for in the island of Okney, which is adjacent to Romney Marsh, there was a tract of low land continually tql. 11.	Gg	inbuffgn’s
tu
in danger of being inundated by the rive£ Rother; but, in less than 60 years, this ground has been considerably elevated by quantities of earth and mud being brought thither every tide, and the channel through which it enters in less than fifty years has deepened so much as to admit of the reception of large vessels,whereas, at that time it w as a ford, over which people might pass.
In this manner the sand bank was formed which extends obliquely from the coast of Norfolk to that of Zealand. This bank forms that part where the tides of the German and French sea meet,since the isthmus has been broken, and where the earth and sand are deposited which are washed aw ay from the coasts ; nor is it by any means improbable but that in the course of time this bank may become an isthmus
There is a great appearance, says Ray, that the island of Great Britain was formerly joined to France, and formed a part of that continent p it is not know n however whether its separation was caused by an earthquake, an eruption of the ocean, or by the labour of man ; but that this
* See Abridgment of Philosophical Transactions, yoI. it. page 2.27,
islandNATURAL HISTORY.
£27
island formed part of the continent is evident, from the rocks and coasts of both being of the same nature, composed of the same matters, and exactly of the same height; the length of the rocks, along these coasts are also nearly the same, about six miles on either side. The little breadth of the channel, which in this part is not more than twenty-four English miles, and its shallowness, comparatively with the neighbouring sea, is another reason to suppose that England has been divided from France by accident. We may add to these proofs, that there were formerly wolves and bears in this island ; it is not to be presumed that they could swim over, nor that men transported such destructive animals ; for, in general, we find the noxious animals of the continent in the adjacent islands, and never in those which are separated from them by a great distance ; as the Spaniards remarked when they landed in America
In the reign of Henry I. King of England, a great inundation happened by an irruption of the sea in part of Flanders. In 144(1 by a like eruption 10, 000 persons were drowned in the territory cf Dordrecht, and more than
* See Ra^yp Discourses, page 208,
G g 2	100,000g2S
buffon’s
100,000 round Dullart, JFrieseland, and in Zealand. In these last two provinces upwards of 300 villages were overflowed ; and the tops of their towers and steeples are still to be seen above the surface of the water.
From the coast of France, Fag] and, Holland, Germany, and Prussia, the sea has retreated in many parts. Hubert Thomas relates, in his description of Liege, that the sea formerly surrounded the walls of the city of Tongres, which is now more than 35 leagues distant from it; this he proves by many strong reasons, and, among others, he says, that in his time the iron rings, to which the ships were moored, were to be seen remaining in the walls. We may likewise regard as lands deserted by the sea, the fens of Lincoln in England, and of Provence in France ; the sea also has very considerably retreated from the mouth of the Rhone since the year 1665. In Italy, a considerable tract of land has been gained at the mouth of the Arno ; and Ravenna, formerly a sea port, is no longer a maratime town. Holland appears to be an entire new country, where the surface of the earth is almost on a level with the sea, although the land is considerably elevated by the daily deposit of mud
andNATURAL HISTORY.
and earth from the Rhine, Maese, &e. for it was formerly computed that the ground of Holland was, in many places, 50 feet lower than the bottom of the sea.
It is asserted, that in the year 860, a furious tempest drove on the coast so great a quantity of sand that it shut up the mouth of the Rhiney near the Catt, and that this river inundated the whole country, tore up tree6 and houses, and, at last emptied itself into the channel of the Maese. In 1421 another inundation separated the town of Dordrecht from the main land, submerged 72 villages, many castles, - and drowned iGO, 000 souls, beside a great number of cattle. The dike of Yssel was broken in 1658 by the ice brought down by the Rhine, which, having shut up the passage of the water, made an opening of some fathoms, and a great part of the province was overflowed before the breach could be repaired. In 1682 there was a similar inundation in the province of Zealand, which destroyed upwards of 30 villages, and drowned a considerable number of people and cattle, from their being surprised by the waters in the night. It was & fortunate circumstance for Holland that a
south€30
BUFFOn’s
pouth wind opposed the inroad of the sea, for it was so greatly swelled that the water was 18 feet higher than the highest ground of the province
At Hithe, in the county of Kent, the harbour has filled up in defiance of every expense and precaution that was made to prevent it. A surprising number of sea-shells, Scc.are met with for several miles round, which were formerly heaped together, and which are now covered by earth, and are beautiful meadows. On the other side the sea has gained in several places, as for instance, the Goodwin Sands, which was an estate belonging to an Earl of that name, but at present no more than sand covered by the waters of the sea ; thus the sea in many places gains on the land and loses in others, according to the different situation of the coasts, and other circumstances f. On mount Stella, in Portugal, is a lake in which the wrecks of ships have been found* notw ithstanding this mountain is more than I *Z leagues from the sea t. Sabinus, in his Com-
* See the historical Voy ages of Europe, yoL v. page 70. t See Abrldg. Philosophical Tr-iRS, vol, ir.p.234*
2 See Gordon^ Geography, page 14ch
memari<r&‘NATURAL history.
Til
mentarieson Ovids Metamorphoses, says, that in the year 1460 a ship, with its anchors, was found in a mine of the Alps.
It is not in Europe alone we meet with these vicissitudes of land into sea and sea into land; other parts of the world might furnish more remarkable, arid in a greater number, if investigated with precision.
Calecut w as formerly a famous city and the capital of a kingdom of that name ; at present , it is only a trifling town, meanly built, and but thinly inhabited : the sea, which for a century has gained greatly on this coast, has overflowed the greatest part of the old city, with a beautiful fortress of stone which w as therein. Vessels at present moor on their mins, and the port is tilled with a great number of shoals, and on which ships are frequently wrecked*.
The province of J ucatao, a peninsula in the gulph of Mexico, was formerly a part of the sea. This neck of ground extends 100 leagues in length, and is not more than 25 leagues at its greatest breadth, The air is perfectly hot and moist. Although there are neither rivulets nor rivers throughout so long a space, the water is every where so nigh the surface as to furnish
* See Lettres EdiJiantes Recueil 11, page 187.
plenty ;BUPFOJTS
#3S
plenty ; and, by opening the earth, so great n number of shells are found as to leave no doubt that this great extent may be regarded as a place which formerly was part of the sea.
The inhabitants of Malabar assert that, formerly, the Maldivian islands were attached to the Indian continent, and that the violence of the sea has divided them from it. The number of these islands is so great, and some of the channels, which separate them, are so narrow, that the bowsprits of vessels which pass them tear off the leaves of the trees on each side, and in some places an active man, by holding by the branch of a tree, may leap into another island
The cocoa-trees, which are at the bottom of the sea, is a proof that tire Maldivians were formerly part of the continent; cocoa-nuts are often detached from them and thrown on the shore by a storm.
It is imagined that the island of Ceylon was formerly united to the continent, and that the currents, which are extremely rapid in many parts of India, have divided that as well as Rammanakoiel, and many other islandsf. How-
* See the Dutch Travels to the East-Indies, page 274.
t See the Dutch Travels to the East-Indies, vol. vi. p.485.
ever.HATÜRAL HISTORY.
233
ever, it is .certain that the island of Ceylon has lost 30 or 40 leagues of ground towards the north-west side, which the sea has gained.
It appears that the sea has recently forsaken a great part of the projecting lands and islands of America. We have just observed, that the ground of Jucatan is filled with shells. It is the samé with the low lands of Martinique and the other Antille islands. The inhabitants have termed the earth below the surface lime, because they make their lime with these shells, considerable banks of which are found immediately under the vegetable earth. In the new voyages to the islands of America it is said, " the lime> which is found in the island of Guada-loupe, when the earth is turned up, is of the same kind as that drawn out of the sea, the reason of which is difficult to be assigned. Might it not be possible, that all the extent of ground which composes this island, was, in former times, only a high ground filled with lime-plants, which having grown and filled the void spaces that were occupied by the water, have raised up the ground, obliged the water to retire, and leave all the superficies dry? This conjecture, as extraordinary as at first it may appear, has, nevertheless, nothing im-yol. ii.	Hh	possibleBUFFON?S
C34
possible in it; and if the people who reside there were to dig in different parts of the earth they would discover what the real soil is, and by that means destroy or strengthen my conjecture.”
There are some lands which are sometimes covered with water and sometimes uncovered,, as many islands in Norway, Scotland, the Maldives, the gulph of Cambaya, &c. The Baltic has, by little and little, gained a great part of Pomerania, and covered and destroyed the famous port of Vineta. So, likewise, the sea of Norway has projected into the continent, and formed many small islands. The German sea has projected into Holland near Catt, insomuch that the ruins of an ancient citadel of the Romans, which was formerly on the coast, are now very far in the sea. The marshy grounds in the Isle of Ely, in England, and those in Provence, in France, are, on the contrary, as we have observed, land which the sea has abandoned. Downs have been formed by the sea' winds, which have thrown and accumulated earth, sand, shells, &c. on the shore. For example, on the western coast of France, Spain, and Africa, durable and violent Westerly winds reign,
whichNATURAL HISTORY.	235
which impel the waters towards the shore with great impetuosity,, and on which coasts, downs are very frequent. In a similar mariner the easterly winds, when they remain any long time, so strongly drive the waters from the coasts of Syria and Phoenicia that the chain of rocks, which is covered with water during the westerly winds, is left quite dry. Thus, downs are never composed of stone, or marble, like mountains formed in the bottom of the sea, because they have not been long enough under the water. In our discourse on minerals we shall shew that the sea possesses the power of petrifaction, and that the stones formed in the earth are quite different from those formed in the sea.
When I had just finished my Theory of the Earth, which I composed in 1744, I. received from Mons. Barrere, his dissertation on the origin of figured stones, and I was pleased to find my own opinion concur with that of this able naturalist, on the subject of the formation of downs, and the time the water remained on the earth which we inhabit. He relates many alterations which have happened to the sea coasts ; “Aiguis-mortes, which is now more than a league and a half from the sea, was II h £	a port236	buffon’s
a port in the time of St. Louis ; Psahnodi was an island in 815, and at present it is inland two leagues from the sea. It is the same with respect to Maguelone. The greatest part of the vineyards of Agde, was, forty years ago, covered by the sea ; and in Spain the sea has considerably retreated within a §hort space of time from Blanes, Badalona, the mouth of the river Vobregat, Cape Tortosa, along the coasts pf Valentia, &c.
“ The sea may form hills and mountains in many different manners ; first, by the transportations of earth, sand, and shells, from one place to another; secondly, by depositing sediments, consisting of small particles detached from the coasts and bottom, and which it pight have transported from a considerable distance : and lastly, by sand, mud, and other articles, yvhich the sea winds often drive against coasts, downs and hills may be produced, which the water forsaking, by degrees, become parts of the continent.” The downs of Flanders and Holland are of this kind, being only hills composed of §and and shells, which the sea winds have driven towards the land. Mows. Barrere quotes another example which merits a place in this work. (i The
sea,NATURAL HISTORY.
237
«ea, by its motion, detaches from its bottom an infinity of plants, shells, slime, and sand, which the waves and winds continually drive towards the shore. N ow, all these different operations must continually form new strata, elevate the beds of earth, gradually raising downs and hills, retrenching the bounds of the ocean, and by that means extending the lands on the continents.”
“ It is evident that new strata have been sue" cessively formed by the same reiterated motion of the waters from the deposition of sediments and other constant causes from time immémorial; of which I find strong proofs in the different beds of fossils, shells, and other marine productions found in Roussillon near the village of Naffiac, about seven or eight leagues from the sea ; these beds of shells which are inclined from the west to the east, and in different angles, are separated from each other by banks pf sand and earth, are sometimes from one and a half to two or three feet in thickness. They appear as if sprinkled with salt in dry weather, and fom, togethe , hill *cks from tw enty-five to thirty fathoms in height ; now a long chair of hills of such a height can only be formed gradually, and at different periods of time
SuchUUFFON?S
C3$
Such might be the effect of a universal deluge* which must have disturbed all nature ; but which could not have given a regular form to these different beds of fossil shells, but would have jurnbled them together without any order or regularity/''
On this subject I am perfectly of the same opinion as M. Barrere, excepting as to the formation of mountains, which I cannot agree ought to be entirely attributed to the causes which occasion the ocean to gain upon the land on some parts, and to relinquish it in others. As I anij on the contrary, of opinion, I could produce many convincing arguments to prove that most of the eminences seen on the surface of the earth have been actually formed in the sea itself. First, because they have a correspondence of projecting and returning angles, which necessarily implies the cause we have assigned, that is, the motion of the currents. Secondly, because downs and hills, which are formed by the materials that the sea brings on its shores, are not composed of marble and hard stone, like common hills : the shells, also, in the former are generally only fossils, whereas in the latter, the petrifaction is complete ; besides the beds of earth are not so horizontal 6
inNATURAL HISTORY.
in downs as in the hills composed of marble and hard stone, but are more or less inclined, as in the hills of Naffiac, whereas, in the hills and mountains, formed under the water by the sediment of the sea, the strata are always parallel, and very often horizontal, and the shells and other marble are entirely petrified. I have no doubt of proving that marble and other calculable matters, which are almost all composed of madrepores, astroites, and shells have acquired their hardness and perfection at the bottom of the sea: on the contrary, gravel, soft stones, incrustations, stalactites, &c. which are also calcinable and found in the earth, and formed since our continent has been discovered, cannot acquire this degree of hardness and petrifaction which marble or hard stones have.
In the history of the French Academy for 1707, may be seen the observations of Saul-inon, on the subject of the galcts found in many places. These galets are round and flat flints very smooth, and which are cast on the shores by the sea. At Bayeux, and at Prutel, which are a league from the sea, we find them in digging wells or pits. The mountains of Bonnueil, Broie, and Quesnoy, which are eighteen leagues
from£40
fcùFfoli’s
from the sea, are all covered with galets ; the^ are also found in the valley of Clermont in Beauvois. M. Saulmon likewise relates, that a hole, 16 feet deep, was bored, horizontally, into the beach of Tresport, which is soft earth, and that it entirely disappeared in 30 years : so that if the sea always encroaches alike, it would gain half a league in 12,000 years.
The motions of the sea are, therefore, the principal causes of the alterations which have happened, and which daily happen on the surface of the globe. But there are many other causes, which, though less considerable, contribute to those changes. Sunning waters, rivers, streams, the melting of snow, torrents, frosts, &c. have occasioned many changes ; the rains have diminished the height of mountains ; rivers and rivulets have raised plains, and stopped up the sea at their mouths : the melting of snow, and torrents, have perforated hollows in vallies ; and the frosts have split rocks and separated them from their former stations. We might quote an infinity of examples on the alterations these causes have occasioned. Va-renhis says, that rivers convey into the sea great quantities of earth, which they deposit at a greater or less distance from the coasts, accordingKATURAt HISTORY.	Mt
cording to the rapidity of their currents; these* earths fall to the bottom of the sea, and, at first, form those small banks which daily increase, become shoals, and, at last, form islands, which are fertile and inhabitable. This is the manner in which the islands of the Nile are formed, as well as those of St. Lawrence, the isle of Landa, situated on the coast of Africa> near the mouth of the river Coanza, the island of Norway, &c #. To these may be added the island of Tong Ming, in China, which has been gradually formed by the earth that the river Nankin has brought and deposited it at its mouth. This island is more than £0 leagues long by five or six broad *j\
The Po, the Trento, the Athesis> and other rivers of Italy, bring with them great quantities of earths into the lakes of Venice, especially during the time of inundations, which, in course of time, must fill them up. In many places they are now dry at low water, and, excepting the canals which are kept up at a great expense, have no depth of water*
At the mouths of the Nile, the Ganges, the Indus, the Plata, the Nankin, and of many
* See Yarenni Geography page 214. t See Leters, Edifiantes Recueil xi. page 234*
vol. ii.	Ii	otherBUFFON S'
other rivers, the earth and sand deposited form considerable banks. La Loubere, in his voyage to Siam, says, that the banks of sand and earth daily increase at the mouths of the great rivers of Asia, insomuch that themavigation of them becomes every day more difficult, and will one day be impassable. The same remark may be made of the large rivers of Europe, and particularly of the Wolga, which has more than 70 mouths in the Caspian sea, and of the Danube, which has seven in the Black Sea, &e.
As it seldom rains in Egypt, the regular inundations of the Nile proceed from the torrents which fall into it from Ethiopia. These annually bring with them great quantities of mud, which they not only deposit on the land of Egypt but even throw to a considerable distance in the sea, and thus lay the foundation of a new land, which, in the course of time, arises from it; for, by sounding with the lead, we find, at more than 20 leagues distance from the coast, the mud of the Nile at the bottom of the sea, and which is every year increasing. Lower Egypt, where * Dela at present stands, was formerly a gulph of the
* See Diodorus Sic. lib. 3. Aristotle, lib. X, of Meteors cli. xiv. Herodotus, § 4,	&e;
s m.NATURAL HISTORY.	243
«ea. Homer tells us that the island of Pharos was 24 hours voyage from Egypt, and at present it is almost contiguous to it. The soil of Egypt has not the same depth of good ground throughout its extent; it lessens as we approach theses. Near the borders of the Nile there is sometimes near thirty feet depth of good earth, whereas at the extremity of the inundation there is scarcely more than seven inches The town of Damietta, at present more than M) miles from the sea, in 1243 was a seaport. The town of Foe ah, which, 300 years ago, w as situate at the mouth of the Canopus, a branch of the Nile, is now7 more than seven leagues from it. Within 40 years the sea has retreated half a league from before Rosetta. Idem pp. 173 and 188.
The great rivers of America, and even those w hich have been but lately discovered, have suffered great alterations at their mouths Charlevoix, speaking of the river Mississipi says, that at its mouth, below New Orleans, the country forms a point of land which does not appear to be very ancient, for, by digging but a little into the earth water is met with ; beside*, the quantity of small islands which
* Bet 'SiiaVs Travels, vol. II. page 185, and 186.
X i 2	have244
buffon’s
have recently been formed at all the mouths of this river, leaves no doubt of this neck of land being formed after the same manner. It appears certain, says he, that when M. de la Salle went down the Mississipi, to the sea, the mouth of this river was not as it is at this present time.
The nearer we approach towards the sea, adds he, the more it becomes perceptible; the bar has scarcely any wrater in most of the small outlets which the river has opened, and which have multiplied so greatly from the trees that are carried along with the currents, one of which stopt in a part where it is shallow, will entangle hundreds. I have seen, continues he, 200 leagues from New Orleans, collections of trees, one of which would have filledall the timber-yards of Paris, Nothing can set them free; the mud which the river brings down serves to cement, and, by degrees, covers them. Each inundation leaves a new stratum, and, after 10 years, shrubs and vegetables grow on it; after this manner most points and islands are formed, which so often change the course of rivers
* See Charlevoix Travels, vpl. II, page 440f
NeverthelessNATURAL HISTORY,
MS
Nevertheless all the changes which rivers cause are very slow-, and become not considerable till after a long series of years ; but quick and sudden changes have happened by inundations and earthquakes. The ancient Egyptian priests, 6*00 years before the birth of Christ, asserted, according to the Timaeus of Plato, that there was a great island near the Pillars of Hercules, called Atlantis, which was larger than Lybia and Asia taken together; and that this island was buried under the waters of the ocean after a great earthquake. “ Tra-ditur Atheniensis civitas restitisse olirn innu~ meris hostium copiis qua ex Atlántico mari proferta, prope cunctam Europam Asiamque obsederunt; tunc enimfretumillud navigabile, habeas in ore et quasi vestíbulo ejus insulam quas Herculis columnas cognominant ; fer-turque insula ilia Lybia simal et Asia major fnisse, per quarn ad alias jmoximas insulas patehat aditus, atque ex insulis ad omnem continentem e conspectu jacentem vero mari vicinam; sed infra os ipsum portas augusto sinu traditur, pelagus illud verum mare, terra quoque illa veri erat continens, fyc. Post luce ingenti terree motu jugique did unius et
noctis€46
BUFFON S
metis ilhixione factum est, ut terra dehiseem omnis illos hellicosos absorberet, et Atlantis insula sub vasto gUrgite mergeretur” Plato in Tim&o. This ancient tradition is not absolutely contrary to all probability. The earths which were absorbed by the waters are perhaps those which joined Ireland to the Azores, and those to the continent of America; for in Ireland there are the same fossils, shells, and marine productions as in America, some of which are different from any found in other parts of Europe.
Eusebius relates two occurrences on the subject of deluges ; one of which is from Melo, who says that the plains of Syria had formerly been laid under water; the other is from Aby-denus, who says, that in the time of King Sisi-thrus there was a great deluge, which had been predicted by Satunius, (Plutarch De Solertia Auimalium.) Ovid, and other mythologists, speak of the deluge of Deucalion, which, according to them, w as in Thessaly, about 700 years from the universal deluge. It is also asserted that there had been one more ancient in Attica, in the time of Ogyges, about 230 years before that of Deucalion*
InNATURAL HISTORY.
247-
In the year 1093 there was a deluge in Syria, which drowned a number of people L in 1165 there w7as so considerable a one in Friesland, that all the maritime coasts were covered, and several thousands of the inhabitants drowned 'f. In 1218 there w as another inundation which destroyed near an hundred thousand people. There are a multitude of other examples of great inundations, like that of 1604 in England, and many more.
A third cause of the change on the surface of the globe, are impetuous winds. They not only form downs and hills outlie sea shores, but they often stop andchoak up rivers, and change their directions ; they tear up cultivated land, destroy trees, overthrow edifices, and cover entire countries with sand. We have an example of these inundations of sand on the coasts of Britany in France; the history of the Royal Academy of Paris, anno 1722, makes mention of it in the following terms.
“ In the environs of St. Paul de Leon, in Lower Britany, there is a quarter near the sea, which before the year l6(i(i, w as inhabited; but is so no longer, on account of a sand which
* See Alsted , Ciiron chap. 25.
2 SeeKrank, Lib. 5* cap. 4.
covers€48
buffon's
covers it to the height of more than twenty feet, and which gains ground every year» Reckoning from that time, it has proceeded upwards of six leagues into the country, and is now not more than about half a league from St, Paul, so that, according to all appearance that town must soon be deserted. The tops of some steeples and chimnies are still seen peeping out of this sea of sand ; the inhabitants of the interred villages have always had sufficient time to quit their houses in safety.” Page 7.
“ An east or north wind increases this calamity, by raising up a sand of a very fine nature, and sweeping it away in such great quantities, and with such velocity, that M. Deslandes, to whom the academy are indebted fur this observation, when walking in that country during an east wind, was obliged, from time to time, to wipe it off his hat and clothes, they were so loaded with sand» and felt so heavy. Besides, when this wind is violent, it throws this sand over a small arm of the sea into Roscof, a small port much frequented by foreign vessels; the sand collects in their streets to the height of two feet, and the inhabitants are obliged to have it carted away. There are
manyNATURAL HISTORY,	249
many ferruginous particles in this sand, which are easily discovered by a magnet.
(C The coast which furnishes this sand extends %from St. Paul as far as Plouefort, somewhat in ore than four leagues. The disposition of the place is such that only the east or the north« east wind can convey the sand over the lands* It is easy to be conceived how the sand, conveyed and accumulated by the wind in one part, can again be taken up by the same wind and carried farther, and that the sand can thus advance into and cover the country while the mine which furnishes it continues unexhausted ; for without this the sand, by advancing, would always diminish in height, and would cease its destructive ravages. Now it is but too possible that the sea throws up or deposits new sand in the place from whence the wind raises it up, and therefore the dreadful effects may long continue.
“ The disaster is but of modern date, possibly the shoal which furnishes it has not yet a sufficient quantity to lift itself above the surface of the sea, or perhaps the sea has but just left it uncovered. There has been some alteration on the coast, and the sea at present vol, li.	Kk	reaches^250
bojffon’s
reaches, at high water, half a league beyond certain rocks that formerly it never passed.
“ This unhappy province justifies what the ancient and modern travellers relate concerning the tempests of sand in the deserts of Arabia, in which cities and armies have been enveloped and destroyed
Mr. Shaw tells us that the ports of Laodicea, Jebila, Tortosa, Rowada, Tripoli, Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa, are all filled up with sand brought thither by the great waves which beat on that side of the Mediterranean when the west wind blows impetuously
It were superfluous to give a greater number of examples of the alterations that have happened on the surface of the globe. Fire, air, and water, produce continual changes, which become very considerable by time. It is not from general causes alone, whose effects are periodical and regular, that the sea successively takes the place of the earth and forsakes its own dominions. There are a number of particular causes which contribute to these mutations, such as earthquakes, inundations, sinking of mountains, 8tc. Thus the most solid thing,
* See Shaw’sTravels, vol. II.
atNATURAL HISTORY.
£51
at least to our conception, like the rest of nature, undergoes continual and perpetual vicissitudes.
CONCLUSION
OF THE
THEORY OF THE EARTH
Jf T appears to be certain, from the proofs which we have given in Articles vn. and vin, that the whole of the present dry land was formerly covered by the sea. It appears also as certain, from Article xn, that the flux and reflux, and other motions of the ocean, continually detach, from the side and the bottom of the K k 2	sea,%52
BUFFON?S
sea, shells, and matters of every kind, and some part of which are deposited in other places in form of sediments, and which are the origin of the parallel and horizontal strata every where to be met with. We have proved in Article ix„ that the inequalities of the globe have been caused by the motion of the sea, and that mountains have been produced by the successive masses and heapings of the sediments we have just described. It is evident from Article xm. that the currents, w hich at first followed the direction of these inequalities, afterwards gave to them all the figure which they at present preserve ; that is, that alternate correspondence of the saliant angles always opposed to the returning angles. It appears likewise by Articles viii, and xvm. that the greatest part of the matters which the sea has detached from its sides and bottom were, when deposited as sediments, in form of a fine impalpable powder, which perfectly filled the cavities of the shells, whether it was of the same nature or only analogous to that with which they were composed. It is certain, from Article xvii. that the horizontal strata which have been produced by the accumulation of sediments, and which at first were
mNATURAL HISTORY.
253
in a soft state, acquired hardness in proportion as they became dry, and that this drying has produced perpendicular clefts, which cross the horizontal strata.
It is impossible to doubt after perusing the facts produced in the Articles x. xi. xiv. xv. xvi. xvn. xviii. and xix. that an infinite number of revolutions, particular changes, and alterations, have happened on the surface of the globe, as well from the natural motion of the waters of the sea as by the effects of rain, frost, running waters,winds, subterraneous fires, earth quakes, inundations, &c. and that, consequently, the sea has alternately changed places with the earth, especially in the earliest times after the creation, when the terrestrial matters were much softer than they are at present. It must nevertheless be acknowledged, that we can but very imperfectly judge of the succession of natural revolutions ; that we can still less judge of the cause of accidents, changes, and alterations; that the defect of historical monuments deprives us of the knowledge of particular facts, and experience and tune is deficient to us. We do not consider that, though the time of our existence is very limited, nature proceeds£54
buffon’s
in her regular course. We would reduce to our momentary existence the transactions of ages past and to come, without reflecting that this instant of time, nay even human life itself, extended as much as it can be extended by history, is only a single point in the duration, a single fact in the history of the acts of the Almighty,NATURAL HISTORY*
255
HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
CHAPTER I.
A COMPARISON BETWEEN ANIMALS, VEGETABLES, AND OTHER PRODUCTIONS %F NATURE*
jj^MIDST the infinite number of objects that offer themselves to our view, and with which the surface of the earth is every where covered, Animals hold the first rank, both on account of their formation, and their evident superiority over vegetables and other matters. Animals, by their senses, form, motion, and many other properties, have a more intimate connection with those tilings which surround them than vegetables; and the latter, by their figure, growth, and variety of component parts, have also a nearer relation with external £	objects,BUFFO N?S
objects, than either minerals or stones, which have not any kind of life or motion. By this number of properties it is, that the animal claims pre-eminence over the vegetable, and the vegetable over the mineral. Man, to consider him by his material form alone, is only superior to the brute creation by possessing some few peculiar properties, such as those given to him by his tongue and hands; and, although the works of the Creator are, inthem-selves, equally perfect, the animal, according to our mode of perception, is the most complete, and man the most perfect animal.
What variety of springs, what energies, and what mechanical motions are enclosed in that small part of matter which composes the body of an animal ? What properties, what harmony, and what correspondence between the various parts ? How many combinati ons, arrangements, causes, effects, and principles^ conspire to complete one end, and which we know only by results so very difficult to com« prehend, that they only cease from being marvellous by the long custom of not reflecting on them.
N evertheless, however admirable this-work appears, it is not the individual that is the most
wonderful;2^ AT URAL HISTORY.
257
wonderful: but it is in the succession, reproduction, and duration of the various species, that nature becomes inconceivable. This faculty of reproduction, which resides in animals and in vegetables ; this kind of unity always subsisting, and seemingly eternal; this procreative power, which perpetually exercises itself without being destroyed, is a mystery, the depth of which we are not enabled to fathom.
Inanimate bodies, even the stones and dirt under our feet, have some properties : their ex. istence alone supposes a great number ; and the least organic matter has an infinity of relations with the other parts of the universe. We shall not say, with some philosophers, that matter, under whatever form it may be, is sensible of its existence and relative faculties. This is a metaphysical question, and of which we do not here propose to treat; it will be sufficient to observe that not having a perfect knowledge of our own relation with external objects, we cannot doubt that inanimate matters are still more ignorant; besides, as our sensations do not iu the least resemble the objects which cause them, we must conclude, by analogy, that inanimate matter has neither sentiment, sensation, nor a consciousness of its existence. To attribute any
YOU II-	Li	ofBUFFOS 3
253
of these faculties to it, would be giving it the power of. thought, action, and perception* nearly in the same manner as we think, act, and feel, which is as much repugnant to reason as it is to religion.
Inanimate bodies being farmed of earth and dust, we have, of course, some properties in common with them, but they are merely relative to what arises from general matter, such as extent, impenetrability, weight, &c. but, as these properties, purely material, make no impression of themselves, as they exist intirely independent, and do pot at all affect us, we cannot consider them as a part of our being; it is therefore the organization, the soul, and the life, which, constitute'our existence. Matter, considered in this light, is less the principal than the accessor. It is a foreign expansion, the union of which is unknown, and the presence hurtful to us ; and thought, which is the constituent principle of our being, is very probably entirely independent.
We exist, therefore, without knowing how, and ^ve think without knowing, why; but whatever is the manner of our being or thinking, whether our sensations are true or false, the results of them are not less certain. This
ordernatural- History.
Z59
t>vdcr of ideas, this train of thoughts, which internally exist from ourselves, although very different from the objects that cause them, give rise to the most real affections, and occasion relations with external objects, which we may consider as real affinities, since they are invariable and always the same. The human species, therefore, may be said to hold the first rank in the order of nature, the brute creation the second, vegetables the third, and minerals the last; for although we caunot clearly distinguish between our animal and spiritual qualities, and although the brute creation are endowed with tile same senses, possess the same principles of life and motion, and perform a siumher of actions like man, yet they have not the relation with external objects in the same extensive maimer as we have, and consequently the resemblance must fail in various respects. The distance is greater between man and vegetables, and still more so from minerals, -as vegetables possess a degree of animation while minerals are destitute of every principle that tends to organization.	'
To compose, therefore, die history of an animal, we must first nicely inspect into the general order of his particular relations, and LI 2	afterwardst60
BUFFON’«
afterwards distinguish those which he has It* common with vegetables and minerals. An animal has nothing in common with a mineral excepting general properties of matter; his nature and economy are totally different: the mineral is a mere senseless and inactive matter, without organisation, faculties, or power of re-production ; a dead mass, fit only to be trod under foot by man and animals; even the most precious metals are thus considered by the philosopher, as they possess but an arbitrary value* subordinate to the will, and dependent on the convention of men.
In an animal all the powers of nature are united ; the properties by which it is animated are peculiar to it; by its senses it can will, act, determine, and communicate with the most distant objects; its body is a centre, to which every thing is connected ; a point where the whole universe is reflected; a world in miniature-These are the properties which peculiarly belong to it; those which it possesses in common with vegetables are the faculties of growth, expansion, r.e-prodjiction, and increase.
The most apparent difference between ani-? mals and vegetables seems to be the faculty of moving from place to place* which animals
me
6NATURAL HISTORY.
*261
are endowed with and vegetables not» It is true we are not acquainted with any vegetable that has a single progressive motion ; and there are many kinds of animals, as oysters, &c. to which this motion seems to have been denied ; the distinction therefore, is neither general nor necessary.
A more essential difference might be drawn from the faculty of sensation ; but sensation includes such a variety of ideas, that we ought not to mention the word witjiout giving some explication ; for if by sensation we understand only a motion, occasioned by a check or resistance, we shall find the sensitive-plant is also possessed of it; if, on the contrary, we would have it signify to apprehend and compare ideas, we are not certain that brute animals possess it; if it is allowed to dogs, elephants, &c. whose actions seem to result from the same causes as those of men, it must be denied to an infinite number of others, especially to those which seem to be motionless. If we could give to oysters, for example, the same faculty of sensation as to dogs, though in an inferior degree, why should we not allow it to vegetables in a still lesser degree ? This difference
between2t3&

between animals and vegetables is nob there* fore* general, nor well decided.
A third difference seems to arise from their method of feeding. Animals, by the means of certain external organs, seize those things which are agreeable to them ; they seek their pasture and chuse their food. Plants are re-* duccd to the necessity of receiving such nutriment as the earth famishes; they have no diver-versity ixv the manner of procuring it; no choice in the kind, but the humidity of the earth is their only aliment; nevertheless, if we attend to the organization and action of roots and leaves, we shall presently discover that there are in those parts external organs, which vegetables make use of to obtain their food ; that the root avoids and turns from an obstacle, or vein of bad earth, to seek for one that is better ; thM they divide their fibres, and even go so far as to change their form to procure nutriment for the plant. The difference between animals and vegetables cannot, therefore, be established on the manner in which they receive their nutriment.
This investigation induces ns to conclude that there is no absolute, essential, and genera!
differenceNATURAL HISTORY.
2C>3
difference between animals and vegetables, but that nature descends by degrees imperceptibly from an animal, which is the most perfect, to that which is the least, and from the latter, to the vegetable. The water polypus may there-* fore be considered as the line where the animal creation ends and that of plants begin.
If, after having examined the distinctions, we search after the resemblances between animals and vegetables, we shall find the power of re-production is general, and very essential to both ; a faculty which would almost lead us to suppose that animals and vegetables are nearly of the same order of beings,
A second resemblance may be drawn from the expansion of their parts, a property which is common to both ; for vegetables grow as well as animals, and if the manner in which they expand is different, it is not totally nor essentially so, since there are very considerable parts. in animals, as the bones, the hair, the nails, the horns, 8ce. whose expansion is a perfect and real vegetation ; and the foetus, at its first formation, may be said rather to vegetate than live.
A third resemblance arises from there being some animals which propagate like plants, and
byNATURAL history.
2C)3
difference between animals and vegetables, but that nature descends by degrees imperceptibly from an animal, which is the most perfect, to that which is the least, and from the latter to the vegetable. The water polypus may there-* fore be considered as the line where the animal creation ends and that of plants begin.
If, after having examined the distinctions, \ve search after the, resemblances between animals and vegetables, we shall find the power of re-production is general, and very essential to both ; a faculty which would almost lead us to suppose that animals and vegetables are nearly of the sapie order of beings,
A second resemblance may be drawn from the expansion of their parts, a property which is common to both ; for vegetables grow as well as animals, and if the manner in which they expand is different, it is not totally nor essentially so, since there are very considerable parts. in animals, as the bones, the hair, the nails, the horns, See. whose expansion is a perfect and real vegetation; and the foetus, at its first formation, may be said rather to vegetate than five.
A third resemblance arises from there being some animals which propagate like plants, and
by265
NATURAL HISfORt.
Besides,, there is another advantage of knowing the species of animals, and distinguishing them one from another, which is, by regarding as one and the same species those,who, by means of copulation, produce and perpetuate beings like themselves ; and as a different species* those form a connection between whom nothing is produced, or whose product is unlike their parents. Thus, a fox will be a different species from a dog, if nothing results from a copulation of a male and female of these two animals, and when even there should result a bipartite animal, or a kind of nude, which cannot generate, that will be sufficient to establish the fox and dog of two different species. There is not the same advantage to be had in plants, for, although some have pretended to discover sexes, and although divisions of breeds have been established by the parts of fecundation; yet, as these distinctions neither are so certain, nor so apparent as in animals, and the production of plants is made in many modes, that the sex has no "part in, and where the parts of fecundation are not necessary^ this idea cannot be made use of with any success ; it is only on a misapprehended analogy that this sexual method has
vol* ii.	Mm	been266	BUFFO VS
been pretended to distinguish all the different species of plants.
Notwithstanding the numl)er of animals is-greater than that of plants, yet that is not the ease with respect to the number of individuals in each species. In animals, as well as in plants, the number of individuals is much greater in the small species than in the large. Mies are, perhaps, a million times more numerous than elephants \ so likewise there are more kinds of plants than trees ; but, if we compare the quantity of individuals in each species, we shall find that the plant is more abundant than the animal • for example, quadrupeds bring forth but a small number of young, and at considerable distances of time : trees, on the contrary, produce, every year, a great quantity. It may be said that this comparison is not exact, and to render it so, we should compare the quantity of seeds produced by a tree, with the quantity of germs which may be contained in the semen of an animal, and then, perhaps, we should find, that animals are still more abundant in their seed than vegetables. But, it should be considered that it is possible by collecting and sowing all the seeds of an elm, for instance, that we might have 100,000 young
onesNATURAL HISTORY.
267
enes from the product of a single year ; and that should vve supply a horse with as many mares as he could cover in one year, there would be a great difference between the production of tire animal and that of the vegetable. I shall not examine into the quantity of germs ; first, because we are not acquainted with it in the animal creation ; and secondly, because possibly there is the same number of seminal shoots in the vegetable ; for a seed of a vegetable is not a germ, being as perfect a production as the fetus of an animal, and to which, like that, a greater expansion is only wanting.
To my comparison may likewise be opposed the prodigious multiplication of certain kinds of insects; as the bee in particular, one of which will produce thirty or forty thousand. But it must be observed, that I speak in general of animals compared with vegetables; and besides, this example of bees, which perhaps is the greatest multiplication among animals, does not constitute a proof against what we have observed ; for of thirty or forty thousand flies produced by the female bee, there is but few females; fifteen hundred, or two thousand, males, and all the rest moles, or rather Mm2	neutral268	buffon'si
neutral flies,'without sex, and incapable of procreating.
It must be owned, that in insects, fishes and shell-fish, there are species which seem to be very abundant; oysters, herrings, fleas, beetles, &c. are perhaps in as great numbers as mosses and the most common plants; but, on the whole, the greatest number of the animal species is less abundant than the vegetable; and by comparing different kinds of plants with each other, there is not fouud such great differences in the number, as in the animal spe* cies ; some of which bring forth a prodigious number, and others only a few, whereas the number of productions in plants is always very great throughout.
By what we have observed, it appears that the smallest and basest species seem to be the most prolific: the most minute are the most plentiful as well in animals, as in plants, and in proportion as the animals are mqre perfect, they appear to decrease in number of individuals. Can it be thought, that certain forms of the body, as those of quadrupeds and birds, requisite for the perfection of sensation, would cost nature more organic particles than the produce tiun pf less important animals ?
LetNATURAL HISTORY.
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Let us now pass to the comparison of animals and vegetables, with respect to situation, form, and size. The earth is the only place wherein vegetables can subsist. The greatest number grow above the surface, and are attached to the soil by roots. Some, as truffles, are entirely covered with earth, and a few grow under the water, but all require the surface of the earth to exist upon. Animals, on the contrary, are more generally dispersed; some dwell on the surface, and others in the bowels of the earth : some live at the bottom, and others swim in the waters of the ocean ; some exist in the air, others dwell in the internal part of plants, on the bodies of men and other animals, liquors, and even stones are not without them,
By the use of the microscope, a great number of new species of animals have been discovered ; but, singular as it may appear, we have not found more than one or two new species of plants by the help of this instrument. The small moss is, perhaps, the only microscopic plant spoken of ; and we might, therefore, imagine that nature refused to produce very small plants, while she formed animalcules with profusion; but we might deceive ourselves270
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selves by adopting this opinion without examination, and our error might arise from plants, resembling, in fact, each other more than animals ; so that that mouldiness, which we only take for a very minute moss, may possibly be a kind of forest or garden, filled with abundance of various plants, although we are unable to mark the difference.
By comparing the size of animals and plants there will be found a great inequality, for the distance is much greater between the size of a whale and one of these microscopic animals than between the highest oak and the moss we are now speaking of. Although bulk be only a relative attribute, it may, nevertheless, be useful to inspect into the extreme boundaries nature has allotted to her productions. Ii bigness, animals and plants seem to have a near equality; a large whale and a large tree forms a volume not very different; whereas, among the small it has been asserted there are animals so very minute, that a million of them united together, would not equal, in size, the smallest moss-plant ever seen.
The most general and most sensible diffe** rence between animals and vegetables is that of £g&re, for the form of animals, although infinitelyNATURAL HISTORY.
QU
finitely varied, lias not any resemblance to that of plants; and although the polypus will, like plants, reproduce by cutting, and may be regarded as the link between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, not only by the mode of its reproduction but also by its external form, nevertheless, the figure of the animal is so different from the external form of a plant that it is difficult to be deceived in it. Some animals form things resembling plants or flowers, but plants never produce any thing like an animal; and those admirable insects, which produce and form the coral, would net have been taken, for flowers if coral bad not been falsely regarded as a plant. Thus the errors into which we might fall, by comparing plants with animals, will never have any influence but on a few objects which compose the link between both, and the more observations w.e shall make the more we shall be convinced that the Creator has not placed a fixed line between animals and vegetables; that these two species of organized beings have many more common properties than real differences ; that the production of an animal does not require of Nature more, and, possibly, less exertion than that of a vegetable; that in general the i	productionbufFôn* *s
i **
production of organized beings does not ffc®
quire exertion, and that, in short, the living* animated nature, instead of composing a metaphysical degree of beings, is a physical pro. perty, common to all matter*
OF # REPRODUCTION IN GENERAL*
shall now ’make a more minute in-
spection into this common property of animal and vegetable nature; this power of producing its resemblance : this chain of successive individuals, which constitutes the real existence of the species ; and, without attaching
* This word is used by the author in an enlarged sense of propagation, for, as generation applies to animated beings, so by this he includes the vegetable as well as animal system.
CHAPTER II.
ourselvesNATURAL HISTORY.
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Ourselves to the generation of man, or to that of any particular kind of animal, let us inspect the phenomena of reproduction in general, let us collect facts, and enumerate the different methods nature makes use of to renew organized beings. The first, and as we think the most simple method, is, to collect in one body an infinite number of resembling organic bodies, and to compose its substance in such a manner, that there is not a part of it which does not contain a germ of the same species, and which, consequently might become a whole of itself, resembling that of which it constitutes a part. This preparation seems to suppose a prodigiouswaste, and to carry with it profusion ; yet, it is a very common munificence of nature, and which manifests itself even in the most common and inferior kinds, such as worms, polypi, elms,willows, gooseberry-trees, and many other plants and insects, each part of which contains a w hole, and by the single effect of expansion alone may become a plant, or an insect. By considering organized beings, in this point of view, an individual is a whole, uniformly organized in all its parts; a compound of an infinity of resembling figures and similar parts ; an assem-vol. ii.	Nil	blage274
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blage of germs, or small individuals of the same kind, which can expand in the same mode according to circumstances, and form new bodies, composed like those from whence they proceed.
By examining this idea thoroughly, w© shall discover a connection between animals, vegetables, and minerals, which we could not expect. Salts, and some other minerals, are composed of parts resembling each other, and to all that composes them ; a grain of salt is a cube, composed of an infinity of smaller cubes, w hich we may easily perceive by a microscope : these are also composed of other cubes still smaller as may be perceived with a better microscope ; and we cannot doubt, but that the primitive and constituting particles of this salt are likewise cubes so exceedingly minute as to escape our sight, and our imagination. Animals and plants which can multiply by all their parts, are organized bodies, of which the primitive and constituting parts are also organic and similar, of which we discern the aggregate quantity, but cannot perceive the primitive parts but by reason and analogy.
Tlii?InATUKAL history.
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This leads us to believe that there is an infinity of organic particles actually existing and living in nature, the substance of which is the same as that of organized bodies. As we have just observed, in a structure cf a similar kind, though of inanimate matter, that it was composed of an infinity of particles which have a perfect semblance to the vvhple body, and as there must perhaps be millions of small cubes of accumulated salts to form a sensible individual grain of sea-salt, so, likewise, millions of organic particles, like the whole, are required to form one out of that multiplicity of germs contained in an elm, ora polypus ; and as we must separate, bruise, and dissolve a cube of sea-salt to perceive, by means of crystallisation, the small cubes of which it is composed ; we must likewise separate the parts of an elm or polypus to discover, by means of vegetation and expansion, the small elms or polypuses contained in those parts.
The difficulty of admitting this idea arises from a prejudice strongly established, that there is no method of judging of the complex, except by the simple, and that, to conceive the organic constitution of a body we must reduce it to its simple and unorga-N n 2	nized276
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nized parts, and that it is more easy to conceive how a cube is composed of other cubes than how one polypus is composed of others. But, if we attentively examine what is meant by simple and complex, w e shall then find that hi this, as in every thing else, the plan of nature is quite different from the very rough draught of it formed by our ideas.
Our senses, as is well known, do not furnish us with exact representations of external objects, insomuch that if we are desirous of estimating, judging, comparing, measuring, &c. we are obliged to have recourse to foreign assistance, to rules, principles, instruments,
All these helps are the works of human knowledge, and partake more or less of the abstraction of our ideas ; this abstraction, therefore, is what is called, the simple, and the difficulty of reducing them to this abstraction, the complex. Extent, for example, being a general and abstracted property from nature, is not very complex ; nevertheless, to form a judgment of it we have supposed extents without depth, without breadth, and even points without any extent at all. All these abstractions have been invented for the support of our judgment, and the few definitions m&de use of in geometry
haveNATURAL HISTORY*	*277
have occasioned a variety of prejudices and false conclusions. All that can be reduced by these definitions are termed simple} and all that cannot be readily reduced are called complex ; from hence a triangle, a square, a circle, a cube, &c. are simple subjects, as well as all curves, whose geometrical laws we are acquainted with; but all that we cannot reduce by these abstracted figures and laws are complex. We do not consider that these geometrical figures exist only in our imagination; that they are not to be found in nature, or, at least, if they are discoverable there, it is because she exhibits every possible form, and that it is more difficult and rare to find simple figures of an equilateral pyramid, or an exact cube in nature, than compounded forms of a plant or an animal. In every thing, therefore, we take the abstract for the simple, and the real for the complex. In Nature, on the contrary, the abstract has no existence, every thing is compounded; we shall never, of course, penetrate into the intimate structure of bodies; we cannot, therefore, pronounce on what is complex in a greater or lesser degree, excepting by the greater or lesser each subject has to ourselves aud to the rest of the universe;
from£7*
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from Which reason it is we judge that the animal is more compounded than the vegetable, and the vegetable more than the mineral. This notion is just with relation to us, but we know nothin reality, whether the animal, vegetable, or mineral, is the most simple or complex; and we are ignorant whether a globule, or a cube, is more indebted for an exertion of nature, than a seed or an organic particle. If we were to form conjectures on this subject we might suppose that the most common and numerous things are the most simple ; but then animals would be the most simple, since the number of their kind far exceeds that of plants or minerals.
But, without taking up mors time in this discussion it is sufficient to have shewn that the opinions we commonly have of the simple and complex, are ideas of abstraction, that they cannot be applied to the compound productions of nature, and that when we attempt to reduce every being to elements of a regular figure, or to prismatic, cubical, or globular particles, we substitute our own imaginations in the place of realities ; that the forms of the constituting particles of different bodies are absolutely unknown to us, and that, con.se-
quently,NATURAL HISTORY.
vro
^nently, we can suppose, that an organized body is composed of organic particles, as well as that a cube is composed of other cubes.
We have no other rule by which to judge than experience^ We perceive that a cube o£ sea* »alt is composed of other cubes, and that an elm consists of other small elms, because, by taking an end of a branch, or root, or a piece of the wood separated from the trunk, or a seed^ they Will alike produce a new tree. It is the same with respect to polypi, and some other kinds of animals, which we can multiply by cutting off and separating any of the different parts and, since our rule for judging in both is the same, why should we judge differently of them ?
It appears therefore, very probable, from the above reasons, that there really exists in nature a number of small organized beings, alike, in every respect, to the large organized bodies seen in the world ; that these small organized beings are composed of living organic particles, which are common to animals and vegetables, and are their primitive and incompatible particles; that the assemblage of these particles forms an animal
♦ See Supplement to this Work, containg Hiitory.cf Birds, fish, Intset#, ficc, toI, y. p. 377*
i£30	btjffon’s
or plants and, consequently, that reproduction, of generation, is only a change of form made merely by the addition of these resembling parts, and1 that death or dissolution is nothing more than a separation of the same particles. Of the truth of this we apprehend there will not remain a doubt after reading the proofs we shall give in the following chapters. Besides, if we reflect on the manner in which trees grow, and consider how so considerable a volume can arise from so small an origin, we shall be convinced that it proceeds from the simple addition of small resembling organized particles. A grain produces a young tree, which it contained in miniature. At the summit of this small tree a bud is formed which contains the young tree for the succeeding year, and this bud is an organic part, resembling the young tree of the first year's growth. A similar bud appears the second year, containing a tree for the third ; and thus, successively, as long as the tree continues growing, at the extremity of each branch, new buds will form, containing young trees like that of the first year. Thus, it is evident, that trees are composed of small organized bodies, similaf to themselves, and thuttlie whole individual is formed by the uuion of small resembling individuals.
Butnatural history*
2Si
Cut, it may be asked, were not all these organized bodies contained in the seed, and may not the order of their expansion be traced from that source, for the bud, which first appeared, was evidently surmounted by another similar bud, which was not expanded till the second year, and so on to the third; and consequently,the seed may besaid really to contain all the buds, or young trees that would be produced for a hundred years, or till the dissolution of the tree itself? It is evident,also that this seed not only contained all the small organized bodies which one day must constitute the individual tree, but also every seed, every individual, and every succession of seeds and individuals, to the total destruction of the species.
This is the principal difficulty, and which we sliall examine with the strictest attention. It is certain, that the seed produces, by the single expansion of the bud, or germ,which it contains, a young tree the first year, and that this tree existed in miniature in that bud ; but, it is not equally certain, that the bud of the second year, and those of the succeeding,were all contained in the first seed, anymore than that every organized body and seed, which must succeed to the end of the world, or to the destruction of the species was so. This opinion supposes a pro-O o	gross
VOL. IU
gress to infinity, and for ms > of each individual, a" source of eternal generations. The first seed* in that case, must have contained every plant of its kind which has existed or ever will exist y and the first man must actually and individually have contained in his loins every man which ha$> or will appear on the face of the earth. Each' seed, and each animal, agreeable to this opinion must have possessed within itself an infinite pos-* teritv. But, the more we suffer ourselves to wan^ der into these kind of reasonings, the more we» lose the sight of truth in the labyrinth of infinity ; and, instead of clearing-up and solving the* question, we confuse and involve it in more obscurity ; it is placing the object out of sight,-and afterwards saying, it is impossible to see it.
Let us investigate a little these ideas of infinite progression and expansion. From whence do they arise ? What do they represent l The ideas of infinity can only arise from an idea of that which is limited, for it is in that manner we have an idea of an infinity of succession, a geometrical infinity ; each individual is a unity many individuals compose a finite number, and the whole species is the infinite number. Tlius-in the same manner as a geometrical infinity may be demonstrated not to exist, so we may be
assured,.SJATUfcftTi HISTOirr.
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assured, that an infinite progression or expansion does not exist; that; it is only an abstract idea, a retrenchment of the idea of Unity, of which we take away the limits that necessarily terminate all size ; and that, of course, we must reject from philosophy every opinion which leads to an idea of the actual «existence of geometrical or arithmetical infinity.
• The -partisans, therefore, of this opinion must acknowledge, that their infinity of succession and multiplication, is, in fact, only an indeterminate or indefinite number ; a number greater than any we can have an idea of, but which is not infinite. This being granted, they will tell us, that die first seed of an elm, for example, which does not weigh a grain, really contains all the organic particles necessary for the formation of this, and every other tree of the same kind which ever shall appear. But what do they explain to us by this answer ? Is it not cutting the knot instead of untying it, and eluding the question when it should be Tesolved ?
When we ask how beings are multiplied ? and it is answered that this multiplication wa completely made in the first body, is it not ac jknowlcdging that they are not only ignorant O o 2	how284
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it is made,but that they renounce the will of conceiving it ? The question is asked, how one body produces its like ? and it is answered, that the whole was created at once. Can we receive this as a solution ? for, whether one or a million Of generations have passed, the same difficulty remains, and so far from explaining the supposition of an indefinite number of germs, increases the obscurity, and renders it incomprehensible.
I own, that in this circumstance, it is easier to start objections than to establish probabilities, and that the question of reproduction is of such a subtile nature, as possibly never to be fully resolved ; but then we should search whether it is totally inscrutable, and by that examination, we shall discover all that is possible to be known of the subject; or at least, why we must remain ignorant of it.
There are two kinds of questions, some belonging to the first causes, the others have only particular effects; for example, if it is asked, why matter is impenetrable ? it must either remain unanswered, or be replied to by saying, matter is impenetrable, because it is impenetrable. It will be the same with respect to all the general qualities of matter, whether relativeNATURAL HISTORY.
#8 o
live to gravity* extension, motion, or rest; no other reply can be given, and we .shall not be surprised that such is the case, if we attentively consider, that in order to give a reason for a thing, we must have a different subject from which we may deduce a comparison, and therefore if the reason of a general cause is asked, that is, of a quality which belongs to all in general, and of which we have no subject to which it does not belong, we are consequently unable to reason upon it; from thence it is demonstrable, it would be useless to make such inquiries, since we should go against the supposition that the quality is general and universal.
If, on the contrary, the reason of a particular effect depends immediately on one of the general causes above mentioned, and whether it partakes of the general effect immediately, or by a chain of other effects, the question will be equally solved, provided we distinctly perceive the dependence these effects have on each other, and the connections there are between them.
But if the particular effect, of which we enquire the reason, does not appear to depend on
these286
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these general effects, nor to Lave any analogy with other known effects ; then, this effect being the only one of its kind, and having nothing in common with other effects, at least known to ns, the question is insolvable : because, not having in this point, any known subject which has any connection with that we would explain, there is nothing from whence we can draw the reason sought after. When the reason of a general cause is demanded, it is unanswerable because it exists in every object; and, on the other hand, the reason of a singula? or isolated effect is not found, because not any thing known has the same qualities. We cannot explain the reason of a general effect* with out discovering one more general; whereat the reason of a isolated effect may be explained by the discovery of some other relative effect, which, although we are ignorant of at present, chance or experience may bring to light.
Besides these, there is another kind of question, which may he called, the question of fact. For example. Why do trees, dogs, &c. exist ? All tliese questions of fact are totally insoluble, lor they who answer them by final causes, do not consider that they take the effect for the cause ;
theHATUIiAL HISTORY.
Ifie connection particular objects have w ith us, having no influence on their origin. Moral affinity can never become a physical reason.
We must carefully distinguish these questions where the why is used, from those where the how is employed, and more so from those where the how many is mentioned. H hij is always relative to the cause of the effect, or to the effect itself. How is relative to the mode from which the effect springs, and the how many has relation only to the proportionate quantity of the effect.
i\31 these distinctions being explained, let us proceed to examine the question concerning, the reproduction of bodies. *]f it is asked,, why animals and vegetables reproduce ? we shall clearly discover, that tins being a* question* of fact, it is insol vable* and useless to endeavour at the solution of it. But if it is asked* how animals and vegetables reproduce; we reply by relating the history of the generation of every species of animal, and of the repro duction of each distinct vegetable but, after having run over all the methods of an animal* engendering its resemblance, accompanied even with the most exact observations, we shall find it has only taught us faqts without indicating
causes ^BUFFOS *S
fiSS
causes ; and iliat the apparent methods which Nature makes use of for reproduction, doe$ not appear to have any connection with the effects resulting therefrom; we shall be still obliged to ask,, what is the secret mode by which she enables different bodies to propagate their own species ?
This question is very different from the first and second; it gives liberty of enquiry and admits the employment of imagination, and therefore is not insolvable* for it does not immediately belong to a general cause; nor is it entirely a question of fact, for, provided we can conceive a mode of reproduction dependent upon, or not repugnant to, original causes, we shall have gained a satisfactory answer; and the more it shall have a connection with other effects of nature, the better foundation will it be raised upon.
By the question itself it is, therefore* per* mitted to form hypotheses, and to select that which shall appear to have the greatest analogy Ivith the other phenomena of nature. But we must exclude from the number, all those which suppose the thing already done; for example, such as suppose that all the germs of the same species were contained in the first
seed.
lNATURAL HISTORY.
m
seed, or that every reproduction is a new creation^ an immediate effect of the Almighty’s will; because these hypotheses are questions of fact, and on which it is impossible to reason. We must also reject every hypothesis which might have final causes for its object; such as, where it might be said, that reproduction is made in order for the living to supply the place of the dead, that the earth may be always covered with vegetables, and peopled with animals : that man may find plenty for his subsistence, &c. because these hypotheses, instead of explaining the effects by physical causes, are founded only on arbitrary connections and moral affinities. At the same time we must not rely on these absolute axioms and physical problems, which so many people have improperly made use of, as principles ; for example, there is no fecundation made apart from the body, nuUa foecondatio extra corpus; every living thing is produced from an egg; all generation supposes sexes, See. We must not take these maxims in an absolute sense, but consider them only as signifying things generally performed in one particular mode rather than in any other.
VOL. ii,	P p
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Let us^, therefore, search after an hypothesis which has not any of those defects, and by which we cannot fall into any of these inconveniences ; and if we do not succeed in the explanation of the mechanical power Nature makes use of to effect the reproduction of beings, we shall, at least, arrive at something more probable than what has hitherto been advanced.
As we can make moulds, by which we can give to the external parts of bodies whatever figure we please, let us suppose Nature can form the same, by which she not only bestows on bodies the external figure but also the internal. Would not this be one mode by which reproduction may be performed ?
Let us, then, consider on what foundation this supposition is raised ; let us examine if it contains any thing contradictory, and afterwards we shall discover what consequences may be derived from it. Though our senses are only judges of the external parts of bodies, we perfectly comprehend external affection and different figures. We can also imitate Nature, by representing external figures by different modes, as by painting, sculpture, and
modelling;NATURAL HISTORY.
2()1
modelling; but, although our senses are only judges of external qualities we know there are internal qualities,, some of which are general, as gravity. This quality, or power, does not act relatively to surfaces but proportionably to the masses, or quantities of matter ; there is, therefore, very active qualities in Nature, which even penetrate bodies to the most internal parts ; but we shall never gain a perfect idea of these qualities, because, not being external, they cannot fall within the compass of owr senses’; but we can compare their effects, and deduce analogies therefrom, to answer for the effects of similar qualities.
If our eyes, instead of representing to us the surface of objects only, were so formed as to shew us the internal parts alone, we should then have clear ideas of the latter, without the smallest knowledge of the former. In this supposition the internal moulds, which 1 have supposed to be made use of by Nature, might be as easily seen and conceived as the moulds for external figures. In that case we should-have modes of imitating the internal parts of bodies as we now have for the external. These internal moulds, although we cannot acquire, P p &	Nature2Q2
BUFFO^S
Nature may be possessed of, as she is of the qualities of gravity, which penetrate to the internal particles of matter. The supposition of these moulds being formed on good analogies it only remains for us to examine if it includes any contradiction.
It may be argued that the expression of an internal mould includes two contradictory ideas; that the idea of a mould can only be related to the surface, and that the internal, according to this, must have a connection with the whole mass, and, therefore, it might as well be called a massive surface, as au internal mould.
I admit, that \vhen we are about to represent ideas which have not hitherto been expressed, we are obliged to make use of terms which seem contradictory : for this reason philosophers have often employed foreign terms on such occasions, instead of applying those in common use, and which have a received, signification ; but this artifice is useless, since we can shew the opposition is only in the words, and that there is nothing contradictory in the idea. Now 1 affirm that a simple idea cannot contain a contradiction, that is, when we can form an idea of a thing ; if this idea is simple
itNATURAL HISTORY.
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it cannot be compounded; it cannot include any other idea, and, consequently, it will contain nothing opposite nor contrary.
Simple ideas are not only the primary apprehensions which strike us by the senses, but also the primary comparisons which are formed from those apprehensions; for the first apprehension itself is always a comparison. The idea of the size of an object, or of its remoteness, necessarily includes a comparison w ith bulk or distance in general : therefore, when an idea only includes comparison it must be regarded as simple, and from that circumstance, as containing nothing contradictory. Such is the idea of the internal mould. There is a quality in Nature, called gravity, which penetrates the internal parts of bodies. I take the idea of internal mould relatively to this quality, and, therefore, including only comparison, it bears not any contradiction.
Let us now see the consequences that may be deduced from this supposition; let us also search after facts corresponding it with it, as it will become so much more the probable, as the number of analogies shall be greater. Let us begui by unfolding this idea of internal moulds, and by explaining in w hat manner we
understand294	buffon’s
understand it, we shall be brought to conceive the modes of reproduction.
Nature, in general, seems to have a greater tendency to life than death, and to organize bodies as much as possible; the multiplication of germs, which may be infinitely increased, is a proof of it; and we may assert with safety, that if all matter is not organized, it is because organized beings destroy each other; or we can augment as much as we please the quantity of living and vegetating beings, but we cannot augment the quantity of stones or other inanimate matters. This seems to indicate that the most common work of Nature is the production of the organic part, and in which her power knows no bounds.
To render this intelligible, let us make a calculation of what a single germ might produce. The seed of an elm, which does not weigh the hundredth part of an ounce, at the end of 100 years will produce a tree whose volume will be 60 cubic feet. At the tenth year this tree will have produced 1000 seeds, which being all sown, at the end of 100 years would each have also a volume equal to 60 cubic feet. Thus in 110 years there is produced more than 60,000 cubic feet of orga-*	nizedNATURAL HISTORY.
nized matter ; 10 years more there will be 10,000,000 of fathoms, without including the 10,000 increased every year, which would make, 100,000 more; and 10 years after there will be three times that number; thus in 130 years a single shoot will produce a volume of organized matter which would fill up a space of 1000 cubic leagues ; 10 years after it would comprehend a 1,000,000, and in 10 years more 1,000,000 times 1,000,000 cubic leagues; so that in 150 years the whole terrestrial globe might be entirely converted into one single kind of organized matter. In this production of organized bodies Nature would know no bounds if it were not for the resistance of matters which are not susceptible of organizations, and this proves that she does not incline to form inanimate but organized beings, and that in this she never stops but when irres-sistible inconveniences are opposed thereto. What we have already said on the seed of an elm may be said of any other; and it would be easy to demonstrate, that if we were to hatch every egg produced by hens for the space of 30 years, there would be a sufficient number of fowls to cover the whole surface of the earth.-
These
4296
BXJFFON’s
These kind of calculations demonstrate that organic formation is the most common work of Nature,, and, apparently, that which costs her the least labour. But I will go farther, - the general division which we ought to make of matter seems to me to be into living and dead matter, instead of organized and brute ; the brute is only that matter produced by the death of animals or vegetables; I could prove it by that enormous quantity of shells, and other Cast-off matters of living animals, which compose the principal part of stones, marble, chalk, marie, earth, turf, and other substances, which we call brute matter, and which are only the nvins of dead animals or vegetables; but a reflection, which seems to me well founded, will, perhaps, make it better understood.
Having considered the activity of Nature to produce organized bodies, and seen that her power, in this respect, is not limited ; having proved that infinity of organic living particles, which constitute life, must exist; having shewn that the living body costs the least trouble to Nature, I now search after the principal causes of death and destruction, and 1 find that bodies in general, which have the
powerNATURAL HISTORY*
29?
power of fire, for example, turns into its own substance almost every species of matter, and isi the greatest means of destruction known to us* Animals seem to participate of the qualities of flame ; their internal heat is a kind of fire: therefore, after fire, animals are the greatest destroyers, and they assimilate and convert into their own substance every matter which may serve them for food ; but, although these two causes of destruction are very considerable, and their effects perpetually incline to the annihilation of organized beings, the cause of reproduction is infinitely more powerful and active 5 she seems to borrow even from destruction itself, means to multiply, since assimilation, which is one cause of death, is, at the same time, a necessary means of producing life.
To destroy an organized being is, as we have observed, only to separate the organic particles of which it is composed ; and these particles remain separated till they are re-united by some active power. But what is this active power ?—It is the power which animals and vegetables have to assimilate the matter that serves them for food; and is not this the same, vol. n.	Qq
orBUFFOS
am
or at least has it not great connection with that which is the cause of reproduction i
CIIATTER I XL
OF NUTRITION AND GROWTH,
HE body of an animal is a kind of internal mould, in which the nutritive matter assimilates itself with the whole in such a manner that, without changing the order and proportion of the parts, each receives an augmentation, and it is this augmentation of bulk which some have nuRcdcxpansioi^ because it has been thought that every difficulty would be removed by the supposition that the animal was completely formed in the embryo, and tfiAt it
wouldNATURAL HISTORY.	2$)
would be easy to conceive that its parts would •expand^, or unfold in proportion as they were increased by the addition of accessory matter.
But; if we would have a clear idea of this augmentation and expansion; how can it be done otherwise than by considering the animal body; and each of its parts; as so many internal moulds which receive the accessory matter in the order that results from the position .of all their parts ? This expansion cannot be made by the addition to the surfaces alone; but; on the contrary; by an intimate susception which penetrates the mass'; and thus increases the size of the parts; without changing the form; from whence it is necessary that the matter which serves for this expansion should penetrate the internal part in all its dimensionsit is also as necessary that this penetration be made in a certain order and proportion; so that no one point can receive more than another; without which some parts would expand quicker than others* and the form be entirely changed. Now what can prescribe this rule to accessory matter; and constrain it to arrive perpetually and proportionally to every point of the internal parts* except we conceive an interna], mould r
Qqs
it30d	uuffonV
It appears therefore certain that the body of an animal or vegetable is an internal mould of a constant form, but in which the masses may proportionably augment, by the extension of this mould in all its external and internal dimensions, That this extension also is made by the intussusception of any accessory or foreign matter which penetrates the internal part, and becomes similar to the form and identical substance with the matter of the moulds themselves.
But of what nature is this matter which the animal or vegetable assimilates with its own substance ? what can be the nature of that power which gives it the activity and necessary motion to penetrate the internal mould ? and if such a power does exist, must it not be similar to that by which the internal mould itself would be produced ?
These three questions include all that can be desired on this subject, and seem to depend on each other so much, that 1 am persuaded the reproduction of an animal or vegetable cannot be explained in a satisfactory manner, if a clear idea of the mode of the operation of nutrition is not obtained; we must, therefore, examine these three questions separately, in
orderNATURAL HISTORY.
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aider to compare the consequences resulting from them.
The first, which relates to the nutritive nature of this matter, is in part resolved by the reasons we have already given, and will be fully demonstrated in the succeeding chapter. We shall shew that there exists an iufinity of living organic particles in Nature ; that their production is of little expense to Nature, since their existence is constant and invariable, and that the causes of death only separate without destroying them. The matter, therefore, which the animal or vegetable assimilates is an organic matter of the same nature as the animal or vegetable itself, and which, consequently, can augment the size without changing the form or quality of the matter of the mould, since it is in fact of the same form and quality as that which it is constituted with. Thus, in the quantity of aliments which the animal takes to support life, and to keep its organs in play, and in the sap, which the vegetable takes up by its roots and leaves* there is a great part throw n off by transpiration, secretion, and other excretory modes, and only a small portion retained for the nourishment of the parts and their expansion. It is
veryBunrojTs
302
very probable, that in the body of an animal or vegetable there is formed a separation of the brute particles of the aliments and the organic ; that ilie first are carried off by the causes just mentioned ; that only organic particles remain, : and that the distribution of them is made by means of some active power which conducts them to every part in an exact proportion, insomuch that neither receive more or less than is needful for its equal nutrition, growth, or expansion.
The second question is, What can be the ac-> tjve power which causes this organic matter to penetrate and incorporate itself with this internal mould ? By tlie preceding chapter it appears, that there exists in Natuie powers relative to the internal part of matter, and which have no relation with its external qualities. These powers, as already observed, will never come under our cognizance, because their action is made on the internal part of the body, whereas our senses cannot reach beyond what is external ; it is evident therefore, ¿hat we shall never have a clear idea of the penetrating powers, nor of the manner by which they act; but it is not less certain that they exist, than that by their means most effects of Mature are produced;
weX ATCItAL HISTORY.	$Q3
we must attribute to them the effects of imlri-Iron and expansion, which cannot be effected by any other means than the penetration of the most intimate recesses of die original mould; m the same mode as gravity penetrates all parts-of matter, so the power which impels or attract» the organic particles of food, penetrates into the internal parts of organize cl bodies , and, as those bodies have a certain form, winch we call the internal mould, the organic particles impelled by the action of the penetrating force, cannot enter therein but in a certain order relative to this form, which consequently it cannot change, but only augment its dimensions, and thus produce the growth of organized bodies ; and if in the organized body, expanded by this means, there are some particles whose external and internal forms are like that of live whole body, from those reproduction will pro * ceed.	.
The third question is, Is it not by a similar power the internal mould itself is reproduced t It appears, that it is not only a similar but the same power w hich causes expansion and reproduction, for in an organized body which expands, if there is some particle like the w hole, it is sufficient for that particle to become oneSg4
BUi'f'ON^S
day an organized body itself, perfectly similar* to that of which it made a part. This particle will not at first present a figure striking enough for us to compare with the whole body; but When separated from that body, and receiving proper nourishment, it will begin to expand, and in a short time present a similar being, both externally and internally, as the body from Which it had been separated; thus a willow or polypus, which contain more organic particles similar to the whole than most other substances, if cut into ever such a number of pieces, from each piece will spring a body similar to that from whence it was divided.
Now, in a body, every particle of which is like itself, the organization is the most simple* as we have observed in the first chapter ; for it is only the repetition of the same form, and a composition of similar figures, all organized alike. It is for this reason that the most simple bodies, or the most imperfect kinds, are reproduced with the greatest ease, and in the greatest plenty ; whereas, if an organized body contains only some few particles like itself, then, as such alone can arrive to the second expansion, consequently tile reproduction will be more difficult, and not so abundant in number ; the I	organizationNATURAL HISTORY.
305
Organization of these bodies will also be more compounded, because the more the organized parts differ from the whole, the more the organization of this body will be perfect, and the more difficult the reproduction will be.
Nourishment, expansion, and propagation, then are the effects of one and the same cause. The organized body is nourished by the particles of aliments analogous to it; it expands by the intimate susception of organical parts which agree with it, and it propagates because it contains some original particles which resemble itself. It only remains to examine, whether these similar organic particles come into the organized body by nutriment, or whether they were there before, and have an independent existence. If we suppose the latter, we shall fall in with the doctrine of the infinity of parts, or similar germs contained one in the other, the insufficiency and absurdity of which hypothesis we have already shewn ; we must therefore conclude that similar parts are extracted from the food ; and after what has been said, we hope to explain the manner in which the organic molecules are formed, and howr the minute particles unite.
VOL. II.
Rr
There506
»uffon's
There is, as we have said, a separation of the parts in the nutriment; those which are not organic, and which consequently have no analogy with the animal or vegetable, are separated by transpiration and other excretory modes ; the organical remain, and serve for the expansion and nutriment of the body. But these organic parts must be of various kinds, and, as each part of the body receives only those similar to itself, and that in a due proportion, it is very natural to imagine, that the superfluity of this organic matter will be sent back from every part of the body into one or more places, where all these organical molecules uniting, form small organized bodies like the first, and to which nothing is wanting, but the mode of expansion for them to become individuals of the same species; for every part of the body sending back organized parts, like those of which they themselves are composed, it is necessary, that from the union of all these parts, there should result organized bodies like the first. This being admitted, may we not conclude this is the rea-son why, during the time of expansion and growth, organized bodies cannot produce, because the parts which expand, absorb the whole ef the organic molecules which belong to them,
andNATURAL HISTORY.	30?
and not having any superfluous parts* consequently are incapable of reproduction.
This explanation of nutrition and of reproduction will not be received probably by those who admit but of a certain number of mechanical principles* and reject all which do not depend on them ; and as what has been said of nutrition and expansion comes under the latter description* they will possibly treat it as unworthy of belief. But I am quite of a different opinion from those philosophers; for it appears to me that* by admitting only a certain number of mechanical principles* they do not see how greatly they contract the bounds of philosophy, and that for one phenomenon that can be explained by a system so confined* a thousand would be found exceeding its limits.
The idea of explaining every phenomenon in nature by mechanical principles* was certainly a great and beautiful exertion* and which Descartes first attempted. But this idea is only a project*and* were this project properly founded, have we the means of performing it ? These mechanical principles are the extent of matter* its impenetrability* its motion* its external R r &	figure^3 05
*buffon’s
figure, its divisibility, and the communication of movement by impulsion, by elasticity, &c. The particular ideas of each of these qualities we have acquired by our senses, and regard them as principles, because they are general and belong to all matter. But are we certain these qualities are the only ones which matter possesses, or rather, must we not think these qualities, which we take for principles, are only modes of perception ; and that if our senses were differently formed, we should discover in matter, qualities different from those which we have enumerated ? To admit only those qualities to matter which are known to us, seems to be a vain and unfounded pretension. Matter may have many general qualities which we shall ever be ignorant of; she may also have others that human assiduity may discover, in the s#me manner as has recently been done with respect to gravity, which alike exists in all matter. The cause of impulsion, and such other mechanical principles, will always be as impossible to find out as that of attraction, or such other general quality. From hence is it not very reasonable to say, that mechanical principles are nothing but general effects,
whichNATURAL HISTORY.
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which experience has pointed out to us in matter, and that every time a new general effect is discovered, either by reflection, comparison, measure, or experience, a new mechanical principle will be gained, which may be used with as much certainty and advantage as any we are now acquainted with ?
The defect of Aristotles’s philosophy was making use of particular effects as common causes; and that of Descartes in making use of billy a few general effects as causes, and excluding all the rest. The philosophy which appears to me would be the least deficient, is that where general effects are only made use of for causes, and seeking to augment the number of them, by endeavouring to generalize particular effects.
I have admitted, in my explanation of expansion and reproduction, the received mechanical principles, the penetrating force of weight, and by analogy, I have endeavoured to point out that there are other penetrating powers existing in organized bodies, which experience has confirmed. I have proved by facts, that matter inclines to organization, and that there exists an infinite number of organic particles. I
have310
buffon’s
have, therefore, only generalized some observations, without having advanced any thing contrary to mechanical principles, when that term is used, as it ought to be understood, as denoting the general effects of Nature.NATURAL HISTORY.
311
CHAPTER IT.
€>F THE GENERATION OF ANIMALS
human and animal organization are the most perfect and compounded, their propagation is also the most difficult and least abundant. I except those animals which, like the fresh-water polypus or worms, are reproduced from their divided parts, as trees are by slips, or plants, by their divided roots or suckers; also those which may be found to multiply without copulation ; it appears to me that the nature of those have been sufficiently explained in the preceding chapter; and from which in every kind where an individual produce«3J2
buffon’s
duces its resemblance, it is easy to deduce the explanation of the reproduction from expansion and nutrition.
But, how shall we apply this mode of reasoning to the generation of man and animals distinguished by sexes, and where the concurrence of two individuals is required ? We understand, by what has just been advanced, how each individual can produce its like ; but we do not conceive how a male and a female produces a third.
Before I answer this question, I cannot avoid observing, that ail those who have written upon this subject, have confined their systems to the generation of man and animals, withcrut paying any attention to other kinds of generation which Nature presents us with, and to reproduction in general; and as the generation of man and animals is the most complicated of all kinds, their researches have been attended with great disadvantages, not only by attacking the most difficult point, but also by having no subject of comparison, from which they could draw a solution of the question. To this it is that I principally attribute the little success of their labours; but, by the road I have taken we may arrive at the explanation of the phe-
nomenaNATURAL HIStORIf.
$13
nomen a of every kind of generation in a satk-Factory manner.
The generation of man will serve tis for an example. I take him in his infancy, and I conceive that the expansion and growth of the different parts of his body being made by the , intimate penetration of organic molecules analogous to each of its parts, all thede organic molecules are absorbed in his earliest years, and serve only for the expansion and augmentation of his various members, and, consequently, there is little or no superftn 'v until the expansion is entirely completed; and this is the reason why children are incapable of propagation. But when the body has attained the greatest part of its growth, it begins to have no longer need of so great a quantity of organic particles, and the superfluity, therefore, is sent back from each part of the body into the destined reservoirs for its reception. These reservoirs are the testicles and seminal vessels, and it is at this period that the expansion of the body is nearly completed, when the commencement of puberty is dated, and every circumstance indicates the superabundance of nutriment ; the voice alters and takes a deeper tone ; the
'VOL, it*	S s	beard514
BUFFO'S
beard begins to appear, and other parts of the body are covered with hair; those parts which are appointed for generation take a quick growth ; the seminal liquor fills the prepared reservoirs, and, when the plentitude is too great, even without any provocation, and during the time ¡of sleep, it emits from the body. In the female this superabundance is more strongly marked, it discovers itself by periodical evacuation, which begin and end with the faculty of propagating, by the quick growth of the breasts, and by an alteration in the sexual parts as shall be explained.
I think, therefore, that the organical molecules, sent from every part of the body into the testicles and seminal vessels of the male, and into the ovarium of the female, forms there the seminal liquor, which is, as has been observed, in both sexes, a kind of extract of every part of the body. These organical molecules, instead of uniting and forming an individual, like the one in which they are contained, can only unite when the seminal liquors of the tw o sexes are mixed ; and when there is more organical molecules of the male than of the female, in such mixture the produce will be
a male,
4natural history.
315
¿t male ; and, on the contrary, when there is more of the female then a female will be the result.
I do not mean to say that the organic molecules of either could unite to form small organized bodies of then^selves, but that it is necessary a mixture of the seminal fluid of both sexes should take place, and that it is only those formed in that mixture which can expand and become individuals. These small moving bodies, called spermatic animals, are seen, by a microscope, in the seminal liquor of every male, and are, probably, small organized bodies, proceeding from the individual which contains them, but which cannot expand or produce any thing of themselves. We shall evince that there are the same in the seminal liquor of the female, and shall indicate the place w here this liquor is to be found.
It is very possible that organical molecules are, at first, only a kind of fœtus of a small organized body, in which there are only essential parts. We shall not enter into a detail of proofs, in this respect, but content ourselves with remarking, that the pretended spermatic animals, which we have been speaking of, might possibly be but imperfectly organized, Ssâ	orBUFFON?$
Si§
or that there pretended animals sire only living organic particles, common both to animals and vegetables, or, at most, only the first union of those particles.
But let us return to our principal object* How can we conceive, it may be asked, that the superfluous particles can be sent back from every part of the body, and afterwards unite when the seminal liquor of the two sexes are mixed? Besides, is it certain that this mixture* is made ? Has it not been pretended that the female did not furnish any fluid of this kind i Is it certain that the liquor of the male enters the matrix, &c.
To the first question I answer, if what I have said on the subject of the penetration of the internal mould by organic molecules, in nutrition or expansion, be well understood, it will easily be conceived that these molecules, not being able any longer to penetrate those parts they did before, they will be necessitated to take a different road, and consequently arrive at some part, as the testicles or seminal vessels 5 for to explain the animal economy, and the different movement of the human body, solely by mechanical principles, is the same as if a pian would give an account of a picture by
shuttingNATURAL HISTORY.
31?
shutting his eyes and feeling on it; for it is evident that neither the circulation of the blood, nor the motion of the muscles, nor the animal functions, can be explained by impulsion, nor other common laws of mechanics: and it is as evident that nutrition, expansion, and reproduction, is made by other laws, why therefore not admit of acting and penetrating pow ers on the masses of bodies, since we have examples of it in gravity, in maguetical attractions, and in chemical affinities ? And as we are now convinced by facts, and the multitude of constant and uniform observations, that there exists in nature powers which do not act by the mode of impulsion, w hy should we not make use of those powers as mechanical principles ? Why should we exclude them front the explanations of effects, which we are convinced they produce ? Why should we be confined to employ only the pow er of impulsion : Is not this like judging of a picture by the touch, and explaining the phenomena of the mass by those of the surface, and the penetrate mg power by superficial action ? Is not this making use of one sense instead of another ; Riid, on the whole, is it not confining the faculty of ■ reasoning on a small number-of mechanical318	BUFFQNS.
chanical principles, totally inadequate to follow
the various productions of nature.
But those penetrating powers being once admitted, is it not natural to suppose that the most analogous particles will unite and bind themselves intimately together ; that each part of the body will appropriate the most agreeable to itself, and that from the superfluity of all these particles there will be formed a seminal fluid, which will contain all the organic molecules necessary to form a small organized body, perfectly like that from which this fluid is extracted? A power like that which was necessary to make them penetrate into each part, and produce expansion, may be sufficient to collect them in an organized form, like that of the body in which they originated*
I conceive, that in the aliments we take there is a great quantity of organical molecules, which needs no serious proof, since we live on animals and vegetables, which are organized substances. In the stomach and intestines a separation is made of the gross parts, which are throw n off ¡3y the excretories. The chyle, which is the purest part of the aliment, enters into the lacteal vessels, and from thence is transported into every part of the body.
ByNATURAL HISTORY.
219
By the motion of the circulation it purifies itself from all inorganieal molecules, which are thrown off by secretion and transpiration ; but the organic particles remain, because they are analogous to the blood, and that from thence there is a power of affinity which retains them afterwards; for as the whole mass of blood passes many times through the body, I apprehend, that in this continual circulation every-particular part of the body attracts the particles most analogous to it, without interrupting the course of the others. In this manner every part is expanded and nourished, not, as it is commonly said, by a simple addition of the parts, and a superficial increase, but by an intimate penetration of substance, produced by a power which acts on every point of the mass; and when the parts of the body are at a certain growth, and almost filled with these analogous particles, as their substance is become more solid, I conceive they then lose the faculty of attracting or receiving those particles, but as the circulation will continue to carry them to every part of the body, which not being any longer able to admit them as before, must necessarily be deposited in some particular part, as in the testicles or seminal vessels. This
fluidStfFFON S
‘S2o
fluid extract of the male, when mixed with that of the female, the similar particles, possessing a penetrating force, unite arid form a small organized body like one of the two sexes, and no more than expansion is wanting to render it a similar individual, and which it afterwards receives in the womb of the female.
The second question, Whether the female has really a seminal liquor similar to themale ? demands some discussion. I shall first observe, as a certain matter, that if such a fiuid exists, the mamier in which the emission of the female is made is not so apparent as by the male, being in general retained within the body The ancients so little doubted of the female having -a seminal liquor, that it was by thé different mode of its emission that they distinguished the male from the female. “But naturalists, who have endeavoured to explain generation by the egg* or by spermatic animalcules, insinuate that females have no particular fluid, that we have been deceived by taking mucus fôr semen, and that the supposition of the ancients upon this subject was destitute of all
* Quod intra se semen jacit fæmina vocatur ; quod in liac jacit, naas, Aristotle, art. IS de Animalibus.
foundation*NATURAL HISTORY.
321
foundation. This fluid, howeveiy does exists and it has only been doubted by those who choose to give way to systems, and from the difficulty of discovering the parts which serve for its reservoirs The fluid which issues from the glands at the neck of the w omb, and at the orifice of the urethra, has no apparent reservoir, and as it flows outwardly it cannot be thought to be the prolific liquor, since it cannot concur in the formation of the foetus which takes place within the matrix. The prolific fluid of the female must have a reservoir in another part. It flows even in great plenty, although such a quantity is not necessary, any more than in the male, for the production of the embryo. It is sufficient, for propagation, if ever so little of the male fluid enter the matrix, so it meet with the smallest drop of that of the female; therefore the observations of some anatomists, who have asserted that the seminal liquor of the male does not enter the womb, makes nothing against what we have advanced, especially as other anatomists, who rely on observations, have as~ serted the contrary. But the subject will be better discussed in the subsequent pages. vol. n,	T t	Having322	BUFI’OiVs
Having thus given answers to possible objections,^ us now look into the reasons which' may serve as proofs to our explanation. The first is derived from the analogy which there is between expansion and reproduction ; expansion cannot be explained ini a satisfactory inanner, without employing those penetrating powers, and those affinities or attractions we have already made use of to explain the formation of small organised beings, resembling the great ones which contain them. A second analogy is, that nutrition and reproduction are both not only produced by the sarne efficient, but also by the same material cause, the organic particles of the nutriment. And a proof that it is the superfluity of those particles which serve for reproduction, is the body not being in a Condition to propagate before they have done growing; and we daily gee in dogs, and Other animals, who more exactly follow the laws of nature than we, that they nearly attain their full growth before they attempt to copulate, and by which we may know whether a dog will increase any more or not; for we may be assured he will not after being in a condition to engender.
ItNATURAL HISTORY.	$%$
It is another proof that the superfluous nutriment forms the seminal liquor, that eunuchs, and all mutilated animals, grow larger or thicker than those who have not that deficiency. The superabundance of nutriment not being able to evacuate, from the defect of proper organs, alters the habit of the body ; the thighs, and haunches of eunuchs, grow very large: the reason is evident; after their body has attained the common size, if the superfluous organic molecules found an issue, as in other men, this growth would no longer increase; but, as there are no longer organs for the emission of the seminal fluid, which is no more than the superfluous matter which served for growth, it ref-mains, and endeavours to expand the parts beyond their usual dimensions. Now it is known, that the growth of the bones is made by the extremities, which are soft and spongy, and when they have once acquired solidity, they are no longer capable of extension: and for this reason, the superfluous organic particles can only expand the spongy extremities of bones; which causes the thighs, knees, &c. of eunuchs to thicken so considerably.
But what more strongly proves the truth of mir explanation, is the resemblance of chil-T t 2	drenBUJFFOIS’S
dren to tlieir parents. A son, in general, more resembles his father than his mother, and the daughter more her mother than her father; because a man has a greater resemblance to a man than to a woman, and a woman resembles more a woman than a man, in respect to the whole habitude of the body: but, for the features and particular habits, children sometimes resemble the father, sometimes the mother, and sometimes both, They will have, for example, the father’s eyes, and the mouth of the mother, or the complexion of the latter, and the size of the former ; which is impossible to be com? ceived, unless it is admitted that both parents have contributed to the formation of the child, and that consequently there was a mixture of the two seminal fluids»
I acknowledge that resemblances raised many difficulties in my ow n mind. Before I had mar turely examined the question of generation, X was prepossessed with ideas of a mixed system, by which it appeared that I could explain, in a probable manner, every phenomena, excepting resemblances, and these I thought I had found very specious reasons to doubt, and which deceived me a long time, until, having minutely observed with all the exactness I was
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capable of, a great number of families, and especially the most numerous, I have not been able to resist the multiplicity of proofs; it is only after being fully convinced in this respect, that I have began to think differently, and to credit what I now believe to be the fact.
Besides, although I had found the mode to avoid those arguments which would be made with regard the subject of mulattos, mongrels, and mules, 1 could not be prevented from observing that every explanation, where a reason could be given for the phenomena, cannot be satisfactory; and I am now perfectly convinced that the objections which might be used with respect to them, as well as particular parental resemblances, instead of opposing would confirm my explanation.
I now proceed to draw some consequences. In youth the seminal fluid is less abundant, although more stimulating; its quantity increases to a certain age ; because, in proportion as we approach that age, the parts of the body become more solid, admit less nutriment, send back a greater quantity to the common reservoirs, and consequently produce a greater abundance of seminal fluid. When the externalbiiffok's
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ternal organs have not been used, persons of a middling age, and even old men, more easily engender than young ones. This is evident in the vegetable system, the older a tree is, the more fruit or seed it produces.
Young people who emit, or force irritation, draw a greater quantity of seminal fluid towards the organs of generation than would naturally arrive there ; the consequence is they cease from growing, become thin, and fall at length into consumptions, and that because they lose, by premature, and too often reiterated evacuations, the necessary substance for the growth and nutrition of every part of the body.
Those whose bodies are thin without emaciation, or fleshy without being fat, are the most vigorous : as soon as the superabundant nutriment has began to form fat it is always at the expense of the seminal fluid, and other faculties of generation. When also, not only the growth of every part of the body is entirely completed, but the bones are grown solid, the cartilages begin to ossify, the membranes have received all the solidity possible, the fibres are become hard and rough, and at length every part of the body can no longer scarcely admit of nutriment, the fat
considerablyNATURAL HISTOli i.	g2’f
considerably increases, and the quantity of seminal fluid diminishes, because the superfluous particles, stopped in every part of the body, and the fibres, having no longer any suppleness or elasticity, cannot return it into the reservoirs of generation.
The seminal liquor not only becomes more abundant till a certain age, but it also becomes thicker, and contains a greater quantity of matter under the same bulk. A person, very Observant in this point, assured rne that the seminal fluid is as heavy again as the blood, and consequently specifically heavier than any other fluid of the body.
When a man is in good health the evacuation of this fluid produces an appetite, and he soon feels the necessity of repairing, by a new nutriment, the loss of the old; from whence it may be concluded, that the most efficacious check to every kind of luxury is abstinence and fasting.
Many other things remain to be said on this subject, but, which 1 have treated of in the History of Man : however, before I entirely finish I shall make some few observations. The greatest part of animals do not seek for copulation until they are nearly arrived at their full growth ; those which have only a 5	particular328
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particular season in the year have only seimnáí liquor at that time. A very skilful observer of Nature # not only saw this liquor forming in the roe of a Calmar, but even observed the spermatic animals and the roe itself, which have no existence till the month of October, the time when the Calmar spawns on the coast of Portugal, where Mr. Needham made these observations. As soon as the season is over neither seminal liquor nor spermatic animals are longer seen in the milt, which then dries up and becomes imperceptible till the season returns in the succeeding year, when the superfluous nutriment renews the milt, and fills it as before. In the history of the stag we have an opportunity of observing the different effects of rutting; the most general is, the increased size of the animal; and in those kinds of animals whose rutting or spawning is only made at great intervals, the extenuation of the body is proportionably great.
As women are smaller and weaker than men, of a more delicate temperament, and eat much less, it is natural to imagine that their superfluous organic particles are not so plenti-
* Mr. Needham’s New Microscopical Discoveries, London, 174.5*
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fill; from hence their seminal liquor will be weaker, and less in quantity, than that of men. Since, likewise, the seminal liquor of females contains fewer organic particles than that of males, must there not result a greater number of males than females from the mixture of these two liquors? This is really the case, for which it has hitherto been thought impossible to find a reason. About a sixteenth more male children are born than females ; and we find that the same cause produces the same effect in all kinds of animals on which we have been able to make this observation.
CHAPTER V.
EXPOSITION OF THE SYSTEMS IN GENERATION.
pLATO * not only explains the generation of man, animals, plants, and elements, but even that of heaven and the gods, by reflected representations and images extracted from the
VOL, II.
* See the Timæus.
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Pivine330
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Divine Creator, which, by an harmonic mo tion, are ranged according to the properties of numbers in the most perfect order The universe, according to him, is a copy of the Deity ; time, space, motion, and matter, are images of his attributes ; and secondary and particular causes are results of numerical and harmonica! qualities of those representations. The world is the most perfect being, and to have a complete perfection it w as necessary that it contained every other animal, every possible representation, and every imaginable form, of the creative faculty. The essence of all generation consists in the unity and harmony of the number Three, or of the triangle, viz. that which generates, that in which generation is performed, and that zchich is engendered* The succession of individuals in the species is only a fugitive image of the immutable eternity of this triangular harmony, the universal prototype of every existence and every generation ? for this reason two individuals are required to produce a third, and it is this which constitutes the essential order of father, mother, and child.
This philosopher is a painter only of ideas disengaged from matter he soars into the
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regions of abstraction, and, losing sight of sensible objects, perceives and contemplates the "intellectual alone. One cause, one end, and one sole mode, form the whole of his perceptions. God is the cause, perfection the end, and harmonic, representations the modes. What can be a. more sublime idea! This plan of philosophy is replete with simplicity, and the views truly noble 1 but bow void and destitute for speculation ? We are not purely spiritual beings, nor have we the power to give a real existence to our ideas. Confined to matter, or, rather, dependent on what causes our sensations, the real substance can never be produced by the abstracted. I answer Plato in his own language, The Creator realizes every thing he conceives ; his perceptions engender existence ; the created being, on the contrary, conceives nothiug but by retrenching from reality, and the production of his ideas do not amount to any thing.”
Let us then content ourselves with a more humble and more material philosophy ; and by keeping within the sphere Nature has allotted us, let us examine the rash steps and the rapid flight of those who attempt to soar beyond it. AH this Pythagorean philosophy, which is Uu2	ptuely332
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purely intellectual, turns entirely on two principles, one of which is false and the other precarious : these are the real power of abstraction, and the actual existence of final causes. To take numbers for real beings ; to say that unity is a general individual, which not only represents every individual, but even communicates existence to them ; to pretend that unity has the actual power to engender another unity nearly similar to itself, and constituting two individuals, two sides of a triangle, which can have no bound nor perfection without a third side, or by a third individual, which they necessarily engender ; to regard numbers, geometrical lines, and metaphysical abstractions, as efficient and real physical causes, on which the formation of the elements, the generation of animals and plants, and all the phenomena of Nature depend, seem to me to be the most absurd abuse of reason, and the greatest obstacle that can obstruct the advancement of our knowledge. Besides, what can be more false than such suppositions ? Admitting' with Plato and Maliebranche, that matter does not exist, that external objects are only ideal images of the creative faculty, and that we perceive ev^ry thing in the Deity, must it be concluded
from
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from thence that our ideas should be of the same order as those of the Creator, or that they can produce existences ? Are not we dependent on our sensations ? Whether the objects that cause them be real or not; whether this cause of our sensations exist outwardly or inwardly; whether it be the Creator or matter we perceive, what does it signify to usAre we less certain of being always affected in the same manner by the same causes ? Have not our sensations an invariable order of existence, and a necessary relation between them and the objects ? This, therefore, is what must constitute the principles of our philosophy; and what has no relation with it is vain, useless, and false in the application. Can a triangular harmony form the substance of the elements ? Is fire, as Plato affirms, an acute triangle, and light and heat properties of this triangle ? Air and water, are they rectangular and equilateral triangles ? Is the form of the terrestrial element a square, because being the least perfect of all the four elements, it recedes as much as possible from a triangle without losing its essence ? Do the male and female embrace pnly to complete the triangle of generation ? These platonic ideas have two very different
aspects.3S4
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aspects. In speculation they seem to flow from noble and sublime principles, but in application nothing but false an,d puerile consequences can be drawn from them.
Is it difficult to discover that cur ideas proceed only from our senses; that the things we look on as real and existing are those of which our senses have always rendered us the same testimony ? that those which we conceive to have certain existence are those which ever present themselves in the same order? that consequent^ ly our ideas, very far from being the causes of things are only effects, and so far from resembling particular things, become less similar to the objects as they are more general; that at length our mental abstractions are only negative beings, which do not exist even intellectually but by the retrenchment which we make of sensible qualities to real beings.
Is it not, hence, plain that abstractions can never become principles, neither of existence nor real knowledge? on the contrary, our knowledge can only proceed from the results of properly comparing our sensations. These results are what is termed experience, the sole source of all real science. The adoption of every other principle is an abuse, and
everyNATURAL HISTORY.	335
every edifice built on abstracted ideas is a tem-pie founded on error.
Error bears a much more extended signification in philosophy than in morality; in morals a thing may be false, only because it is misrepresented. Metaphysical falsehood consists not in misrepresentation alone, but in crediting that which has no existence, and even in not being of any mode whatever. It is in this kind of error, of the first order, that the Platonists, the Sceptics, and the Egotists have fallen into; their false suppositions have obscured the natural light of truth, clouded reason, and retarded the advancement of philosophy.
The second principle made use of by Plato, and by most of the speculative and some modem philosophers, is a final cause. Nevertheless, to reduce this principle to its just value, a single moment of reflection is only requisite. To say there is light because we have eyes, and sounds because we have ears, or to say that we have ears and eyes because there is light and sound, is it not exactly the same thing? shall we ever discover any thing by this mode of explanation ? Is it not evident that final causes are only arbitrary relations and moral abstractions, which should
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impose on us still less than metaphysical abstract tion, because their origin is less noble and rests on a more false supposition ; and although Leibnitz has endeavoured to raise this principle to the highest degree by the name of sufficient reason, and Plato has represented it by the most flattering portrait, under the title of perfection, yet it cannot prevent our considering it as trifling and precarious. Are we better acquainted with the effects of Nature, from being told that nothing is made without a reason, or that all is made in view of perfection? What is this sufficient reason? what is this perfection? are they not moral beings created by intellects purely human ? are they not arbitrary relations which w e have generalized ? on what are they founded ? on moral affinities, w?hich, far from producing any physical or real existence, only alter the reality and confound the objects of our sensations, perceptions and knowledge, with those of our sentiments, our passions and our wills.
I could adduce many arguments on this sub* ject, but I do not aspire to write a treatise on philosophy, and shall return to physics, from which the ideas of Plato on universal generation made me digress. Aristotle, who w?asas great a philosopher as Plato and a much better naturalist,NATURAL HISTORY.
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naturalist* instead of losing himself in the region of hypotheses* relied* on the contrary* on collected facts* and speaks in a more intelligible language.
Matter* which is nothing but a capacity of receiving forms* takes* in generation* a form like that of the individual which furnishes it; and with respect to the generation of animals that have sexes* he thinks that the male alone furnishes the prolific principle* and that the female affords nothing that can be looked upon as such *. For though he says* elsewhere* speaking of animals in general* that the female emits a seminal fluid within herself* yet he does not regard that as a prolific principle : nevertheless* according to him* the menstrual blood serves for the formation* growth* and nutriment of the foetus* but the efficient principle exists only in the seminal fluid of the male* which does not act like matter* but as the cause. Averroes* Avicenna* and many other philosophers* who followed the sentiments of Aristotle* have sought for rea* sons to prove that females have no prolific fluid ; they urge* that as females have a menstrual fluid that was necessary and sufficient for gene*
* See Aristotle, &e gitu lib, i, cap. $3, and lib. u. cap. 4C
vol, ii*	X x	ration«333
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ration, it does not appear natural to suppose they possess any other; particularly because it begins to appear, like the seminal fluid in the males, at the age of puberty ; besides, continue they, if females have really a seminal and prolific fluid, why do they not produce without the approach of the male, since they contain the prolific principle as well as the matter necessary for the nutriment and growtli of the embryo ? This last reason seems to be the only one which merits any attention. The menstrual blood seems to be necessary for the support, nutriment and growth of the fœtus, but it can have no part in the first formation, which is made by the mixture of two fluids alike prolific. Females therefore, may have, as well as the males, a prolific fluid for the formation of the embryo, besides the menstrual blood for its nutriment and expansion, and certainly a female being possessed of a prolific fluid, extracted from all parts of her body, as well as the necessary means of nourishment and expansion, it is no impossible imagination that she would produce •females without any communication with the male. It must be allowed, that this metaphysical reasoning which the Aristotelians adopt to prove that females have no prolific fluid, may
becomeNATURAL HlStORY.
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become tlife most considerable objection that can be made against all systems of generation, and particularly against our explanation.
Let us suppose, it may be said, as you have attempted to prove, that the superfluous organic molecules are sent back into the testicles and seminal vessels of the male, why, by the power of }rour supposed attracting forces, do they not form small organized beings, perfectly resembling the male ? and, for the same reason, similar beings in the female f If you answer, that there is an appearance that the liquor of the male contains only males, and that of the female only females, but that all these perish for want of the necessary means for expansion, and that only those which are formed by the mixture of both can expand and come into the world; may we not be asked why this mode of generation, which is the most complicated, difficult, and least abundant, is that which Nature prefers, and in so striking a manner, that almost all animals multiply by this mode of communication of the male with the female ?
I shall content myself, at present, with answer, ing, that the fact is such as we have represented it ; the objection becomes a question of fact;
X x 2	toMO
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to which, as we have observed, there is ni? other solution to be given than that of the fact itself. It may be insisted, that it is the most complicated mode of production ; yet this mode which appears the most complicated to us, is certainly the most simple for nature, because, as we have remarked, what happens the most often, however difficult it may appear to our ideas, must in reality be the most simple ; and this does not prevent us from conceiving it to be complex, for we judge of it according to that knowledge which our senses and reflections can give us thereon.
The assertion of the Aristotelians, that females have no prolific fluid, must fall to the ground, if we pay attention to the resemblance of children to their mothers, of mules to the female that produces them, of mongrels and mulattos, all of which resemble more the mother than the father. If, besides these, we consider that the organs of females are, like those of the males, formed so as to prepare and receive the seminal fluid, we shall be readily persuade 1 that such a fluid must exist, whether it resides in the spermatic vessels, the testicles, or in the matrix ; or whether it issues, when provoked, by the passagesof de Graat situatedIf AYUEAL HISTOKY.	<3ii
tpated at the neck, and near the external orifice of the urethra.
But, it is right to examine here the ideas of Aristotle more generally on the subject of generation, because tins great philosopher has written the most on the subject, and treated it the most generally. He distinguishes anL mais into three classes ; first, those which have blood, and excepting some few, multiply by copulation ; the second, those which have up blood, but being, at the same time, both male and female, produce of themsel ves, and without copulation ; and thirdly, those bred by putre* faction, which do not owe their origin to parents of any kind. I shall first remark, that this division must not be admitted ; for, though in fact all kinds of animals which have blood are composed of males and females, it is not equally true that animals who have no blood are for the most part male and female in one ; for we are only acquainted with the snail and worm on earth which are in this state ; nor can we ascertain whether all shell fish, and other animals which have no blood be hermaphrodites. With respect to those animals which he says proceed from putrefaction, as he has not enumerated them, many exceptions342
bupfon’s
lions occur ; for most of the kinds which thé ancients thought engendered by putrefaction, have been discovered by the moderns to be the produce of eggs.
After this, he makes a second division of animals ; those which have the faculty of moving themselves progressively, as walking, flying, swimming, and those which have no such faculty. All animals which can move, and have blood, have sexes ; but those which, like oysters, are adherent, or who scarcely move at all, have no sex, and are, in this respect, like plants, distinguished only, as he says, into males and females by difference of size It is not yet ascertained whether shellfish have sexes or not ; there are in the oyster-kind fruitful individuals, and others which are not so ; those which are fruitful are distinguished by a delicate border which surrounds the body of the oyster, and they are called males*.
But to proceed. The male, according to Aristotle, includes the principle of generative motion, and the female contains the material parts of generation. The organs '-which serve
* Seethe observation of M. Deslawls, in his Traité delà marine, Paris, 1747.
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for this purpose are different in the different kinds of animals ; the principal are the testicles in the males, and the matrix in the females. Quadrupeds, birds, and cetacious animals, have testicles ; fish and serpents are deprived oi them ; but they have two proper conduits to receive and prepare the seed. These essential parts are always double, both in the male and female, and serves, in males, to stop the motion of the blood, which forms the seed. This he proves by the example of birds, whose testicles swell in the season of their amours, and diminish so greatly when this season is over that they are scarcely perceptible.
All quadrupeds, as horses, oxen, Sic. which are clothed with hair, and cetaceous fishes, as dolphins and whales, are viviparous ; but cartilaginous animals, and vipers, are not tally viviparous, because they produce an egg within themselves before the live animal appears. Oviparous animals are of two kinds, those which produce perfect eggs, as birds, lizards, turtles, &c. and those which produce imperfect eggs, as fishes, whose eggs augment and come to perfection after they have been laid in the water by the fern a e • and n all kinds of oviparous animals, excepting birds, the females
are$44	S5ÜFF0N?S
áre generally larger than the males* as fishes^ lizards* &c.	'
After having mentioned these general varieties in animals* Aristotle begins with exa-mining the opinion of the ancient philosophers* that the seed* as well of the male as of the female proceeded from all parts of the body; he declares against this opinion* because* he says* although children often resemble their fathers and mothers* they also sometimes resemble their grandfathers; and* besides* they resemble their parents by the voice* hair* nails* carriage* and manner of walking. Novtf the seed* he continues* cannot proceed from the hair, voice* nails* or any external quality* like that of walking:; therefore* children do not resemble their parents because the seed comes from every part of the body* but for some other reason. It would be unnecessary here to point out the weakness of these arguments ; I shall only observe* that it appears to me this great man expressly sought after methods to separate himself from the sentiments of those philosophers who preceded him ; and I am persuaded* that whoever reads his treatise on generation with attention* will discover that a strong design of giving a new 6	system*NATURAL HISTORY.
. S45
system, different from that of the ancients* obliged him always to give the preference to die least probable reasons, and to elude, as much as he could, the force of proofs, when they were contrary to his general principles of philosophy.
According to Aristotle the seminal liquor is secreted from the blood ; and the menstrua, in females, is a similar secretion, and the only one which serves for the purpose of generation. Females, lie says, have no other prolific liquor; there is, therefore, no mixture of that of the male with that of the female. He pretends to prove this from some women conceiving without receiving the least pleasure, and because few women emit this liquor externally during copulation; that in general those who are brown, and have a masculine appearance, do wot emit at all, yet engender equally with those who are more fair in complexion and feminine in appearance, and whose emissions are considerable. Thus lie concludes woman furnishes nothing but the menstrual. This blood is the matter of generation ; and the seminal fluid of the male does not contribuie as matter but as form; it is the efficient cause, the principle of motion \ it is to generation what vol, n.	Yy	theBüfFON 5
Si s
the sculptor is to a block of marble: the liquor of tbe male is the sculptor, the menstrual blood the marble, and the foetus the image.
The menstrual blood receives from the male seed a kind of soul, which gives life and mo^ tion. This soul is neither material nor immaterial, because it can neither act upon matter nor enter in generation as matter, the menstrual blood being all that is necessary for that purpose. It is, says our philosopher, a spirit, whose substance is like that of the starry region. The heart is the first work of this soul ; it contains in itself the principle of its own growth ; and it has the power to arrange the other members. The menstrual blood contains every-other principle of all the parts of the foetus : the soul, or spirit, of the male geed, makes the heart begin to act, and that communicates the power of bringing the other viscera to action ; and thus, successively, is every part of the animal unfolded and brought into motion. All this appeared very clear to our philosopher : there only remained to him one doubt, which w as, whether the heart was realized before the blood ; and in fact he had reason for this doubt; for, although he had
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adopted the opinion of the heart existing first, Harvey has since asserted hv reasons of the same kind as those used by Aristotle, that it •is not the heart but the blood which is first realized.
This is the system that great philosopher has given us of generation, and [ shall leave it to the opinion of the reader whether that of the ancients, which he rejects, can he more obscure or more absurd than his ; nevertheless, his system has been followed by most of the learned. Harvey has not only adopted the ideas of Aristotle, but has added new ones of the same kind. As this system of generation is of the same kind as the rest of Aristotle’s philosophy, where form and matter are the grand principles ; where the vegetative and sensitive are the active beings in Nature ; and where final causes are real objects ; 1 am not surprised that it has been received by scholastic authors ; but it is astonishing that so able a physician and observer of Nature as Harvey was should be carried away with the stream, while every physician folio wed the opinion of Hippocrates and Galen: which we shad explain in order. We must not, however, imbibe a disadvantageous idea of Aristotle irom the
above$4$
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above exposition of his System of Generation* It would be like judging of Descartes by his^ Treatise on Man. The explanations which: these two philosophers give of the formation of the foetus should not be considered as complete systems on the subject of generation ; they are rather general consequences drawn- from their philosophical principles.
END OF TBE SECOND VOLUME,
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