earth, one may plainly difcern the remains of the vegetables and animals of the land and fea, enveloped in the fubftance of rocks.

What aftonishing profpects! What a maze of antiquity does all this prefent! Conception itself is unequal to the contempla tion. Yet what arguments, what proofs, what facts can make an impreffion upon men that are prejudiced and fuperftitious! Taught to domineer it over nature, truth, and reafon, they will not admit their light, but are callous to conviction upon every fuch occafion. Latting enemies to good fenfe, ftrangers in fpeculation, and too often in practice, to what is real virtue and morality; at mortal variance with every thing that is mild and amiable in life; they eternally oppofe both their own happiness, that of mankind, and the real interefts of fociety.'

'In Touraine, a province of France upwards of a hundred and eight miles from the fea, throughout a diftrict of eighty fquare miles, eight or nine feet below the furface, they come to a bed of fhell-marle, conftituted chiefly of oyfters and other marine-productions. Thefe fhells are found to extend, in many diftris, to an unknown depth, but, upon the whole, at least to the depth of eighteen feet; and will be found to amount, upon the moft limited computation, to a hundred and forty millions of cubic fathoms of fhells, moftly decayed and broken into frag

ments.

That fuch curious and familiar objects are, univerfally, the genuine offspring of the fea, will be readily acknowledged. The hells and fishes, in fome districts, are ftill found to retain their marine matter, though much decayed. But of the prodigious quantity of fhells tranfmuted into stone, fome are found whole, others broken, many bored through by an animal well known to prey upon the living fish; and they have the fame effects, ufed chemically, medically, and in agriculture, as those taken immediately from the ocean.

The fhell-fish of the fame kind are of all fizes, fome young and others old. They form diftinct beds of oyfters, cockles, &c, Their fmalleft articulations may be remarked, and even the pearls are obferved that the living animal produced. The teeth too of many of the fishes are in fuch a ftate, as fufficiently to convince us that they have been made ufe of, and confequently that they belonged to animals that once were alive, The appear, ance of the limestone rocks upon the tops of mountains, and in the various diftricts of the world, is no lefs conclufive.

And that all this has not been occafioned, as has been vul. garly conceived, by any univerfal inundation of the ocean, is demonftrable, both from the fishes petrified in the beds of limeftone, which feem to be in the places where they have been generated, lived, and died, forming diftin&t beds of oyfters, cockles, &c. and oftentimes depofited with as much regularity as beds of living fhell-fish are in any part of the fea; and from the various

marine

1

marine productions which, in variety of inftances, are separated by immenfe beds of vegetable or other matter.

Such are indifputed monuments of a fingular fucceffion of events! fuch the proofs that the fea is by no means ftationary! They indeed feem to prove to us, beyond all manner of controverfy, that this element, at repeated and different periods, has exercised every where its dominion!

Nature teftikes this by a variety of different inftances. Circumftances render it evident, that many of the islands of the world have, one time or other, been the highest land of adjoining continents; and it is not improbable, that those continents themselves, as it has already been fuggefted, alternately have been buried, and have emerged from the ocean. From this reafoning, then, it follows, that the various islands of the globe, as they have many of them been joined to fome other country, fo will they at future periods exift no longer as iflands. Either the fea departing will leave them portions of adjoining continents; by its certain though flow advances, immerse them in its reflefs waters.

or,

A curious circumftance it may not be amifs here to mention, though not with any kind of view to confirm the preceding reafonings, as they ftand in no need of confirmation from things that are ambiguous. The whole of the islands of the South fea would feem to have conftituted one vaft aggregate. Without the poflibility of communication, the inhabitants of' Otaheite and New Zealand, feparated by the fea two thoufand miles from each other, have, nevertheless, been found to fpeak nearly the fame language.

A confiderable time is paft, fays Plato, fince the land of Atlantes was in being. It was as large as Afia-Minor and Syria * united, and was fituated near the Pillars of Hercules in the Atlantic ocean. The imagination of the poetical philofopher exults in the defcription of thofe numerous advantages, which the inhabitants fo long enjoyed in that charming region. This felicity, together with their diftinguished refinement, terminated, however, by a dreadful and unexpected inundation. For the fea, fuddenly forfaking its ancient ftation, at once overwhelmed the country and drowned all its inhabitants. At prefent, not even the smallest veftige of fuch a land is any where to be met with.'

From these, and a variety of other phenomena, which our author has defcribed, it must, he thinks, indifputably appear,

That not one fingle fubftance in nature is either permanent or primary.

That the animals, the vegetables, the earths, the ftones, the minerals, alike take their origin in the gradual progress of time, and, in its unceasing fucceffion, are alike expofed to innumerable tranfmutations.

Plato fays, the ifland Atlantis was larger than Africa and Afia upited. In Timeo et Critia, p. 1045, & 1100. Ed. Ficini. D 4 · That

That the globe itself, from a multitude of causes, is subjec to the most flow but interefting revolutions.

That it undergoes incredible changes from heat and cold, volcanos and earthquakes.

That vaft alterations are perpetually made by the decay, generation, petrifaction, and other tranfmutations of vegetables and animals.

That the fea is continually altering the very face of the earth.

• That in the eternal lapse of time, it alternately encroaches upon the dry land, takes it from, and again restores it to its inhabitants.

And that gradual, but obvious influences occafion thofe numerous yet partial inundations, that have been found to make fuch deep and lafting impreffions; and which have exifted in every country, and left behind them the most visible marks of ruin and devaftation.

The general inference which the author deduces from these obfervations is, that the world is eternal; and that the human fpecies have had, and will have, a uniform and infinite exiftence.'

But before he drew this conclufion he should have confidered, not only the component parts of the earth itself, but other im portant circumftances, relative to its external appearance and its inhabitants.

About two thousand years ago, the greater part of the earth, of Europe in particular, was lonely, rude, and uncultivated, over run with woods, moraffes, and defarts. But whence this want of cultivation, if the inhabitants had exifted through infinite ages?

Sir Matthew Hale has proved, from an account of all the cities, towns, and villages, taken in the time of William the Conqueror, that the number of inhabitants in Britain, within fix hundred years from that period down to his time, was increased in above a twenty-fold proportion. But how fhall we account for this increase upon the foregoing hypothefis?

Another circumftance which feems to be incompatible with the unlimited exiftence of mankind, is the affinity of lan

See the account which Cæfar, and other ancient writers, have given us of Britain, Gaul, Germany, &c. Cæfar tells us, that the breadth of the Hercynian foreft was nine days journey; but as to its length, all Germany did not produce a man who could boast of having reached its extremity. He alfo mentions a wood called Bacenis, infinitæ magnitudinis,' of immenfe extent. De Bell. Gall. vi. 23. 10. Other writers fpeak of the Cefian, Gabretian, Semanian, Marcianian, and the Lunian woods. Cellar. ii. 5. So that all Germany then made, as it were, one vaft foreft, with only fome intermediate spaces, occupied by the rude and barbarous inhabitants. Yet this country was fituated in the heart of the temperate zone.

guages

guages, or rather the derivation of fome of the most confi, fiderable languages from one mother tongue, This affinity is a proof, that mankind fprung from the fame ancestors, and confequently began to exist at no very diftant period.

In a word, the late difcovery of unknown countries and unpeopled regions, the known original of hiftories and traditions, the beginning of empires, the rife and progrefs of arts and fciences, are plain indications that the world has not existed from eternity. If it had, half the globe would not have re mained for infinite ages wild and defolate; mankind would not have continued fo long without laws, learning, or embellifhments, and we should undoubtedly have had books more ancient than thofe of Mofes, or fome traces of preceding times, But fince we have no memorials of a more early date, we may reasonably conclude, that the human fpecies have not existed many thousand years.

But, fays this writer, empires rife and fall; barbarism and civilization, knowlege and fuperftition, riches and poverty, al ternately fucceed each other. The literary advances of the prefent day may fade, from incidents totally unforeseen. Our boafted civilization, at fome future period, may no longer exift, It is well known, that the learning of the Greeks and Romans was in danger of entirely perithing by the inundations of barba rous nations, Fortunately, however, fome few monuments of their literary accomplishments have been preferved to us. Yet had thefe convulfions continued a little longer, had they but been a little more violent, fhould we have known what had paffed among these celebrated nations, even a few centuries before us, and in the vicinity of our native country? The Romans and the Greeks were but of yesterday; and we, by the mereft accident in the world, know a few of their transactions,'

In oppofition to this mode of reasoning, it may be observed, that the Greeks and Romans were furrounded by barbarous nations; and the very exiftence of their literary productions depended on the prefervation of a few copies in manufcript of each refpective work. It was therefore no wonder that their literature was in danger of perishing by the inundations of barbarous nations. But that very barbarifm, and that imperfect and precarious ftate of learning, are proofs, that arts and fciences, comparatively fpeaking, were then in their infancy. The cafe is fo very different at prefent, that it is ab folutely impoffible that any convulfions or revolutions whatever, less than the deftruction of the whole earth, can abolish all the records of mankind, and the monuments of literature now exifting.

Whatever difficulties therefore may attend our enquiries Concerning the various ftrata of shells, bones, plants, &c. which

have been found at a confiderable depth in the earth, yet, be fore we conclude from hence, that the world is eternal, we Qught to confider many other circumftances, which tend to eftablish the common hypothefis.

Travels through Spain, with a View to illuftrate the Natural Hiftory and Phyfical Geography of that Kingdom, in a Series of Letters. Adorned with Copper-platos, and a new Map of Spain. By John Talbot Dillon, Knight and Baron of the Sacred Roman Empire. 4to. Boards. 11. 15. Robinfon.

VE

ERY ample accounts of Spain have been written by feveral travellers within these few years; but none has hitherto been executed upon the plan of the work now before us, which is particularly defigned to elucidate the natural history of that kingdom. Don Guliermo Bowles, from whofe treatise this volume is chiefly compiled, had been employed many years by his Catholic Majefty, in vifiting mines, and for other purposes tending to the improvement of the country. The first objec that engaged Mr. Bowles's attention, we are told, was an infpection into the quickfilver mine of Almaden, in La Mancha, at that time greatly neglected, though a place of the utmost confequence to the Spaniards, as from the cinnabar ore of this mine they extract the greater part of the quickfilver that is requifite for the working of their filver mines in America. On this expedition he fet out in the year 1752; and several years after he continued his progrefs through moft of the provinces. of Spain.

In the work now under confideration, Baron Dillon has included most of the remarks made by Mr. Bowles, in his various journies, from the above mentioned period to the prefent time.

Befides thofe valuable materials, however, the volume contains many others, drawn not from the fund of Mr. Bowles's observations, but from a multiplicity of interefting fources, among which we meet with feveral things that must attract the attention both of the hiftorian and antiquary.

The work begins with the divifion of the kingdom of Spain; after which, in the fecond letter, the author recites the itinerary from Bayonne to Pamplona in Navarre, and thence to Madrid. In this journey we find a particular account of the foil and products, both vegetable and mineral, of those parts. Among the latter the author describes a mine of fal gem at Valtierra. It is about four hundred paces in length, with feveral fhafts, upwards of eighty paces, fupported by pillars of falt and gypfum, which have the appearance of a Gothic cathedral.