Indubitable evidence of the water hav ing stood over the tops of mountains, which are at present much above the le vel of the ocean, is yielded by the circum stance of various organized beings, for mer inhabitants of the water, being im bedded in these mountains, and even in their summits. Those who contend that the whole of the earth has been covered with water, have recourse to the testimo ny afforded by the several chemical and physical properties discoverable in the component parts of the loftiest mountains; and which prove, in their opinion, that all these substances have obtained their ori gin from the waters of the ocean, which they suppose to have invested the whole earth. This mode of the formation of rocks will not, however, be admitted by every geologist to be sufficiently ascer tained, to allow of its being adduced as an evidence on the present occasion. That they have been thus produced, there appears, however, to be the greatest rea son for supposing ; but as their origin still remains a question with many, the testi mony, on this occasion, must be propor tionally weakened.
In the following sketch of some of the most interesting and important systems of the formation of the world, several facts will be noticed, from which addition al evidence will be adduced, of not only the formation of the rocks from the con tents of the primitive waters, but also of the waters having totally covered the earth ; and since most of the important geological facts will come into (-ors dera tion, whilst taking a view of the different systems which have been offered of the formation of the world, and of the several changes which it has undergone, it is proposed to appropriate the remaining part of this article to that purpose.
Omitting to notice any further the scriptural account of the creation of the world, merely on account of the brevity of the narration preventing the disposal of the events there related in a systema tic arrangement ; we shall only here ge nerally remark, that the occurrence of the most prominent circumstances related in that account has been repeatedly in. ferred by the most learned writers, who have endeavoured, from a view of the present state of the world, and of the va rious changes which it has undergone, to form some conjectures with respect to its original formation.
From the very imperfect accounts Which have reached us, of the doctrines of the Egyptian philosophers on this sub ject, we can only learn, that they were of opinion, that, at the beginning, the water had covered the whole surface of the world ; and that this was proved by the remains of organized beings, which were so frequently seen in the substance of the earth. These waters, it was supposed, had retired to the interior cavities of the globe, remaining in this great abyss, rea dy to issue out and produce the most ex tensive inundations ; to one of which it was supposed that some of their records referred. The axis of the globe they
believed to have been originally parallel with that of the plane of its orbit ; and whilst it remained thus, they supposed that a perpetual spring existed, but that, on its inclining, an alteration of seasons took place.
The Chaldwans, like the Egyptians, are supposed, by Diodorus Siculus, to have believed the earth to be hollow ; and that, in the early ages of its forma tion, a perpetual spring had existed. The Indians also believed in the existence of a vast abyss in the centre of the earth, for the reception Of the water, which re mained after the consolidation of the crust of the earth : they also believed in a ge neral deluge of the earth, and in a subse quent retiring of the waters.
The opinions of the Epicureans, as de livered to us by Lucretius, appear to have been, that by the separation and appro priate re-union of accordant atoms, the different elements were formed, which, by the regulating influence of gravity, were separated from each other, and dis posed in their allotted regions. One of the processes which was thus performed was the formation of the earth itself; which, being then variously acted upon, under went those alterations of its surface, from which proceeded the vast cavities for the reception of the ocean, and those irre gularities which divide its surface into hills and vallies.
Since several of the hypotheses of the formation of the world, and the changes which have brought it to its present state, deserve rather to be regarded as ingeniously devised allegories, than sys tems regularly deduced, it is not intend ed to do much more than specify those, the consideration of which will yield but little information. In agreement with this rule, we shall only state, respecting the hypothesis of Des Cartes, that he con ceived that this globe might originally have been composed, like the sun, of the pure element (fire ;) but that, by de grees, its less subtle parts had gradually collected together, and formed thick and obscure masses at its surface, similar to those accumulations which occasion the spots which we see on the sun. From the gradual, but, at length, complete in crustation thus formed, he supposed that the whole planet, at length, became co vered and obfuscated ; that, in this man ner, different crusts were formed, and that, from the falling in of parts of the exterior crust into the cavity beneath, the irregularities of the earth's surface were produced.