AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF FOSSIL-SHELLS, &c.

AMongst the unusual Workings of Nature, the Original and For⯑mation of these pretty and some⯑times surprizing Appearances, have of late busied the Heads and exercised the Thoughts of some of our greatest Theorists, to conceive, and to give the World a satisfactory Solution of it.

This if ever it be done, is to be ex⯑pected from such who have had the Opportunities to make the best Collecti⯑on of those Figured Substances, and to [2] observe their Matrices and places of existence; and who have most careful⯑ly traced the Impressions of Nature, and have examin'd the Force, Extent and Determination of her Plastick Pow⯑ers, in other Processes of her Operati⯑ons: From such we may one day expect, when a long train of new Discoveries and Trials has ripen'd things for it, what upon due Proofs and evident Demon⯑strations the World may call a general Satisfaction: And what has hitherto been perform'd of this nature, hath, in the opinion of some, rather served to enlarge our Doubts, and to quicken our Inquisitiveness, than to fix or de⯑termine our Judgment, as in a so⯑lid acquiescible Solution of that Par⯑ticular: Yet this must in no wise dis⯑courage us from offering towards it in the mean time; for perhaps when the wish'd Conclusion sees the Light, its Birth may be facilitated by every Con⯑jecture that hath gone abroad about it.

The several late Opinions on this Sub⯑ject, vastly disagreeing between them⯑selves as they are brought to serve several Hypotheses, we may generally sort and distinguish under these two Heads: viz. [3] First, Of those who strenuously con⯑tend, that these form'd Substances, Shells, Bones and other peculiar Fos⯑sils, are the exuvious Remains and the true and real Parts of Marine Animals, by some extraordinary Fate scatter⯑ed and left embodyed in the several Consistencies of the upper Crust of the Earth; where mixt with various sorts of Bodies, they came, by means of cer⯑tain lapidific Juices, to be congealed with them; leaving there either their Marks and Signatures on their Contain⯑ing or Contained Concrets; or else Pre⯑serving their Bulk, Figure, and in some places their Frame and Contexture, firm, entire and unaltered to this day.

Secondly, There are other Persons who maintain and warmly avouch, that these form'd Bodies, taken out of the Earth, are indeed the direct and re⯑gular Workings of Nature, wherein she sometimes seems to sport and play and make little Flourishes and Imitations of things, to set off and embellish her more useful Structures; and that those Formations had no other Original, than what her plastick Power exerted in the forming of them, in those very places [4] where they are found and taken up. These are the two main Heads of the disagreeing Opinions in this Affair; which, for your satisfaction, I shall first compare and examine severally; and then, as you desire, shall attempt to propose a middle way to solve the Difficulty, which at least shall be very agreeable with the Order of Nature and the Mechanical Powers of Matter; which is all I can promise towards the advan⯑cing of that general Satisfaction.

The first of these Opinions (I must confess) in the Grounds of it, appears very plain and rational; but as to the manner of the Conveyance and Disper⯑sion of these exuvious Concrets unto such remote and different places, it must be confess'd to be encumber'd with very great and insuperable difficulties: So also the other Opinion is consonant enough to the Laws and Powers of Nature; but when we take into con⯑sideration the End, Designment and Purposes of Nature in the production of these prettily form'd and little useless Things, it encounters with no small dif⯑ficulty to support and defend it. For what more obvious than this reflecting Thought, viz. To what purpose should [5] a Tooth be made without a Jaw or Mouth? To what end should a Shell be form'd without an Animal Inhabi⯑tant? and to imagine it to no end, would be too mean a thought of the acknowledg'd Prudence and Sagacity of Nature, which she is seen to observe in all her Workings: To fancy her trick⯑ing and sporting, is too trivial and lusory, for her severe and rigid Con⯑stancy.

Now indeed, tho' we may of the one, very justly and reasonably ask the question, how these Shells Bones, &c. came to be lodged in those deep and thick Strata of Stone and Earth, and found on the highest Mountains, so far distant from their natural Ele⯑ment; and 'tis very true, that without a reasonable and satisfactory account of this, we may as justly reject the Conclusion, that is, deny that they are the true, genuine and real Parts of those very Animals, which they so intimate⯑ly and undeniably resemble:

Yet of the other Opinion; tho' we cannot give a determinate account, to what end and purposes Nature produ⯑ced these pretty Resemblances of the parts of living Things; there being very [6] many things obscure and unperceivable in her Designs and Purposes, amongst which this very thing does, and perhaps for ever will (as to us) lye dormant in the Cabinet of her Secrets, after all our most curious Views and En⯑quiries about it; yet if it may be possible, that She may have some ends in it, it is Ground enough for us to e⯑stablish the Supposition, viz. That Na⯑ture is the immediate Parent of them, even in those places in which they are found; and that too, without giving the Atheist any Advantage by it, as some persons have been needlesly ap⯑prehensive.

For indeed there will appear upon a just view of the matter, a very great difference between the difficulties which may occur to us, in both these re⯑spects; that is, between that of the In⯑strumental Causes, and that of the Ends and Purposes of Nature. We have in view, and we may inquire into and ex⯑amine all the material Means and Instru⯑ments, by which the Conveyance and Settlement of these Marine-like Substan⯑ces may be effected, and with which they may have been transported from their native Dwellings to the Beds and [7] Lodgments where they are now found to rest in; and if we find and plainly apprehend from the State of Nature, from the Testimony of Sacred Records, and from other Assurances, a manifest impossibility in these Means and Instru⯑ments to perform that Work, we may justly deny the Fact: But in the other Opinion, the case is quite otherwise; we have not there before us, we cannot examine into and calculate all the Ends and Designments of Nature: And if it be possible she may have some ends, tho' unknown to us, in the production and forming of these regular Fos⯑sils, we are to accept the Proposition in the main, there appearing no feasible way to infringe and overthrow it.

The first Hypothesis is (I confess) asserted and maintain'd by very Learned and Ingenious Persons; but as to the manner of that supposed Conveyance of those Fossil Shells from Sea to Land, it involves in it, particularly in some of their Explications of it, such strange Inconsistencies and Abhorrences to the establishment of Nature, that the very naming of them is enough to subvert it.

'Tis true, the Patrons of this Hypo⯑thesis have found in the Variety of these [8] Fossils, such appearing Symptoms and Indications of their having once been the Parts and Appurtenances of Ani⯑mal Marine-bodies, that without mani⯑fest violence to their Faculties, they could not choose, on such appear⯑ing Probabilities, but assert them such: There frequently appearing, immured in the densest Concretions of Marble, Lime-stone and Chalk, vast numbers of Cockles, Oyster-shells, Escallops, Periwinkles and other variety of Shells, belonging to Seas and Rivers, some of them broken, some entire, being (as Dr. Woodward affirms) ‘precisely of the same Size and Figure,Dr. Wood⯑ward's Es⯑say, Page 22.23. with those now found on the Sea-shores, of the same Substance and Texture, consisting of the same peculiar Mat⯑ter; and this constituted and dispo⯑sed in the same manner as is that of their respective Fellow-kinds at Sea. Nay more▪ the tendency of the Fi⯑bres and Striae the same and alike in both; the Composition of the Lamellae constituted by these Fibres the same in both: the same Vestigia of Tendons▪ by means whereof the Animal is fastened and joyned to the Shell, in each of them.’

[9] ‘Besides (saith he) these Fossil Shells, are attended with the ordinary Acci⯑dents of the Marine ones: They some⯑times grow to one another, the lesser Shells on the larger; they have Bala⯑ni, Tubuli vermiculares, Pearls, Co⯑ral and the like, still actually grow⯑ing on them; and, which is very con⯑siderable, they are most exactly of the same specifick Gravity. Nay farther, they answer all Chymical Tryals in the same manner as the Sea-shells do; their parts, when dissolved, have the same appearance to view, the same smell and taste, they have the same Vires and Effects in Medicine, when in⯑wardly administred to animal Bodies: Aqua fortis, Oyl of Vitriol and other like Menstrua, have the very same ef⯑fects upon both.’ In a word, nothing can be seen in the true Marine Bodies at Sea, but may be paired and sampled in the like on Land, except a living Inha⯑bitant.

He farther adds ‘That so exactly conformable to the Marine ones, are those Shells, Teeth, Bones, which are digg'd out of the Earth, that tho' several hundreds of them (which I now (says he) keep by me) have been [10] nicely and critically examin'd by very many learned Men, who are skill'd in all parts of History, and who have been particularly curious in, and conversant with Shells, and other Ma⯑rine Productions; yet never any Man of them went away dissatisfied or doubting, whether these are really the very Exuviae of Sea-Fishes or not. Nay, which is more to my purpose, (adds he) some of the most eminent of those very Gentlemen who were formerly very doubtful in this mat⯑ter, and rather inclined to believe that these were natural Minerals, and who had wrote in defence of that Opinion; do notwithstanding upon strict and repeated inspection of these Bodies in my Collection, and upon farther inquiry and procurati⯑on of plain and unalter'd Shells from several parts of this Island, fully as⯑sent to me herein, and are now con⯑vinc'd that these are the Spoils and Remains of Sea Animals.’

These great and pregnant Testimo⯑nies of Similitude between these Marine and Terrestrial Products, have induced several Persons of this and other Nati⯑ons, as well as Dr. Woodward, to be⯑lieve [11] them all to have one and the same Original: and that those Shells, Teeth, Bones, that are thus found in Stones and Earth, the pieces also and fragments of them, have been the Exu⯑viae or spoils of Marine Animals: But to demonstrate how and by what means they came to be so dispersed and lod⯑ged in Earth, Rocks and Stones, so far from their natural Element, Hoc opus hic labor est, this has extreamly per⯑plexed their thoughts and has set some of them on strange attempts to endea⯑vour to loose and solve the Difficulty.

It was plain that nothing but the universal bulk of Water in which these Shells (they say) were generated, could perform this Work; but to convey these Shells into great depths in the firm and compacted Body of the Earth, and there too into the most dense and so⯑lid Strata of Rocks and Stones, by the only means of this Fluid, into which it naturally has no access, is a dif⯑culty they could not surmount.

The Ingenious Dr. Hooke with his Glasses looking further than many others into the Frame and Texture of these Te⯑staceous Bodies, confidently pronounces them to be the Shells of certain Shell-fishes; [12] but how they came to be intomb⯑ed in those hard inaccessible Recesses, it passed his skill to find out and discover: He thinks it possible they might be lod⯑ged there by some Deluge, Inundation, Earthquake, or some such like means. Fabius Columna, Augustino Scilla, Boc⯑chone, Italians; and Mr. John Ray and others are of the same Opinion, and give us as little Satisfaction in the point of their conveyance from Sea to Land, as Dr. Hooke has done: Indeed Nicholas Steno, an Italian Author, in his Prodromus, has attempted the Ex⯑plication of that Phaenomenon, but with such strange and until then unheard of Paradoxes and Inconsistencies, that nothing less than a total dissolution of the Terrestrial Frame must be admitted to establish the Conclusion.

From this Author, it seems, the fore⯑mention'd Dr. Woodward took the first Strokes and Lineaments of his intended Natural History, in relation to this Phaenomenon: of which History he has giv⯑en us a short Draught and Plan, in his late Essay towards it; wherein he hath improved that Notion to that accuracy and seeming probability, that if the state and Constitution of Nature did [13] not loudly contradict it; and if the Text of Moses, for which he owns all due Veneration, would afford it the Countenance he pretends to; it would well deserve to be highly accounted of, and we might rest as positive as the Au⯑thor in the truth and certainty of its Conclusions.

This Gentleman affirms, that during the time of the Universal Deluge or Noah's Flood, whilst the Waters were out upon and cover'd the Terrestrial Globe, all the Stone and Marble of the Antediluvian Earth: All the Metals of it: All Mineral Concretions; and in a word, all Fossils whatsoever that had before obtain'd any Solidity, were to⯑tally dissolved, and their Constituent Corpuscles all disjoined, their Cohaesion perfectly ceasing; that the said Corpus⯑cles of these Solid Fossils, together with the Corpuscles of those which were not before Solid, such as Sand, Earth and the like; as also all Animal Bodies and parts of Animals, Bones, Teeth, Shells; Vegetables and Parts of Vege⯑tables, Trees, Shrubs, Herbs; and, to be short, all Bodies whatsoever, that were either upon the Earth, or that Constituted the parts of it, if not quite [14] down to the Abyss, yet at least to the greatest depth we ever dig; I say (saith Dr. Woodward) all these were assumed into and promiscuously sustain'd by that Water, in such a manner, that the Water and Bodies in it, made up one common confused Mass.

Then he adds, That at length all the Mass that was thus born up in the Wa⯑ter, was again precipitated and subsid⯑ed towards the bottom: That this Sub⯑sidence happen'd generally, and as could be expected in so great a Confu⯑sion, according to the laws of Gravity; That Matter which had the greatest quan⯑tity or degree of Gravity, subsiding first in order, and falling lowest; That which had the next, and still a lesser degree of Gravity, subsiding next after and settling upon the precedent, and so on in their several Courses: That the matter subsiding thus, form'd the Strata of Stone, of Marble, of Coal, of Earth, and the rest; of which Strata lying one upon another, the Terrestrial Globe, or at least as much of it as is ever dis⯑play'd to view, doth mainly consist. Then he proceeds to shew how these Shells, Teeth, Bones, and other Ma⯑rine-like Fossils, being likewise taken [15] up and sustain'd in that great Fluid, came to he disposed in their several Lodgments by their particular Gravities and Inclinations.

This he seems to intimate as the ground-work of his intended Super⯑structure, by which he supposes to give an undoubted Solution of this difficul⯑ty: but in Propositions of this great concern and consequence, he would have done well to have nicely weigh'd and consider'd every important Circum⯑stance of such a Procedure, to have gi⯑ven us more than (I say,) to oblige the World to the belief of such novel Con⯑clusions. He should, one would think, have with great accuracy and diligence pondered and examin'd the relative Properties and Affections of the minute Contained Corpuscles so dissolved, and of the great containing Fluid, the Ve⯑locities and Remora's of different de⯑scending Bodies, their weight and sur⯑faces, and the Moments of time com⯑mensurate to the spaces of Motion; he should have given us plain demonstra⯑tive evidence, at least of the possibili⯑ty of that dissolution, what were the efficient, what the instrumental Causes of it, and have shew'd us Mechanically [16] and experimentally that the Minute constituent parts of any Solids, when reduced to that supposed Smallness, can observe those Laws of Gravity, which the bigger and more heavy Com⯑pounds are observ'd to do.

It being so, and that this is the only fair Account we have yet had, that looks like a Reason given of these Fos⯑sils being the true and real Spoils of the Ocean, and that they owe their Formation and Being to a Marine ex⯑traction, in that manner as Dr. Wood⯑ward describes it; I shall a little in⯑quire into the validity and consistence of the Parts of that Account; and if by that Enquiry we find it uncon⯑sonant to the Phaenomena of Nature and the Mechanical Laws of Matter, to which it so highly pretends, the whole Superstructure, how speciously so⯑ever raised, will of it self totter and fall to the Ground; and the Patrons of that Opinion will be left to seek out some other way to fetch these scat⯑ter'd Fossils from their antient Marine Repositories, and to explain it with better Success, to gain assent and ap⯑probation in this thoughtful inquiring Age.

[17] First, This Author seems defective in explaining and setling his Terms; that is, in letting us know what he would have to be meant by Total Dis⯑solution and Constituent Corpuscles: If he understands by these general Terms, all solid Bodies to be dissolved into their Granules or visible and pal⯑pable Parts, it may be perhaps possi⯑ble (such a Dissolution being granted) that there might be such a sedimenting and setling of them (as he asserts) ac⯑cording to the Specifick Laws of Gravi⯑tation: But if he means a dissolving of them into their Minima Naturalia, as they call them, into their invisible and impalpable Parts; I mean invisible e⯑very one by it self, which are in⯑deed the prime Constituent Elements; and into such they must be reduced, if, as he affirms, all Cohaesion ceased; Then 'tis demonstrable, that Corpuscles so dilated, are as uncapable of subsi⯑ding in any Fluid, as the Parts of dis⯑solved Copper are, when mixed with the thinnest Liquids; which by their Colour are plainly seen to remain in⯑corporated with the Water in which they are sustain'd: And Gold, we know, the heaviest of all Bodies yet observed, [18] will not easily subside when dissolved in Aqua Regalis, till press'd down and precipitated by another Agent▪ that draws it along with it: Nay, we every day see, that a great proportion of Ter⯑restrial Matter, when reduced to Steam or Vapour (the parts whereof are yet much more gross and bulky, than where all Cohaesion perfectly ceases,) rather ascend than descend, even in a lighter Medium than Water; the Parts thereof being broken and dis⯑solved to that Exility and Lightness, that, Quantum pro quanto, they be⯑come lighter than the Air in which they fluctuate. Then how much lighter than Water would these Parts be, if, as Dr. Woodward expresses it, all their Cohaesion perfectly ceased in it? So far is he out in the main and principal part of his Assertion; and so unlikely therefore is it, that these Fossil Marine Remains were that way conveyed into their present Repositories, from whence they are now digged out and discovered to us.

Secondly, Granting the Doctor's Cor⯑puscles to be of a larger size than the ultimate Minute Atoms, and that That dissolution he imagines, affected only [19] the component Granuli of the Antedilu⯑vian Earth, of Stones, Mettals, Mine⯑rals, &c. yet these being taken asunder and assumed into an ambient Fluid, how incredibly vast must the Orb and extension of that Fluid be, to contain the diffused and expanded Mass of these dissevered and elated Corpuscles, espe⯑cially to afford every one of them space and Elbow-room to run their Ca⯑reer and perform their respective Spe⯑cifick Descents and Gravitations?

Thirdly, That such an Orb and Ex⯑pansion of Water, as will appear at a moderate Computation necessary to sustain the whole Terrestrial Mass of Matter, and to give to every part of it a full Scope and Latitude to act and perform the said Descents and Gra⯑vitations, exceeds possibility in the ordinary State of Things; is made e⯑vident by this Demonstration.

• A The Abyss.
• B The Terraqueous Globe.
• C The vast Sphere of Water, suffi⯑cient to give the Sustained Cor⯑puscles of the whole Earth a [20] free way to gravitate and pre⯑ponderate, in order to form a⯑gain the Body of the Earth, ac⯑cording to Dr. Woodward's Hy⯑pothesis.

The Terraqueous Globe AB, being by the Computation of the late best Mathematicians about 7440 Miles di⯑ameter; what proportion the Water bears to the Earth in this Globe, cannot be determin'd: 'Tis conceiv'd by most not to exceed a third part of the Earth's Dimension: The Ancients gave it a much less Allowance. Now if Dr. Woodward's Hypothesis be true; the bulk of Water, or that third part of the Globe AB (for he fetches none from Comets) must expand it self to the vast Circumference of the Globe C, being at least 74400 Miles diameter; which is as much as to say, that the same Body of Water should exceed it self above two hundred times.

Now that it must be so, and that the Expansion of a Globe of Water to that vast dimension here ascertained, is ne⯑cessarily requisite to support his Hypo⯑thesis, will appear by this: The whole Body of the Earth (says he) was taken [21] asunder into Minute Parts or Corpuscles, and all these taken up and sustain'd for some time in an expanded Fluid, and afterward leasurely subsided along the Central Lines of that Fluid, till they met and united and closed again into the same Terraqueous Globe AB, one Atom or Corpuscle after another, as they pre⯑ponderated and were of greater or lesser degree of gravity. Now, if so, then it is plainly and necessarily requisite, that in that Hydrostatic Mechanism, in that pro⯑cedure of Gravitation wherein every Corpuscle took its place in the Sedi⯑ment according to its specific Gravity; there must be allow'd to every Cor⯑puscle a Line of Fluid, of ten times its own diameter, to descend in; which it must have before it can pre⯑ponderate and out-run others, and perform its due Course in that Race of Gravitation; And what will this amount to? No more than this; that if we take but one half of the Semidiameter of this Globe (which is the least we can assign) to be dense and solid Matter, and allow that to be 1860 Miles of thickness; if a Line of Fluid be assign'd of ten times that length, (for such it must be to [22] give to every Corpuscle a space of ten times its diameter;) then it follows, that to perform this, there must be rais⯑ed up a Sphere of Water above 74400 Miles diameter; that is, a Deluge above the highest present Mountains some thou⯑sands of Miles of perpendicular height, a space that no less than a hundred thousand Oceans could fill; a thing sure the Doctor will not affirm.

For if (to evidence the truth of this,) from the Circle A to the Circle B, the thickness of the Terrestrial Crust, it be 1860 Miles, as is here supposed; then a Line of Atoms from A to B, extended to C, being the decuple Proportion, must have a Semidiameter of Fluid, from C to the Circle A; which is 18600 Miles, the least we can conveniently assign for every Corpuscle to perform in its Career of Gravitation, as the Hypo⯑thesis prescribes: And so it is evident, that the perpendicular of that Fluid Line from C to B, must be nine parts of ten, which is, 16740 Miles above the present Surface of the Earth; And if a Mass of Water of that prodigious Magnitude rose above any point of the Earthly Globe to that height, it must do so all round it; the nature of that [23] Element obliging it to cling together in a Globular Figure, or one very near it.

But yet if any be prevailed upon to think that a less Space of Fluid than ten Diameters to every dissever'd Parti⯑cle will suffice to perform those acts of Sedimenting which the Hypothesis before us supposes with regard to the powers of Gravitation; and consequently that a lesser Globe of Water than I have computed, may do the work; the force of my Objection will not yet be much abated. I can easily spare a deduction (if the thing would bear it) of three parts of four of my calculation, viz. streighten every Corpuscle to two Dia⯑meters and a half of Fluid to move in; for to less than that I suppose none will demand it; and yet even so much will require such an Orb of Water above the Surface of the Earth, that some thousands of Oceans would scarce suf⯑fice to fill it; which leaves the Matter still as we found it; that is, inconsi⯑stent with the Constitution of Nature, in the then and present state of things.

Fourthly, 'Tis to be farther consider⯑ed, that in case it be granted, that the vast Orb of Fluid, upon the total disso⯑lution [24] of the Earthly Globe, became one promiscuous Blend or Mass of Earth and Water, commixt and jumbled toge⯑ther in great confusion and disorder; 'tis not yet Mechanically conceivable, neither does Dr. Woodward in his Essay pretend to shew, how these Teeth, Bones, Shells, and other instanced Fossils had not had their parts likewise dissolved in the same manner, as other Concrets, in that grand Separation; for sure we are (what⯑ever he may fancy of a vegetative Con⯑glutination) that harder and more close⯑ly compacted Substances than them which he mentions, were then dissolv'd and ma⯑cerated. Neither is it conceivable how the elated vagrant Corpuscles, suppose of Marble, Flint, Coal, and other more uniform Substances, should in that pre⯑cipitous hurry of Gravitation meet and unite again, in Marble, Flint, and Coal; and that sometimes too in Laiers be⯑neath heavier, and sometimes above lighter Substances than themselves, a⯑gainst the order of Gravity. And 'tis no less difficult to apprehend how it came to pass, that in this confused hur⯑ry and agitation, the heaviest Corpus⯑cles had not seated themselves at, and closed about, the Center of Gravity; [25] there being no sufficient reason yet given, why solid Particles heavier than their quanity of Fluid wherein they move, should not descend in that Fluid as far as the Fluid can give them way, to their proper Center; and therefore the whole Frame and Texture of the Earth being so dissolved, as the Hypothesis supposes; and every Particle of it play⯑ing in a space of Water, and that Wa⯑ter being Specifically the same from the Center to the Circumference; what would hinder the heaviest parts of Earth to fall to, and close about that Center; and the next in gravity to succeed, and so one Sediment after another, till all had settled, leaving out and protruding the Mass of Water, all above the united Central Solid, except what might re⯑main in little Hollows and Interstices, which would appear an easie and a Natural effect of such a Procedure? But why the Corpuscles D, directly de⯑scending and moving towards the Cen⯑ter A, should stop at B, forming a Sphe⯑rical Concave about the Center A, I must profess I cannot conceive; for their crowding close together, could not keep up the lowest Particles still from falling. Yet the Doctor must have [26] a central Fluid: If he answers, that the parts of the same specifical Body of Water are proportionably heavier, the nearer they are to Center; so likewise must the Earthy Particles at B, be hea⯑vier than at C; and so the Water of the central Concave can have no grea⯑ter power of resistance against the Earthy descending parts at B, than the same Water had at D, or C, tho' much remoter from the center, they increasing or decreasing alike in gravity; (for both Opinions are held; and in this case 'tis no Matter which;) as they make Pro⯑portionable approaches to the Central Point. That of Dr. Burnet's Oleagi⯑nous Surface of the Water, or Mr Whis⯑ton's dense Fluids, can be of no service here; for an oyly Surface cannot be near the Center; and dense Fluids re⯑move the State of the Question; they (if there be such a thing) are of quite different Species from the Fluid we are speaking of.

Fifthly, Supposing that there might be a Mass of Fluids spherically raised to that Altitude as was capable to give the Terrestrial dissever'd Corpuscles a Scope to pursue the Laws of Gravitati⯑on, and in the manner the Doctor pro⯑pounds, [27] to form the Shell and Cortex of this Earthly Globe; we are left yet in the dark, as to the Main, and indeed what should have been the foundation of his Hypothesis; that is, in being assured, or at least, in having it inti⯑mated to us, what determin'd Power, Force, or Quality, inherent or for that time acquired, it was in that Dilu⯑vian Water, which might and could effect that dissolution and disjunction and separation of the most intimously conjoined consolidated parts of the most hard impervious Substances, and could so dissolve, dilacerate, and take them so asunder, as to volutate and raise the minute Corpuscles thereof, and put them into that posture, that they might statically subside, and by so subsiding form the Involutions and Strata of this present Terrestrial Globe.

All powers of Matter (we know) are derived from their Essence; and 'tis the essential property of all Bodies to work by Contact, or immediate Application of their Parts: Now 'tis evident that the Parts of this Fluid could not operate where they could not come; and how Water could penetrate the most com⯑pacted [28] solid Substances, and insinuate and interpose itself betwixt their most closely conjoined and subtile Particles, is too difficult to imagine: And tho' the parts of this Fluid might, and pro⯑bably did▪ penetrate and dissolve the loose and pervious Earth into a great depth, yet it seems impossible, upon Natural Grounds, it should pervade and come into the inmost and closest Recesses of Chalk, Marble, or Porphy⯑ry, and other most hard and petrified Concretions, of which the Earth most⯑ly consists; and if that Fluid could not enter into, and pervade the Pores and Interstices of these consolidated Sub⯑stances, it is evident it could not at all dissolve and unchain their Links, and utterly demolish their Consistence and Solidity, so as that all Cohaesion perfectly ceased; and if it did so in some, why not in all concretions? And then what will become of the Doctor's Ante-dilu⯑vian shells, and of his Opinion concern⯑ing them? His place of Genesis, that God destroy'd the Earth, he has very deeply expounded; for surely if Moses had been of this Gentleman's Mind, in expressing that particular, he would not have told us, almost in the next [29] words, that the Earth in that sense was not destroy'd, but that the Waters pre⯑vailed exceedingly upon it, the highest Mountains lying Fifteen Cubits under them; which if there were no more, a⯑bundantly proves the contrary to the Doctor's Supposition; What natural reason can be given of Rocks and Stones being then dissolved under those pre⯑vailing Waters, which continued over them but one Year, when we find that no such Dissolution is effected on them in the bottom of the Ocean, where they have continued soaking, not one, but some thousands of Years?

More might be said; but upon a ge⯑neral view of the Principles this inge⯑nious Person has unhappily espoused, to maintain his Conclusion; the Letter from Oxford charges him with more particular deviations from Hydrosta⯑tick and Geometrick Truths: But how⯑ever he came to fall on that fallacious way of arguing, no necessity from Si⯑militude of things (which he seems to plead) can warrant it; he is certainly Master of great Knowledge and insight in the Nature and diversity of Subter⯑ranean Rarities; and a Structure ill [30] founded, may be built a new, without discredit to the Builder; and without doubt his vast Collection, which they say he has from all Regions and Cli⯑mats, of what is rare and observable, may enable him to do much that way, on better and more warrantable Prin⯑ciples.

What is, or may be, affirm'd by o⯑thers in favour of this Opinion, I can⯑not yet say: I know nothing in Dr. Burnet's Model that can be serviceable to it; the rude Chaos, as in the gross heap, so in all the parts of it, being too con⯑fused, ghastly and ill-favour'd, to give a Pre-existence to these prettily form'd and regular Fossils. Neither will Mr. Whis⯑ton's Theory, who very warily passes by these Phenomena, be any help to solve this point; both Dr. Burnet and he giving us such a description of the Original Chaotick Separations, as will not afford the least Countenance to this Opinion; which would have all these Fossil figured Concretions, Shells, Teeth, Bones, &c. to have a pre-existent be⯑ing, before their Lodgment in those dense compacted Substances, viz. Chalk, Rocks, Stones, &c. where they are now found and discover'd. And if any [31] imagine, that, according to Mr. Whiston the Creation-days were annual Revolutions, the diurnal Rotation of the Earth about its own Axis having not begun till the Fall of Man, as that Author con⯑ceiveth; and that consequently a time and space of two years might well suf⯑fice for the Formation of these Bodies; he must yet remember, that tho' the separation of Earth and Water happen⯑ed the third day (or year in Mr. Whis⯑ton's Account,) yet be the determin'd time and space of those days what it will, the Mosaick account is express, that the Production of Marine Animals was after that separation; that is, on the fifth Day, or Year; as the division of Sea and I and was on the third; And if no such things as Shells and Bones of perfect Fishes existed before the Fifth day of the Creation, as 'tis plain they did not, the Earth having been sepera⯑ted from the Sea some two days before; it is hence apparent, that the Sea or universal Fluid, could not, at that time leave such things in and upon the Earth, such things being not at that time produced into actual perfection, capable of leaving such remains behind them.

[32]If Mr. Whiston's ingenious Fancy may carry him yet further, to suggest, that as this present Globe at first grew out of the Ruines of an ancient Planet dis⯑solved to the consistence of a Comet, and was after that increased at the De⯑luge from the Atmosphere of another, and that consequently these Fossils might one way or 'tother, owe their Original either to the pre-existent or pertransient Comet; then what will follow? Even this; If the first be true, then these Shells, Spines, Bones, &c. are the parts of Creatures that existed, Gods knows where, before the time of the Mosaick Creation: If the second be granted, then it will follow, that there are some parts of this Globe, now ex⯑isting, that were not then created; if the Mosaick account, as Mr. Whiston would have it, be restrain'd to this Ele⯑mentary Terrestrial Globe; both which are equally absurd and extravagant.

Thus we see, let them turn on which side they will, they will find it an in⯑superable Task to give an intelligible ac⯑count how the Exuviae of Marine Ani⯑mals that have been once perfectly such, could possibly come to be uni⯑versally dispersed in and among the [33] several Strata of the Terrestrial Crust: and yet there embodied even in the hardest of those Strata, we find vast plenty of such Shells, so exactly and perfectly corresponding in shape, colour, texture and disposition of parts, with the natural ones bred in the Sea, and found on our Shoars; that if meer re⯑semblance would be sufficient evidence, it would be argument enough to induce any one to conclude them to be really such: And did the Patrons of that Opinion but once demonstratively assign a Possible way upon natural and intelli⯑gible grounds, of the Conveyance of these Exuviae to the places wherein they are now found, without receding too much from the truth of Nature, as well as of Scripture; most Men, I think, would be sway'd by the force of that Argument to take them to be true, real, and Natural Shells, Teeth, Bones, &c, of Fishes, once bred and nourished in the Bosom, Creeks and Angles of the great Surrounding Ocean. But we too well know that Similary Appearances too often sham and banter our Reason, and impose upon our Faculties; Na⯑ture not seldom proceeding by the same means, to very different ends and In⯑tentions; [34] and for us to determin, from the Identity of her ways and measures, the Identity of her Intentions, in dif⯑ferent Subjects, would be very false and groundless reasoning. And tho' it be inconsistent with the Wisdom of Na⯑ture, or indeed of God the Author and Guider of her, to work any thing to no end or purpose; which makes that say⯑ing universally true, Natura nihil facit frustra; yet to conclude this or that, to be to no end or purpose, because we cannot assign one; for instance, to say, that Teeth without a Jaw, Bones with⯑out Flesh or Fish, or Shells without an Animal Inhabitant (which I find to be one of the chief Arguments of Fabius Columna) is contrary to the designs and intentions of Nature, when her bounds and limits that way (many of them) are unto us unknown and uncer⯑tain; is to deal too boldly and unfaith⯑fully with her; And Arguments drawn from that Head, how Specious soever they may be, smell of too much arro⯑gance in us, to be well relished and en⯑tertain'd. Nay indeed, the force of that Reason (if duly weigh'd and attended to) will appear to incline wholly on the other side; It doth not so much [35] conclude, that these Fossil Shells, Bones, &c, had been once really and actually Parts of Animals, because it may appear to be against the in⯑tention of Nature, that Teeth should be found without a Jaw, or Shells with⯑out living Inhabitants; as it doth prove, that if there do appear really and de facto, Shells and Bones without such Concomitants, or without any possibi⯑lity of ever actually having them, that therefore there are such things in Nature, that are really and actually Shells and Bones, though it may possibly be as much removed from the reach of our Knowledge, to determin, by what means, as to what ends and purpo⯑ses they were so produced and specifi⯑cated.

And truly in this regard I can see no reason why those people that daily ob⯑serve the many and some very exact re⯑semblances in the parts of Vegetables, to the parts and members of Animal Bo⯑dies; of which there are Multitudes of instances in Oswaldus Crolius his Tract of Signatures; can yet by no means prevail with their Faculties to believe that there might be the like Analogies and Simili⯑tudes in the parts of Stones and Mine⯑rals, [36] with the said parts of Animal Bo⯑dies, without making them to be the true and genuine parts of some of those Bodies they resemble.

Why may not Nature in her first Strokes of Congelation pursue the same Paths and draw the same Lines, both in the Formation of some parts of Clay, Stones and Marchasytes, and in the framing of Oyster-shells, Cockles, and Perwinckles, &c. as well as she is ob⯑served to delineate very like Strokes in the head of Poppies, with those in the Skull of Man; in the Jews-ear, the Leaves of Colt-foot, with the Ear; in the Seed of Aconitum, the Flower of Eye-bright, with the Eye; in the Husks of the Seed of Henbane, and Pine-kernels, with the Jaws and Teeth; in the Fruit of the Citron tree, with the Heart; in the true Scolopendrum, Asplenum, and Cetrach, with the Spleen of Man. Some of these do with great accuracy resemble some parts of our Bo⯑dy, and perhaps with greater than some Shell-stones do their respective Prototy⯑pes.

There are some Figures which are the pure effects of Mechanism, and not at all the ultimate designs of Na⯑ture; [37] and these general Forms and Mo⯑dels of Nature, being as it were her com⯑mon road, she may be observed to trace them to several Ends, to pursue the same Tracts to various Purposes and Intenti⯑ons: Thus we find in the growth of Fearn, in the Ramusculi of Snow and Hore-frost, and in the freezing of U⯑rine, Nature affects one and the same way to protract her Motions: Not that there doth lie any particular design up⯑on the Figure, but because it is the most Concise and Expeditious way of di⯑lating: And if it seems consonant with the usual Processes of Nature, on ac⯑count of Brevity and Conciseness, to choose one and the same way to exert her first strokes of Motion in several Subjects, tho' tending to different ends and pur⯑poses; 'tis no way fair to conclude ulti⯑mate and particular Intentions, from the meer position of any one of her general rules and ways of proceeding.

Now that Conciseness and Brevity may be a sufficient assignable cause of the unity of her Plastick Motions in her va⯑rious Structures and Efformations, will appear not only from the ordinary Pro⯑lepsis we have of the Sagacity and Wis⯑dom of Nature, perceivable in her most [38] trite and common Operations; it being the Property of that, ever to make the shortest dispatches; but also, which we ought principally to take notice of, from a Necessary and Mechanical Con⯑strainment which the first strokes and delineations of matter lie under, to form themselves with such Angles, degrees of Extention, proportion of Parts, and other Respects and Habitudes one to an⯑other, as most conveniently suit with, and answer the Scope and End of their Dilatation.

This Geometrical Disposition and necessary Mechanism of the first strokes of Nature on account of Dispatch and Brevity, is observable almost in all con⯑stant specifical Productions; of which I shall briefly touch on a few instances.

1st, All Vegetables of a tall and spread⯑ing growth seem to have a natural ten⯑dency to a Hemispherical Dilatation, but generally confine their spreading within an Angle of 90 degrees, or an exact Quadrant, as being the most be⯑coming and useful disposition of its Parts and Branches.

Now the shortest way to give a most graceful and useful filling to that space of dilating and spreading out, is to pro⯑ceed [39] in strait Lines, and to dispose of those Lines in a variety of Parallels through the whole Extension; and to do that in a Hemispherical or Quadran⯑tal Space, there appears to be but one way possible; and that is, to form all the Intersections which the Shoots and Branches make, with Angles of 45 degrees only; and I dare appeal to the observation of Mankind, if it be not in this manner almost to a ni⯑cety observed by Nature in the first and primary Directions of all Vegetable Shoots; though yet when these Shoots are grown and spread out, external Impressions may, and always do, oc⯑casion Curvites and Reflexions; that is, That they have the main Stem, Bran⯑ches, Lateral, Collateral, Sub-colla⯑teral, Latero-sub-collateral (or into as many Divisions as Nature usually reaches to, above a Horizontal Plane) of, or very near approaching to an Angle of 45; which in a Hemispheri⯑cal or Quadrantal Space, makes all the Shoots and Directions of Branches run out into Parallels of three sorts only, viz. Perpendicular, Incident and Hori⯑zontal; as appears by the Figure.

[40]The Lateral Branches being all In⯑cidents, the Collateral a Composition of Perpendiculars and Horizontals, the Sub-collateral as the Lateral, and the Latero-sub-collateral as the Collateral, and the distance and interjacent Spaces being all a sort of Rhomboids; all these, being Affections of that Angle and Section; I ask if it be any other way possible for Art or any intelligent Prin⯑ciple to fill up this described Space more compendiously and commodiously, than we find the natural direction of these Vegetable Shoots and Branches inclined to perform; and what I demonstrate of the Superiour or Supra-Horizon⯑tal Space, the same is applicable to the inferiour or radical Dilatation; though the unmanageable Stiffness of the Ground disturbs the natural direction of those radical Shoots, as the violen⯑ces of the Air, ponderosity and o⯑ther Accidents, do that of the upper Branches. I do not say that all Trees do grow up thus; but the greatest part of them shew that Nature generally affects that Angle, on which the other Properties are depending.

[41]Therefore from this Speculation we may conclude, that (the shortest Procedure being allowed in streight Lines, and the Production of these Lines in these three sorts of Parallels being most prompt and facile, and all that depending on one Angle only) Nature being allowed to be a Pro⯑vident Agent, lies under a sort of Geo⯑metrical necessity to dispose her Ema⯑nations just thus, and no otherwise, in the expedition of her Plantal Ramifi⯑cations: And it being so; that all Spread⯑ings from a Point or Center, as all Semi⯑nal Productions are, affect a Sphere ei⯑ther entire or divided, for their Activity to display in; It is therefore highly reasonable, those Activities should be⯑take themselves in one and the same way in variety of Subjects; and we may thence as reasonably conclude, that the close invariable pursuing of that way, is nothing in the World else but the effect of Mechanism, and Geo⯑metrical Necessity; a visible Argument, that the Plastic Capacities of Matter are governed and disposed by an All-wise and Infinite Agent, the native Strict⯑nesses and Regularities of them plainly shewing from whose Hand they come.

[42]The same Geometrical Process and Order, is observable also in the first Strokes of Nature in other Instances, particularly in what is the Subject of this Writing; viz. the Formation of Shells. In these she generally occupies a greater Latitude of Dilatation than a Quadrantal Space, which in Vegetables she seems to content her self with: And as the parts of Matter she imploys in the Formation of Shells, are more stub⯑born, untractable and rigid, than the Vegetative Ingredients; so she is oblig'd, and under a necessity, to draw closer Lines, and to make sharper Angles be⯑twixt her first Shoots and the Radii; and consequently to make more obtuse ones in the transverse Lines and Peri⯑pheries, or the tacking together of the main Strokes, with cross and collateral Lines; than what I have observed in Trees and Vegetables; which is also a necessary result of Mechanism.

For when a Gradual Enlargement and Dilatation proceeds from one Point or I reckon in all Seminal Producti⯑on [...] the Seed or Sperm to be their Root or Center, from which their Lines of Aug⯑mentation are drawn, and thence [...] their several Ends and Specification. Center, as the same is manifestly apparent in almost all perfect Shells; [43] the most Concise and regular way, and most agreeable with the Reason of our Faculties, always practised by Art, per⯑formed by natural Instincts, as may be observed in Cobwebs and Spider-works, is to protract streight Lines or Radii, with equal Distances and Angles, from the Center to the designed Peripherie, and the determin'd Figure of the Periphe⯑rie to be according to the different lengths and terminations of those Radii; which is seen to be performed with great accu⯑racy and exactness, in bivalved striated Shells, especially Cockles and Scallop Shells, both which sort of Shells af⯑fect a sort of Semicircular Dilatation, and differ only in bigness, and in the flatness and gibbosity of their Valves.

So also in Oyster-shells and Muscles, which seem to have another make, Na⯑ture proceeds in their Formation just as the most skilful Artist would do, if he had the same Materials for his pur⯑pose, and the same Design and End to aim at; that is, in extending and shooting out a multiplicity of their Ramellae, each one larger than another, and plated one upon another, from the Root or Center to the Peripherie or Circumference, as may be discovered by [44] the rotting of these Shells in the Earth, or by dissolving them in Vinegar or any other Menstruum. These smooth and la⯑minated Shells seem to be more loosely and weakly built than striated Shells, because they are naturally fix'd to a place, by a Root or Tendon, and are not exposed to the Volutation of the Sea, which would require more strength and firmness, as is observed to be in the more lasting striated Shells.

Thus we may Geometrically conclude, that all Plastick Dilatations proceeding from one Point or Center, have on ac⯑count of Conciseness or Expedition, a natural Tendency to a sort of Spherical Figure, either whole or in part; and near which, abating the Distortions of Gibbosities, and Contractions of Brims and Edges, all Shells usually arrive; Nature being under as great a Necessity of forming these Figures, either quar⯑ter, half, or full Rounds, or near ap⯑proaching them, as any Artificer is of making round Wheels to perform the Motion of Machines and Movements. But in the Formation of Shells, this is yet further to be considered, that they are naturally and originally designed to be the containing Teguments and De⯑fences [45] of contained Animations; and on that account, the End being the chief Regulator in all Structures, in the growth and augmentation of these Shells, their Plastick Matter issuing and streaming out of one Center or Sper⯑matick Point to build the Frame and Texture of a Shell or hollow Cottage for the Fish to secure it self and inha⯑bit, it is Mechanically necessary that all Shells naturally tending to a Spherical Dilatation, their Plastick Matter flow⯑ing equally round their Spermatick Point or Center, should be either Bi⯑valves; that is, two Compress'd or Contracted Hemispheres, their Segments or Openings intersecting their divided Pole or Center; or one round hollow Cone, as all turbinous and Ophiomor⯑phous Shells, abating their Folds and Twistings, seem to be; So likewise it is necessary that such shelly Dilatations as do not flow circularly, but occupy on⯑ly one part or space of a Circle, should grow triangular, and so have their Cen⯑tral Angle folded in with as many turnings as its length will bear; and in that folding have the Sides and Arch a little bent and contracted for a con⯑venient Cavity for the Fish to dwell in; [46] and such we find it exactly to be, in that Species of Shells which are of that sort of shape and extension.

In every one of these general For⯑mations, as the Figure of the dilated Mass, Circular, Semicircular or Trian⯑gular, (for on a Circle and and its cen⯑tral Sections, I observe the Figure of all Shells to depend) is a necessary re⯑sult of Mechanism; so the forming out of these, Cones and Bivalves, and Triangular Involutions, which com⯑prehend the Figure of all perfect Shells, is the quickest, most expedite, and easiest way that the Wit of Man could invent, if it had been left unto it to fold and lap up, and shelter those tender Creatures; So we find that the general Figure of Shells seems much to depend on a Circle and its two central Sections; and as to the man⯑ner how they are formed out of them, we may conceive, that as the Genera⯑tion of all Shells, of the perfect kind, proceeds from a Point or Center, which is the Sperm or Seed, so the protraction out of these, of the Lines of Augmen⯑tation, if their Root or Center be un⯑divided and of equal strength and effica⯑cy on all sides, must be spun out, and gow into a hollow Cone or Conoid, [47] and so form, if the power of Protra⯑ction join Ends, the Patellae or broad⯑coned Shells. But if the power of Pro⯑traction be more exertive and vigorous, then it draws out the Cones to a length, wreathing and twisting them into Per⯑winckles, Turbens, Spindles, and other Cochlear turbinated Shells; and if it has not a free Medium to display that spiral Elevation, then it compres⯑ses and folds them, in a Plane, into Nautili, Cornua Ammonis, and other Serpentine Figures.

Next, if the said power of Protracti⯑on be divided at the Root or Center, and be equally strong and vigorous on each side, then the Dilatation becomes bivalved, and makes two irregular Hemi⯑spheres, as their Lines or Striae calcula⯑ted together plainly demonstrate, ex⯑tending, streightning, or compressing their Peripheries, as the length and contraction of their Lines, and Gibbo⯑sity of their Valves, exact and deter⯑min; forming such Shells into Cockles, Escallops, Oysters, Muscles, and all o⯑ther Specificks of bipartite Shells.

And lastly, If this power of Protra⯑ction be severed and divided at the Root or Center, into more Parts than [48] two, then these divided Parts or Bran⯑ches, by such a Section, as I said before, must become Triangular; and conse⯑quently those triangular Dilatations, being not join'd together as Valves of one Shell, must (to form a Cell for the Fish to dwell in) fold in their Central Angle, turning in also a little of the Arch or Subtense of that Angle, and so form the Concha Veneris and such Species of Shells as seem to be made up of in⯑volved triangular Dilatations.

Now from all this I propose it may be considered, that if some Figures be the necessary result of pure Mechanism, and if the primary Exortions of Nature do necessarily and mechanically fall into those Figures; and lastly, if the more general Forms of Plantal and Testaceous Dilatations be those necessary Figures; why should we stand amazed and won⯑der, that in the Original Congelation of Bodies, there being then an Infi⯑nity of such Exortions, some parts of Matter should run into these Forms and Figures, which they were as necessarily drawn and moulded into on account of Mechanism, as any growing Shell or Plant that Sea or Land can afford us? Nay, this thing being well adverted [49] unto it, should rather draw our wonder on the other side; that is, that we find so few of these Figured Concretions in congealed Substances; no Plantal De⯑lineations, save a few now and then, in Coal and Slate-stones; and not very many shelly Impressions, but in such places where a Calcatious Matter, of which Shells consist, predominates and abounds.

But although this way of proceeding may very well account for many Phae⯑nomena in the Theory of Shells and o⯑ther Fossil Rareties, in a general view of similary Forms and Appearances; yet I must confess it does not reach to solve the most considerable Difficulties, that Theory is encumber'd with. viz. Par⯑ticularly, though general Figures may be the effects of Mechanism; yet it may, and ought to be, reasonably de⯑manded, how the specifical Determina⯑tions of those Figures, how the Con⯑traction and Curvitudes and Angles of the direct and transverse Lines and Striae, and other Specifications of Fossil-shells, the Insertions of their Valves, their Diaphragms, and the Symmetry and Order, and the gradual Disposition of all the parts of them, came exactly to [50] be of the same Make, Contexture and Dimensions, with those Marine ones, of their respective Kinds, which manifestly proceed from a Seed or Sperm: How also those Plantal Delineations, in Coal and Slate-stones, should circumscribe their Foliations, and terminate their Lines, to the exact Figures of several sorts of Fearn, and especially into the Proprieties of Harts-tongue, Cinque-foil, Clover-grass, Strawberry Leaves, which are uncontestedly Seminal Pro⯑ducts, as I hear they are observed to do; to perform all this, is plainly above the Mathematicks of Nature; and since it is done, it becomes an Objection that will supercede and raise our in⯑quiries from these mean and lusory Effects of Mechanism, to the Contem⯑plation of a higher and more powerful organizing Principle, capable of guid⯑ing and specificating the Motions of Augmentation unto all those determined Figures, in order to give it a compleat and satisfactory Solution. And this Principle, however it be concei⯑ved to be in a way to produce these Effects, can be no other than a power-Seed or Sperm: And if there be not a possibility in Nature, of finding out [51] a way by which this efficient might be the cause of these Effects; I think we may cease our Inquiries about it, and let it rest for ever in the most recondite Cabinet of Natures un-revealed Secrets. But if it appears possible, or any way probable, that these surprizing Effects may be the Products of Seminal Pa⯑rents, as their like are in other Circum⯑stances, I hope the Patrons of the first Opinion will appease their Scruples, and the Solution of the greatest diffi⯑culty in that Theory (the said possibi⯑lity being once demonstrated) will be⯑come very natural, intelligible and easie.

In order to which, having from what evidence we have of the true State and Constitution of Things, conceived some Grounds for such a possibility; I think it not unacceptable, to lay out some poor Endeavours, to elucidate a point of that concernment to the Curious; in which yet I shall no far⯑ther attempt, than to offer a few prob⯑lematical Conclusions, which if they be solidly evinced and demonstrated, as much as the Nature of the thing will bear, will, I presume, infer a possibility at least, if not some degree [52] of probability, that these Osseous and Testaceous remains taken out of the Earth, are the Products of, and owe their Formation and Existence to what we call Seeds or Spermatical Energies: To which Conclusions I shall a little strew the way with these Praeliminary Postulata or Propositions; which being well grounded and established, the Consequences I shall draw from them will be the more firm and immoveable. And therefore,

My first Proposition is, that the Sphere of Matter consists of Space and Body, and consequently of parts really divisible, to a vast degree of Minute⯑ness.

Secondly, That the just Magnitude of any of the Aggregates or united Porti⯑ons of these Parts (as to us) is utter⯑ly unassignable; and what we may determine of their quantum, is only Mathematical and Comparative, with relation of one Aggregate to another.

Thirdly, That there are certain Por⯑tions of this Matter, of extraordinary Fineness and Activity, called Seed or Sperm, indued with a Power of un⯑folding and augmenting themselves un⯑to determined Shapes and Measures of Extension.

[53] Fourthly, That Generation, Growth and Corruption, are but the Rise, Pro⯑gress and Rest, the Explication, Moti⯑on and Pause, of these Seminal Powers and Activities.

Fifthly, That these Seeds or Sperma⯑tical Portions of Matter, contain with⯑in them, entirely and individually, the Body or Bodies they produce, and all the parts of those Bodies, as Sinews, Muscles, Bones, Shells, and the like, and as it were the Seeds too and com⯑ponent Particles of those Parts, in im⯑measurably small and unperceivable Proportions.

Sixthly, That these Seminal Collecti⯑ons of prolifick Matter, were at first prepared, modified and produc'd into Being, in the Primi-genial Chaotick Fluid, Venus orta mari, and still require a watry Vehicle to unfold and propa⯑gate.

Seventhly, That all the now solid Parts of concreted Matter, or at least, a great and vast deal of them have been originally a fluid Mass, or sub⯑stance highly agitated; and from that State, by several degrees of Lentors and Arrestments of Motion, they thick⯑ned and coagulated into various sorts [54] and qualities of Fluors; and thence after some Separations, congealed and hardned into this present Terrestrial Crust, consisting of Clays, Stones, Marchasits, Minerals, Metals and com⯑mon Earth.

These short and previous Hints, which I lay down as the Grounds and Evidence of my Conclusion, are in themselves very Natural and Intelligible; and as such, have been all of them propounded, asserted, and vigorously maintain'd by very many learned Men, both Ancient and Modern.

The first Proposition has been assert⯑ed by many Ancient Philosophers, Py⯑thagoras, Democritus, Leucippus, and even by Plato himself: Neither doth Des Cartes of late, who seems most of any to impugn it, at all invalidate what I propound, by my calling it, not vacuum & plenum, as the Ancients did, but Space and Body, which he very well allows of, provided they equally fall within his Notion of Ex⯑tension.

The second is demonstrated by Eu⯑clid, and generally asserted by all Mi⯑crographers and Geometricians.

[55]The third and fourth are visible Demonstrations, and plain Objects of Sense.

The fifth is with great probability and demonstrative Strength of Reason maintain'd by Father Malebranch, Luen⯑hooke, and confirm'd by the attesting Experiments of Mr. Boyle, and Dr. Hooke, and assented unto by Philoso⯑phers of principal Note and Estima⯑tion.

The sixth was the Ancient Hypothe⯑sis of Anaxagoras, Hippocrates, and is the approved Sentiment of the best Physiologers and Chymists; that every Seminal Propagation is ex humido; and consequently the Analogy will make the Maxim universally true, that ex aqua crescentia profluunt.

The seventh Proposition, is indeed a main part of Des Cartes his Philoso⯑phy; and will, if throughly con⯑templated, both explain the Powers of Gravity, and account for all its Effects of Gravitation and Sedimenting, as well perhaps as any of the now much-talked of Modern Explications, otherwise conceived and worded.

These being established Theorems, by most Men assented unto, and by [56] very few deny'd; I hope what Corollaries will necessarily and naturally flow from them, will be, if duly explicated, of pre⯑vailing weight to infer, at least a possi⯑bility of the designed Conclusion.

First, I offer from the first Proposi⯑tion, that it is possible, there may be exact Mechanisms and Fabricks of most exquisite Contrivances and Dispositions of Parts, contain'd in the very least (as to us) and utmost conceivable Minuteness of place; there being in that punctillo, a Body to extend, and a Space to be extended in; and as a consequent of that, [from the second Proposition] that by much the greatest part of Animal Spe⯑ciesses and individuals, are undiscover⯑ed by us, being as to us so extremely small, that without the help of Glasses, not one of a Million can be seen and distinguished: And Mr. Lewenhooke assures us, that by these helps, he has discovered some Animals which were so exceeding small, that, saith he, if a Grain of Sand were broken into 8000000 of equal parts, one of these would scarce be exceeded in bigness by one of these Creatures: And Dr. Hooke goes yet farther, who says, that he had discovered some Animalculs [57] so excessive small, that Millions of Mil⯑lions of them might be contained in one drop of Water: And there⯑fore if there might be actually so ma⯑ny Millions of these altogether com⯑pleat and perfect Creatures, exist⯑ing in a drop of Water; what an un⯑conceivable infinity of them, in their Seeds and contracted Parvitudes, might in the beginning exist in the whole Mass of Waters?

Secondly, I offer from the third, fourth and fifth Propositions, that if all animated Creatures do exist in their Seeds, though in a contracted State, and in vastly lesser Dimensions, yet Com⯑pleatly and Perfectly; that is, as compleat and perfect Beings, as they would be in their utmost Specifick Magnitudes and Extensions: It is therefore very agreeable with the order of Nature and Divine Wisdom, that the first Crea⯑tion, or primary Production of these Beings (Man's excepted) should be in their Seeds and contracted Parvitudes; they lying there as compleat and per⯑fect, as in their utmost Bulks and Ex⯑plications of Extension.

Now it being supposed that the pri⯑mordial State of animated Beings [58] (Man's excepted) was in their Seed or Sperm; it is easily conceivable, that these primary Seeds, Ovaries, or epitomiz'd Animations, and contracted Abstracts of Things, being in that State abso⯑lutely and compleatly perfect, and on that account in an agreeable Condition to come from the Hands of God; 'tis, I say, conceivable, that as many of them as met with a fit Medium and pro⯑per Matrices and places of Explication, were then and there, in a natural way, by assumption of peculiar Particles of Matter, that were more or less abound⯑ing in such places, to explicate and en⯑large themselves to their determin'd specifick Bulks; and yet in those Ex⯑tensions, to carry with them, their Ideas and Miniatures in parvo, to continue their successive Explications and En⯑largements, from that time properly called Generation, to the World's end: Which latter I call the Seeds of Genera⯑tion, as the former may very properly be called Seeds of Production.

Thirdly, I offer from the sixth Propo⯑sition, that these Seeds or spermatical Activities, contracted, formed and qua⯑lified, as in the foregoing Propositions; when first created and produced into be⯑ings, [59] in and for some space of time lay dispersed and floating through the whole Mass of the first Universal wa⯑try Fluid; which being the first Ma⯑trix or Principle of Corporification, if I may use that Word, and the only ca⯑pable one in Nature, of yielding Room and Materials for growth and Augmen⯑tation, was on that account the fittest Repository to lay up those Eggs of things; and by and with the conveni⯑ent Instrumentality of it, to brood and hatch, and to dispose and distribute them to their peculiar Elements and Places of Faetation, in order to set on, maintain and conserve their successive Generations to the World's end.

Fourthly, I offer from the seventh Proposition, that when this Universal Chaotick Fluid, the first Conservatory of these Corporeal Activities, under⯑went further Separations; a great deal of it came to obtain greater and great⯑er Degrees of Coagulating, and to be condensed into still more gross and thicker Fluors, or a sort of soft ouzie Consistency; I say, in this coagulating Recession or Precipitation of the Chao⯑tick Fluid, those Kinds of Sperm float⯑ing in it, which were Productive of Ae⯑real [60] Animations to cover and inhabit the Face of the Earth, had more of Air and Life in their Composition, and were consequently lighter, and there⯑fore statically ascended and kept up in the higher and purer Regions of this thickning Mass; until upon appearing of the dry Land, they came to be left in plen⯑tiful Proportions on the Surface of it; there to produce Plants, Animals and other Furniture of that fruitful Ele⯑ment; Let the Earth bring forth the Li⯑ving Creatures after their kind, Gen. 1.24.

But the other kinds of Sperm, the Seminary of the Ocean, the Squammose, the Crustaceous, and especially the Te⯑staceous Kinds, being more gross and heavy than the former, and of greater Agreeableness and Congeniality with the watry Consistence, descended with, and stuck in it; and when that thick⯑ening Fluid grew yet more coagulated and condensed, vast Proportions of those grosser Sperms might come to be impacted and incorporated in its thick⯑est Sediments and condensed Fluors, and so came to be closed up in the con⯑gealing Masses, which then formed and constituted the Strata and In⯑volutions [61] of this Terrestrial Globe.

In this state of things we are also to conceive that when the various sorts of these Sediments once settled, and when the detruded Juices and condensed gravitating Fluors, the most defaecat and purest of them, such as became the component matter of Clays, Stones, Minerals, &c, commenc'd the Act of Congelation, and began to consolidate and petrify, it is apparent from the third Proposition, that these Sperms and Seminal Activities, where-ever they were, first of all began to put out and exert their strokes of Dilatation; in which act of Congeling and Conso⯑lidating, the Matter of those Flours in which the said Seeds or Sperms were included, coming by degrees to a stony Hardness; we must imagine then, that these vigorous Activities, while yet the Matter wherein they were lodged was raw, soft and fleeting, so far acted and put forth their peculiar Energies and Powers, in displaying and expanding themselves; as the parts of that Mat⯑ter, which they were invested with, could fit and supply them with proper and agreeable Materials: Which could be no more, than in the Testaceous Kinds [62] to build up the Fabrick of their Shells; which they might perform there com⯑pleatly and exactly; that lapidifick Mat⯑ter being the proper Aliment of that part of the Sperm, that lay within the Mineral Province, and was to shoot out into Shells and Teguments; And also the other fishy part of the Sperm, being there out of the Animal Kingdom, failing for want of due Matter and Ali⯑ment to work upon, the contained Inter⯑vals and Spaces of those shelly Concreti⯑ons, which the Muscular fishy Exertions of the Sperm were to occupy; for want, I say, of that due Matter, to give it Increase and Animal Production, those Intervals came to be filled up, instead of Fish, with the common Matter of those petrifying Juices, which they were included in, or with the purest and most lubrick parts of Matter, as Spar, Flint, &c. that ran in, and filled their Cavities.

But in the Squammose and Cartilagi⯑nous Kinds of these Sperms, detain'd as before-said in these detruded coagula⯑ting Juices, their plastick Exertions had much less of these fit Materials to act upon; yet we may well suppose that their quick and more vigorous [63] Activities might there also in the same manner begin to display their vital Shoots and Formation; and where they chanc'd to meet, among those stiff un⯑wealdy parts of Matter, with agreable Materials, which must have been very rare and uncommon, they might hit here and there where they met with such, on the Formation at least of their hardest Osseous Substances, as Teeth, Spines, Ribbs, &c. and form those into Analogous Figures; At the same time the other parts of the integral Compages all failing, where the Portions of Mat⯑ter to be acted upon were too course and untractable to be wrought and modified into an Organical Consistence. In short, such parts of these Animal Seeds as bordered upon the Mineral Kingdom, might very well be form'd into Shells and Bones, the rest for want of pro⯑per Matter all failing.

These Processes of Spermatical Exer⯑tions I reckon all along as primary Pro⯑ductions, or the Original Formation of things unto their specifick Magni⯑tudes and Perfection; pursuant to that All-powerful Word, viz. Let the Earth bring forth, let the Waters bring forth abundantly; and not as Generation, [64] which I reckon a secondary Produ⯑ction, influenc'd by that other ef⯑ficacious Command, viz. Increase and multiply: And therefore, to conclude, agreeable with the Mosaick Accounts, with the order of Nature, and with the Mechanical Capacities of Matter; I affirm from the foregoing Propositi⯑ons, that the Creation of these Semi⯑nal Powers, and Corporeal Vehicles of Life, was done on, or before the first Day of the Mosaick Creation, and is there symbolically express'd by Light and Darkness; and that from that time, these original Seeds of Things gradually one after another arrived un⯑to their full Dimensions, Habitudes and Perfections, in the space of six Days; in which time, especially the third and fourth Day, when the Coagulum of the Earth, newly separated from the Water, was very raw, soft and yeilding, and the hardest Rocks▪ and Strata of it, were yet in their Gellies: Then, I say, it is not unreasonable to con⯑clude, that these mentioned Sperms, left included in the various Juices of the concreted Earth, might very well perform those Feats we now behold [65] with wonder; and which have exerci⯑sed the Thoughts and busied the In⯑quiries of all Ages, especially of this wherein we live.

Now on the whole matter, having briefly premised, or rather hinted, what I conceive just necessary to conclude this Point; the Consideration before me falls in, and naturally determines in this Issue; which yet I am very far from pretending to obtrude with any degree of certainty, but only to propound, as a probable Conclusion: viz. That all Fossil Shells, Bones, &c, digg'd up and found entomb'd in Slate, Stone, Chalk, Marble, &c; all the Parts and Contents of them, however wreathed, marked, and striated, are on the one side so much the Productions of Nature, that they were originally formed and figured in those very places from whence they are taken up; and yet are also on the other side so much the Remains of the parts of those Fishes they do imitate, that they are the Productions of the same univocal Sperms, which those parts of Animals they re⯑semble, are derived from: In which Point methinks the two contesting Par⯑ties so nearly come together, that it is not to be despaired, but that if any under⯑takes [66] to make a full prosecution of this Theory, and by many Discoveries and Experiments that are requisite to it, set things in their due Light; there may be such a solid scientifical Ac⯑count handed out, as will sufficiently answer all the Phaenomena that occur in this Speculation, and give therein a de⯑termining satisfaction to all rational In⯑quirers; which is much desired by,