If all the Marl in our Mountains, and which is regularly found at fuch a Depth throughout feveral Provinces, be part of this Mud, from whence comes that rich Arable Ground which covers this Marl? or the Potters Earth form'd of different kinds of Sands, and which is over the Marl and fhardy Substance; not only in the low Valleys, but even upon the highest Plains? Is it another Mud which has refted upon the firft? At this rate there must have been two Deluges, fome time one after another.

There is no probability therefore, that these Shells, and the other things I have been mentioning, which are to be met with in the Mountains, were brought there by the Flood. Nor is it to be prefumed, that thefe Shells were naturally form'd there, as others will have it; for then we fhould find them whole, and with thefe Differences only, that fome would be bigger than others, and fome better form'd than the reft; but when we find them flat and bruifed, and crufh'd, and at the fame time placed deeper in the Mountains, than any one had ever digged before; may we not conclude, that they have fuffer'd this Preffure fince the first receiving of their natural Shape? and that the Mountains, fince their being folid, as they are, could not prefs them in that manner? The Fragments of the Shells too are found in the Stones, or wrapp'd in the Marl; and different Pieces of them at a confiderable Distance from each other: Thefe could not be form'd thus, but must have been broke by fome violent force. "Tis the fame with the petrified Plants, which are often found in feperate Pieces, and which could not poffibly have grown in that Manner.

Laftly, There are others of Opinion, that thefe Mountains, and all the Places where we find fuch Shells, were formerly part of the Sea which Earthquakes have thus raised, and from whence the Waters have retired to confine themselves in low and hollow Places. What confirms them most in this Opinion, is, that feveral Places have been fwallowed up by Earthquakes, and have become Lakes; fome have been overflow'd by the Waters; whilst on the other hand, Islands have been seen to appear on a fudden in the midst of the Sea. Such a thing as this happened in our Days, in the Gulph of St. Santerin, where a new Island rofe as it were out of the Deep, in the Year 1707.

But allowing all this to be true, it does not follow that thofe Places and Countries where we find fuch Shells were formerly

covered by the Sea, and that they have undergone fuch great Revolutions; for we must then conclude, that almost all our prefent dry Lands, and the largest Kingdoms, but more particularly that of France, muft have been once wholly under Water; fince there are very few Countries where fome of these Shells are not to be found, either in the Grounds or the Mountains.

Was it true, that these Mountains had formerly been part of the Sea, the Shells we find in them would be in the fame Condition as they are in the Sea; but this is far from being true: As for Example, you never take one Echinus Spatagus out of the Sea, but you find the Head full of Sand and Gravel, which cannot eafily be got out of it; whereas, in those that are in the Mountains, although it visibly appears that they never have been moved fince they were there, you cannot find the least Grain of Sand or Gravel. And had thefe Mountains been once part of the Deep, from whence come thofe Heads and other Pieces of the Herb Horfe-tail, or the Puff-balls, which I have often found in the fame place with the Shells? 'Tis very certain, these Plants do not grow in the Sea.

But, waving the other Objections, can it be fuppofed that thefe Bottoms of the Sea, having been dry'd up by Shocks and Earthquakes, fhould of themselves have produced fuch vaft Forefts, as we fee growing upon the Top of fome of them? Do Oaks and Trees grow upon thofe Lands which the Sea has once covered? And yet this too must be fuppofed, fince, according to Bernard Palify, 'tis in Ardenne particularly that fuch Shells are to be found; and this we are affured was a vaft Foreft in Cafar's Time. But I must conclude this Letter, which is already too long; I fhall take another Opportunity of giving you my Opinion upon this Matter. In the mean time I am, &c.

crosedescresvresedeDEDIDE DEDISCOEBEDED bococoesion

Mr. Capperon's Second Letter.

Dated from Eu the 15th of June, 1724.

Am now fet down to perform my Promife, and give you my Opinion of thofe Shells and Plants which are found in the Mountains, &c. I fhall therefore without farther Preface tell you,

that

that I am fully convinced they have been there ever fince the Creation of the World; that they serve to justify the Account of it deliver'd by Mofes, and to make what he fays agree with fome other Texts of Scripture which feem to contradict it; and alfo to reconcile the different Opinions of the Fathers and Interpreters; of whom fome will have it, that all Creatures were created at the fame time, whilst others think that the Space of fix Days was taken up in the Performance of that Work.

My Belief therefore, Sir, is, that as Mofes tells us, God made the Heaven and Earth in an Inftant, and created all things at once, that is, all the Matter which was afterwards employ'd in forming the World, and every thing in it; and that the Place in which we now dwell was a Compofition of Earth and Water mix'd together: for, as Philo tells us, the Earth was like a Spunge, into which the Water had every where penetrated; and this, fays he, form'd a Kind of Mud or Slough; and, according to Mofes, 'twas upon this Mafs without Form that the Spirit of God moved: That is, according to the + Hebrew Text, the Almighty Spirit of God acting upon this Mafs rendred it fruitful, and made ufe of it to produce and form thofe Animals, which were afterwards to move in or upon those Elements we now fee.

Notwithstanding that by this firft Operation of God, all thofe Creatures which were to have a Being were form'd in that firft Inftant; yet it is proper to obferve, that they were all mix'd to-gether without any Order, as in a Kind of a Chaos; and tho both Plants and Animals had their natural Form, and were perfectly organized, yet had they neither Motion nor Life: for in this Slough and this Confufion, Life and Motion would have been fo far from being ferviceable to 'em, that it might have prov'd their Destruction.

This I take to have been the State of the World at the first Inftant of its Creation; and if Mofes tells us that God employ'd fix Days in creating all things, we must understand that thofe fix

* Quoniam univerfa qua in totam terram diffufa erat omnefq; ejus Partes penetraverat, quemadmodum Spongia humorem cumbibebat, ut ceu palus quædam cœnofa ex utroq; Elemento macerato confunderetur. Philo fad. -lib. de mundi opific.

† Hebraica vos fignificat 'quafi Spiritus incubet, foveat inftar avis aquam, jamq; ad generationem animalium moveat. Propert. Goz. in Oftatuc. C

Day's

Days were employ'd in feparating from each other all the different Beings mix'd and confus'd in the Chaos, to dispose them in proper Order in thofe Places which they were to inhabit, and then to give Life and Motion to thofe Beings he defign'd fhould live and move. And this Opinion Mofes himself confirms in his Summary of the Creation, in the 4th and 5th Verfes of the 2d Chapter of Genefis, where he fays that all things were created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens; and that 'twas the fame Day every Plant of the Field, and every Herb were formed, and that before they were in the Earth, and before they grew.

You fee, Sir, that in thus explaining the Creation of the World, you easily reconcile what Judith fays in the 16th Chapter and the 14th Verfe: Let all thy Creatures ferve thee; for thou haft Spoken, and they were made; thou haft fent thy Spirit, and he made em up. And what is faid in the 18th Chapter of the Ecclefiafticus and the 1ft Verfe, He that liveth for ever, made all things together, with what Mofes relates of a fix Days Work. And to come clofer to my Purpose: I find a Confirmation of this in the Situation of thofe Shells and Plants, which are to be met with in the Depth of the Earth. And the better to explain my Thoughts in this Matter, I'll endeavour to fhew you how all these things have been brought to pass naturally, and without any Miracle; it being ridiculous to fuppofe that God made ufe of any fupernatural Means to effect that, for which the general Laws of Nature were fuffici

ent.

This therefore is my System: Every Creature having been form'd in the first Moment of the Creation, and confufedly mix'd in the Chaos, the Earth and Waters at that time by their Mixture forming a kind of Slough, every Plant and every Animal floated at that time, without any Life or Motion of their own, upon the Surface of this Mud, and there remain'd till they were difpos'd of in their proper Places; which was not done till the third Day, when the Waters separated from the dry Land. Now during this Interval of time, 'tis natural to fuppofe that feveral Shells, by reafon of their being fmall and folid, might fink fome way into the Mud; the fame might happen by fome Plants and Animals, which perhaps might fink deeper than the reft, whether accidentally, or by being more penetrated, and confequently made heavier by the Mud.

I

Things

Things being in this Situation, God feparated the Waters from the dry Land in the following manner. Firft, retaining by his Almighty Will upon the Surface of the Earth, thofe Plants and Animals which were to remain there, he fqueezed this Mafs like a Spunge out of which one would fqueeze the Water: For, as Philo teaches us, it most refembled that; and by this Compreffure the Waters running out on every fide, carry'd away with them the Birds and Fishes, which were retain'd by no fupernatural Power, into thofe Places where they were gathered into great Heaps to form the Seas.

It was not fo with fome Shells and Plants, and a fmall Number of Fishes and Reptiles, which, as I obferved, were funk too deep in the Mud; for being thus mix'd with the Mafs of the Earth, they were not only retain'd there by this Compreffion, but the Violence with which they were prefs'd being great, it neceffarily followed that feveral of 'em were flatted, crush'd and broken in pieces. And this is the Condition in which we find 'em in our Mountains, as I told you in my former; and if we meet with fo many Fragments of thefe Shells difperfed up and down, 'tis because the Waters running out by the fame Preffure which broke these to pieces, they carried off Part of 'em, and dispersed 'em about in the feveral Places where we now find them.

As for the Impreffions of thofe things which we find in the Lands and Mountains, and the great Number of 'em that are petrified, we must attribute 'em to that petrifying Moisture which is in the Earth; and which being accidentally in those very Places where these things were to be met with, it has entirely penetrated, and by coagulating has at length petrified them; or elfe Stones having been form'd near the Places where they were, and thefe Stones being vegetated and grown large by means of this petrifying Juice, which ferves them in lieu of Sap, they have receiv'd the Impreffion of these things, and fome of 'em have united and grown together. It was alfo on the fame Day that the Earth and Waters were parted, that God gave to thofe Trees and Plants, which had remained upon the Surface of the Earth, as much Life as was neceffary for them to vegetate and grow; but as for Animals, God did not begin to give them Life till the fifth Day, when he commanded the Sea to produce alive the Fishes and Fowl which were in it; and the next Day he also commanded the Earth to produce alive the Creatures that were to inhabit it.

C 2

This,