Buffon's Natural History, Volume I (of 10)

On the other hand, if below the depth of two or three miles, the earth was filled with a matter much more dense than any known, it would necessarily occur, that every time we descended to moderate depths, we should weigh much more, and the motion of pendulums would be more accelerated than in fact they are when carried from an eminence into a plain: thus, we may presume that the internal part of the Earth is filled with a matter nearly similar to that which composes its surface. What may complete our determination in favour of this opinion is, that in the first formation of the globe, when it took its present spheroidical figure, the matter which composed it was in fusion, and, consequently, all its parts were homogeneous, and nearly equally dense. From that time the matter on the surface, although originally the same with the interior, has undergone a variety of changes by external causes, which has produced materials of such different densities; but it must be remarked, that the densest matters, as gold and metals, are also those the most seldom to be met with, and consequently the greatest part of the matter at the surface of the globe has not undergone any very great changes with relation to its density; the most common materials, as sand and clay, differ very little, insomuch, that we may conjecture, with great probability, that the internal part of the earth is composed of a vitrified matter, the density of which is nearly the same as that of sand, and that consequently the terrestrial globe in general may be regarded as homogeneous.

Notwithstanding this, it may be urged, that although the globe was composed of concentrical strata of different densities, the diurnal motion might be equally certain, and the uniform inclination of the axis as constant and undisturbed as it could be, on the supposition of its being composed of homogeneous matter. I acknowledge it, but I ask at the same time, if there is any reason to believe that strata of different densities do exist? If these conclusions be not rather a desire to adjust the works of Nature to our own ideas? And whether in physics we ought to admit suppositions which are not founded on observations or analogy?

It appears, therefore, that the earth, by virtue of the mutual attraction of its parts and its diurnal motion, assumed the figure of a spheroid; that it necessarily took that form from being in a state of fluidity; that, agreeable to the laws of gravity and of a centrifugal force, it could have no other figure: that in the moment of its formation as at present, there was a difference between the two diameters equal to a 230th part, and that, consequently, every hypothesis in which we find greater or less difference are fictions which merit no attention.

But it may be said, if this theory is true, and if 229 to 230 is the just relation of the axis, why did the mathematicians, sent to Lapland and Peru, agree to the relation of 174 to 175? From whence does this difference arise between theory and practice? And is it not more reasonable to give the preference to practice and measures, especially when we have been taken by the most able mathematicians of Europe5, and with all necessary apparatus to establish the result.

To this I answer, that I have paid attention to the observations made at the equator and near the polar circle; that I have no doubt of their being exact, and that the earth may possibly be elevated an 175th part more at the equator than at the poles. But, at the same time, I maintain my theory, and I see clearly how the two conclusions may be reconciled. This difference is about four leagues in the two axes, so that the parts at the equator are raised two leagues more than they ought to be, according to my theory; this height answers exactly to the greatest inequalities on the surface of the globe, produced by the motion of the sea, and the action of the fluids. I will explain; it appears that when the earth was formed, it must necessarily have taken, by virtue of the mutual attraction of its parts, and the action of the centrifugal force, a spheroidical figure, the axes of which differ a 230th part: the original earth must have had this figure, which it took when it was fluid, or rather liquified by the fire; but after its formation the vapours which were extended and rarefied, as in the atmosphere and tail of a comet, became condensed, and fell on the surface in form of air and water: and when these waters became agitated by the flux and reflux, the matters were, by degrees, carried from the poles towards the equatorial parts; so that the poles were lowered about a league, and those of the equator raised in the same proportion; this was not suddenly done, but by degrees in succession of time; the earth being also exposed to the action of the winds, air, and sun; all these irregular causes concurred with the flux and reflux to furrow its surface, hollow it into valleys, and raise it into mountains; and producing other inequalities and irregularities, of which, nevertheless, the greatest thickness does not exceed one league at the equator; this inequality of two leagues, is, perhaps, the greatest which can be on the surface of the earth, for the highest mountains are scarce above one league in height, and there is much probability of the sea's not being more at its greatest depth. The theory is therefore true, and practice may be so likewise; the earth at first could not be raised above 6-1/2 leagues more at the equator than the poles, but the changes which have happened to its surface might afterwards raise it still more. Natural History wonderfully confirms this opinion, for we have proved in the preceding discourse that the flux and reflux, and other motions of the water, have produced mountains and all the inequalities on the surface of the globe, that this surface has undergone considerable changes, and that at the greatest depths, as well as on the greatest heights, bones, shells and other wrecks of animals, which inhabit the sea and earth, are met with.

It may be conjectured, from what has been said, that to find ancient earth, and matters which have never been removed from the spot in which they were first placed, we must dig near the poles, where the bed of the earth must be thinner than in the Southern climates.

On the whole, if we strictly examine the measures by which the figure of the earth is determined, we shall perceive this hypothesis enters into such determination; for it supposes the earth to have the figure of a regular curve, whereas from the constant changes the earth is continually undergoing from a variety and combination of causes, it is almost impossible that it should have retained any regular figure, and hence the poles might, originally, only be flattened a 230th part, as Newton says, and as my theory requires. Besides, although we had exactly the length of the degree at the polar circle and equator, have we not also the length of the degree as exactly in France? And the measure of M. Picard, has it not been verified? Add to this that the augmentation and diminution in the motion of the pendulum, do not agree with the result drawn from measurement, and that, on the contrary, they differ very little from the theory of Newton. This is surely more than is requisite to convince us that the poles are not flattened more than a 230th part, and that if there is any difference, it can proceed only from the inequalities, which the water and other external causes have produced on its surface; but these inequalities being more irregular than regular, we must not form any hypothesis thereon, nor suppose, that the meridians are ellipses, or any other regular curves. From whence we perceive, that if we should successively measure many degrees of the earth in all directions, we still should not be certain by that alone, of the exact situation of the poles, nor whether they were depressed more or less than the 230th part.

May it not also be conjectured, that if the inclination of the axis of the earth has changed, it can only be produced by the changes which have happened to the surface, since all the rest of the globe is homogeneous; that consequently this variation is too little sensible to be perceived by astronomers, and that if the earth is not encountered with a comet, or deranged, by any other external cause, its axis will remain perpetually inclined as it is at present, and as it has always been?

In order not to omit any conjecture which appears reasonable, may it not be said, that as the mountains and inequalities which are on the surface of the earth have been formed by the flux and reflux of the sea, the mountains and inequalities which we remark on the surface of the moon, have been produced by a similar cause? they certainly are much higher than those of the earth, but then her tides are also much stronger, occasioned by the earth's being considerably larger than the moon, and consequently producing her tides with a superior force; and this effect would be much greater if the moon had, like the earth, a rapid rotation; but as the moon presents always the same surface to the earth, the tides cannot operate but in proportion to the motion arising from her libration, by which it alternatively discovers to us a segment of its other hemisphere; this, however, must produce a kind of flux and reflux, quite different from that of our sea, and the effects of which will be much less considerable than if the moon had from its course a revolution round its axis, as quick as the rotation of the terrestrial globe.

I should furnish a volume as large as that of Burnet or Whiston's, if I were to enlarge on the ideas which arise in support of the above; by giving them a geometrical air, in imitation of the last author, I might add considerably to their weight; but, in my opinion, hypothesis, however probable, ought not to be treated with such pomposity; it being a dress which borders so much on quackery.

ARTICLE II.

FROM THE SYSTEM OF WHISTON6

This Author commences his treatise by a dissertation on the creation of the world; he says that the account of it given by Moses in the text of Genesis has not been rightly understood; that the translators have confined themselves too much to the letter and superficial views, without attending to nature, reason, and philosophy. The common notion of the world being made in six days, he says is absolutely false, and that the description given by Moses, is not an exact and philosophical narration of the creation and origin of the universe, but only an historical representation of the terrestrial globe. The earth, according to him, existed in the chaos; and, at the time mentioned by Moses, received the form, situation and consistency necessary to be inhabited by the human race. I shall not enter into a detail of his proofs, nor undertake their refutation. The exposition we have just made, is sufficient to demonstrate the difference of his opinion with public facts, its contrariety with scripture, and consequently the insufficiency of his proofs. On the whole, he treats this matter as a theological controvertist, rather than as an enlightened philosopher.

Leaving these erroneous principles, he flies to ingenious suppositions, which, although extraordinary, yet have a degree of probability to those who, like him, incline to the enthusiasm of system. He says, that the ancient chaos, the origin of our earth, was the atmosphere of a comet: that the annual motion of the earth began at the time it took its new form, but that its diurnal motion began only when the first man fell. That the ecliptic cut the tropic of cancer, opposite to the terrestrial paradise, which was situated on the north-west side of the frontiers of Assyria: that before the deluge, the year began at the autumnal equinox: that the orbits of the planets, and the earth were then perfect circles. That the deluge began the 18th of November, 2365 of the Julian period, or 2349 years before Christ. That the solar and lunar year were then the same, and that they exactly contained 360 days. That a comet descending in the plane of the ecliptic towards its perihelion, passed near the globe of the earth the same day as the deluge began: that there is a great heat in the internal part of the terrestrial globe, which constantly diffuses itself from the centre to the circumference; that the form of the earth is like that of an egg, the ancient emblem of the globe; that mountains are the lightest part of the earth, &c. He afterwards attributes all the alterations and changes which have happened to the earth, to the universal deluge; then blindly adopts the theory of Woodward, and indiscriminately makes use of all the observations of that author on the present state of the globe; but assumes originality when he speaks of its future state: according to him it will be consumed by fire, and its destruction will be preceded by terrible earthquakes, thunder, and frightful meteors; the Sun and Moon will have an hideous aspect, the heavens will appear to fall, and the flames will be general over all the earth; but when the fire shall have devoured all the impurities it contains; when it shall be vitrified and rendered transparent as crystal, the saints and the blessed spirits will return and take possession of it, and there remain till the day of judgment.

These hypotheses, at the first glance, appear to be rash and extravagant assertions; nevertheless the author has managed them with such address, and treated them with such strength, that they cease to appear absolutely chimerical. He supports his subjects with much science, and it is surprising that, from a mixture of ideas so very absurd, a system could be formed with an air of probability. It has not affected vulgar minds so much as it has dazzled the eyes of the learned, because they are more easily deceived by the glare of erudition, and the power of novel ideas. Mr. Whiston was a celebrated astronomer, in the constant habit of considering the heavens, observing the stars, and contemplating the wonderful course of nature; he could never persuade himself that this small grain of sand, this Earth which we inhabit, occupied more the attention of the Creator than the universe, the vast extent of which contains millions of other Suns and Earths. He pretends, that Moses has not given us the history of the first creation of this globe, but only a detail of the new form that it took when the Almighty turned it from the mass of a comet into a planet, and formed it into a proper habitation for men. Comets are, in fact, subjected to terrible vicissitudes by reason of the eccentricity of their orbits. Sometimes, like that in 1680, it is a thousand times hotter there than red-hot iron; and sometimes a thousand times colder than ice; if they are, therefore, inhabited it must be by strange creatures, of which we can have no conception.

The planets, on the contrary, are places of rest, where the distance of the sun not varying much, the temperature remains nearly the same, and permits different kinds of plants and animals to grow and multiply.

In the beginning God created the world; but, observes our author, the earth was then an uninhabitable comet, suffering alternatively the excess of heat and cold, its liquifying and freezing by turns formed a chaos, or an abyss, surrounded with thick darkness: "and darkness covered the face of the deep," & tenebræ erant superfaciam abissi. This chaos was the atmosphere of the comet, a body composed of heterogeneous matters, the centre occupied by spherical, solid, and hot substances, of about two thousand leagues in diameter, round which a very great surface of a thick fluid extended, mixed with an unshapen and confused matter, like the chaos of the ancient rudis & indigestaque moles.

This vast atmosphere contained but very few dry, solid, or terrestrial particles, still less aqueous or aerial, but a great quantity of fluid, dense and heavy matters, mixed, agitated and jumbled together in the greatest disorder and confusion. Such was the earth before the six days, but on the first day of the creation, when the eccentrical orbit of the comet had been changed, every thing took its place, and bodies arranged themselves according to the law of gravity, the heavy fluid descended to the lowest places, and left the upper regions to the terrestrial, aqueous and aerial parts; those likewise descended according to their order of gravity; first the earth, then the water, and last of all the air. The immense volume of chaos was thus reduced to a globe of a moderate size, in the centre of which is the solid body that still retains the heat which the sun formerly communicated to it, when it belonged to a comet. This heat may possibly endure six thousand years, since the comet of 1680 required fifty thousand years to cool. Around this solid and burning matter, which occupies the centre of the earth, the dense and heavy fluid which descended the first is to be found, and this is the fluid which forms the great abyss on which the earth is borne, like cork on quicksilver; but as the terrestrial parts were originally mixed with a large quantity of water, in descending they have dragged with them a part of this water, which, not being able to re-ascend after the earth was consolidated, formed a concentrical bed with the heavy fluid which surrounds this hot substance, insomuch that the great abyss is composed of two concentrical orbs, the most internal of which is a heavy fluid, and the other water; the last of which serves for a foundation to the earth. It is from this admirable arrangement, produced by the atmosphere of a comet, that the Theory of the Earth, and the explanation of all its phenomena are to depend.

When the atmosphere of the comet was once disembarrassed from all the solid and terrestrial matters, there remained only the lighter air, through which the rays of the sun freely passed and instantly produced light: "Let there be light, and there was light." The columns which composed the orb of the Earth being formed with such great precipitation is the cause of their different densities: consequently the heaviest sunk deeper into this subterraneous fluid than the lightest; and it is this which has produced the vallies and mountains on the surface of the earth. These inequalities were, before the deluge, dispersed and situated otherwise than they are at present. Instead of the vast valley, which contains the ocean, there were many small divided cavities on the surface of the globe, each of which contained a part of this water; the mountains were also more divided, and did not form chains as at present: nevertheless, the earth contained a thousand times more people, and was a thousand times more fertile; and the life of man and other animals were ten times longer, all which was affected by the internal heat of the earth that proceeded from the centre, and gave birth to a great number of plants and animals, bestowing on them a degree of vigour necessary for them to subsist a long time, and multiply in great abundance. But this heat, by increasing the strength of bodies, unfortunately extended to the heads of men and animals; it augmented their passions; it deprived man of his innocence, and the brute creation of part of their intelligence; all creatures, excepting fish, who inhabited a colder element, felt the effects of this heat, became criminal and merited death. It therefore came, and this universal death happened on Wednesday the 28th of November, by a terrible deluge of forty days and forty nights, and was caused by the tail of another comet which encountered the earth in returning from its perihelion.

The tail of a comet is the lightest part of its atmosphere; it is a transparent mist, a subtile vapour, which the heat of the sun exhales from the body of the comet: this vapour composed of extremely rarefied aqueous and aerial particles, follows the comet when it descends to its perihelion, and precedes when it re-ascends, so that it is always situate opposite to the sun, as if it sought to be in the shade, and avoid the too great heat of that luminary. The column which this vapour forms is often of an immense length, and the more a comet approaches the sun, the longer and more extended is its tail, and as many comets descend below the annual orb of the earth, it is not surprising that the earth is sometimes found surrounded with the vapour of this tail; this is precisely what happened at the time of the deluge. In two hours the tail of a comet will evacuate a quantity of water equal to what is contained in the whole ocean. In short, this tail was what Moses calls the cataracts of Heaven, "and the cataracts of Heaven were opened." The terrestrial globe meeting with the tail of a comet, must, in going its course through this vapour, appropriate to itself a part of the matter which it contains; all which, coming within the sphere of the earth's attraction, must fall on it, and fall in the form of rain, since this tail is partly composed of aqueous vapours. Thus rain may come down in such abundance as to produce an universal deluge the waters of which might easily surmount the tops of the highest mountains. Nevertheless, our author, cautious of not going directly against the letter of holy writ, does not say that this rain was the sole cause of the universal deluge, but takes the water from every place he can find it. The great abyss as we see contains a considerable quantity. The earth, at the approach of the comet, would prove the force of its attraction; and the waters contained in the great abyss would be agitated by so violent a kind of flux and reflux, that the superficial crust would not resist, but split in several places, and the internal waters be dispersed over the surface, "And the fountains of the abyss were opened."

But what became of these waters, which the tail of the comet and great abyss furnished so liberally? our author is not the least embarrassed thereon. As soon as the earth, continuing its course, removed from the comet, the effects of its attraction, the flux and reflux in the great abyss ceased of course, and immediately the upper waters precipitated back with violence by the same roads as they had been forced upon the surface. The great abyss absorbed all the superfluous waters, and was of a sufficient capacity not only to receive its own waters, but also all those which the tail of the comet had left, because during its agitation, and the rupture of its crust, it had enlarged the space by driving out on all sides the earth that surrounded it. It was at this time also the figure of the earth, which till then was spherical, became elliptic. This effect was occasioned by the centrifugal force caused by its diurnal motion, and by the attraction of the comet, for the earth, in passing through the tail of the comet, found itself so placed that it presented the parts of the equator to that planet; and the power of the attraction of the comet, concurring with the centrifugal force of the earth, caused the parts of the equator to be elevated, and that with the more facility as the crust was broken and divided in an infinity of places, and because the flux and reflux of the abyss drove against the equator more violently than elsewhere.

Here then is Mr. Whiston's history of the creation; the causes of the universal deluge; the length of the life of the first men; and the figure of the Earth; all which seem to have cost our author little or no labour; but Noah's ark appears to have greatly disquieted him. In the midst of so terrible a disorder occasioned by the conjunction of the tail of a comet with the waters of the great abyss, in the terrible moments wherein not only the elements of the earth were confused, but when new elements still concurred to augment the chaos, how can it be imagined that the ark floated quietly with its numerous cargo on the top of the waves? Here our author makes great efforts to arrive at and give a physical reason for the preservation of the ark, but which has always appeared to me insufficient, poorly imagined, and but little orthodoxical: I will not here relate it, but only observe how hard it is for a man who has explained objects so great and wonderful, without having recourse to a supernatural power, to be stopt by one particular circumstance; our author, however, chose rather to risk drowning with the ark, than to attribute to the immediate bounty of the Almighty the preservation of this precious vessel.

I shall only make one remark on this system, of which I have made a faithful abridgement: which is, whenever we are rash enough to attempt to explain theological truths by physical reasons, or interpret purely by human views, the divine text of holy writ, or that we endeavour to reason on the will of the Most High, and on the execution of his decrees, we consequently shall involve ourselves in the darkness and chaos of obscurity and confusion, like the author of this system, which, in defiance of its absurdities, has been received with great applause. He neither doubts the truth of the deluge, nor the authenticity of the sacred writ; but as he was less employed with it than with physic and astronomy, he has taken passages of the scripture for physical facts, and the results of astronomical observations; and has so strangely blended the divine knowledge with human science as to give birth to the most extraordinary system that possibly ever was or will be conceived.