this only heighten'd and enhanfed it : and render'd it ftill more intricate; as does in fome Measure already, and will hereafter appear more at large, when I fhall have publish'd the preliminary Differtation, whereof I have given fome Account above. And this was the most received and prevalent Opinion * when I first * Vid. brought my Collection of thefe Things Three Dif up to London.

Ray's

courses 8°.

Lond.

There have been, befides these 1693, recited, fome other Conjectures pro- pag. 127. pos'd about the removal of these Bodies to Land; which I choose, rather than trouble the Reader with a Detail of them here, to deferr to their proper Place, that I may proceed directly onwards in my Defign. Now the more effectualy to fmooth my Way and that this very great Diversity of Opinions may not be any longer an Amusement to the World, 'twill be very convenient that I look into the Reafons and Pretenfions of each and fhew upon what Ground 'tis that I embrace that of the Deluge, and fet afide all the rest.

Why I adhere to them who fuppose these Marine Productions brought D 3

out

out by the Univerfal Deluge, will be best learn'd from the fucceeding Part of this Effay, which is wholey dedicated to that Purpose. And to that I fhall prefix an Hiftorical Account of the Labours of Fab. Columna, Nic. Steno, P. Boccone, Jac. Grandius, Mr. John Ray, and other Learned Men, on this Subject; fhewing what they have already done in it, wherein they failed, and what remains fill to be done.

Why I reject all the other Conjectures, falls under our prefent Confideration. And, to make as fhort of the Matter as poffible, 'tis because they will none of them abide the Teft. Because they have not due Warrant from Obfervation, but are clearly repugnant thereunto. In a Word, becaufe the prefent Circumftances of thefe Marine Bodies do not fquare with thofe Opinions, but exhibit Phanomena that thwart them, and that give plain Indications that they could never have been put into the Condition we now find them by any fuch fhort and partial Agents as thofe they propose. Νοίν

Now in regard that the faid Circumftances are impartialy related in my Obfervations, we need only have recourfe to them to put an End to this Bufinefs. For, as Mathematicians fay of a freight Line, that 'tis as well an Index of its own Rectitude, as of the Obliquity of a crooked one; fo thefe may ferve indifferently to detect the erroneous Ways,.and to point forth the true. And it is from thefe Obfervations*: from the Number, Order, Variety, Situation, Depth, Distance from the Sea, and other Accidents of thefe Bodies*, that I shall fhew,

That they were not brought, from Sea, to the Parts where they are now' found, by Men, the ancient Inhabitants of thofe Parts, as fome Authors have been of Opinion; they prefuming that thefe Shells were at firft only flung out upon the Surface of the Earth and that those which we now find buried in it, were, in tract of Time, cover'd, either by that Terreftrial Matter which falls down along with Rain, or by the Earth

D 4

*.*. See a brief Detail of these Observations in the Beginning of Part II.

I.

2:

༢.

4.

Earth which is wafh'd from off the
Hills by Land Floods.

That they were not carry'd, together with the Water which fome fuppofe to pafs, continualy, from the Bottom of the Sea to the Heads of Springs and Rivers, through certain fubterranean Conduits or Chanels, until the Shells were by fome Glut, Stop, or other Means arrefted in their Paffage, and fo detained in the Bowels of the Earth; as others have rather inclined to believe.

That they were not born forth of the Sea, and laid upon the Land by particular Inundations; fuch as were the Ogygean, the Deucalionean, .and others of fresher Date: fuch as are thofe which ufualy attend Earthquakes or those which are fometimes occafioned by very high Tides, by impetuous Winds, and the like; as other Writers have thought.

:

That they were not left behind at the Beginning of the World, when the Sea overfpread the whole Globe, till its Retreat into its affigned Chanel, and the Waters were gather'd to

*Gen.1.9. gether unto one place,

*

the third

Day

Day from the Commencement of the Creation, which others believ'd.

That they were not left by the Seas being conftrained to withdraw from off certain Tracts of Land, which lay till then at the Bottom of it, but being raised to an higher Pitch, fo as to furmount the Level of the Seas Surface, they, by that Means, became Iflands and habitable; the faid Tracts being thus elevated by Earthquakes, or the like fubterraneous Explofions; in fuch Manner as Rhodes, Thera, Therafia, and many other Iflands were fupposed to have been raised; which is the Conjecture of others.

That they were not left by the Sea's changing its Place, receding from the Parts it anciently poffefs'd, and betaking it felf to new Quarters; this Change being occafion'd by fome accidental Emotion or Tranf pofition of the common Center of Gravity in the Terraqueous Globe and thereupon the Fluids of it, the Sea, and the reft, immediately shifting likewife, as being the more eafily moveable Parts of the Mafs, and coming to another Equilibrium,

that

5.

6.