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I have myself seen what once was solid land changed into sea; and again I have seen land made from the sea. Sea-shells have been seen lying far from the ocean, and an ancient anchor has been found on a mountain-top. What once was a level plain, down-flowing waters have made into a valley; and hills by the force of the floods have been washed into the sea.
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Neither the figure of the earth, its motion, nor its external connections with the rest of the universe pertain to our present investigation. It is the internal structure of the globe, its composition, form, and manner of existence which we propose to examine. The general history of the earth should doubtless precede that of its productions, as a necessary study for those who wish to be acquainted with nature in her variety of shapes, and the detail of facts relative to the life and manners of animals, or to the culture and vegetation of plants belong not, perhaps, so much to natural history, as to the general deductions drawn from the observations that have been made upon the different materials which compose the terrestrial globe: as its heights, depth, and inequalities of its form; the motion of the sea, the direction of mountains, the situation of rocks and quarries, the rapidity and effects of currents in the ocean, etc. This is the history of nature in its most ample extent, and these are the operations by which every other effect is influenced and produced. The theory of these effects constitutes what may be termed a primary science, upon which the exact knowledge of particular appearances as well as terrestrial substances entirely depends. This description of science may fairly be considered as appertaining to physics; but does not all physical knowledge, in which no system is admitted, form part of the history of nature? In a subject of great magnitude, whose relative connections are difficult to trace, and where some facts are but partially known, and others uncertain and obscure, it is more easy to form a visionary system than to establish a rational theory; thus it is that the theory of the earth has only hitherto been treated in a vague and hypothetical manner; I shall therefore but slightly mention the singular notions of some authors who have written upon the subject.
What we shall say on this subject will doubtless be less extraordinary, and appear unimportant, if put in comparison with the grand systems just mentioned, but it should be remembered that it is an historian’s business to describe, not invent; that no suppositions should be admitted upon subjects that depend upon facts and observation; that his imagination ought only to be exercised for the purpose of combining observations, rendering facts more general, and forming one connected whole, so as to present to the mind a distinct arrangement of clear ideas and probable conjectures; I say probable because we must not expect to give exact demonstration on this subject, that being confined to mathematical sciences, while our knowledge in physics and natural history depends solely upon experience, and is confined to reasoning upon inductions.
In the history of the earth, we shall therefore begin with those facts that have been obtained from the experience of time, together with what we have collected by our own observations.
This immense globe exhibits upon its surface heights, depths, plains, seas, lakes, marshes, rivers, caverns, gulfs, and volcanos; and upon the first view of these objects we cannot discover in their disposition either order or regularity. If we penetrate into its internal part, we shall there find metals, minerals, stones, bitumens, sands, earths, waters, and matters of every kind, placed as it were by chance, and without the smallest apparent design. Examining with a more strict attention we discover sunken mountains, caverns filled, rocks split and broken, countries swallowed up, and new islands rising from the ocean; we shall also perceive heavy substances placed above light ones, hard bodies surrounded with soft; in short we shall there find matter in every form, wet and dry, hot and cold, solid and brittle, mixed in such a sort of confusion as to leave room to compare them only to a mass of rubbish and the ruins of a wrecked world.
We inhabit these ruins, however, with a perfect security. The various generations of men, animals, and plants, succeed each other without interruption; the earth [abundantly supplies] their sustenance: the sea has its limits; its motions and the currents of air are regulated by fixed laws: the returns of the seasons are certain and regular; the severity of the winter being constantly succeeded by the beauties of the spring: everything appears in order, and the earth, formerly a chaos, is now a tranquil and delightful abode, where all is animated and regulated by such an amazing display of power and intelligence as fills us with admiration, and elevates our minds with the most sublime ideas of an all-potent and wonderful Creator.
Let us not then draw any hasty conclusions upon the irregularities of the surface of the earth, nor the apparent disorders in the interior parts, for we shall soon discover the utility, and even the necessity, of them; and, by considering them with a little attention, we shall perhaps find an order of which we had no conception, and a general connection that we could neither perceive nor comprehend by a slight examination: but in fact, our knowledge on this subject must always be confined. There are many parts of the surface of the globe with which we are entirely unacquainted, and have but partial ideas of the bottom of the sea, which in many places we have not been able to fathom. We can only penetrate into the coat of the earth; the greatest caverns and the deepest mines do not descend [beyond] the eighth-thousandth part of its diameter; we can therefore judge only of the external and mere superficial part; we know, indeed, that bulk for bulk the earth weighs four times heavier than the sun, and we also know the proportion its weight bears with other planets; but this is merely a relative estimation; we have no certain standard nor proportion; we are so entirely ignorant of the real weight of the materials, that the internal part of the globe may be a void space, or composed of matter a thousand times heavier than gold, nor is there any method to make further discoveries on this subject; and it is with the greatest difficulty any rational conjectures can be formed thereon.
We must therefore confine ourselves to a correct examination and description of the surface of the earth, and to those trifling depths to which we have been enabled to penetrate. The first object which presents itself is that immense quantity of water which covers the greatest part of the globe; this water always occupies the lowest ground, its surface always level, and constantly tending to equilibrium and rest; nevertheless it is kept in perpetual agitation by a powerful agent,1 which opposing its natural tranquility impresses it with a regular periodical motion, alternately raising and depressing its waves, producing a vibration in the total mass, by disturbing the whole body to the greatest depths. This motion we know has existed from the commencement of time, and will continue as long as the sun and moon, which are the causes of it.
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Let us now take a view of the earth. What prodigious differences do we find in different climates? What a variety of soils? What inequalities in the surface? But upon a minute and attentive observation we shall find the greatest chains of mountains are nearer the equator than the poles; that in the Old Continent their direction is more from the east to west than from the north to south, and that on the contrary in the new world they extend more from north to south than from east to west; but what is still more remarkable, the form and direction of those mountains, whose appearance is so very irregular, correspond so directly that the prominent angles of one mountain are always opposite to the concave angles of the neighboring mountain, and are of equal dimensions whether they are separated by a small valley or an extensive plain. I have also observed that opposite hills are nearly of the same height, and that in general mountains occupy the middle of continents, islands, and promontories, which they divide by their greatest lengths.
In following the courses of the principal rivers I have likewise found that they are almost always perpendicular with those of the sea [coasts] into which they empty themselves; and that in the greatest part of their courses they proceed nearly in the direction of the mountains from which they derive their source.
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Pursuing our examination in a more extensive view, we find that the upper strata, that surrounds the globe, is universally the same, [and] that this substance which serves for the growth and nourishment of animals and vegetables, is nothing but a composition of decayed animal and vegetable bodies reduced into such small particles that their former organization is not distinguishable. Penetrating a little further we find the real earth, beds of sand, limestone, argol, shells, marble, gravel chalk, etc. These beds are always parallel to each other and of the same thickness throughout their whole extent. In neighbouring hills beds of the same materials are invariably found upon the same levels, though the hills are separated by deep and extensive intervals. All beds of earth, even the most solid strata, as rocks, quarries of marble etc. are uniformly divided by perpendicular fissures; it is the same in the largest as well as smallest depths, and appears a rule which nature invariably pursues.
In the very bowels of the earth, on the tops of mountains, and even the most remote parts from the sea, shells, skeletons of fishes, marine plants, etc. are frequently found; and these shells, fishes, and plants, are exactly similar to those which exist in the ocean. There are a prodigious quantity of petrified shells to be met with in an infinity of places, not only enclosed in rocks, masses of marble, limestone, as well as in earths and clays, but are actually incorporated and filled with the very substance which surrounds them. In short, I find myself convinced, by repeated observations [...] that marbles, stones, chalks, marles, clay, sand, and almost all terrestrial substances, wherever they may be placed, are filled with shells, and other [debris from] the sea.
These facts being enumerated, let us now see what reasonable conclusions are to be drawn from them.
The changes and alterations which have happened to the earth in the space of the last two or three thousand years are very inconsiderable indeed when compared with those important revolutions which must have taken place in those ages which immediately followed the creation; for as all terrestrial substances could only acquire solidity by the continued action of gravity, it would be easy to demonstrate that the surface of the earth was much softer at first than it is a present, and consequently the same causes which now produce but slight and almost imperceptible changes during many ages, would then effect great revolutions in a very short space. It appears to be a certain fact, that the earth which we now inhabit, and even the tops of the highest mountains were formerly covered with the sea, for shells and other marine productions are frequently found in almost every part; it appears also that the water remained a considerable time on the surface of the earth, since in many places there have been discovered such prodigious banks of shells that it is impossible so great a multitude of animals could exist at the same time: this fact seems likewise to prove, that although the materials which composed the surface of the earth were then in a state of softness that rendered them easy to be disunited, moved and transported by the waters, yet that these removals were not made at once; they must indeed have been successive, gradual, and by degrees, because these kind of sea-productions are frequently met with more than a thousand feet below the surface, and such a considerable thickness of earth and stone could not have accumulated but by the length of time. If we were to suppose that at the deluge all the shell-fish were raised from the bottom of the sea, and transported over all the earth; besides the difficulty of establishing this supposition, is evident, that as we find shells incorporated in marble and in the rocks of the highest mountains, we must likewise suppose that all these marbles and rocks were formed at thesame time, and that too at the very instant of the deluge; and besides, that previous to this great revolution there were neither mountains, marble, nor rocks, nor clays, nor matters of any kind similar to those we are at present acquainted with, as they almost all contain shells and other productions of the sea. Besides, at the time of the deluge the earth must have acquired a considerable degree of solidity, from the action of gravity, for more than sixteen centuries, and consequently it does not appear possible that the waters, during the short time the deluge lasted, should have overturned and dissolved its surface to the greatest depths we have since been enabled to penetrate.
But without dwelling longer on this point, which shall hereafter be more amply discussed, I shall confine myself to well-known observations and established facts. There is no doubt but that the waters of the sea at some period covered and remained for ages upon that part of the globe which is now known to be dry land; and consequently the whole continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, were then the bottom of an ocean abounding with similar productions to those which the sea at present contains: it is equally certain that the different strata which compose the earth are parallel and horizontal, and it is evident their being in this situation is the operation of the waters which have collected and accumulated by degrees the different materials, and given them the same position as the water itself always assumes. We observe that the position of strata is almost universally horizontal: in plains it is exactly so, and it is only in the mountains that they are inclined to the horizon, from their having been originally formed by a sediment deposited upon an inclined base. Now I insist that these strata must have been formed by degrees, and not all at once, by any revolution whatever, because strata composed of heavy materials are very frequently found placed above light ones, which could not be, if, as some authors assert, the whole had been mixed with the waters at the time of the deluge, and afterwards precipitated; in that case everything must have had a very different appearance to that which now exists. The heaviest bodies would have descended first, and each particular stratum would have been arranged according to its weight and specific gravity, and we should not see solid rocks or metals placed above light sand any more than clay under coal.
We should also pay attention to another circumstance; it confirms what we have said on the formation of the strata; no other cause than the motions and sediments of water could possibly produce so regular a position of the strata; for the highest mountains are composed of parallel strata as well as the lowest plains, and therefore we cannot attribute the origin and formation of mountains to the shocks of earthquakes, or eruptions of volcanos. The small eminences which are sometimes raised by volcanos or convulsive motions of the earth are not by any means composed of parallel strata, they are a mere disordered heap of matters thrown confusedly together; but the horizontal and parallel position of the strata must necessarily proceed from the operations of a constant cause and motion always regulated and directed in the same uniform manner.
From repeated observations, and these incontrovertible facts, we are convinced that the dry part of the globe, which is now habitable, has remained for a long time under the waters of the sea, and consequently this earth underwent the same fluctuations and changes which the bottom of the ocean is at present actually undergoing. To discover therefore what formerly passed on the earth, let us examine what now passes at the bottom of the sea, and from thence we shall soon be enabled to draw rational conclusions with regard to the external form and internal composition of that which we inhabit.
From the creation the sea has constantly been subject to a regular flux and reflux: this motion, which raises and [lowers] the waters twice in every twenty-four hours, is principally occasioned by the action of the moon, and is much greater under the equator than in any other climates. The earth performs a rapid motion on its axis, and consequently has a centrifugal force, which is also the greatest at the equator; this latter, independent of actual observation, proves that the earth is not perfectly spherical, but that it must be more elevated under the equator than at the poles.
From these combined causes, the ebbing and flowing of the tides, and the motion of the earth, we may fairly conclude, that although the earth was a perfect sphere in its original form, yet its diurnal motion, together with the constant flux and reflux of the sea, must, by degrees, in thecourse of time, have raised the equatorial parts, by carrying mud, earth, sand, shells, etc. from other climes, and there depositing of them. Agreeable to this idea the greatest irregularities must be found, and, in fact, are found near the equator. Besides, as this motion of the tides is made by diurnal alternatives, and [has] been repeated, without interruption from the commencement of time, is it not natural to imagine, that each time the tide flows the water carries a small quantity of matter from one place to another, which may fall to the bottom like a sediment, and form those parallel and horizontal strata which are everywhere to be met with? For the whole motion of the water, in the flux and reflux being horizontal, the matters carried away with them will naturally be deposited in the same parallel direction.
It is therefore evident that the prodigious chains of mountains which run from the West to the East in the old continent, and from the North to the South in the new, must have been produced by the general motion of the tides; but the origin of all the inferior mountains must be attributed to the particular motions of currents, occasioned by the winds and other irregular agitations of the sea: they may probably have been produced by a combination of all those motions, which must be capable of infinite variations, since the winds and different positions of islands and coasts change the regular course of the tides, and compel them to flow in every possible direction: it is therefore not in the least astonishing that we should see considerable eminences whose courses have no determined direction. But it is sufficient for our present purpose to have demonstrated that mountains are not the produce of earthquakes, or other accidental causes, but that they are the effects resulting from the general order of nature, both as to their organization, and the position of the materials of which they are composed.
But how has it happened that this earth which we and our ancestors have inhabited for ages, which, from time immemorial, has been an immense continent, dry and removed from the reach of the waters, should, if formerly the bottom of the ocean, be actually larger than all the waters, and raised to such a height as to be distinctly separated from them? Having remained so long on the earth why have the waters now abandoned it? What accident, what cause could produce so great a change? Is it possible to conceive one possessed of sufficient power to produce such an amazing effect?
These questions are difficult to be resolved, but as the facts are certain and incontrovertible, the exact manner in which they happened may remain unknown, without prejudicing the conclusions that may be drawn from them; nevertheless by a little reflection we shall find at least plausible reasons for these changes. We daily observe the sea gaining ground on some coasts, and losing it on others; we know that the ocean has a continued regular motion from east to west; that it makes loud and violent efforts against the low lands and rocks which confine it; that there are whole provinces which human industry can hardly secure from the rage of the sea; but there are instances of islands rising above, and others being sunk under the waters. History speaks of much greater deluges and inundations. Ought not this to incline us to believe that the surface of the earth has undergone great revolutions, and that the sea may have quitted the greatest part of the earth which it formerly covered? Let us but suppose that the old and new worlds were formerly but one continent, and that the Atlantis of Plato, was sunk by a violent earthquake: the natural consequence would be, that the sea would necessarily have flowed in from all sides, and formed what is now called the Atlantic Ocean, leaving vast continents dry, and possibly those which we now inhabit. This revolution therefore might be made [suddenly] by the opening of some vast cavern in the interior part of the globe, which an universal deluge must inevitably succeed: or possibly this change was not effected at once but required a length of time, which I am rather inclined to think: however these conjectures may be, it is certain the revolution has occurred, and in my opinion very naturally, for to judge of the future, as well as the past, we must carefully attend to what daily happens before our eyes. It is a fact clearly established by repeated observations of travellers that the ocean has a constant motion from the east to west; this motion, like the trade winds, is not only felt between the tropics but also throughout the temperate climates, and as near the poles as navigators have gone; of course the Pacific Ocean makes a continual effort against the coasts of Tartary, China, and India: the Indian Ocean acts against the east coast of Africa, and the Atlantic in like manner against all the eastern coasts of America; therefore the sea must have always [gained land on the east and lost it on the west], and still continues to do so; and this alone is sufficient to prove the possibility of the change of earth into sea, and sea into land. If in fact, such are the effects of the sea’s motion from east to west, may we not very reasonably suppose that Asia and the eastern continent are the oldest countries in the world, and that Europe and part of Africa, especially the western coasts of these continents, as Great Britain, France, Spain, Mauritania, etc. are of a more modern date? Both history and physics agree in confirming this conjecture.
There are, however, many other causes which concur with the continual motion of the sea from east to west, in producing these effects.
In many places there are lands lower than the level of the sea, and which are only defended from it by an isthmus of rocks, or by banks and dikes of still weaker materials; these barriers must gradually be destroyed by the constant action of the sea, when the lands will be overflowed, and constantly make part of the ocean. Besides, are not mountains daily decreasing by the rains which loosen the earth, and carry it down into the valleys? It is also well known that floods wash the earth from the plains and high grounds into the small brooks and rivers, who in their turn convey into the sea. By these means the bottom of the sea is filling up by degrees, the surface of the earth lowering to a level, and nothing but time is necessary for the sea’s successively changing places with the earth.
I speak not here of those remote causes which stand above our comprehension; of those convulsions of nature, whose least effects would be fatal to the world; the near approach of a comet, the absence of the moon, the introduction of a new planet, etc. are suppositions on which it is easy to give scope to the imagination. Such causes would produce any effect we chose, and from a single hypothesis of this nature, a thousand physical romances might be drawn, any of which the authors might term Theory of the Earth. As historians we reject these vain speculations; they are mere possibilities which suppose the destruction of the universe, in which our globe, like a particle of forsaken matter, escapes our observation and is no longer an object worthy [of] regard; but to preserve consistency, we must take the earth as it is, closely observing every part and by inductions judge of the future from what exists at present; in other respects we ought not to be affected by causes which seldom happen, and whose effects are always sudden and violent; they do not occur in the common course of nature; but effects which are daily repeated, motions which succeed each other without interruption, and operations that are constant, ought alone to be the ground of our reasoning.
Translated by J. S. Barr, with emendations by P. R. Sloan
Reading and Discussion Questions
1.Buffon says that we cannot expect “exact demonstrations” in our study of the internal structure of the globe or its history. But why not?
2.From observations of the surface of the earth, what conclusions can we draw about both its interior and its history?
3.What mechanisms are at work in changing the surface of the earth? What does Buffon’s description of these mechanisms suggest about how old he takes the earth to be?
1See “Proofs ...,” art. 12. [Not included].