and afcends from all Parts of it†,† Part 3. or wash'd off by Land-floods, and Sect. 1. conveyed into Rivers and the Sea, Conf. 8. and thence elevated up, together with the Vapour, which, as the former, conftitutes the Rain that falls; I fay, it being thus originaly all rais'd from the Earth, when reftor'd back again thereunto, 'tis but where it was before, and does not enlarge the Dimensions of the Globe, or augment the Surface of the Earth, and only lye idley and unferviceably there, but Part of it is introduced into the Plants which grow thereon, for their Nutrition and Increment, and the rest, which is fuperfluous, either remounts again, with the af cending Vapour, as before, or is wafh'd down into Rivers, and tranfmitted into the Sea, and does not make any fenfible Addition to the Earth, whatever Some may have believ'd.

That the Terrestrial Matter, which is thus carry'd by Rivers down into the Sea, is fuftained therein, partly by the greater Craffitude and Gravi

ty
of the Sea-water and partly by
its conftant Agitation, occafion'd by
the Tides, and by its other Motions ;

and

and is not permitted to fink to the Bottom. Or, if any of it do, 'tis rais'd up again by the next Storm : and, being fupported in the Mafs of Water, together with the reft, 'tis by Degrees exhaled, mounted up with the Rain that rifes thence, and returned back again to the Earth in fruitul Showers. By this perpetual Circulation a great many Things in the Syftem of Nature are tranfacted and two main Intentions of Providence constantly promoted; the one a Difpenfation of Water promifcuoufly and indifferently to all Parts of the Earth, this being the immediate Agent that both bears the conftituent Matter to all formed Bodies, and, when brought to them, infinuates it in, and diftributes it unto the feveral Parts of thofe Bodies, for their Prefervation and Growth: the other, the keeping a juft Equilibrium, if I may fo fay, betwixt the Sea and Land; the Water, that was raised out of the Sea, for a Vehicle to this Matter, being by this Means refunded back again into it, and the Matter it felf reftored to its original Fund and Promptuary,

the

the Earth; whereby each is reftrained, and kept to due Bounds fo that the Sea may not encroach upon the Earth, nor the Earth gain Ground of the Sea. That there never were any Islands, or other like Parcels of Land, amaffed or heap'd up: nor any confiderable Inlargement, or Addition of Earth made to the Continent, by the Mud that is carryed down into the Sea by Rivers. That although the Ancients were almoft unanimoufly of Opinion that. thofe Parts, where Egypt now is, were formerly Sea and that a very large Portion of that Country was recent, and form'd out of the Mud discharg'd into the neighbouring Sea by the Nile, yet this Tract of Land had no fuch Rife, but is as old, and of as long a Standing, as any upon all the whole Continent of Africa: and hath been in much the fame natural Condition, that it is at this Day, ever fince the Time of the Deluge; its Shores being neither advanced one jot further into the Sea for this three or four thousand Years, nor its Surface raised by additional Mud depofed E upon

upon it by the yearly Inundations of the Nile. That neither the Palus Maotis, nor the Euxine, nor any other Seas, fill up, or by Degrees grow fhallower. That Salmydeffus, Themifeyra, Sidene, and the adjacent Countries, upon the Coafts of the Euxine Sea, were not formed out of the Mud brought down by the Ifter, Thermodon, Iris, and the other Rivers which discharge themselves into that Sea. That Theffaly was not raised out of the Mud born down by the River Peneus: the Islands Echinades, or Curzolari, out of that brought by the River Achelous: Cilicia, by the River Pyramus: Myfia, Lydia, Ionia, and other Countryes of Anatolia, by the Caicus, Hermus, Cayfter, and the other Rivers which pafs through them. To be fhort, That no Island or Country in the whole World was ever raifed by this Means, notwithstanding that very many Authors, and fome of confiderable Note, have believed that all the abovementioned Countryes were fo raised. Nay, to fo ftrange a Height of Extravagance do fome, otherwife Learned and Curious Per

fons

fons run, when they indulge Fancy too far, and rely wholey upon Probabilities and Conjectures, there is hardly any one fingle Ifland, or Country, all round the Globe, that one Writer or other hath not thought to have been formed after this Manner, or, at leaft, fome very large Part of it.

That there is no authentick Inftance of any confiderable Tract of Land, confifting, as ufual*, of Strataf, that was rais'd up from the Bottom of the Sea by an Earthquake, fo as to become an Island, and be render'd habitable. That Rhodus, Thera, Therafia, and feveral other Iflands, which were fuppofed by the Antients, and, upon their Authority, by later Authors, to have been thus raifed, had realy no fuch Original: but have flood out above Water as long as the reft of their Fellow Iflands, and ftand now just as the Univerfal Deluge left them.

E 2

* Conf. Part 2. Conf. 3. infra.

That

And not a confufed Heap of Cinders thrown forth of fome Vulcano, like that caft up, a few Years ago, in the Bay of Santorini; of which fee my Answer to the learned Camerarius, Part. 2. Sect. 8. Of the Origin of the Monte di Cinere fome. thing is noted towards the End of the 2d Part of this Elfay,