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

PREFACE

We should certainly be guilty of a gross absurdity if, in an age like the present, we were to enter into an elaborate discussion on the advantages to be derived from the study of Natural History; the ancients recommended it as useful, instructive, and entertaining; and the moderns have so far pursued and cultivated this first of sciences, that it is now admitted to be the source of universal instruction and knowledge; where every active mind may find subjects to amuse and delight, and the artist a never failing field to enrich his glowing imagination.

It would have been singular if, on such a subject, a number of authors had not submitted the produce of their observations and labour; many have written upon Natural Philosophy, but the Comte de Buffon stands eminently distinguished among them; he has entered into a minute investigation, and drawn numberless facts from unwearied observations far beyond any other, and this he has accomplished in a style fully accordant with the importance of his subject. Ray, Linnæus, Rheaumur, and other of his cotemporaries, deserve much credit for their classing of animals, vegetables, &c. but it was Buffon alone who entered into a description of their nature, habits, uses, and properties. In his Theory of the Earth he has displayed a wonderful ingenuity, and shewn the general order of Nature with a masterly hand, although he may be subject to some objections for preferring physical reasonings on general causes, rather than allowing aught to have arisen from supernatural agency, or the will of the Almighty. In this he has followed the example of all great philosophers, who seem unwilling to admit that the formation of any part of the Universe is beyond their comprehension.

As the works of this Author will best speak for themselves, we shall avoid unnecessary panegyric, hoping they will have received no material injury in the following translation; we shall therefore content ourselves with observing, that in our plan we have followed that adopted by the Comte himself in a latter edition, from which he exploded his long and minute treatises on anatomy and mensuration; though elegant and highly finished in themselves, they appeared to us of too abstruse and confined a nature for general estimation, and which we could not have gone into without almost doubling the expence; a circumstance we had to guard against, for the advantage of those of our readers to whom that part would have been totally uninteresting.

As to this edition, we presume it is no vain boast, that every exertion has been made to do justice to a work of such acknowledged merit. In the literary part, it has been the Proprietor's chief endeavour to preserve the spirit and accuracy of the Author, as far as could be done in translating from one language into another; and it is with gratitude he acknowledges, that those endeavours have been amply supported by the engraver; for the decorative executions of Milton will remain a lasting monument of his abilities, as long as delicacy in the arts is held in estimation.

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH

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 purpose 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 the heights, depths, 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, &c. 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.

The first hypothesis I shall allude to, deserves to be mentioned more for its ingenuity than its reasonable solidity; it is that of an English astronomer, (Whiston) versed in the system of Newton, and an enthusiastic admirer of his philosophy; convinced that every event which happens on the terrestrial globe, depends upon the motions of the stars, he endeavours to prove, by the assistance of mathematical calculations, that the tail of a comet has produced every alteration the earth has ever undergone.

The next is the formation of an heterodox theologician, (Burnet) whose brain was so heated with poetical visions, that he imagined he had seen the creation of the universe. After explaining what the earth was in its primary state, when it sprung from nothing; what changes were occasioned by the deluge; what it has been and what it is, he then assumes a prophetic style, and predicts what will be its state after the destruction of the human race.

The third comes from a writer (Woodward) certainly a better and more extensive observer of nature than the two former, though little less irregular and confused in his ideas; he explains the principal appearances of the globe, by an immense abyss in the bowels of the earth, which in his opinion is nothing more than a thin crust that serves as a covering to the fluid it incloses.

The whole of these hypotheses are raised on unstable foundations; have given no light upon the subject, the ideas being unconnected, the facts confused, and the whole confounded with a mixture of physic and fable; and consequently have been adopted only by those who implicitly believe opinions without investigation, and who, incapable of distinguishing probability, are more impressed with the wonders of the marvellous than the relation of truth.

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, gulphs, and volcanos; and upon the first view of these objects we cannot discover in their dispositions 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 sunk 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 produces fully sufficient for their subsistence; 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: every thing 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 above the eight 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, which opposing its natural tranquillity, 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.

By an examination of the bottom of the sea, we discover that to be fully as irregular as the surface of the earth; we there find hills and vallies, plains and cavities, rocks and soils of every kind: we there perceive that islands are only the summits of vast mountains, whose foundations are at the bottom of the Ocean; we also find other mountains whose tops are nearly on a level with the surface of the water, and rapid currents which run contrary to the general movement: they sometimes run in the same direction, at others, their motions are retrograde, but never exceeding their bounds, which appear to be as fixed and invariable as those which confine the rivers of the earth. In one part we meet with tempestuous regions, where the winds blow with irresistible fury, where the sea and the heavens equally agitated, join in contact with each other, are mixed and confounded in the general shock: in others, violent intestine motions, tumultuous swellings, water-spouts, and extraordinary agitations, caused by volcanos, whose mouths though a considerable depth under water, yet vomit fire from the midst of the waves, and send up to the clouds a thick vapour, composed of water, sulphur, and bitumen. Further we perceive dreadful gulphs or whirlpools, which seem to attract vessels, merely to swallow them up. On the other hand, we discover immense regions, totally opposite in their natures, always calm and tranquil, yet equally dangerous; where the winds never exert their power, where the art of the mariner becomes useless, and where the becalmed voyager must remain until death relieves him from the horrors of despair. In conclusion, if we turn our eyes towards the northern or southern extremities of the globe, we there perceive enormous flakes of ice separating themselves from the polar regions, advancing like huge mountains into the more temperate climes, where they dissolve and are lost to the sight.

Exclusive of these principal objects the vast empire of the sea abounds with animated beings, almost innumerable in numbers and variety. Some of them, covered with light scales, move with astonishing celerity; others, loaded with thick shells, drag heavily along, leaving their track in the sand; on others Nature has bestowed fins, resembling wings, with which they raise and support themselves in the air, and fly to considerable distances; while there are those to whom all motion has been denied, who live and die immoveably fixed to the same rock: every species, however, find abundance of food in this their native element. The bottom of the sea, and the shelving sides of the various rocks, produce great abundance of plants and mosses of different kinds; its soil is composed of sand, gravel, rocks, and shells; in some parts a fine clay, in others a solid earth, and in general it has a complete resemblance to the land which we inhabit.

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 chain 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 precisely, that the prominent angles of one mountain are always opposite to the concave angles of the neighbouring 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 the 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 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.

The sea shores are generally bounded with rocks, marble, and other hard stones, or by earth and sand which has accumulated by the waters from the sea, or been brought down by the rivers; and I observe that opposite coasts, separated only by an arm of the sea, are composed of similar materials, and the beds of the earth are exactly the same. Volcanos I find exist only in the highest mountains; that many of them are entirely extinct; that some are connected with others by subterraneous passages, and that their explosions frequently happen at one and the same time. There are similar correspondences between certain lakes and neighbouring seas; some rivers suddenly disappear, and seem to precipitate themselves into the earth. We also find internal, or mediterranean seas, constantly receiving an enormous quantity of water from a number of rivers without ever extending their bounds, most probably discharging by subterraneous passages all their superfluous supplies. Lands which have been long inhabited are easily distinguished from those new countries where the soil appears in a rude state, where the rivers are full of cataracts, where the earth is either overflowed with water, or parched up with drought, and where every spot upon which a tree will grow is covered with uncultivated woods.

Pursuing our examination in a more extensive view, we find that the upper strata that surrounds the globe, is universally the same. 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; or penetrating a little further, we find the real earth, beds of sand, lime-stone, argol, shells, marble, gravel, chalk, &c. 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, &c. 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 fish, marine plants, &c. are frequently found, and these shells, fish, 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 inclosed in rocks, masses of marble, lime-stone, as well as in earth 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, marls, clay, sand, and almost all terrestrial substances, wherever they may be placed, are filled with shells and other substances, the productions of 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 at 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, it 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 the same 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 every thing 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 it, 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 falls 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 then 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 the course of time, have raised the equatorial parts, by carrying mud, earth, sand, shells, &c. 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 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 every where 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.

But to this it may be said, that as the flux and reflux of the waters are equal and regularly succeed, two motions would counterpoise each other, and the matters brought by the flux would be returned by the reflux, and of course this cause for the formation of the strata must be chimerical; that the bottom of the sea could not experience any material alteration by two uniform motions, wherein the effects of the one would be regularly destroyed by the other; much less could they change the original form by the production of heights and inequalities.

To which it may be answered, that the alternate motions of the waters are not equal, the sea having a constant motion from the east to the west, besides, the agitation, caused by the winds, opposes and prevents the equality of the tides. It will also be admitted, that by every motion of which the sea is susceptible, particles of earth and other matters will be carried from one place and deposited in another; and these collections will necessarily assume the form of horizontal and parallel strata, from the various combinations of the motions of the sea always tending to move the earth, and to level these materials wherever they fall, in the form of a sediment. But this objection is easily obviated by the well-known fact, that upon all coasts, bordering the sea, where the ebbing and flowing of the tide is observed, the flux constantly brings in a number of things which the reflux does not carry back. There are many places upon which the sea insensibly gains and gradually covers over, while there are others from which it recedes, narrowing as it were its limits, by depositing earth, sands, shells, &c. which naturally take an horizontal position; these matters accumulate by degrees in the course of time, and being raised to a certain point gradually exclude the water, and so become part of the dry land for ever after.

But not to leave any doubt upon this important point, let us strictly examine into the possibility of a mountain's being formed at the bottom of the sea by the motions and sediments of the waters. It is certain that on a coast which the sea beats with violence during the agitation of its flow, that every wave must carry off some part of the earth; for wherever the sea is bounded by rocks, it is a plain fact that the water by degrees wears away those rocks, and consequently carries away small particles every time the waves retire; these particles of earth and stone will necessarily be transported to some distance, and being arrived where the agitation of the water is abated, and left to their own weight, they precipitate to the bottom in form of a sediment, and there form a first stratum, either horizontal or inclined, according to the position of the surface upon which they fall; this will shortly be covered by a similar stratum produced by the same cause, and thus will a considerable quantity of matter be almost insensibly collected together, and the strata of which will be placed, parallel to each other.