[ 13 ]
V. From the Differences of the conſtituent Matter; and of the Manner of its Coaleſcence, the Concrete aſſumes its various Qualities, as Smoothneſs, Denſity, Brightneſs, Tranſparency, and the like; and according as it is more pure and equal, the more does it partake, of theſe.
Parts of the Globe, made that almoſt infinite Variety to be found in the Subſtance of the Strata.
This original Structure of the Earth, however, we are not now to expect to find: the univerſal Deluge has made many and wonderful Alterations in it, which are now every where obvious to our Senſes, and are everlaſting Records of that fatal Cataſtrophe, of which the Earth, in the Condition we now ſee it, is but the Ruin.
There are many and inconteſtable Proofs, that the Surface of the Globe, to a Depth beyond what we ever dig, was, in the Time of that fatal Calamity, diſſolved and reduced nearly into the ſame Condition it was in at the Time of its original Formation: the ſtony, mineral, and even metalline, as well as earthy Matter: floating in the Waters that then covered it, in ſeparate Particles. Theſe, when the Tumult of that Immenſity of Waters began to ceaſe, were by the ſame Laws of Gravity again precipitated; and they ſubſided in Proportion to their different Weights; but this not in their original Purity, for the metalline and other heterogene Matter, nay and even extraneous Subſtances, the Shells of Sea Fiſhes, &c. if of about equal Gravity, ſubſided among the ſtony Matter amidſt which they were before ſuſpended, and made a Part of the Stratum that Precipitation formed: the lighter Matters, the Earths, Clays, &c. afterwards ſubſided into other Strata over theſe: and with them other extraneous Particles and Subſtances, of Gravities like theirs. Thus the preſent Surface of the Globe was formed, in Strata of different Kinds, and that again according to their different Gravities; except where the Motion of the Waters prevented this Regularity, by lodging ſometimes on lighter Strata already formed, other whole
