inundation or overflowing of the earth, either wholly or in part, by water.

We have several deluges recorded in history; as that of Oggyges, which overflowed almost all Attica; and that of Deucalion, which drowned all Thessaly in Greece; but the most memorable was that called the Universal Deluge or Noah's Flood, which overflowed and destroyed the whole earth; and from which only Noah, and those with him in the ark, escaped.

This flood makes one of the most considerable Era of the epochs in chronology. Its history is given by Moses, the deluge Gen. ch. vii. and viii. Its time is fixed, by the best chronologers, to the year from the creation 1656, answering to the year before Christ 2293. From this flood, the state of the world is divided into diluvian and antediluvian. See Antediluvians.

Among the many testimonies of the truth of this part of the Mosaic history, we may account the general voice of mankind at all times, and in all parts of the world. The objections of the free-thinkers have indeed principally turned upon three points, viz. 1. The want of any direct history of that event by the profane writers of antiquity; 2. the apparent impossibility of accounting for the quantity of water necessary to overflow the whole earth to such a depth as it is said to have been; and, 3. there appearing no necessity for an universal deluge, as the same end might have been accomplished by a partial one.

1. The former of these objections has given rise to several very elaborate treatises, though all that has yet been been done in this way has scarcely been able to silence the objectors. Mr Bryant, in his System of Mythology, has with great learning and considerable success endeavoured to show, that the deluge was one of the principal, if not the only foundation of the Gentile worship; that the first of all their deities was Noah; that all nations of the world look up to him as their founder; and that he, his sons, and the first patriarchs, are alluded to in most if not all of the religious ceremonies not only of the ancient but of the modern heathens. In short, according to this author, the deluge, so far from being forgot, or obscurely mentioned by the heathen world, is in reality conspicuous throughout every one of their acts of religious worship.

The Egyptian Osiris, according to him, was the same with Ham the son of Noah, though the name was sometimes bestowed on Noah himself. That this is the case, is evident, he thinks, from its being said that he was exposed in an ark, and afterwards restored to life; that he planted the vine, taught mankind agriculture, and inculcated upon them the maxims of religion and justice. Something of the same kind is related of Perseus. He is represented by some ancient historians as a great astronomer, and well versed in other sciences. After being conceived in a shower of gold, he was exposed in an ark upon the waters, and is said to have had a renewal of life.—The history of Myrma the amazon afford a kind of abridgment and mixture of the histories of Osiris and Perseus. Similar to these is the history of Hercules himself. But our author observes, that under the titles of Osiris, Perseus, Myrma, &c., the ancients spoke of the exploits of a whole nation, who were no other than the Cuthites or Cushites, the descendants of Cush the son of Ham and father of Nimrod. These people spread themselves into the most remote corners of the globe; and hence the heroes whom they represented are always set forth as concerning the whole world.—According to Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptian Osiris was the same with the Dionysus of the Greeks. He is said to have been twice born, and to have had two fathers and two mothers; to have been wonderfully preserved in an ark; to have travelled all over the earth; taught the use of the vine, to build, plant, &c. The Indians claim him as a native of their country, though some allow that he came from the west. Of Cronus and Astarte, it is said that they went over the whole earth, dispersing the countries as they pleased, and doing good wherever they came. The same is related of Uranus, Themis, Apollo, &c., though all their exploits are said to have been the effects of conquest, and their benevolence enforced by the sword. In a similar manner he explains the histories of other heroes of antiquity: and having thus, in the characters and history of the most celebrated personages, found traces of the history of Noah and his family, our author proceeds to inquire into the memorials of the deluge itself to be met with in the history or religious rites of the different nations of antiquity.

We may reasonably suppose (says he), that the particulars of this extraordinary event would be gratefully commemorated by the patriarch himself, and transmitted to every branch of his family; that they were made the subject of domestic converse, where the history was often renewed, and ever attended with a reverential awe and horror, especially in those who had been witnesses to the calamity, and had experienced the hand of Providence in their favour. In processes of time, when there was a falling off from the truth, we might farther expect, that a person of so high a character as Noah, so particularly distinguished by the Deity, could not fail of being reverenced by his posterity; and, when idolatry prevailed, that he would be one of the first among the sons of men to whom divine honours would be paid. Lastly, we might conclude, that these memorials would be interwoven in the mythology of the Gentile world; and that there would be continual allusions to these ancient occurrences in the rites and mysteries as they were practised by the nations of the earth. In conformity to these suppositions, I shall endeavour to show that these things did happen; that the history of the deluge was religiously preserved in the first ages; that every circumstance of it is to be met with among the historians and mythologists of different countries; and traces of it are to be found particularly in the sacred rites of Egypt and of Greece.

"It will appear from many circumstances in the various more ancient writers, that the great patriarch was highly reverenced by his posterity. They looked up to him as a person highly favoured by heaven; and honoured him with many titles, each of which had a reference to some particular part of his history. They styled him Prometheus, Deucalion, Atlas, Theuth, Zeth, Xuthus, Inachus, Osiris. When there began to be a tendency towards idolatry, and the adoration of the sun was introduced by the posterity of Ham, the title of Helius, among others, was conferred upon him. They called him also Men and Men, which is the moon. When colonies went abroad, many took to themselves the title of Minyade and Minye from him; just as others were denominated Achaemenidae, Aurite, Heliade, from the sun. People of the former name are to be found in Arabia and in other parts of the world. The natives at Orchomenos were styled Minye, as were some of the inhabitants of Thessaly. Noah was the original Zeus and Dios. He was the planter of the vine, and inventor of fermented liquors: whence he was denominated Zeth, which signifies ferment, rendered Zeus by the Greeks. He was also called Dionysus, interpreted by the Latins Bacchus, but very improperly. Bacchus was Chus the grandson of Noah; as Ammon may in general be esteemed Ham, so much reverenced by the Egyptians.

Among the people of the east, the true name of the patriarch was preserved; they called him Nous, Naus, and sometimes contracted Nous; and many places of sanctity, as well as rivers, were denominated from him. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae had obtained some knowledge of him in Egypt. By him the patriarch was denominated Nous or Nous; and both he and his disciples were sensible that this was a foreign appellation; notwithstanding which he has acted as if it had been a term of the Greek language. Eusebius informs us, that the disciples of Anaxagoras say, 'that Nous is by interpretation, the deity Dis or Dios; and they likewise esteem Nous the same as Prometheus, because he was the renewer of mankind, and was said to have fashioned them again,' after they had... Deluge had been in a manner extinct. After this, however, he gives a solution of the story upon the supposition that Nous is the same with the Greek word νοῦς the mind; that "the mind was Prometheus;" and Prometheus was said to renew mankind, from new forming their minds, and leading them, by cultivation, from ignorance.

"Suidas has preserved, from some ancient author, a curious memorial of this wonderful personage, whom he affects to distinguish from Deucalion, and styles Nannacus. According to him, this Nannacus was a person of great antiquity, and prior to the time of Deucalion. He is said to have been a king, who, foreseeing the approaching deluge, collected everybody together, and led them to a temple, where he offered up his prayers for them, accompanied with many tears. There is likewise a proverbial expression about Nannacus applied to people of great antiquity.

"Stephanus gives great light to this history, and supplies many deficiencies. 'The tradition is (says he), that there was one formerly named Annacus, the extent of whose life was above 300 years. The people who were of his neighbourhood and acquaintance had inquired of an oracle how long he was to live; and there was an answer given, that when Annacus died, all mankind would be destroyed. The Phrygians, upon this account, made great lamentations, from whence arose the proverb Ἀννάκους ἀναπνέειν, the lamentation for Annacus, made use of for people or circumstances highly calamitous. When the flood of Deucalion came, all mankind were destroyed, according as the oracle had foretold. Afterwards, when the surface of the earth began to be again dry, Zeus ordered Prometheus and Minerva to make images of clay in the form of men; and, when they were finished, he called the winds, and made them breathe into each, and render them vital.'

From these histories Mr Bryant concludes as follows: "However the story may have been varied, the principal outlines plainly point out the person who is alluded to in these histories. It is, I think, manifest, that Annacus, and Nannacus, and even Inacus, relate to Noachus or Noah. And not only these, but the histories of Dencalion and Prometheus have a like reference to the patriarch; in the 600th year, and not the 300th, of whose life the waters prevailed upon the earth. He was the father of mankind, who were renewed in him. Hence he is represented by another author, under the character of Prometheus, as a great artist, by whom men were formed anew, and were instructed in all that was good.

"Noah was the original Cronus and Zeus; though the latter is a title conferred sometimes upon his son Ham. There is a very particular expression recorded by Clemens of Alexandria, and attributed to Pythagoras, who is said to have called the sea the tear of Cronus; and there was a farther tradition concerning this person, that he drank, or swallowed, up all his children. The tears of Isis are represented as very mysterious. They are said to have flowed whenever the Nile began to rise, and to flood the country. The overflowing of that river was the great source of affluence to the people, and they looked upon it as their chief blessing; yet it was ever attended with mystical tears and lamentations. This was particularly observed at Coptos, where the principal deity was Isis. An ancient writer imagines that the tears and lamentations of the people were to implore an inundation; and the tears of Isis were supposed to make the river swell. But all this was certainly said and done in memorial of a former flood, of which they made the overflowing of the Nile a type.

"As the patriarch was by some represented as a king called Nauchus and Naucurus; so by others he was styled Inachus, and supposed to have reigned at Argos. Hence Inachus was made a king of Greece; and Phoroneus and Apis brought in succession after him. But Inachus was not a name of Grecian original: it is mentioned by Eusebius, in his account of the first ages, that there reigned in Egypt Telegonus, a prince of foreign extraction, who was the son of Oen the shepherd, and the seventh in descent from Inachus. And in the same author we read, that a colony went forth from that country into Syria, where they founded the ancient city of Antioch; and that they were conducted by Cautes and Belus, who were sons of Inachus. By Inachus is certainly meant Noah: and the history relates to some of the more early descendants of the patriarch. His name has been rendered very unlike itself, by having been lengthened with terminations, and likewise fashioned according to the idiom of different languages. But the circumstances of the history are so precise and particular, that we cannot mis the truth.

"He seems in the east to have been called Noas, Noasius, Nufus, and Nus; and by the Greeks his name was compounded Dionysus. The Amonians, wherever they came, founded cities to his honour; hence places called Nusa will often occur; and indeed a great many of them are mentioned by ancient authors. These, though widely distant, being situated in countries far removed, yet retained the same original histories; and were generally famous for the plantation of the vine. Misled by this similarity of traditions, people in after times imagined that Dionysus must necessarily have been where his history occurred; and as it was the turn of the Greeks to place every thing to the account of conquest, they made him a great conqueror, who went over the face of the whole earth, and taught mankind the plantation of the vine. We are informed, that Dionysus went with an army over the face of the whole earth, and taught mankind, as he passed along, the method of planting the vine, and how to press out the juice, and receive it in proper vessels. Though the patriarch is represented under various titles, and even these not always uniformly appropriated; yet there will continually occur such peculiar circumstances of his history as will plainly point out the person referred to. The person referred is always mentioned as preserved in an ark. He is described as being in a state of darkness, which is represented allegorically as a state of death. He then obtains a new life, which is called a second birth; and is said to have his youth renewed. He is, on this account, looked upon as the first-born of mankind; and both his antediluvian and postdiluvian states are commemorated, and sometimes the intermediate state is also spoken of. Diodorus calls him Deucalion; but describes the deluge as in a manner universal. "In the deluge which happened in the time of Deucalion, almost all flesh died." Apollodorus having mentioned Deucalion as being consigned to the ark, takes notice, upon his quitting it, of his offering up an immediate sacrifice to the God who delivered him. As he was the father of all mankind, the ancients have made him a person of very extensive rule; and supposed him to have been a king. Sometimes he is described as a monarch of the whole earth; at other times he is reduced to a petty king of Thessaly. He is mentioned by Hellenias in this latter capacity; who speaks of the deluge in his time, and of his building altars to the gods. Apollonius Rhodius supposes him to have been a native of Greece, according to the common notion; but notwithstanding his prejudices, he gives so particular a character of him, that the true history cannot be mistaken. He makes him indeed the son of Prometheus, the son of Japetus; but in these ancient mythological accounts all genealogy must be entirely disregarded. Though this character be not precisely true, yet we may learn that the person represented was the first of men, through whom religious rites were renewed, cities built, and civil polity established in the world: none of which circumstances are applicable to any king of Greece. We are assured by Philo, that Deucalion was Noah; and the Chaldeans likewise mentioned him by the name of Xifuthrus, as we are informed by Cedrenus.

"That Deucalion was unduly adjudged by the people of Thessaly to their country solely, may be proved from his name occurring in different parts of the world, and always accompanied with some history of the deluge. The natives of Syria laid the same claim to him. He was supposed to have founded the temple at Hierapolis, where was a chasm through which the waters after the deluge were said to have retreated. He was likewise reported to have built the temple of Jupiter at Athens; where there was a cavity of the same nature, and a like tradition, that the waters of the flood passed off through this aperture. However groundless the notions may be of the waters having retreated through these pallages, yet they show what impressions of this event were retained by the Amonians, who introduced some history of it wherever they came. As different nations succeeded one another in these parts, and time produced a mixture of generations, they varied the history, and modelled it according to their notions and traditions; yet the groundwork was always true, and the event for a long time universally commemorated. Josephus, who seems to have been a person of extensive knowledge, and versed in the histories of nations, says, that this great occurrence was to be met with in the writings of all persons who treated of the first ages. He mentions Berolus of Chaldea, Heronymus of Egypt, who wrote concerning the antiquities of Phenicia; also Almageas, Abdenus, Melon, and Nicolaus Damascenus, as writers by whom it was recorded; and adds, that it was taken notice of by many others.

Among the eastern nations, the traces of this event are more vivid and determinate than those of Greece, and more conformable to the accounts of Moses. Eusebius has preserved a most valuable extract to this purpose from Abdenus; which was taken from the archives of the Medes and Babylonians. This writer speaks of Noah, whom he names Seifithrus, as a king; and says, that the flood began upon the 15th day of the month Delius; that during the prevalence of the waters, Seifithrus sent out birds, that he might judge if the flood had returned; but that the birds, not finding any resting place, returned to him again. This was repeated three times; when the birds were found to return with their feet stained with soil; by which he knew that the flood was abated. Upon this he quitted the ark, and was never more seen of men, being taken away by the gods from the earth. Abdenus concludes with a particular, in which the eastern writers are unanimous; that the place of descent from the ark was in Armenia, and speaks of its remains being preserved for a long time. Plutarch mentions the Noachic dove, and its being sent out of the ark. But the most particular history of the deluge, and the nearest of any to the account given by Moses, is to be found in Lucian. He was a native of Samotata, a city of Comagene, upon the Euphrates, a part of the world where memorials of the deluge were particularly preserved, and where a reference to that history was continually kept up in the rites and worship of the country. His knowledge therefore was obtained from the Asiatic nations among whom he was born, and not from his kinsmen the Helladians, who were far inferior in the knowledge of ancient times. He describes Noah under the name of Deucalion; and says, "that the present race of mankind are different from those who first existed; for those of the antediluvian world were all destroyed. The present world is peopled from the sons of Deucalion; having increased to so great a number from one person. In respect to the former brood, they were men of violence, and lawless in their dealings. They regarded not oaths, nor observed the rights of hospitality, nor showed mercy to those who sued for it. On this account they were doomed to destruction: and for this purpose there was a mighty eruption of waters from the earth, attended with heavy showers from above; so that the rivers swelled, and the sea overflowed, till the whole earth was covered with a flood, and all flesh drowned. Deucalion alone was preserved to repeople the world. This mercy was shown to him on account of his piety and justice. His preservation was effected in this manner: He put all his family, both his sons and their wives, into a vast ark which he had provided, and he went into it himself. At the same time animals of every species, boars, horses, lions, serpents, whatever lived upon the face of the earth, followed him by pairs; all which he received into the ark, and experienced no evil from them; for there prevailed a wonderful harmony throughout, by the immediate influence of the Deity. Thus were they wafted with him as long as the flood endured." After this he proceeds to mention, that, upon the disappearance of the waters, Deucalion went forth from the ark, and raised an altar to God; but he transposes the scene to Hierapolis in Syria, where the natives pretended, as has been already mentioned, to have very particular memorials of the deluge.

Most of the authors who have transmitted to us remains of these accounts, at the same time inform us, that the remains of the ark were to be seen in their days on one of visible. Deluge. Abydenus particularly says, in confirmation of this opinion, that the people of the country used to get small pieces of the wood, which they carried about by way of amulet. And Berossus mentions, that they scraped off the asphaltus with which it was covered, and used it as a charm. Some of the fathers seem to insist on the certainty of the ark being still remaining in their time. Theophilus says expressly, that the remains were to be seen upon the mountains of Aram, or Armenia. And Chrysostom appeals to it as to a thing well known. "Do not (says he) those mountains of Armenia bear witness to the truth? those mountains where the ark first rested? And are not the remains of it preserved there even unto this day?"

"There was a custom among the priests of Amon, of carrying a boat in procession at particular seasons, in which was an oracular shrine held in great veneration. They were said to have been 80 in number, and to have carried the sacred vessel about just as they were directed by the impulse of the Deity. This custom was likewise in use among the Egyptians; and Bishop Pocock has preserved three specimens of ancient sculpture, wherein this ceremony is displayed. They are of wonderful antiquity, and were found by him in Upper Egypt.

Part of the ceremony in most of the ancient mysteries consisted in carrying about a ship or boat; which custom, upon due examination, will be found to relate to nothing else but Noah and the deluge. The ship of Isis is well known, and the festivity among the Egyptians whenever it was carried in public. The name of this, and of all the nautical shrines, was Baris; which is remarkable; for it was the very name of the mountain, according to Nicolaus Damascenus, on which the ark of Noah rested, the same as Ararat in Armenia. He mentions, that there is a large mountain in Armenia, which stands above the country of the Minya, called Baris; to this it was said that many people betook themselves in the time of the deluge, and were saved; and there is a tradition of one person in particular floating in an ark, and arriving at the summit of the mountain. We may be assured then, that the ship of Isis was a sacred emblem; in honour of which there was among the Egyptians an annual festival. It was in after times admitted among the Romans, and set down in their calendar for the month of March. The former, in their description of the primary deities, have continually some reference to a ship or float. Hence we frequently read of θεοὶ ναυτικοὶ (failing gods). They oftentimes, says Porphyry, describe the sea in the character of a man sailing upon a float. And Plutarch observes to the same purpose, that they did not represent the sun and the moon in chariots, but sailed about upon floating machines. In doing which they did not refer to the luminaries, but to a person represented under those titles. The sun, or Orus, is likewise described by Jamblichus as fitting upon the lotus, and sailing in a vessel.

It is said of Sesostris, that he constructed a ship which was 280 cubits in length. It was of cedar, plated without with gold, and inlaid with silver; and it was, when finished, dedicated to Osiris at Thebes. It is not credible that there should have been a ship of this size, especially in an inland district, the most remote of any in Egypt. It was certainly a temple and a shrine. The former was framed upon this large scale; and it was the latter on which the gold and silver were so lavishly expended. There is a remarkable circumstance relating to the Argonautic expedition; that the dragon slain by Jason was of the size of a trireme; by which must be meant, that it was of the shape of a ship in general, for there were no triremes at the time alluded to. And I have moreover shown, that all these dragons, as they have been represented by the poets, were in reality temples, Draconia; where, among other rites, the worship of the serpent was instituted. There is therefore reason to think, that this temple, as well as that of Sesostris, was fashioned, in respect to its superficial contents, after the model of a ship; and as to the latter, it was probably intended, in its outlines, to be the exact representation of the ark, in commemoration of which it was certainly built. It was a temple sacred to Osiris at Theba; or, to say the truth, it was itself called Theba; and both the city, said to be one of the most ancient in Egypt, as well as the province, was undoubtedly denominated from it. Now Theba was the name of the ark. It is the very word made use of by the sacred writer; so that we may, I think, be assured of the prototype after which this temple was fashioned. It is said indeed to have been only 280 cubits in length; whereas the ark of Noah was 300. But this is a variation of only one-fifteenth in the whole; and as the ancient cubit was not in all countries the same, we may suppose that this disparity arose rather from the manner of measuring than from any real difference in the extent of the building. It was an idolatrous temple, said to have been built by Sesostris in honour of Osiris. I have been repeatedly obliged to take notice of the ignorance of the Greeks in respect to ancient titles, and have shown their misapplication of terms in many instances; especially in their supposing temples to have been erected by persons to whom they were in reality sacred. Sesostris was Osiris; the same as Dionysus, Menes, and Noah. He is called Seshibra by Abydenus; Xixouthros by Berolius and Apollodorus; and is represented by them as a prince in whose time the deluge happened. He was called Zeb, Xub, and Zeus; and had certainly divine honours paid him.

Paufanias gives a remarkable account of a temple Other emblems of Hercules at Eruthra in Ionia; which he mentions blematical as of the highest antiquity, and very like those representations existing in Egypt. The deity was represented upon a float, and was supposed to have come thither in this manner from Phenicia. Aristides mentions, that at Smyrna, upon the feast called Dionysia, a ship used to be carried in procession. The same custom prevailed among the Athenians at the Panathenaia; when what was termed the sacred ship was borne with great reverence through the city to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. At Phalerus, near Athens, there were honours paid to an unknown hero, who was represented in the stern of a ship. At Olympia, the most sacred place in Greece, was a representation of the like nature. It was a building like the fore-part of a ship, which stood facing the end of the Hippodromus; and towards the middle of it was an altar, upon which, at the renewal of each Olympiad, certain rites were performed.

I think it is pretty plain that all these emblematic... tical representations, of which I have given so many instances, related to the history of the deluge, and the conservation of one family in the ark. This history was pretty recent when these works were executed in Egypt, and when the rites were first established; and there is reason to think, that in early times most shrines of the Mizraim were formed under the resemblance of a ship, in memory of this great event. Nay, farther, both ships and temples received their names from thence; being styled by the Greeks, who borrowed largely from Egypt, Ναῦς and Ναός, and mariners Ναυται, Ναύται, in reference to the patriarch, who was variously styled Ναοῦς, Νοῦς, and Νοὰς.

"However the Greeks may, in their mysteries, have sometimes introduced a ship as a symbol, yet in their references to the deluge itself, and to the persons preserved, they always speak of an ark. And though they were apt to mention the same person under various titles, and by these means different people seem to be made principals in the same history; yet they were so far uniform in their account of this particular event, that they made each of them to be exposed in an ark. Thus it is said of Deucalion, Perseus, and Dionysus, that they were exposed upon the waters in a machine of this fabric. Adonis was hid in an ark by Venus, and was supposed to have been in a state of death for a year. Theocritus introduces a pastoral personage named Comates, who was exposed in an ark for the same term, and wonderfully preserved. Of Osiris being exposed in an ark we have a very remarkable account in Plutarch; who mentions, that it was on account of Typhon, and that it happened on the 17th of the month Athyr, when the sun was in Scorpio. This, in my judgment, was the precise time when Noah entered the ark, and when the flood came, which, in the Egyptian mythology, was called Typhon.

"Typhon is one of those whose character has been greatly confounded. This has arisen from two different personages being included under one name, who undoubtedly were distinguished in the language of Egypt. Typhon was a compound of Toph or Tuphaon; and signified an high altar of the Deity. There were several such in Egypt, upon which they offered human sacrifices; and the cities which had these altars were styled Typhonian. But there was another Typhon, who was very different from the former, however by mistake blended with that character. By this was signified a mighty whirlwind and inundation; and it oftentimes denoted the ocean; and particularly the ocean in a ferment. For, as Plutarch observes, by Typhon was understood any thing violent and unruly. It was a derivative from Toph, like the former name; which Toph seems here to have been the same as the Suph of the Hebrews. By this they denoted a whirlwind; but among the Egyptians it was taken in a greater latitude, and signified any thing boisterous, particularly the sea. Plutarch speaks of it as denoting the sea; and says likewise, that the salt of the sea was called the foam of Typhon. It signified also a whirlwind, as we learn from Euripides, who expresses it Tuphos; and the like is to be found in Hesychius, who calls it a violent wind.

"The history of Typhon was taken from hieroglyphical descriptions. In these the dove, oinais, was represented as hovering over the mundane egg, which was exposed to the fury of Typhon: For an egg, containing in it the elements of life, was thought no improper emblem of the ark, in which were preserved the rudiments of the future world. Hence in the Dionysiaca, and in other mysteries, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. By this, as we are informed by Porphyry, was signified the world. This world was Noah and his family; even all mankind, inclosed and preserved in the ark.

"In respect to Typhon, it must be confessed that the history given of him is attended with some obscurity. The Grecians have comprehended several characters under one term, which the Egyptians undoubtedly distinguished. The term was used for a title as well as a name; and several of those personages which had a relation to the deluge were styled Typhonian or Diluvian. All these the Grecians have included under one and the same name Typhon. The real deity by whom the deluge was brought upon the earth had the appellation of Typhonian, by which was meant Diluvii Deus (a). It is well known that the ark was constructed by a divine commission; in which, when it was completed, God inclosed the patriarch and his family. Hence it is said, that Typhon made an ark of curious workmanship, that he might dispose of the body of Osiris. Into this Osiris entered, and was shut up by Typhon. All this relates to the Typhonian deity who inclosed Noah, together with his family, within the limits of an ark. The patriarch also, who was thus interested in the event, had the title of Typhonian. I have shown that the ark by the mythologists was spoken of as the mother of mankind. The stay in the ark was looked upon as a state of death and of regeneration. The passage to life was through the door of the ark, which was formed in its side. Through this the patriarch made his descent; and at this point was the commencement of time. This history is obscurely alluded to in the account of Typhon; of whom it is said, that without any regard to time or place, he forced a passage and burst into light obliquely through the side of his mother. This return to light was described as a revival from the grave; and Plutarch accordingly mentions the return of Osiris from Hades, after he had been for a long season inclosed in an ark and in a state of death. This renewal of life was by the Egyptians esteemed a second state of childhood. They accordingly, in their hieroglyphics, described him as a boy, whom they placed upon the lotos or water-lily, and called him Orus. He was the supposed son of Isis; but it has been shown that Isis, Rhea, Atargatis, were all emblems of the ark, that receptacle which was styled the mother of mankind. Orus is represented as undergoing from the Titans all that Osiris suffered from Typhon; and the history at bottom is the same. Hence it is said

(a) "Plutarch owns that the Egyptians in some instances esteemed Typhon to be no other than Helius the chief deity; and they were in the right, though he will not allow it." Deluge, that she had the power of making people immortal; and that when she found her son Orus, in the midst of the waters, dead through the malice of the Titans, she not only gave him a renewal of life, but also conferred upon him immortality."

In this manner does our author decypher almost all the ancient fables of which no satisfactory solution was ever given before. He shows that the primitive gods of Egypt, who were in number eight, were no other than the eight persons saved in the ark; that almost all the heathen deities had one way or other a reference to Noah. He shows that he was characterized under the titles of Janus, Nereus, Proteus, Oannes, Dagon, &c., &c., and in short, that the deluge, so far from being unknown to the heathens, or forgot by them, was in a manner the basis of the whole of their worship. He traces the history of the raven and dove sent forth by Noah in the customs of various nations, not only in the east but the west also. Of the numberless testimonies of the truth of this part of sacred history to be met with among the western nations, however, we shall select one more, which is an ancient coin usually known by the name of the Apamean medal. "The learned Falconerius (says Mr Bryant) has a curious dissertation upon a coin of Philip the Elder, which was struck at Apamea (8), and contained on its reverse an epitome of this history. The reverse of most Asiatic coins relate to the religion and mythology of the places where they were struck. On the reverse of this coin is delineated a kind of square machine floating upon water. Through an opening in it are seen two persons, a man and a woman, as low as the breast; and upon the head of the woman is a veil. Over this ark is a triangular kind of pediment, on which there sits a dove; and below it another, which seems to flutter its wings, and hold in its mouth a small branch of a tree. Before the machine is a man following a woman, who by their attitude seem to have just quitted it, and to have got upon dry land. Upon the ark itself, underneath the persons there inclosed, is to be read in distinct characters, ΝΩΕ. The learned editor of this account says, that it had fallen to his lot to meet with three of these coins. They were of brafs, and of the medallion size. One of them he mentions to have seen in the collection of the Duke of Tuscany; the second in that of the Cardinal Ottoboni; and the third was the property of Augustino Chigi, nephew to Pope Alexander VII."

Not content with these testimonies, however, which are to be met with in the western regions, or at least in those not very far to the eastward, our author shows that "the same mythology (of the Egyptians), and the same hieroglyphics, were carried as far as China and Japan; where they are to be found at this day. The Indians have a person whom they call Buto or Budo. This is the same as Boutus of Egypt, Battus of Cyrene, and Boeotus of Greece. The account given of him is similar to that of Typhon; for it is said that he did not come to life in the usual way, but made himself a passage through the side of his mother; which mother is represented as a virgin. This history, though now current among the Indians, is of great antiquity, as we may learn from the account given of this personage by Clemens Alexandrinus. 'There is a cast of Indians (says he) who are disciples of Boutas. This person, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they look up to as a god.' The name of Boutas, Battus, and Boeotus, though apparently conferred upon the patriarch, yet originally related to the machine in which he was preserved. Of this some traces may be found among the Greeks. One of the Amonian names for the ark were Aren and Arene; and Boeotus is said by Diodorus Siculus to have been the son of Neptune and Arne, which is a contraction of arene the ark. The chief city, Boutus in Egypt, where was the floating temple, signified properly the city of the float or ark. The Boeotians, who in the Dionysiacs so particularly commemorated the ark, were supposed to be descended from an imaginary personage, Boutus; and from him likewise their country was thought to have received its name. But Boeotus was merely a variation from Boutus, and Butus, the ark; which in ancient times was indifferently styled Theba, Argus, Aren, Butus, and Boeotus. The term Cibotus is a compound of the same purport, and signifies both the temple of the ark and also a place for shipping.

"All the mysteries of the Gentile world seem to have been memorials of the deluge, and of the event which immediately succeeded. They confined for the most part of a melancholy process; and were celebrated by night in commemoration of the state of darkness in which the patriarch and his family had been involved. The first thing at those awful meetings was to offer an oath of secrecy to all who were to be initiated; after which they proceeded to the ceremonies. These began with a description of chaos: by which was figured some memorial of the deluge. Chaos was certainly the name as Buthos, the great abyss. Who, says Epiphanius, is so ignorant as not to know, that Chaos and Buthos, the abyss, are of the same purport?"

"The names of the deities in Japan and China, and the form of them, as well as the mythology with which they are attended, point out the country from whence they originally came. In China the deity upon the lotos in the midst of waters has been long a favourite emblem, and was imported from the west. The image of the dragon was from the same quarter. The Cuthites worshipped Cham, the sun; whose name they variously compounded. In China most things which have any reference to splendor and magnificence, seem to be denominated from the same object. Cham is said, in the language of that country, to signify anything supreme. Cum is a fine building or palace, similar to Coma of the Amonians. Cum is lord or master; Cham a sceptre. Lastly, by Cham is signified a priest, analogous to the Chamanim and Chamenim of Cutha and Babylonia. The country itself is by the Tartars called Ham. The cities Cham-ju, Campion, Comption, Cumdan, Chamul, and many others of the same form, are manifestly compounded of the sacred term Cham. Cambalu, the name of the ancient metropolis,

(e) Our author had before shown that the ancient name of Apamea was Cibotus, one of the names of the ark. Deluge, is the city of Cham-bal; and Milton styles it very properly Camwul, seat of Cathaian Chan. By this is meant the chief city of the Cuthean monarch; for Chan is a derivative of Cahen, a prince. It seems sometimes in China and Japan to have been expressed Quan and Quano.

Two temples are taken notice by Hamilton, near Syrian in Pegu, which he represents as so like in structure, that they seem to be built on the same model. One of these was called Kiakiack, or the God of Gods temple. The other is called the temple of Dagun; and the doors and windows of it are perpetually shut, so that none can enter but the priests. They will not tell of what shape the idol is, but only say that it is not of a human form. The former deity, Kiakiack, is represented as asleep, of a human shape, and 60 feet long; and when he awakes, the world is to be destroyed. As soon as Kiakiack has dissolved the frame and being of this world, Dagun will gather up the fragments, and make a new one. I make no doubt but the true name of the temple was Jach-Jach, and dedicated to the same god as the Jachufi in Japan. Mr. Wise takes notice of the Grecian exclamation to Dionysus, when the terms Jacbe, O Jacbe, were repeated: and he supposes, with great probability, that the Peguan name had a reference to the same deity. It is certain, that the worship of Dionysus prevailed very early among the nations in the east. The Indians used to maintain, that his rites first began among them. Professor Bayler has shown, that traces of his worship are still to be observed among the Tamuli of Tranquebar. They have a tradition (says he), that there was once a gigantic person named Agaidajhuren, who was born at Nifadabura near the mountain Meru. He had the horns of a bull, and drank wine and made war upon the gods. He was attended by eight Pudam, who were gigantic and mischievous demons, of the family of those Indian shepherds called Kobaler. In this account we have a manifest reference to the history of Dionysus, as well as that of the Dionilians, by whom his rites were introduced. And we may perceive, that it bears a great resemblance to the accounts transmitted by the Grecians. What are these Kobaler, who were descended from the shepherds, but the same as the Cobali of Greece, the uniform attendants upon Dionysus? A set of priests whose cruelty and chicaneery rendered them infamous. The Cobali (says an ancient author) were a set of cruel demons, who followed in the retinue of Dionysus. It is a term made use of for knaves and cheats.

As the deity, in the second temple of Syrian, to which strangers were not admitted, was not of a human form, and was called Dagun, we may easily conceive the hidden character under which he was described. We may conclude, that it was no other than that mixed figure of a man and a fish, under which he was of old worshipped both in Palestine and Syria. He is expressed under this symbolical representation in many parts of India; and, by the Brahmans, is called Vishnou or Visnou. Dagun and Vishnou have a like reference. They equally represent the man of the sea, called by Berolus Cames; whose history has been reverenced by the Indians. They suppose that he will restore the world, when it shall be destroyed by the chief God. But by Dagun is signified the very person thro' whom the earth has been already restored when it was in a state of ruin; and by whom mankind was renewed. Dagon and Noah I have shown to be the same Vishnou is represented, like Dagon, under the mixed figure of a man and a fish, or rather of a man, a princely figure, proceeding from a fish. The name of this district, near which the temples above stand, we find to be called Syrian; just as was named the region where stood the temples of Atargatus and Dagon. Syrians, Syria, and Syrian, are all of the same purport, and signify Coelctis and Solaris, from Sebor, the sun.

Our author next proceeds to describe some of the Indian temples or pagodas; particularly those of Salsette, Eliphanta, and another called Elora near Aurangabad in the province of Balaghat, which was visited by Thévenot. That traveller relates, that "upon making diligent inquiry among the natives about the origin of these wonderful buildings, the constant tradition was, that all these pagodas, great and small, with all their works and ornaments, were made by giants; but in what age they could not tell."

Many of these ancient structures (continues Mr. Bryant) have been attributed to Ramcander, or Alexander the Great; but there is nothing among these flatly edifices that in the least favours of Grecian workmanship; nor had that monarch, nor any of the princes after him, opportunity to perform works of this nature. We have not the least reason to think that they ever possessed the country; for they were called off from their attention this way by feuds and engagements nearer home. There is no tradition of this country having been ever conquered except by the fabulous armies of Hercules and Dionysus. What has led people to think that these works were the operation of Alexander, is the similitude of the name Ramcander. To this person they have sometimes been attributed; but Ramcander was a deity, the supposed son of Bal; and he is introduced among the personages who were concerned in the incarnations of Vishnou.

The temple of Elora, and all the pagodas of which I have made mention, must be of great antiquity, as the natives cannot reach their era. They were undoubtedly the work of the Indo-Cuthites, who came so early into these parts. And that these structures were formed by them, will appear from many circumstances; but especially from works of the same magnificence which were performed by them in other places. For scarce anyone could have effected such great works, but a branch of that family which erected the tower in Babylonia, the walls of Balbec, and the pyramids of Egypt."

Having then described a number of East Indian idols of surprising magnitude, "the Babylonians and Egyptians (says he), and all of the same great family, used to take a pleasure in forming gigantic figures, and exhibiting other representations equally stupendous. Such were the colossal statues at Thebes, and the sphinx in the plains of Coume. The statue erected by Nebuchadnezzar in the plains of Dura, was in height three score Babylonish cubits. It was probably raised in honour of Sham, the sun; and perhaps it was also dedicated to the head of the Chaldaic family, who was deified, and reverenced under that title. Marcellinus takes notice of a statue of Apollo named Comus; which, in the time of the emperor Verus, was brought... brought from Seleucia to Rome. This related to the same deity as the preceding. We may also infer, that the temple at Kamju was erected to Cham the sun, whom the people worshipped under the name of Samo-nifu."

It is remarkable, that in Japan the priests and nobility have the title of Cami. The emperor Queacondono, in a letter to the Portuguese viceroy, 1585, tells him, that Japan is the kingdom of Chanis; whom, says he, we hold to be the same as Scin, the origin of all things. By Scin is probably meant San, the sun; who was the same as Cham, rendered here Chamis.

The laws of the country are spoken of as the laws of Chamis; and we are told by Kämpfer, that all the gods were styled either Sin or Cami. The founder of the empire is said to have been Tenso Dai Sin, or "Tenso the god of light." Near his temple was a cavern religiously visited, upon account of his having been once hid when no sun nor stars appeared. He was esteemed the fountain of day, and his temple was called the temple of Naiku. Near this cavern was another temple, in which the canals or priests showed an image of the deity sitting upon a cow. It was called Danits No Ray, "the great representation of the sun."

One of their principal gods is Jakui, similar to the Bacchus of the West. Kämpfer says, that he is the Apollo of the Japanese, and they describe him as the Egyptians did Orus. His temple stands in a town called Minmoki; and Jakui is here represented upon a gilt tarte flower; which is said to be the nympha palustris maxima, or faba Aegyptiaca of Propter Alpinus. One half of a large scallop shell is like a canopy placed over him; and his head is surrounded with a crown of rays. They have also an idol named Menippe, much reverenced in different parts. Both these, continues our author, relate to the same person, viz. Noah. Kämpfer, an author of great credit, saw the temple of Dabys, which he truly renders Daibod, at Jeds in Japan. By Dai-Bod was meant the god Buddha, whose religion was styled the Budjo, and which prevailed greatly upon the Indus and Ganges. Kämpfer, from whom Mr Bryant takes this account, says, that the people of Siam represent him under the form of a Moor, in a sitting posture, and of a prodigious size. His skin is black, and his hair curled (probably woolly), and the images about him are of the same complexion. "This god was supposed (says Mr Bryant) to have neither father nor mother. By Budha we are certainly to understand the idolatrous symbol called by some nations Buddo; the same as Argus and Theba (names for the ark). In the mythology concerning it, we may see a reference both to the machine itself and to the person preserved in it. In consequence of which we find this person also styled Bod, Budha, and Buddo; and in the West Butua, Batius, and Beotus. He was said by the Indians not to have been born in the ordinary way, but to have come to light indirectly through the side of his mother. By Clemens of Alexandria he is called Bota; and in the history of this person, however varied, we may perceive a relation to the arkitte deity of the sea, called Poseidon or Neptune; also to Arculus and Dionysus, styled Beotus and Thebanus. Kämpfer has a curious history of a deity of this sort called Abutto; whose temple stood in the province of Bungo, upon the seashore, near the village of Toma. About a quarter of a German mile before you come to this village stands a famous temple of the god Abutto; which is said to be very eminent for miraculously curing many inveterate distempers, as also for procuring a wind and good passage. For this reason, sailors and passengers always tie some farthings to a piece of wood, and throw it into the sea, as an offering to this Abutto, to obtain a favourable wind. The same deity, but under a different name, was worshipped in China. The Apis, Mnevis, and Anubis of Egypt, have often been mentioned and explained as well as the Minotaur of Crete. The same hieroglyphics occur in Japan; and we are informed by Marco Polo, that the inhabitants worship idols of different shapes. Some have the head of an ox, some of a swine, and others the head of a dog. The most common representation in this country is that of Godjo Ten Oo, or 'the ox-headed prince of heaven.'

"It has already been taken notice, that the ark was represented under the symbol of an egg, called the mundane egg; which was exposed to the rage of Typhon. It was also described under the figure of a lunette, and called Selene, the moon. The person by whom it was framed, and who through its means was providentially preserved, occurs under the character of a steer, and the machine itself under the semblance of a cow or heifer. We have moreover been told, that it was called Cibotus, which Clemens of Alexandria calls Thebebotha. Epiphanus mentions it by the name of Idaal Baoth; and says that, according to an eastern tradition, a person named Nim was preserved in it. The horse of Neptune was another emblem, as was also the hippopotamus or river-horse. The people of Elis made use of the tortoise for the same purpose, and represented Venus as resting upon its back. Some traces of these hieroglyphics are to be found in Japan, which were certainly carried thither by the Indic Ethiopians.

"From an account of a temple of Daiboth (probably the same with Daibod) at Meaco in Japan, we may perceive, that the people there speak of the renewal of the world at the deluge as the real creation, which I have shown to be a common mistake in the histories of this event. And though the story is told with some variation, yet in all the circumstances of consequence it accords very happily with the mythology of Egypt, Syria, and Greece. It matters not how the emblems have by length of time been misinterpreted. We have the mundane egg upon the waters, and the concomitant symbol of the moon; and the egg at last opened by the assistance of the sacred steer, upon which the world issues forth to this day." The author proceeds afterwards to mention the great veneration paid in these parts to the ox and cow; and says, that nobody dares injure them. One deity of the Japanese was Canon, the reputed lord of the ocean. He was represented in an erect posture, crowned with a flower, and coming out of the mouth of a fish. He is represented in the same manner by the natives of India, and named Vithnou and Macuter; and he is to be found in other parts of the East. Father Bouchet mentions a tradition among the Indians concerning a flood in the days of Vithnou which covered the whole earth. It is moreover reported of him, that seeing the prevalence of of the waters, he made a float; and being turned into a fish, he steered it with his tail. This person, in the account of the Banians by Lord, is called Menow; which certainly should be expressed Men-Now. It is said, that in the Shaster of this people, a like history is given of the earth being overwhelmed by a deluge, in which mankind perished; but the world was afterwards renewed in two persons called Menow and Cetroupa. Vishnou is described under many characters, which he is said at times to have assumed. One of these, according to the bramins of Tanjour, was that of Rama Sami. This undoubtedly is the same as Sama Rama of Babylonia, only revered; and it relates to that great phenomenon the Iris; which was generally accompanied with the dove, and held in veneration by the Semiram.

"As the history of China is supposed to extend upwards to an amazing height, it may be worth while to consider the first eras in the Chinese annals, as they are represented in the writings of Japan: for the Japanese have preserved histories of China; and by such a collation, I believe no small light may be obtained towards the discovery of some important truths. Hitherto it has not been observed that such a collation could be made.

"In the histories of this country, the first monarch of China is named Fohi; the same whom the Chinese call Fohi, and place at the head of their list. This prince had, according to some, the body, according to others the head, of a serpent. If we may believe the Japanese historians, he began his reign above 21,000 years before Christ. The second Chinese emperor was Sin-Noo, by the people of China called Sin Num; and many begin the chronology of the country with him. He is supposed to have lived about 3000 years before Christ; consequently there is an interval of near 18,000 years between the first emperor and the second; a circumstance not to be credited. The third, who immediately succeeded Sin-Noo, was Hoam-Ti. In this account we may, I think, perceive, that the Chinese have acted like the people of Greece and other regions. The histories which were imported they have prefixed to the annals of their nation; and adopted the first personages of antiquity, and made them monarchs in their own country. Whom can we suppose Fohi, with the head of a serpent, to have been, but the great founder of all kingdoms, the father of mankind? They have placed him at an immense distance, not knowing his true era. And I think we may be assured, that under the character of Sin Num and Sin-Noo we have the history of Noah; and Haam-Ti was no other than Ham. According to Kempfer, Sin-Noo was exactly the same character as Serapis of Egypt. He was an husbandman, and taught mankind agriculture, and those arts which relate to the immediate support of life. He also discovered the virtues of many plants; and he was represented with the head of an ox, and sometimes only with two horns. His picture is held in high estimation by the Chinese." Well indeed might Kempfer think, that in Sin-Noo he saw the character of Serapis; for this personage was no other than Sar-Apis, the great father of mankind, the same as Men-Neus of Egypt, the same also as Dionysus and Osiris. By Du Halde he is called Chin-Nong, and made the next monarch after Fohi. The Chinese accounts afford the same history as has been given above.

"As the family of Noah consisted of eight persons inclusive, there have been writers who have placed some of them in succession, and supposed that there were three or four persons who reigned between Sin-Noo and Hoam. But Du Halde says, that in the true histories of the country, the three first monarchs were Fohi, Chin-Nong, and Hoam, whom he styles Huang-Ti. To these, he says, the arts and sciences owe their invention and progress. Thus we find, that those who were heads of families have been raised to be princes; and their names have been prefixed to the lists of kings, and their history superadded to the annals of the country. It is further observable, in the accounts given of those supposed kings, that their term of life, for the first five or six generations, corresponds with that of the patriarchs after the flood, and decreases much in the same proportion.

"The history of Japan is divided into three eras; which consist of gods, demigods, and mortals. The person whom the natives look upon to be the real founder of their monarchy is named Symu; in whose reign the Sinnto religion, the most ancient of the country, was introduced. It was called Sin-yu and Chami-mufa; from Sin and Chami, the deities which were the objects of worship. At this time it is said that 600 foreign idols were brought into Japan. To the Sinnto religion was afterwards added the Budho, together with the worship of Armida. This deity they commonly represented with the head of a dog, and esteemed him the guardian of mankind. This religion was more complicated than the former, and abounded with hieroglyphical representations and mysterious rites. It is the same which I have termed the Arkite Idolatry, wherein the sacred steer and cow were venerated. The deity was represented upon the lotus and upon a tortoise, and oftentimes as proceeding from a fish. In this also, under the character of Budho, we may trace innumerable memorials of the ark, and of the person preserved in it. The author above, having mentioned the eleventh emperor inclusive from Syn Mu, tells us, that in his time these rites began. "In his reign Budho, otherwise called Konotus, came over from the Indies to Japan; and brought with him, upon a white horse, his religion and doctrines." We find here, that the object of worship is made the person who introduced it (a mistake almost universally prevalent); otherwise, in this short account, what a curious history is unfolded!

"The only people to whom we can have recourse for any written memorials concerning these things are the inhabitants of India Proper. They were, we find, the persons who introduced these hieroglyphics both in China and Japan. It will therefore be worth while to consider what they have transmitted concerning their religious opinions; as we may from hence obtain still greater light towards explaining this symbolical worship. Every manifestation of God's goodness to the world was in the first ages expressed by an hieroglyphic; and the Deity was accordingly described under various forms, and in different attitudes. These at length were mistaken for real transformations; and Vishnou was supposed to have appeared in different shapes, which were styled incarnations. Deluge. In one of these he is represented under the figure before mentioned, of a princely person coming out of a fish. In another he appears with the head of a boar, treading upon an evil demon, which seems to be the same as the Typhon of the Egyptians. On his head he supports a lunette, in which are seen cities, towers, in short, all that the world contains. In Baldeus we have a delineation and history of this incarnation. Kircher varies a little in his representation, yet gives him a similar figure of the Deity, and styles him Vifhno Barachter. By this I should think was signified Vifhno, "the offspring of the fish." The brahmins say, that there was a time when the serpent with a thousand heads withdrew itself, and would not support the world, it was so overburdened with sin. Upon this the earth sunk in the great abyss of waters, and mankind and all that beheld perished. But Vifhno took upon himself the form above described, and diving to the bottom of the sea, lifted up the earth out of the waters, and placed it, together with the serpent of a thousand heads, upon the back of a tortoise.

"In the third volume of M. Perron's Zendavesta, there is an account given of the cosmogony of the Parfées; also of the subsequent great events that ensued. The supreme Deity, called by him Ormïlda, is said to have accomplished the creation at six different intervals. He first formed the heavens; at the second the waters; at the third the earth. Next in order were produced the trees and vegetables: in the fifth place were formed birds and fishes, and the wild inhabitants of the woods; and in the sixth and last place, he created man. The man thus produced is said to have been an ox-like person, and is described as consisting of a purely divine and a mortal part. For some time after his creation he lived in great happiness; but at last the world was corrupted by a demon named Abriman. This demon had the boldness to visit heaven; whence he came down to the earth in the form of a serpent, and introduced a set of wicked beings, called karjifers. By him the first ox-like personage, called Aboudad, was so infected that he died; after which Kaiomorts, probably the divine part, of which the ox was the representative, died also. Out of the left arm of the deceased proceeded a being called Gofschoraua, who is said to have raised a cry louder than the shout of 1000 men. After some conversation between the supreme Deity and Gofschoraua, it was determined to put Abriman to flight, and to destroy all those wicked persons he had introduced; for there now seemed to be an universal opposition to the Supreme Deity Ormïlda. At this season a second ox-like personage is introduced by the name of Tafchter. He is spoken of both as a star and a sun. At the same time he is mentioned as a person upon earth under three forms. By Tafchter is certainly signified De Ashter; the same person whom the Greeks and Syrians represented as a female, and called Ashter. She was described horned, and sometimes with the head of a bull; supposed to proceed from an egg; and they esteemed her the same as Juno and the moon. At last it was thought proper to bring an universal inundation over the face of the earth; that all impurity might be washed away: which being accomplished by Tafchter, every living creature perished, and the earth was for some time entirely covered. At last, the waters retreating within their proper bounds, the mountain of Albordi in Ferakh-kand first appeared; which the author compares to a tree, and supposes that all other mountains proceeded from it. After this there was a renewal of the world; and the earth was restored to its pristine state. The particular place where Ormïlda planted the germina from whence all things were to spring, was Ferakh-kand; which seems to be the land of Arach; the country upon the Araxes in Armenia."

Thus we have given an ample specimen of this very ingenious author's method of reasoning, and discovering traces of the sacred history even in things which have been thought least to relate to it. That the Greeks and western nations had some knowledge of the flood, has never been denied; and from what has been already related, it appears that the same has pervaded the remotest regions of the east. The knowledge which these people have of the fall of man, and the evil consequences which ensued, cannot, according to our author, be the consequences of their intercourse with Christians; for their traditions afford neither any traces of Christianity nor its founder. Whatever truths may be found in their writings, therefore, must be derived from a more ancient source. "There are (says he) in every climate some shattered fragments of original history; some traces of a primitive and universal language; and these may be observed in the names of deities, terms of worship, and titles of honour, which prevail among nations widely separated, who for ages had no connection. The like may be found in the names of pagodas and temples; and of sundry other objects which will present themselves to the traveller. Even America would contribute to this purpose. The more rude the monuments, the more ancient they may possibly prove, and afford a greater light upon inquiry."

The accounts hitherto met with in this continent, American indeed, are far from being equally authentic and satisfactory with those hitherto treated of. In Acata's deluge-history of the Indies, however, we are informed, that the Mexicans make particular mention of a deluge in their country, by which all men were drowned. According to them, one Viracocha came out of the great lake Titicaca in their country. This person stood in Tiaguanaaco, where at this day are to be seen the ruins of some ancient and very strange buildings. From thence he came to Cuzco, where mankind began to multiply. They show also a small lake, where they say the sun hid himself; for which reason they sacrifice largely to him, both men and other animals.—Hennepin informs us, that some of the savages are of opinion, that a certain spirit, called Otkon by the Iroquois, and Aialauta by those at the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, is the Creator of the world; that Meffou repaired it after the deluge. They say, that this Meffou or Otkon, being a hunting one day, his dogs lost themselves in a great lake, which thereupon overflowing, covered the whole earth in a short time, and swallowed up the world. According to Herrera, the people of Cuba knew that the heavens and the earth had been created; and said they had much information concerning the flood; and that the world had been destroyed by water, by three persons, who came three several ways. Gabriel de Cabrera was told by a man of more than 70 years of age, that an old man, knowing the deluge was to come, built a great ship, and went into it with his family and abundance of animals; that he sent out a crow, which did not at first return, staying to feed on the carcases of dead animals, but afterwards came back with a green branch. He is said to have added other particulars nearly consonant to the Mosaic account, as far as Noah's sons covering him when drunk, and the other scoffing at it. The Indians, he said, descended from the latter, and therefore had no clothes; but the Spaniards descending from the former, had both clothes and horses.—The same author likewise informs us, that it was reported by the inhabitants of Casilla del Oro in Terra Firme, that when the universal deluge happened, one man with his wife and children escaped in a canoe, and that from them the world was peopled. The Peruvians, according to our author, likewise affirmed, that they had received by tradition from their ancestors, that, many years before there were any incas or kings, when the country was very populous, there happened a great flood; the sea breaking out beyond its bounds, so that the land was covered with water, and all the people perished. To this it is added by the Guanacs, inhabiting the vale of Xauca, and the natives of Chiquito in the province of Callao, that some persons remained in the hollows and caves of the highest mountains, who again peopled the land. Others affirm, that all perished in a deluge, only six persons being saved in a float, from whom descended all the inhabitants of that country. In Nieuhoff's voyages to Brazil, we are informed, that the most barbarous of the Brazilians, inhabiting the inland countries, scarce knew anything of religion or an Almighty Being: they have some knowledge remaining of a general deluge; it being their opinion that the whole race of mankind were exterminated by a general deluge, except one man and his litter, who, being with child before, they by degrees repeopled the world. M. Thivet gives us the creed of the Brazilians in this matter more particularly. In the opinion of these savages, the deluge was universal. They say, that Somay, a Caribbee of great dignity, had two children named Tamendonare and Ariconte. Being of contrary dispositions, one delighting in peace and the other in war and rapine, they mutually hated each other. One day Ariconte, the warrior, brought an arm of an enemy he had encountered to his brother, reproaching him at the same time with cowardice. The other retorted by telling, that if he had been possessed of the valour he boasted, he would have brought his enemy entire. Ariconte on this threw the arm against the door of his brother's house. At that instant the whole village was carried up into the sky, and Tamendonare striking the ground with violence, a vast stream of water issued out from it, and continued to flow in such quantity, that in a short time it seemed to rise above the clouds, and the earth was entirely covered. The two brothers, seeing this, ascended the highest mountains of the country, and with their wives got upon the trees that grew upon them. By this deluge all mankind, as well as all other animals, were drowned, except the two brothers above mentioned and their wives; who having descended when the flood abated, became heads of two different nations," &c.

To these American testimonies we may add another from the remote and uncivilized island of Otaheite. Dr Watson, in his discourse to the clergy, informs us, that one of the navigators to the southern hemisphere having asked some of the inhabitants of that island concerning their origin, was answered, that their supreme God, a long time ago, being angry, dragged the earth through the sea, and their island, being broken off, was preserved. In the East Indies p. 283, also we are informed by Dr Watson, that Sir William Jones, by whom a society for the advancement of Asiatic literature has been instituted at Calcutta, has discovered, that in the oldest mythological books of that country, there is such an account of the deluge as corresponds sufficiently with that of Moses.

II. The fact being thus established by the universal Hypothesis of mankind, that there was a general deluge concerning which overflowed the whole world; it remains next to inquire, by what means it may reasonably be supposed to have been accomplished. The hypotheses taken place on this subject have been principally the following:

1. It has been asserted, that a quantity of water supposed to be created on purpose, and at a proper time annihilated, by divine power. This, however, besides its being absolutely without evidence, is directly contrary to the words of the sacred writer whom the asserters of this hypothesis mean to defend. He expressly derives the waters of the flood from two sources; first, the fountains of the great deep, which he tells us were all broken up; and secondly, the windows of heaven, which he says were opened: and speaking of the decrease of the waters, he says, the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the waters returned continually from off the earth. Here it is obvious, that Moses was so far from having any difficulty about the quantity of water, that he thought the sources from whence it came were not exhausted; since both of them required to be stopped by the same almighty hand who opened them, lest the flood should increase more than it actually did.

2. Dr Burnet, in his Telluris Theoria Sacra, endeavours to show, that all the waters in the ocean are not sufficient to cover the earth to the depth assigned by Moses. Supposing the sea drained quite dry, and all the clouds of the atmosphere dissolved into rain, we should still, according to him, want much the greatest part of the water of a deluge. To get clear of this difficulty, Dr Burnet and others have adopted Defoe's theory. That philosopher will have the antediluvian world to have been perfectly round and equal, without mountains or valleys. He accounts for its formation on mechanical principles, by supposing it at first in the condition of a thick turbid fluid replete with divers heterogeneous matters; which, subiding by slow degrees, formed themselves into different concentric strata, or beds, by the laws of gravity. Dr Burnet improves on this theory, by supposing the primitive earth to have been no more than a shell or crust investing the surface of the water contained in the ocean, and in the central abyss which he and others suppose to exist in the bowels of the earth.* At the time of the flood, this outward crust, according to him, broke in a thousand places; and consequently sunk down among the water, which thus spouted up in vast cataracts, and overflowed the whole surface. He supposes also, that before the flood there was a perfect perfect coincidence of the equator with the ecliptic, and consequently that the antediluvian world enjoyed a perpetual spring; but that the violence of the shock by which the outer crust was broken, shifted also the position of the earth, and produced the present obliquity of the ecliptic. This theory, it will be observed, is equally arbitrary with the former. But it is, besides, directly contrary to the words of Moses, who assures us, that all the high hills were covered; while Dr Burnet affirms that there were then no hills in being.

3. Other authors, supposing a sufficient fund of water in the abyss or sea, are only concerned for an expedient to bring it forth: accordingly some have recourse to a shifting of the earth's centre of gravity, which, drawing after it the water out of its channel, overwhelmed the several parts of the earth successively.

4. The inquisitive Mr Whitton, in his New Theory of the Earth, shows, from several remarkable coincidences, that a comet descending in the plane of the ecliptic, towards its perihelion, passed just before the earth on the first day of the deluge; the consequences whereof would be, first, that this comet, when it came below the moon, would raise a vast and strong tide, both in the small seas, which according to his hypothesis were in the antediluvian earth (for he allows no great ocean there as in ours), and also in the abyss which was under the upper crust of the earth. And this tide would rise and increase all the time of the approach of the comet towards the earth; and would be at its greatest height when the comet was at its least distance from it. By the force of which tide, as also by the attraction of the comet, he judges, that the abyss must put on an elliptical figure, whose surface being considerably larger than the former spherical one, the outward crust of the earth, incumbent on the abyss, must accommodate itself to that figure, which it could not do while it held solid, and conjoined together. He concludes, therefore, that it must necessarily be extended, and at last broke by the violence of the said tides and attraction; out of which the included water issuing, was a great means of the deluge: this answering to what Moses speaks of the "fountains of the great deep being broke open."—Again, the same comet, he shows, in its descent towards the sun, passed so close by the body of the earth, as to involve it in its atmosphere and tail for a considerable time; and of consequence left a vast quantity of its vapours, both expanded and condensed, on its surface; a great part of which being rarefied by the solar heat, would be drawn up into the atmosphere, and afterwards return in violent rains: and this he takes to be what Moses intimates by "the windows of heaven being opened," and particularly by the "forty days rain." For as to the following rain, which with this made the whole time of raining 150 days, Mr Whitton attributes it to the earth coming a second time within the atmosphere of the comet as the comet was on its return from the sun. Lastly, to remove this vast orb of waters again, he supposes a mighty wind to have arisen, which dried up some, and forced the rest into the abyss through the clefts by which it came up; only a good quantity remained in the abyss of the great ocean, now first made, and in lesser seas, lakes, &c. This theory was at first only proposed as an hypothesis; but, on further consideration, Mr Whitton thought he could actually prove that a comet did at that time pass very near the earth, and that it was the same which afterwards appeared in 1680. After this, he looked upon his theory no longer as an hypothesis, but published it in a particular tract, entitled, The Cause of the Deluge demonstrated. But the uncertainty of the comet's return in 1758, and the absolute failure of that which ought to have appeared in 1788 or 1789, must certainly render Mr Whitton's calculations for such a length of time extremely dubious; and the great similarity between the tails of comets and streams of electric matter renders his supposition of their being aqueous vapours exceedingly improbable.

5. According to Mr de la Pryme, the antediluvian Theory of the world had an external sea as well as land, with mountains, rivers, &c. and the deluge was effected by breaking the subterraneous caverns, and pillars thereof, with dreadful earthquakes, and causing the same to be for the most part, if not wholly, absorbed and swallowed up, and covered by the seas that we now have. Lastly, this earth of ours arose out of the bottom of the antediluvian sea; and in its room, just as many islands are swallowed down, and others thrust up in their stead. On this, as on all the other hypotheses, it may be remarked, that it is quite arbitrary, and without the least foundation from the words of Moses. The sacred historian speaks not one word of earthquakes, nay, from the nature of the thing, we know it is impossible that the flood could have been occasioned by an earthquake, and the ark preserved, without a miracle. It is certain, that if a ship sinks at sea, the commotion excited in the water by the descent of such a large body, will swallow up a small boat that happens to come too near. If the pillars of the earth itself then were broken, what must the commotion have been, when the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, descended into the abyss at once? not to mention America, which lying at so great a distance from Noah, he might be supposed out of danger from that quarter. By what miracle was the little ark preserved amidst the tumult of those impetuous waves which must have rushed in from all quarters? Besides, as the ark was built not at sea, but on dry ground; when the earth on which it refted sunk down, the ark must have sunk along with it; and the waters falling in as it were overhead, must have dashed in pieces the strongest vessel that can be imagined. Earthquakes, also, operate suddenly and violently; whereas, according to the Mosaic account, the flood came on gradually, and did not arrive at its height till six weeks, or perhaps five months, after it began.

6. Mr Hutchinson and his followers present us with a theory of the deluge, which they pretend to derive from the word of God itself. This theory hath been particularly enlarged upon and illustrated by Mr Catcott, who in 1768 published a volume on the subject. This gentleman affirms, that when the world was first created, at the time when it is said to have been "without form and void," the terrestrial matter was then entirely dissolved in the aqueous; so that the whole formed, as it were, a thick muddy water. The figure of this mass was spherical; and on the outside of this sphere lay the gross dark air. Within the sphere of earth and water was an immense cavity, called by Mo- fes the deep; and this internal cavity was filled with air of a kind similar to that on the outside. On the creation of light, the internal air received elasticity sufficient to burst out through the external covering of earth and water. Upon this the water descended, filled up the void, and left the earth in a form similar to what it hath at present. Thus, according to him, the antediluvian world, as well as the present, consisted of a vast collection or nucleus of water, called the great deep, or the abyss; and over this the shell of earth perforated in many places; by which means the waters of the ocean communicated with the abyss. The breaking-up of these fountains was occasioned by a miraculous pressure of the atmosphere, from the immediate action of the Deity himself. So violent was this pressure, that the air descended to where it had been originally; occupied the space of the abyss; and drove out the waters over the whole face of the dry land. But this account, so far from being infallibly certain, seems incongruous with the most common observations. No pressure, however violent, will cause water rise above its level, unless that pressure is unequal. If, therefore, the atmosphere entered into the supposed abyss, by a vehement pressure on the surface of the ocean, that pressure must only have been on one place, or on a few places; and even though we suppose the atmosphere to have been the agent made use of, it is impossible that it could have remained for any time in the abyss without a continued miracle; as the pressure of the water would immediately have forced it up again through those holes which had afforded it a passage downwards.

The explication given from Hutchinson by Mr Catcott, of the "windows of heaven," is somewhat extraordinary. According to him, these windows are not in heaven, but in the bowels of the earth; and mean no more than the cracks and fissures by which the airs, as he calls them, found a passage through the shell or covering of earth, which they utterly dissolved and reduced to its original state of fluidity. It is, however, difficult to conceive how the opening of such windows as these could cause a violent rain for 40 days and nights.

It is not to be supposed, that we can pretend to ascertain any thing on the subject more than others have done. The following conjectures, however, may be offered on the manner in which the deluge might have happened without any violence to the established laws of nature.

1. If we consider the quantity of water requisite for the purpose of the deluge, it will not appear so very extraordinary as has been commonly represented. The height of the highest hills is thought not to be quite four miles. It will therefore be deemed a sufficient allowance, when we suppose the waters of the deluge to have been four miles deep on the surface of the ground. Now it is certain, that water, or any other matter, when spread out at large upon the ground, seems to occupy an immense space in comparison of what it does when contained in a cubical vessel, or when packed together in a cubical form. Suppose we wanted to overflow a room 16 feet every way, or containing 256 square feet, with water, to the height of one foot, it may be nearly done by a cubical vessel of six feet filled with water. A cube of eight feet will cover it too feet deep, and a cube of ten feet will very nearly cover it four feet deep. It makes not the least difference whether we suppose feet or miles to be covered. A cube of ten miles of water would very nearly overflow 256 square miles of plain ground to the height of four miles. But if we take into our account the vast number of eminences with which the surface of the earth abounds, the above-mentioned quantity of water would do a great deal more. If, therefore, we attempt to calculate the quantity of water sufficient to deluge the earth, we must make a very considerable allowance for the bulk of all the hills on its surface. To consider this matter, however, in its utmost latitude: The surface of the earth is supposed, by the latest computations, to contain 199,512,595 square miles. To overflow this surface to the height of four miles, is required a parallelopiped of water 16 miles deep, and containing 498,781,48 square miles of surface. Now, considering the immense thickness of the globe of the earth, it can by no means be improbable, that this whole quantity of water may be contained in its bowels, without the necessity of any remarkable abyss or huge collection of water, such as most of our theorists suppose to exist in the centre. It is certain, that as far as the earth has been dug, it hath been found not dry, but moist; nor have we the least reason to imagine, that it is not at least equally moist all the way down to the centre. How moist it really is cannot be known, nor the quantity of water requisite to impart to it the degree of moisture it has; but we are sure it must be immense. The earth is computed to be near 8000 miles in diameter. The ocean is of an unfathomable depth; but there is no reason for supposing it more than a few miles. To make all reasonable allowances, however, we shall suppose the whole solid matter in the globe to be only equal to a cube of 5000 miles; and even on this supposition we shall find, that all the waters of the deluge would not be half sufficient to moisten it. The above mentioned parallelopiped of water would indeed contain 798,050,368 cubic miles of that fluid; but the cube of earth containing no less than a hundred and twenty-five thousand millions of cubic miles, it is evident that the quantity assigned for the deluge would scarce be known to moisten it. It could have indeed no more effect this way, than a single pound of water could have upon 150 times its bulk of dry earth. We are persuaded therefore, that any person who will try by experiment how much water a given quantity of earth contains, and from that experiment will make calculations with regard to the whole quantity of water contained in the bowels of the earth, must be abundantly satisfied, that though all the water of the deluge had been thence derived, the diminution of the general store would, comparatively speaking, have been next to nothing.

2. It was not from the bowels of the earth only that the waters were discharged, but also from the air; for we are assured by Moses, that it rained 40 days and 40 nights. This source of the deluvian waters hath been considered as of small consequence by almost every one who hath treated on the subject. The general opinion concerning this matter we shall transcribe from the Universal History, Vol. I., where it is very fully expressed. "According to the observations made of the..." quantity of water that falls in rain, the rains could not afford one ocean, nor half an ocean, and would be a very inconsiderable part of what was necessary for a deluge. If it rained 40 days and 40 nights throughout the whole earth at once, it might be sufficient to lay all the lower grounds under water, but it would signify very little as to the overflowing of the mountains; so that it has been said, that if the deluge had been made by rains only, there would have needed not 40 days, but 40 years, to have brought it to pass. And if we suppose the whole atmosphere condensed into water, it would not all have been sufficient for this effect; for it is certain that it could not have risen above 32 feet, the height to which water can be raised by the pressure of the atmosphere: for the weight of the whole air, when condensed into water, can be no more than equal to its weight in its natural state, and must become no less than 800 times denser; for that is the difference between the weight of the heaviest air and that of water.

On this subject we must observe, that there is a very general mistake with regard to the air, similar to the above-mentioned one regarding the earth. Because the earth below our feet appears to our senses firm and compact, therefore the vast quantity of water, contained even in the most solid parts of it, and which will readily appear on proper experiment, is overlooked, and treated as a non-entity. In like manner, because the air does not always deluge with excessive rains, it is also imagined that it contains but very little water. Because the pressure of the air is able to raise only 32 feet of water on the surface of the earth, it is therefore supposed we may know to what depth the atmosphere could deluge the earth if it was let fall the whole water contained in it. But daily observations show, that the pressure of the atmosphere hath not the least connection with the quantity of water it contains. Nay, if there is any connection, the air seems to be lighter when it contains most water. In the course of a long summer's drought, for instance, the mercury in the barometer will stand at 30 inches, or little more. If it does so at the beginning of the drought, it ought to ascend continually during the time the dry weather continues; because the air is all the while absorbing water in great quantity from the surface of the earth and sea. This, however, is known to be contrary to fact. At such times the mercury does not ascend, but remains stationary; and what is still more extraordinary, when the drought is about to have an end, the air, while it yet contains the whole quantity of water it absorbed, and hath not discharged one single drop, becomes suddenly lighter, and the mercury will perhaps sink an inch before any rain falls. The most surprising phenomenon, however, is yet to come. After the atmosphere has been discharging for a number of days successively a quantity of matter 800 times heavier than itself, instead of being lightened by the discharge, it becomes heavier, nay specifically heavier, than it was before. It is also certain, that very dry air, provided it is not at the same time very hot, is always heaviest; and the driest air which we are acquainted with, namely Dr Priestley's dephlogisticated air, is considerably heavier than the air we commonly breathe. For these reasons we think the quantity of water contained in the whole atmosphere ought to be considered as indefinite, especially as we know that by whatever agent it is suspended, that agent must counteract the force of gravity, otherwise the water would immediately descend; and while the force of gravity in any substance is counteracted, that substance cannot appear to us to gravitate at all.

3. The above considerations render it probable at least, that there is in nature a quantity of water sufficient to deluge the world, provided it was applied to the purpose. We must next consider whether there is any natural agent powerful enough to effectuate this purpose. We shall take the phrase used by Moses in their most obvious sense. The breaking up of the fountains of the deep we may reasonably suppose to have been the opening of all the passages, whether small or great, through which the subterraneous waters possibly could discharge themselves on the surface of the earth. The opening of the windows of heaven we may also suppose to be the pouring out the water contained in the atmosphere through those invisible passages by which it enters in such a manner as totally to elude every one of our senses, as when water is absorbed by the air in evaporation. As both these are said to have been opened at the same time, it seems from thence probable, that one natural agent was employed to do both. Now it is certain, that the industry of modern inquirers hath discovered an agent unknown to the former ages, and whose influence is so great, that with regard to this world it may be said to have a kind of omnipotence. The agent we mean is electricity. It is certain, that, by means of it, immense quantities of water can be raised to a great height in the air. This is proved by the phenomena of water-spouts. Mr Forster relates, that he happened to see one break very near him, and observed a flash of lightning proceed from it at the moment of its breaking. The conclusion from this is obvious. When the electric matter was discharged from the water, it could no longer be supported by the atmosphere, but immediately fell down. Though water-spouts do not often appear in this country, yet every one must have made an observation somewhat similar to Mr Forster's. In a violent storm of thunder and rain, after every flash of lightning or discharge of electricity from the clouds, the rain pours down with increased violence; thus showing, that the cloud, having parted with so much of its electricity, cannot longer be supported in the form of vapour, but must descend in rain. It is not indeed yet discovered that electricity is the cause of the suspension of water in the atmosphere; but it is certain that evaporation is promoted by electrifying the fluid to be evaporated*. It may therefore be admitted as a possibility, that the electric fluid contained in the air is the trinity and agent by which it is enabled to suspend the water which rises in vapour. If therefore the air is deprived of the due proportion of this fluid, it is evident that rain must fall in prodigious quantities.

Again, we are assured from the most undeniable observations, that electricity is able to swell up water on the surface of the earth. This we can make it do even in our trifling experiments; and much more must the whole force of the fluid be supposed capable of doing it, if applied to the waters of the ocean, or any others. The agitation of the sea in earthquakes is a sufficient proof of this†. It is certain, that at these times there is a discharge of a vast quantity of electric matter from the quakes. the earth into the air; and as soon as this happens, all becomes quiet on the surface of the earth.

From a multitude of observations it also appears, that there is at all times a passage of electric matter from the atmosphere into the earth, and vice versa from the earth into the atmosphere. There is therefore no absurdity in supposing the Deity to have influenced the action of the natural powers in such a manner that for 40 days and nights the electric matter contained in the atmosphere should descend into the bowels of the earth;—if indeed there is occasion for supposing any such immediate influence at all, since it is not impossible that there might have been, from some natural cause, a descent of this matter from the atmosphere for that time. But by whatever cause the descent was occasioned, the consequence would be, the breaking up of the fountains of the deep, and the opening the windows of heaven. The water contained in the atmosphere being left without support, would descend in impetuous rains; while the waters of the ocean, those from which fountains originate, and those contained in the solid earth itself, would rise from the very centre, and meet the waters which descended from above. Thus the breaking up of the fountains of the deep, and the opening the windows of heaven, would accompany each other, as Moses tells us they actually did; for, according to him, both happened on the same day.

In this manner the flood would come on quietly and gradually, without that violence to the globe which Burnet, Whiston, and other theorists, are obliged to suppose. The abatement of the waters would ensue on the ascent of the electric fluid to where it was before. The atmosphere would then absorb the water as formerly; that which had ascended through the earth would again subside; and thus everything would return to its pristine state.

III. Having thus shown in what manner it is possible that an universal deluge might take place by means of the natural agents known to us at present, we shall next consider some more of the evidences that such an event actually did happen, and that the deluge was universal. The proof here is so strong from the traditions prevalent among almost every nation on the face of the earth, and which have been already so amply treated, that no farther objection could be made to the Mosaic account, were it not that the necessity of an universal deluge is denied by some, who contend that all the deluges mentioned in history or recorded by tradition were only partial, and may be accounted for from the swelling of rivers or other accidental causes. Many indeed, even of those who profess to believe the Mosaic account, have thought that the deluge was not universal; or, though it might be universal with respect to mankind, that it was not so with regard to the earth itself. The learned Isaac Vossius was of this opinion, though his reasons seem principally to have been that he could not conceive how an universal deluge could happen. "To effect this (says he) many miracles must have concurred; but God works no miracles in vain. What need was there to drown those lands where no men lived, or are yet to be found? 'Tis a foolish thing to think that mankind had multiplied so much before the flood as to have overspread all the earth. How slow and sluggish the first men were in propagating their kind is evident from hence, that Noah was but the ninth in a lineal descent from Adam. They are quite wide of the truth, therefore, who think mankind to have spread over all the earth in the days of Noah, who perhaps at that time had not extended themselves beyond the borders of Syria and Mesopotamia; but no reason obligeth us to extend the inundation of the deluge beyond those bounds which were inhabited; yea, it is altogether absurd to aver, that the effect of a punishment inflicted upon mankind only, should extend to those places where no men lived. Although we should therefore believe that part of the earth only to have been overflowed by the waters which we have mentioned, and which is not the hundredth part of the terrestrial globe, the deluge will nevertheless be universally acknowledged, since the destruction was universal, and overwhelmed the whole habitable world."

Another scheme of a partial deluge is published by Mr. Coetlogon in his Universal History of Arts and Sciences, under the article Antediluvians. This appears to have been formed with a design to accommodate the belief of a deluge to the opinions of the free-thinkers, who deny the truth of the Mosaic accounts, as he tells us that they are willing to allow it. According to this author, the first inhabitants of the earth being placed at the confluence of two great rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, those rivers may have overflowed their banks all of a sudden, and surprized the neighbouring inhabitants not yet accustomed to such sort of visits, and drowned part of them (and if really designed as a punishment), such as were more guilty. That some of the animals, particularly the more slothful, and consequently not so apprehensive of danger or so ready to take to flight to avoid it, might have been involved in the same calamity, as well as some of the volatiles, which being deprived of food by the earth's being covered with water, might have perished; particularly those who, by the too great weakness of their wings to support their bodies, were not proper for a long flight. As for others who had these advantages above the rest, they would no doubt take care of their own preservation by flying to those parts of the earth which their natural instinct could show them free from the inundation.

A third scheme of a partial deluge is given by the Bishop Stillfleete, learned bishop Stillfleete in his Origines Sacrae. "I cannot (says he) see any urgent necessity from the scripture to affirm, that the flood did spread itself all over the surface of the earth. That all mankind (those in the ark excepted) were destroyed by it, is most certain according to the scriptures. When the Lord said, that he would destroy man from the face of the earth, it could not be any particular deluge of so small a country as Palestine, as some have ridiculously imagined; for we find an universal corruption in the earth mentioned as the cause; an universal threatening upon all men for this cause; and afterwards an universal destruction expressed as the effect of this flood. So then it is evident, that the flood was universal with regard to mankind; but from thence follows no necessity at all of afflicting the universality of it as to the globe of the earth, unless it be sufficiently proved that the whole earth was peopled before the flood, which I despair of ever seeing proved." and what reason can there be to extend the flood beyond the occasion of it, which was the corruption of mankind?—The only probability then of afflicting the universality of the flood, as to the globe of the earth, is from the destruction of all living creatures, together with man. Now though men might not have spread themselves over the whole surface of the earth, yet beasts and creeping things might, which were all destroyed with the flood; for it is said, ‘that all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.’ To what end should there be not only a note of universality added, but such a particular enumeration of the several kinds of beasts, creeping things and fowls, if they were not all destroyed? To this I answer; I grant that, as far as the flood extended, all these were destroyed; but I see no reason to extend the destruction of these beyond that compass and space of the earth where men inhabited, because the punishment upon the beasts was occasioned by, and could not but be concomitant with, the destruction of man; but (the occasion of the deluge being the sin of man, who was punished in the beasts that were destroyed for his sake, as well as in himself) where the occasion was not, as where there were animals and no men, there seems no necessity of extending the flood thither.—But to what end, will it therefore be replied, did God command Noah, with so much care, to take all kinds of birds, beasts, and creeping things, into the ark with him, if all those living creatures were not destroyed by the flood? I answer, because all those things were destroyed wherever the flood was. Suppose then the whole continent of Asia was peopled before the flood, which is as much as in reason we may suppose; I say, all the living creatures in that continent were destroyed; or if we may suppose it to have extended over our whole continent of the ancient known world, what reason would there be, that in the opposite part of the globe, which we suppose to be unpeopled then, all the living creatures should there be destroyed, because men had sinned in this? and would there not have been on this supposition a sufficient reason to preserve living creatures in the ark for future propagation,” &c.?

Thus we have the strength of all the arguments that have been offered in support of a partial deluge, and which may all be summed up in the three following articles, 1. The impossibility, in a natural way, of accounting for the quantity of water necessary to overflow the whole world; 2. The small number of mankind supposed at that time to have existed on the earth; and, 3. The inutility of an universal deluge, when the divine purposes could have been equally well answered by a partial one. But to all this we may make one general answer, that a partial deluge is in the nature of things impossible. We cannot imagine that the waters could accumulate upon any country without going off to the sea, while the latter retained its usual level; neither can we suppose any part of the sea to remain above the level of the rest. On the supposition of bishop Stillingfleet therefore, that the deluge extended over the whole continent of Asia, we know that it must have covered the high mountains of Ararat, on which the ark reposed; Caucasus, Taurus, &c. The height of Ararat is determined, as no traveller of any credit pretends to have ascended to its top; but from the distance at which it is seen, we can scarce look upon it to be inferior to the most celebrated mountains of the old continent*. Sir John Chardin thinks that some part of Caucasus is higher; and supposing each of these to rat. be only a mile and an half in height, the sea all round the globe must have been raised to the same height; and therefore all that could remain of dry ground as a shelter to animals of any kind, must have been the uninhabitable tops of some high mountains scattered at immense distances from one another. We may therefore with equal reason suppose, that these were in like manner covered, and that no living creature whatever could find shelter even for a moment: and it is certainly more agreeable to the character of the Deity to believe, that he would at once destroy animal life by suffocation in water, rather than allow numbers of them to collect themselves on the tops of mountains to perish with hunger and cold. It is besides very improbable, that any creature, whether bird or beast, could sustain a continued rain of 40 days and 40 nights, even without supposing them to have been absolutely immersed in water.

This consideration alone is sufficient to show, that if there was a deluge at all, it must have been universal with regard to the world as well as the human race; and the possibility of such a deluge by natural means has already been evinced. Under the article Antediluvians it is shown, that, according to the most moderate computations, the world must have been vastly more full of people than at present. The least calculation there made indeed seems incredible; since, according to it, the world must have contained upwards of 68,719 times as many inhabitants as are at present to be met with in the empire of China, the most populous country in the world; but China bears a much larger proportion to the habitable part of the world than this. The violences exercised by mankind upon one another, have always been the means of thinning their numbers, and preventing the earth from being overstocked with inhabitants; and the strong expression in Scripture, that the “earth was filled with violence,” shows that it must have gone to an extraordinary height. But though this violence must have undoubtedly thinned the old world of its inhabitants, it must likewise have dispersed some of them into distant regions. There is therefore no reason for supposing, that before the flood the human race were not driven into the remotest regions of the habitable world, or that America was destitute of inhabitants then more than it is at present. At any rate, the schemes of Voftius and Coetlogon, who would confine the whole race of mankind to a small part of Asia, must appear evidently futile and erroneous in the highest degree.

Some objections have been made to the doctrine of an universal deluge from the state of the continent of from some America, and the number of animals peculiar to that species and other countries, which could not be supposed to animals be travel to such a distance either to or from the ark of to certain Noah. On this subject Bishop Stillingfleet observes, countries, that the supposition of animals being propagated much farther in the world than mankind before the flood, seems very probable, “because the production of animals is parallel in Genesis with that of fishes, and both of of them different from man. For God said, Let the waters bring forth every moving creature that hath life, viz., fish and fowl: And accordingly it is said, that the waters brought forth abundantly every living creature after their kind, and every fowl after his kind. Accordingly, in the production of beasts, we read, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and every creeping thing; and beast of the earth, after his kind: and it was so.' But in the production of man it is said, 'Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.' From hence I observe this difference between the formation of animals and of man, that in one God gave a prolific power to the earth and waters for the production of the several living creatures which came from them, so that the seminal principles of them were contained in the matter out of which they were produced; which was otherwise in man, who was made by a peculiar hand of the great Creator himself, who thence is said to have formed man out of the dust of the ground.

"If now this supposition be embraced, by it we presently clear ourselves of many difficulties concerning the propagation of animals in the world, and their conervation in the ark; as how the unknown kind of serpents in Brazil, the slow-bellied creature in the Indies, and all those strange species of animals seen in the West Indies, should either come into the ark of Noah, or be conveyed out of it into those countries which are divided by so vast an ocean on one side, and at least so large a tract of land on the other. Besides, some kind of animals cannot live out of the climate wherein they are; and there are many sorts of animals discovered in America and the adjoining islands, which have left no remainders of themselves in these parts of the world. And it seems very strange, that these should propagate into those parts of the world from the place of the flood, and leave none at all of their number behind them in these parts whence they were propagated."

To this Mr Cockburn, in his treatise on the deluge, replies, 1. That as it pleased God to create only one man and one woman at the beginning, and their posterity were sufficient to overspread the earth, it might well be supposed to be furnished with animals from an original pair of each. 2. On the supposition of many pairs of brute animals having been created originally, they multiplied to such a degree as to render the world uninhabitable. In confirmation of this, he informs us from the accounts of the Indian missionaries, that in the kingdom of Champua in the Indies, the river called by the natives Tinacoreu, but by the Portuguese Varella, goes up 80 leagues into the country to a mountain called Moncalor, above which it is much broader, but not so deep by far; there being banks of sand in some places, and lands overflowed with water, where there are an infinite number of fowls that cover all the country; in so much, that by reason of them the whole kingdom of Chintalculos had for 40 years been defoliate, though it was eight days journey in length; which, at 30 miles a-day, made it 240 miles long. After passing this country, another was met with more wild, and full of great rocks; where there were a vast number of animals yet worse than the fowls, as elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, bears, buffaloes, and other beasts in such multitudes, that whatever men cultivated for the support of life was spoiled or destroyed by them, nor was it possible for the inhabitants to prevent it.

The Isle of France may be said to be the kingdom of rats. They come down from the mountains like an army, creep up the steepest rocks, march into the flat country, assemble in the marshy grounds, and bring desolation everywhere, especially in the night. Men can scarce sleep for them, and are obliged to roll themselves in such things as may best secure them from their bitings. It was the same in the Isle of Bourbon, which was as much infested with them at first, till it became more fully peopled. "We have good reason therefore (says Mr Cockburn) to conclude, that there was but one pair of animals created at first, that they might not increase too fast for mankind; and though they would multiply much more, and increase faster than men could do, they had room to spread themselves for a long time without much annoyance to man; and as men increased in number and extended their habitations, they would be able to drive them further off, or defend themselves from their depredations." The same mode of reasoning is by our author made use of with regard to aquatic animals. The multitude of these indeed, however great, could be no detriment to man who lived on land; but if we consider how large and numerous a spawn fishes cast at once, and in how short a time they multiply to immense numbers, he thinks it reasonable to conclude, that only one pair was created at once; and that the command to the waters to bring forth abundantly both fish and fowl, related only to the variety of species, not to a number of each.

3. Though at the restoration of the world it was to be repeopled by six persons instead of two, and though at the same time animal food was given to man, yet Noah was commanded only to take a single pair of each of the animals, clean beasts, which are but a few in number, only excepted. It is further observable, that notwithstanding this scanty supply of animals, they had increased so much by the time of Nimrod, that it then became necessary to hunt and destroy them; and Nimrod was celebrated for his courage and skill in that necessary employment. "So numerous (adds he) were the animals before the flood, though but two of a kind were created, that Dr Woodward, from the remains of that earth, as well the animal as vegetable productions of it still preserved, concludes, that at the time the deluge came, the earth was so loaded with herbage, and so thronged with animals, that such an expedient was even wanting to ease it of the burden, and to make room for a new succession of its productions."

4. Mr Cockburn is of opinion, that America must have been peopled before the flood, as the old continent could not be supposed able to hold the number of inhabitants.

5. With regard to the main difficulty, viz., how the animals peculiar to different countries could travel to such distances to and from the ark, Mr Cockburn replies, that America, which Bishop Stillingfleet chiefly infits upon, has nothing peculiar to it, but what may equally well be urged both with respect to Asia and Africa; each of them having animals peculiar to themselves. It is also possible, that there might formerly be a more easy communication between the Asiatic... Deluge.

Asiatic and American continents than there is now. See the article America, n° 101—113.

Our author likewise observes, that though the ark rested on mount Ararat, yet we are not told where it was built, which might be far enough from the place where it is commonly supposed; so that those animals which are peculiar to America might not have so far to travel to the ark as is commonly imagined. This argument, however, seems to be very inconclusive; for though we should suppose the ark to have been constructed in America itself, the animals of Mesopotamia would have had as far to travel from thence to America, as the American animals from their own country to Mesopotamia, according to the common opinion. But in whatever part of the earth Noah lived and the ark was built, it was at God's command that the several kinds of animals came thither in order to their preservation; and his command could bring them from the farthest parts of the earth during the 120 years that the world lay under condemnation. Though after all, none of the animals might have very far to travel to the ark; for if only one pair of each kind was created at first, and all of these in or near one place, since they were all brought before Adam, and received names from him, there is no absurdity in supposing that some of every kind might remain in the country where they were first produced, from whence Noah's habitation might not be very distant. Neither can any objection be brought from the extinction of some species of animals in certain countries of the world, since they might have been hunted and destroyed either by the human race or by other creatures. Thus it is said, that there are now few or no deer in Switzerland, though formerly there were a great many when it was full of woods. In Britain also there are no wolves now to be found, though the island was infested with them in former times.

In considering the subject of the deluge, among other questions which occur, one is, by what means were the ravenous animals, which feed only upon flesh, supported in the ark? For this some authors have supposed, that Noah, besides those animals whom he took into the ark for preservation, took likewise a great number for slaughter. For this purpose bishop Wilkins has allowed no fewer than 1825 sheep, though he was of opinion, that there were no carnivorous animals before the flood; and this latter opinion is adopted by Mr. Cockburn. The idea indeed of slaughtering a number of harmless animals to satisfy a few vile rapacious ones, and that too in a place designed for the common asylum of the animal creation, seems inconsistent with that scheme of mercy displayed in the whole transaction. It is by much the more probable supposition then, that though some animals had been accustomed to live on flesh in their natural state, they could nevertheless subsist upon vegetable food. This seems the more probable, as some animals naturally carnivorous, particularly dogs and cats, may be supported in their domestic state by vegetable food alone. If we extend this to the whole canine and feline genera, we shall take in the most of the beasts of prey; as lions, tygers, leopards, panthers, wolves, foxes, hyenas, &c. Bears are well known sometimes to feed on berries; snakes will eat bread and milk; and there is no reason to suppose that even the most carnivorous birds could not be kept alive by grain or other vegetable food. By thus excluding such a number of useless animals, a very considerable space will be allowed for the circulation of air in the ark, the want of which seems to be the most inexplicable difficulty, if we may judge from the present constitution of things. It seems indeed to be certain, that no equal number of animals could subsist for a twelvemonth in an equal space so closely shut up as they were. The ark, it is true, contained near two millions of cubic feet; but considering the number of its inhabitants, the great space necessary for the food with which they were to be supplied, and the continual pollution of the air by their dung and filth as well as the effluvia from their bodies, there seems little probability that even such a vast bulk of air could suffice for any length of time. This difficulty will appear the greater, when we consider that any ventilation was impossible, as this could not have been done without opening both the door and window; and the former, we are certain, was not opened until the time that the command was given to come forth out of the ark. Neither is there the smallest probability, that the opening of a single window could renew the air in such a manner as to make it fit for breathing throughout the whole extent of the ark. In this particular therefore, we must have recourse to the immediate interposition of Divine power, and suppose that the air was miraculously preserved of a sufficient degree of purity, as the garments of the Lacedaemonians were preserved from turning old, and their feet from being affected by the journey through the desert in which they wandered so long.—Many other questions concerning the economy of the ark might be proposed; as, how they supplied themselves with water? in what manner they could use fire for the dressing of their victuals? &c. But as every answer to these must be founded wholly upon conjecture, and none can pretend that there was a natural impossibility of effecting any of these things, we forbear to insist farther upon them. The case, however, is very different with respect to the air necessary for sustaining animal life: for here there is a plain impossibility in a natural way; nay, we may even doubt whether the general mass of atmosphere, after being deprived of its electric matter, or otherwise altered in such a manner as to let fall such a quantity of the water it contained, was fit for the support of animal life; so that a miracle would have been necessary at any rate. To this indeed it may be replied, that on such a supposition, men and other animals would have been destroyed, not by the flood, but by the vitiated air they breathed. But, as has been already hinted, it is improbable that any living creature could resist the violent rain which took place, and which would soon drive the birds from their shelter, as the waters beginning to overflow the ground would soon expel the human race from their houses; and it would not be till the end of the 40 days and 40 nights that the air could be at its worst state, long before which time all animal life would be extinct.

We shall conclude this article with considering some Changes of the alterations which are supposed to have taken which have place in the world in consequence of the deluge. One taken place of these is the much greater quantity of water on the surface of the present the deluge. present than on the old world. Dr Keil has indeed endeavoured to prove, that the present extent of the surface of the waters is necessary to raise such a quantity of vapours as may supply the surface of the earth with rain and with springs. In answer to this, it is said, that it may justly be questioned whether all springs are derived from the vapours raised by the sun's heat? and, 2 Whether the primitive earth stood in need of such a quantity of rain to render it fertile as the present? Dr Woodward gives the following reason for supposing the antediluvian seas to have been nearly of the same extent with those at present, viz. that "the spoils of the sea, the shells and other marine bodies, are left in such prodigious numbers, and in heaps upon heaps in the earth, besides those which have long since perished, that they could not have been left in such quantities had not the seas occupied much the same space as they do now." This argument, however, is thought by Mr Cockburn to be also inconclusive: "For (says he) 1. Animal food, whether fish or flesh, was not used by mankind before the deluge: but, 2. Suppose it had, yet for the first 500 years the number of mankind was but small, and likely at a great distance from the sea; so that the increase of all kinds of fish during so long a time must have been prodigious. We need not be surprised, then, at the immense quantities of the exuviae of marine animals left on the earth by the deluge. But the reason he brings to prove that the several continents of the world were encompassed by seas as they are now, viz. that as there are different sorts of fishes in the different seas of the world, so the exuviae of the same kind are generally found upon contiguous lands, does not always hold, since there are some shells found in the continent which are strangers to the parts of the sea corresponding to these continents. That the seas in the present earth are vastly more extended, and consequently the dry land so much less in proportion, may likewise be inferred from the great multitude of islands that lie near the shores of the greater continents, if it be true what some allege, that they are parts broken off by the deluge from the main land, which before that reached to and beyond them. And though islands are thought to be rarely found in the great ocean, yet there have of late been found in the midst of the Indian ocean vast clusters of islands, &c."

To all this it may be replied, That the Mosaic account says nothing of the extent of the seas either before or after the flood; but simply tells us, that the waters were poured out upon the surface of the earth from the windows of heaven and the fountains of the deep, and that as the flood decreased the waters returned from off the face of the earth. If part of them returned, we have not the least reason to suppose that the whole did not do so likewise. That the fish, as well as land animals, were more numerous in the antediluvian world than now when such quantities are destroyed by mankind, is very probable, as we see they abound to this day in uninhabited places. This may account for the astonishing quantities of their exuviae to be met with in many different parts of the earth; but from the formation of islands nothing can be concluded concerning the antediluvian world. The late discoveries have shown that many islands have a volcanic origin; others are formed by the growth of coral; some by an accumulation of sea-weeds and other matters floating on the surface of the ocean, and detained upon sand-banks or rock rocks; while not a few of those near the great continents owe their origin to the quantities of mud brought down by the great rivers which empty themselves into the ocean. Authentic history scarcely affords an instance of an island formed by the breaking off a piece from the continent, though it does many of islands being joined to continents by some one or other of the causes just mentioned.

The inferior fertility of the earth after the deluge is much insisted upon by the same author, for the following reasons: "1. The grant of animal food to Noah and his posterity; which he thinks is an indication of greater barrenness in the ground than formerly. 2. Our Saviour compares the days of Noah with those of Lot; and as the country about Sodom is said to have been exceedingly fertile like the garden of the Lord, he is of opinion that the antediluvian world must have been very fertile also. 3. As (according to Dr Woodward) the first earth brought forth all manner of plants of itself without any labour or culture of man, and even before there was a man to till the ground, we may reasonably suppose that the exterior stratum or surface of the earth consisted of such terrestrial matter as was fit for these productions; that is, of a rich light mould, affording plentifully matter for vegetation. Now, though God was pleased, upon man's transgression, to withdraw in part his benediction from the earth; yet the earth itself was untouched till the deluge, the same surface of rich mould was still upon it, and brought forth plentifully, especially when man's culture for corn was added. But the inundation of waters at the deluge greatly altered the constitution of the earth itself: it mixed and confounded this upper stratum of vegetative earth with other terrestrial matter not fit for vegetation, with sand, gravel, stones, and all kinds of mineral matter, which must needs render the earth in general much less fertile than before, and which made the plough necessary to dig up the proper vegetative mould and bring it to the surface, and also manure or compost to increase and enrich it; neither of which before the flood it needed. 4. There is a moral reason why the earth after the flood should be less fertile than before. The luxuriant productions of the first earth, after man's nature became corrupted, and to deviate more and more from righteousness, served only to excite and foment his lusts, and to minister plentiful fuel to his vices and luxury. To cut off, therefore, such occasion of sin and wickedness, God, in great mercy to men, retrenched the earth in its former fertility, thereby obliging them to labour and diligence, and employing most of their time to procure their necessary subsistence, which the earth by diligent culture will still afford, but not that luxuriant abundance it did before the flood. If we take a survey of the different regions and countries of the world, we shall find this to be the truth of the case. Some places, both in Asia and America, are as it were a paradise in respect of the rest, to show us perhaps what was and would have been the state of the earth had not man sinned; but far the greatest part is nothing to be compared to these, and evidently shows that effect which the sins of men had upon the earth. Deluge. earth itself. In a word, if we take a survey of the whole, it cannot be thought that the first blessing was restored to the earth after the flood, or that it came out of the hands of its maker in the state it is at present, since so great a part of it bears still the marks of the curse laid upon it."

Notwithstanding all that is here alleged, the extraordinary fertility of the ancient earth must still appear very problematical, if we consider all circumstances. For,

1. Even at the creation, when the earth was at its utmost perfection, we cannot suppose that every part of it produced spontaneously like the garden of Eden. On the contrary, we are told that this garden was planted by the Lord God, and that Adam was put into it to dress it and to keep it. It appears, therefore, that even in the Paradisaical state the earth would not have produced food for man without culture; for as God planted the first garden, there can be no doubt that had man continued in his state of innocence and multiplied, he must have planted other gardens when it became necessary. After the fall, the fertility of the earth was expressly removed, and that not in a slight degree; but if we can judge from the present state of things, it must have become extremely wild and barren. Thus, when it is said, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee," we may judge of the state of the soil from that which we see bringing forth thorns and thistles at this day. Every one knows that an abundant crop of these weeds indicates poor ground, which will require a great deal of cultivation to bring it into order. Nay, that we may be sure that the cultivation of the earth was at this time no easy matter, it is likewise said, "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." Hence it would appear, that the antediluvian earth, instead of being more fertile, was much more barren than at present. That the labour of cultivating the ground at that time was also so great as to be almost intolerable, is evident from the speech of Lamech on the birth of Noah: "This same (says he) shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, concerning the ground which the Lord hath cursed."

2. There is a very evident natural reason why the antediluvian world should have been more barren than the present, and why the deluge should have removed that barrenness. Under the article Antediluvians, n° 19, it is hinted, that the purity of the air at that time was a principal cause of the longevity of the human race. If this was really the case, which is very probable, we must suppose the atmosphere to have then contained a greater quantity of deplogificated air than it does at present; for late experiments have put it beyond doubt, that from this the support of animal life is immediately derived. But this kind of air, however favourable to animal life, is found to be very unfavourable to vegetation; and therefore, in proportion to its abundance in the antediluvian atmosphere, the animals would be healthy, and the vegetables weak, puny, and sickly. But the deluge, by overflowing the earth for a whole year, destroyed every animal and vegetable, and consequently induced a vast putrefaction all over the globe; the consequence of which was the production of an immense quantity of what is called phlogificated air. This mixing with the pure atmosphere, vitiated it to such a degree as to make it less friendly to animal life, but more so to vegetation. Hence the present world must naturally be more fertile than the former; and not only on this account, but by reason of its being manured by the stagnation of the waters upon its surface for a twelvemonth, and the immense quantity of animal matter left by them, the ground, instead of being lessened in its fertility as Dr Woodward supposes, must have been restored, as far as we can judge, to the very state it was in at its original formation.

3. That this was really the case appears probable from what the Deity said to Noah after offering up his sacrifice. "I will not (says he) curse the ground any more for man's sake." Now this was plainly intimating that the earth was restored to its primitive fertility, and that he would no more take it away; for when he did so to the primitive world it was in these words, "Curse is the ground for thy sake." That the curse here alluded to was really the depriving the earth of its fertility, and not the overflowing the earth with water, is evident; because, after declaring that he would no more curse the ground for man's sake, he adds, "Neither will I again smite every living thing as I have done."

4. The moral reasons assigned why the present world should be less fertile than the former, seem to be inconclusive. However barren we may reckon the earth just now, it is certain that it produces, or might produce, much more than would suffice for all its inhabitants. The difficulties which mankind undergo are not at all owing to the barrenness of the earth; but to their own conduct, or their oppression of one another. Neither does it clearly appear that animal food is really in any degree cheaper than vegetable, but rather the contrary; so that whatever was the reason of this grant after the flood, we cannot fairly ascribe it to a foresight of the future barrenness of the earth.

Another question which naturally occurs on the subject of the deluge is, Whether there was any rain before it or not? The argument against the existence of rain before the flood is obviously derived from the rainbow being made a symbol of the divine favour immediately after. It is certain, indeed, that unless we suppose the nature of light, or of water to have been different before this event from what it was afterwards, there is a natural impossibility of the refraction of the sun's light being prevented from showing the appearance of a rainbow whenever the sun and cloud were in a certain position with regard to one another. It appears improbable, to those who take this side of the question, that the Deity should institute any thing as an emblem of his displeasure being turned away, when the same emblem had been seen perhaps a very short time before the catastrophe happened. On the other hand it is replied, that there is no absurdity in supposing this to have been the case: for though the rainbow existed before the deluge, yet it never was appointed to be the symbol of this particular event, viz. the reconciliation of the Deity; and the impossibility of vegetables being supplied with a sufficient quantity of moisture without rain is likewise urged as a decisive argument. Still, however, it appears, that even vegetation may subsist, and that in its utmost perfection, fection, without rain: for we are informed, that by means of a mist the ground was originally watered, and vegetables supplied with moisture, before there was any rain; and if this was the case at one time, it might have been at any other, or at any number of times we can suppose. Indeed, as matters stand at present, this would undoubtedly be a very scanty supply; and perhaps so it was in the antediluvian world; and thus the want of rain might have been one cause of that barrenness in the antediluvian world which we have already mentioned as probable, and which Mr. Bryant mentions as the opinion of all the ancient mythologists.

For particular deluges, or overflowings of various parts of the earth by water, see the article INUNDATION.