An Attempt to Account for the Universal Deluge, by Edward King, Esq; of Lincoln's-Inn, F. R. S

An Attempt to Account for the Universal Deluge, by Edward King, Esq; of Lincoln's-Inn, F.R. S.Author(s): Edward KingSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 57 (1767), pp. 44-57Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105929 .

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[ 44 ]

Received September 24, 1766.

Il1. A-] H-tawapz o accovrve for fSe ztnz- sgrJaI Delsgg, by :Edsa7ard KingX EJ2i oXF Lincola'sIxln, F. R. S.

lteadJan.2X. /t ETER ro maz3r conje£lures a-s- 17&7. < have been already forlned con-

cerning the Gaufe of tbe univerEal de.lugea it alay- perllaps appear both itnpertinent to attempt a new lollltion, and allo uEcleSsX as tlleoxies forrned on m-ete hypothefis are always uncertatn, and littl-e to lDe- depended upon. But if we give thenz no more weight than they deSelve, and? conf1dering them only as fmall Ileps towards the invelligation of truth, do act defire any further aSent to our concluffons than the probability on whicll they are founded demands, even ruCh kind of enquiries may- be of fervice, and open a door to nesr dilcoverles.

Where we cannot arrive at demonllratiion wEe muR be content witll probability. Our defpair of attaining theW one ought not to make us negleti the other. And with- regard to this lemarkable event, the univerEal deluge, every degree of probability, even the f-malleIt, that appears in an attempt to account for it philofophicallyX has i?ts ure; as it- tendsto remove tlloSe objedrions that are made to the truth of the fafts by perfons who may not think the mer@ relation of it in the Mofaic writings a fufiicient proof of the reality of iti or ̂ rho may be led, from the difiiculty there

appears



[45 ] appears in accounting for fuch an ettent,-to doalbt of the authority of thtSe facred books

Many ingeniots hypotllefes lwave been already formed oll this fulz,e&; ltut they a11 reeln litlble to EflOR infupera'ole objedions: and therefore I make no Icrupl-e to venture anotlzer into the srorld, which appears to me free from fuch d;fficulties as vlley are inYolVed inz and more i1!nplev I aln willi}zg, hosv ever, it thotlld fall to the ground, as foon as tkere appear ally realXonable and weighty ol;)jedrions to itv I only ̂ ril]w tlat the hints contained il] this paper ally be a tneans of leading fotne perfon of greater abilities to a azore perfeA dircovery; and tlaat it tnay

alsvays be remernbered, that the foEjl ffiells found ia a}l parts of the eartIl, are a fufficient proof of tlle truth of its having been at fonac time or otlzer entirely coveted vvith water, Izowever fallible any attesnpt to

account for the deluge may be. Dr. Bul ner, in his theory, has given fucll an account

of the deluge, as [)r. Ileill has fhowtl tc) be very inlprobable, and unphilofophical. He has filll (le- ficribed the primaval earth fo as to diveR it of a11 beauty and elegance, and then has afclibed thedeluge tofuch cauSes, as are not only fomewhat inconfiRen-t with that part of his t}zeory, where he fuppofes the earth to be vvell watered and rnsoiPcened with deS; but are- alSo infufficient to account for the watexs flowing over the tops of the mountains: fince orl the breaking of his imaginary lhell, it is impoSlble to- iilppolie that the waters of tlle abySs, even on fucll a concuilon, itouid flow up high enough t}pon thoSe parts that were left elevated, rO as to cover the moun tains that now fubEi0.

IVIrJ



{46 ] Mr WhiIlon has called in the afl l{lance of another

planetary body; and has fsppofed the tail of a comet -to be fo greatly condenfed as to affiord a quantity of water fufl;cient for this purpofe. But, befides the inconfi{lency o f this theory with that of gravitation} it is no leSs diflicult, according to his hypothe-fiss, to get rid of the water with which the earth was covered, than it is, according to others, to firld a bufficient quantlty.

Mr. Ray has accounted f-or this amasing event, by fuppof1ng a cilange to have happened in the center of gravity of the earth. But how to find a cauSe for fuch a change-in the-<:enter of gravity, and for a reitoration of it to the falue place -again, is more difficult, and the fuppofition of it more inconfi{tent with our philofophical ideas, than any other hypothef1s whatever.

Such have been fome of the principal theories hitherto advanced, and far be it from me to prefiume that mine rxlay not in -the end be found equally fallible; but it appears to me at prefent to be more plain and confiIlent, and at the falne time is free from that great difficulty which has perplexed all the re&, and is indeed the moR important difficulty in the enquirys that is, the accountiwg for a fufl;cie{st quantity of water.

We find in the Miaic hiRory of the creation, that: God at the firIt created fea as well as land; and therefore have grounds to believe both from thenceX and from the reabon of things, that there was as great a quantity of fea on the antediluvian earth, as there is now upon the earth in its prefent {iate.

We find alSo the whole furfice of the earth to be undermined by fubterraneous fires, which make their

appearance



[ 47 ] appearance in various places, in verg formidable vol- canoes. This has been the cafie in Italy, and almongtt the Asores, in Tartary, in KamtSchatca, in South America, in Ireland, in the iRands of the Ea(t Indies, and in other parts: and we have reafon to believe that theSe *ubterraneous fires have made eruptions, not unfrequently, even in the bottom o£ the fea; as Mr. Mitchell has made appear in his excellent paper con- ceraing the cauSes of earthquakes$.

We have alSo, in the Philofophical Tranfadcions, an account of entire iIlands being raiSedu in the Archi- pelago, arld IikewiSe amoIlg{t the Azores, by fuch fwbterraneous fires +; and Mr. Ray) in his travelsy mentions a mountain one hundred feet high, raiSed bytheearthquakein 538, which alEathrew upSo much earth, Ilonesa and affies, as quite filled up the Lacus Lucrinus +.

To which tnay be added, that foffill lhells and othert ma-rine bodies are fo univerEally found in all parts o£ the prefient continents and iXnds, as to amount almoR to a demonItration, that all the now dry land was once covered with fiea, and that for a confiderable fpace of time, probably much longer than the conti- nuance of the deluge is related to have been. For though fuch a violent flux of waters might havc thrown up fome lhells and marine bodies upon the hills and tnountains, yet it could not have flung up ch vaRXquantities, nqor §o unsverfally. The prodi- giolls beds of Ihells which we now find in all parts

* Phtlof. Tranf. Vol. LI. part II. p. s6G + Phllof. Tranf. No 372, or Eames's Abr. arol. VI. part IX

p, eo3, and Jonesi Abr. vol. V. part II. p. x96s $ Ray's Travels) oId edition, p. 273.

cannot



[48 g

cannot mrell be accounted for, but by fuppofing the waters, in which thoSe fllell-fi-lh lived to have colrered the countries svhere they ar-e now found, for a long time, and even for agess

The fuppofition therefore, which I am about to advance, iollnded on theSe faEs, is tlli-s; that originally Almighty God created this earth with fea and land nearly in the fame proportion as tlley now remain, and that it continued- in that Rate for many ages, during which tlle bottom of the fea became covered with fhells, and various lleterogeneous bodies that from the firIt of its creation there were alfo many fubterraIleous fires found witllin the bowrels of the earth; and that, at the appointed time, therC zSres burRing foreh at once with great violence) under the fea , raifed up the bottom of the ocean, fo as to pour out the waters over the face of what was before sIry land, which by that means became fea, and has perlzaps continued fo ever fince, as that w}ich was before the flood the bottom of the iea, probably from that time has continued to be continent and dry land t.

* Mru Mitchell has Ih-ewn, ia his papor on the cauSes of earthquakes, that fuch fiibterraneous Sres are at all times very li-able to snake eruptions under the Seas and that urhen they do fo, the earthquakes confiequent upon fuch eruptions are more exten- five than any uthatever.

t I do not mean by this to infilnuate that all ehao part of the globe which is now fea was dry land before the {lood: or tbat ttle antediluvian ocean vvas merel of the extent of our prefent contiF nent. I apprehend, on the contrary, that there vsas always a greater proportiOn of water on the face of tbe earth than of continent; and I would only be underRood to rnean, that all that which v>as dry land before the flood is now buried under the fea, whilA that which was a pare of the bottom of the antediluvian

This



L 49 This hypothefis may perhaps be liable to great z

jeEtions; but it is at lea{} conrlfient with what Ses relates of the fountains of the- great deep being broken up , anda without any perplexity or difficulty, accoalnts at once; fbr a fufficient quantity of water to cover the tops of the higheIt antediluvian mountains, even fuppfing they were left Randing: though it isnot impmbable but that they might be thrown down by means of the fame earthquake. If they were lelt Randing, fome of them might (on the retreat of the waters fFom their tps after the firIl concuflion) foran ibme of the iSlands that now fubfi{E

I muIl alfo add, that this 11ypothefis is perfflly confiRent with, and perhaps in fotne rneaXre accounts for, that fingular pofition of the llrata of coals, ores,, and varsous kinds of earths (mentzoned in Mr Mitchel!>s paper), which are fbund al ways iloping Som mountalsous countlles, and higher groundsa towards

- the bottonl of the fea; fo that what is neareR tbe furfice of the earth in mountains and high countries lies deepell in low lands and under tle hX

It is) beI;desj forrlewhat confirmed by tllat fingular obSetvation of Dr. HaXelqui{t's, in his travels (p. 33) where, fpeaking vf Ntatelia and the eaRern countrics in ggIleral, lle favs, " In llo place was it mor.e

evident tlaat the continentj zte call mrth, was in the beginning the bottorn of the Sea." UJloa alfo

informs us, that the fame thing is evident in the whcale country of Valles in South Atnerica+: and Norden

ocean forms our prefsnt land: and tkat conEquently lbme patt of the ocean mras fea both in tize anted;3uvian earth and n the preEnt lte of it, and cotnmon to bsth.

* Ulloa>s voyage tv South A-m.ericas sol. 1I. pX 9g, VOL IJV1I.F 11 tCllS



[ 5o ] tetls us, that £he rocks in Egypt bear evident marks of having been waShed by tlle fea .

TheSe are the reafons which induce me to trenture upon tllis fuppvfition; and now I will juR confider one or two objedions, that appear to me amongIl the molR nzaterial sYhich tnay be made to what I have ad vanced.

Itf nzay perllaps be faid, that we read + " of the <' waters returning frcxnl offthe earth, and of their " being abated at the end of the hundred and fifty- " days: and alfo, of tl)e waters decreafing continually (t till tlae tenth mosltl;z; and of the eops of the '< mountatns tbeing then feen^" And it may be objeded, that we ought from thence to conclude, that the waters of the deluge, having covered what was before dry ground, afterwards retreated, and left the very fame hills- and land dry again.

But this conclufion is by no means neceSary; for all that can be inferred fronl what we find in Genefils concerning the decreaGe of the waters, is that they gradually fubfided from off the face of what is now continent and dry lands as of courfe they would do on the elevation of it, agreeable to the foregoing hypo theIls. And indeed, if the delllge was effedred in the way herc fuppofied, we can then give a rational and eary account how all the water came to drairl off the ground, and to leave it dry fo foon as is recorded; which otherwife is a circumflcance in this piece of h*Rory very perplexing It is evident, that fucha violent earthquake, or burIling forth of the fubter raneou$ fire, as is here fuppoSed to have raifed tlle

Z Norden's Travels, vol. II. p. 2 I.

4; GeneEls, cih. viii. 3-5. bottom



[ 51 ] bottom of the then fea (the prefent continents), at once as high or higher than what ̂ ras before dry land, nza{t in a very nlort time have droxvned and over- whelmed the antedIluvian -earth, by- pollring out the waters upon it; and it is alfo evident, that for fome time the bottonl of the fea, fio raiSed, would continue covered shrith vlle waters, ssrhichX till the vail agitation into which they were flung fubr1ded, would continue flowing backwards and forwards. But,by degrees, and very eafily svithin the time mentioned in Scripv ture, the water would drain off from all the higher parts, and leave the new land quite dry, and in the Rate we now find it) with {irata of (llells, and fand, and Rones, and other bodies, lying juIl as ehe Sea had by accident many ages before placed them. Whereas} -were the deluge occaf1oned only by an addition of water fuicient to raife the- furface of the fea higher than the land and mountains, in that ¢afe, it is im- poilble to bmagine any nleansy at all conE1Rent with the courfe and laws of nature, by vzhich fuch an immenfe body of water could be cYaporated or con veyed away in fo {hort a fpace of tilllC. ,Xnd befides, in that cafe, the Ihells, &c flung upon the land by thc concuilon of t}e waters, and fub61ding there within fO ffiort a fpace of tirne, would ratller be found lying according to their fpecific gr-avities: a fad whach Dr Woodward fuppoWed certain, but which is by no Ineans true. Nc)r indeed) accQrding to the coiljedrules here advanced, is it at all lieceffiary that it- ilzoulvl be Wo. Fort as I imagine the {hells and othe marine bodies, which are now found Otl varous parts of the dry land) to have been placed there gradtlally during a *ucceiiion of ages, whilft it svas tlle bottom of tlae rea, it %'i

IS 2 fOl!'Q\vx



52 g

fiollor, that they anuft be found juf} as the fea, by its wanaings and ulotion, laid them; which would of courSe firIll waM many of thean together, and then waSh gravel, or find or clay, or other fubRaxlces over them; after which) more ffiells or other bodies would be depoilted, and then more Rones or gravel, Szc. accordilag to the natalre of the foil. ln l}lort, whatever vslas hpecifically laeavier than water,, wollld (after its removal by any agitation) foon jubfideX and rexuain fisedX whether the fiubRances underneath it were hpecifically heavier than itSelf or no: it is fuicient that they srere but all fpecifically heavier than the rater

We fi-nd to this day great changes are continually makingg within the mexnory of man, both on tlue iface of the earth) in the {hores, and in the bottom of the fea, even in thoSe fmall parts of it that we are acquainted with; and fuch changes mt t alfo have happened before the flood, and might very probably produce that f1tllatiotl of {hells, &c. fo different from what might be expeded from their fpecific weights

Another objedion may perhaps be made by fayillg if all the antediluvian earth was at once ost-erwhelmed, and of courSe all its plants with it, whence came it-to paSs, that the now dry land was fo foon cosrered sXrith vegetables and llerbage of all kinds ? To this I anfwer, in the filR place, that the difficulty is jull the fame, whethele we fuppofe the bottom of the antedi-

vian Sea to be the prefent continents, or whether we iuppoSe the face of the earth to llave remained the very iatne ; llnce by the waters of the deluge, all plants, tteeS3 and vegetablesX muR in both caSes equally have UPen dtilroyed; alad nothing -could well rernain

except



gf 1

except fome of their {hoots and feeds; which might uI as well take root-on the newcontinent, on the

hubfidingof the waters, as on the old. And in the next places I anfwer, that there are not a few inRances (as is fhown in Stillingfleet's trads*) of barren rocks and plains beco-ming by degrees well covered with verdure, thollgh very remote from any places that might apparently furni& feeds. They have firlE borne a kind of mofs, and afterwards other plants of an higher order (the feeds being brought there by accidetlt, and by the various and admirable mealls of conveyance, which the Creator has given them), till at lak they have been covered with rich verduse. To which may be added a very extraordinarfir fads, nov well known, namely, that if a piece of ground which has not been cultivated be tllrned up, and the-clods looSened, it will very foon produce a variety of plants, fome of which were never known to grow there before. We find that one acorn is fuflicient to pro duce a foreIl, and it is b3r no means to be fuppofed (let the deluge have happened how it would) that, immediately after it, the earth was as well cloathed with verdure, as it has become f1nce. Probably it was for a time in general very barren, except fuch parts as Noah and his fons cultivated with feeds which they had preferved in the ark

As to the leaf which the dove brought in +, that might be found on fome plant which had taken freQl root immediately on the fubfiding of the waters, or it

# Stillingfleet-'s Trads, p. 78, and alfo p. 45, where an inlXance is prod uced much to the purpofe, of marlhes becoming by degrees fine meadows.

+ Genefis, ch. viii. v. I1.

iS



[ 54] is not impoSlble but the top of fome antedilavian mountain, having been but nightly covered, might on the ceafing of the firR concufl*on (as I be-fore obServed) remain in the flate of an ifland elevated above the furface of the Sea.

I apprehend, no objeEtion of any weight can ariSe from the deScription of paradife in Scripture, nor from its being faid that the ark retted on the mountains of Ararat: f1Ilce, whether the contin-ent waschanged or no, there is no place now remaining that anfwers the deScription of the former; nor is there any thing faid about the latter, that {hould lead us to- conclude there ever was fuch a mountain as Ararat before the flood.

Buta leaving thefe objedtionsfrom the words of Scripture, and the hiSlory of the deltlge; another may perhaps arifeX from this circumXllancet thatShells are found in various parts of the earth, whicS are earidently rst the ffiells peculiar to the feas adjoining, -but fuch as belong to a diffierent climate. This fad at fir& certainly feems to contradi-& what I have -advanced: and yet, when well confilerXed, it will perhaps rather be found to confirm my hypothefis. For let any one but look on a terreItrial globe, and he will inRantty fee, that the preSent continents are evidently not in the fame climates as the Fefent Seas; and therefore, though the lhells found in many places of the eaFth are not found in the neighbouring parts of the ocean- i yet, when thoSe parts of ehe earth were ocean, they might have had a rery proper climate and lituation there. Tllus, for inRance, we may obServe that the Mediterranean is in a more fouthern climate than the neighbouring contillen$ of Europe, and in a

more avrthern climate than that of AfricaO -And thc svhole



[ 55 ] whole continent of Afia is in a climate much more northern, than the rleighbouring Indian ocean. -

But, if this folution of the difficulty is not iought fllfficoent, it may be added, that fo great a con_ CU«1OD, and fuch a change in the figure of ffie earth, as muft have happened from the fubterraneous fires elevating fo many parts lli«er tvhan they were before, might- poElbly affeEt the gravitation of the parts of the globe of the earth, and cauSe it to re- volve round a different axis after the flood; whence there would undoubtedly ar;Se a change of climate in all parts, fufficient to account for the prefent fitu ation of {hells, in places fO foreign to the climates where ffiell finl of the fame fipecies are now found. And as I harre before obServed with regard to feeds,, fo it may alSo be obferved with rega.rd to Ihell fiQ that the conveyance of a very few of each fort (by the xqux of water) to the beds proper for themg would be fufficient to preforate all the various kinds, and to cauSe them now to be foulld in fuch numbers, in thofe parts of the ocean tllat are bell adapted to each peculiar clafe.

Another thing proper to be taken notice of, is the horns and bolles of terreArial animals being found in the earth, together with foldil {hells; whi Seems to contradit* the fuppofition of the preSent continents having been originally the bottom of the fea. But with regard to this, I muR beg leave to obServe, that probably fome of thoSc bones hasre been depo- fited there fince the flood, and have been covered by an addition of earth, as has happened alfo to fome of the trees and woods that were cut down in this ifland by the Romans. And, as to the rell, it cannot

be



t 56 ] be fuppofed, but that on the Srfl: great eruptian, which poured the waters of the ocean upon the dry lands there muR have been a violent agiution for fome time, by their flowing backward and forward ^ during which interval, the bodies of many terreIlrial animais (floating on the water} would be wafhed to different parts of the newraifed contillent, and bs leR thele as the water fubfidgd.

Some little objeftion perhaps may arilge, from its being obServeds that the fea at preSent co6ters a much greater part of the globe than the dry land does.

But I apprehend this was alSo the cafe before the flood; and it may eaiSly be conceivedfi that fome part of the bottom of the antediluvian ocean might be ISung in the manner fuppofed in this paper, and not the whole; $nd that the bottonz of the preSent ocean confitis not only of what was before the flood dry land, but alfo of fome part of what was, even from the beginningX the bottom of the fea.

I will therefore only jull add, that probably the fame fubterraneous fires (which originally raiSed the continents and iSlands that now appear, and have ever fince been making great changes in the bowels of the earth, and producing thoSe tremendous earthv qualies, which have happened fivom time to time) may

in the end break forth with redoubled violence, and deRroy it, in the ulanner foretold in Scripture.

It may not be amifs to add, in confirmation of the foregoing hypothefis7 thatehe beds of fhellsa diSco- vered in chatk pitsX gravel psts, and other places, conElAgenela'ly of one ortwo, or atmoftofavery

few



[ 57 ] few different forts itz each particular place, as they would of courfe do upon a fuppofition that thofe re- fipeEtive beds were formerly at the bottom of the feaj in vlle feveral places where thote different-kind of Ihell fiih lived and bred ; and that they were from thence; together with the bottom of the antedsluvian ocean, aifed up by the force of fubtertanean fires: for we

may obServe in the prefent feas, that one fpecie6 of {hell fini take 1lp their habitatJon in one place, vrhilIt thofe of a different fpecies are follnd in fome other; and that numbers of the fame kind, as for in0ance cockles, or oyRers, are generally found on the fame banks, The preSent appearance of foill {hells} therefore, does at leaflc in this reEpeEt feem confiIlent with the conjeflrures here advanced: whereas, upon a fup pofition that thefe foilll ffiells were carried to their re- fpedive places, at the time of the flood, merely by the torrent of water that then flowed to and fro, they ou-ght rather to be found mixed promikuouny together; a2ld not thoi of one fipecies- in one plaXce; and tthofe of a different fipe£ies in another. And I g lBaive here to men$ion, that, fince the writing of the forqoing paper, l find an hypothelis fomewhat lliilar to what is here adranced was adopted by Lazzaro Moro, a Venetian authors who affierts that the continents were-orignally raifed by fubterranean fires; bu-t he con&ders this merely as the cauSe of thar firfl: and original formation, and not as iting occafioned- the deluge, no-r-as having happened tt that tinaei

VOLX LVIIo V. Sn



An Attempt to Account for the Universal Deluge, by Edward King, Esq; of Lincoln's-Inn, F. R. S

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Transcript of An Attempt to Account for the Universal Deluge, by Edward King, Esq; of Lincoln's-Inn, F. R. S