Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Depending on the font, there is one character that may not be visible. It is a superscripted "5". Other notes follow the text. _Barr's Buffon._ Buffon's Natural History. CONTAINING A THEORY OF THE EARTH, A GENERAL _HISTORY OF MAN_, OF THE BRUTE CREATION, AND OF VEGETABLES, MINERALS, _&c. &c._ FROM THE FRENCH. WITH NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. IN TEN VOLUMES. VOL. I. London: PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR, AND SOLD BY H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1797. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. _Page_ _THE Theory of the Earth_ 1 Proof of the Theory of the Earth. Article I. _On the Formation of the Planets_ 69 Article II. _From the System of Whiston_ 115 Article III. _From the System of Burnet_ 128 Article IV. _From the System of Woodward_ 131 Article V. _Exposition of some other Systems_ 137 Article VI. _Geography_ 155 Article VII. _On the Production of the Strata, or Beds of the Earth_ 183 Article VIII. _On Shells and other Marine Productions found in the interior Parts of the Earth_ 219 Article IX. _On the Inequalities of the Surface of the Earth_ 262 Article X. _Of Rivers_ 298 PREFACE. We should certainly be guilty of a gross absurdity if, in an age like the present, we were to enter into an elaborate discussion on the advantages to be derived from the study of NATURAL HISTORY; the ancients recommended it as useful, instructive, and entertaining; and the moderns have so far pursued and cultivated this first of sciences, that it is now admitted to be the source of universal instruction and knowledge; where every active mind may find subjects to amuse and delight, and the artist a never failing field to enrich his glowing imagination.