Deluge; and besides, that previous to this great revolution there were neither mountains, marble, nor rocks, nor clays, nor matters of any kind similar to those we are at present acquainted with, as they almost all contain shells and other productions of the sea. Besides, at the time of the Deluge, the earth must have acquired a considerable degree of solidity, from the action of gravity for more than sixteen centuries, and consequently it does not appear possible that the waters, during the short time the Deluge lasted, should have overturned and dissolved its surface to the greatest depths we have since been enabled to penetrate. But without dwelling longer on this point, which shall hereafter be more amply discussed, I shall confine myself to well-known observations and established facts. There is no doubt but that the waters of the sea at some period covered and remained for ages upon that part of the globe which is now known to be dry land; and consequently the whole continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, were then the bottom of an ocean abounding with similar productions to those which the sea at present contains: it is equally certain that the different strata which compose the earth are parallel and horizontal, and it is evident their being in this situation is the operation of the waters which have collected and accumulated by degrees the different materials, and given them the same position as the water itself always assumes. We observe that the position of strata is almost universally horizontal: in plains it is exactly so, and it is only in the mountains that they are inclined to the horizon, from their having been originally formed by a sediment deposited upon an inclined base. Now I insist that these strata must have been formed by degrees, and not all at once, by any revolution whatever, because strata, composed of heavy materials, are very frequently found placed above light ones, which could not be, if, as some authors assert, the whole had been mixed with the waters at the time of the Deluge, and afterwards precipitated; in that case every thing must have had a very different appearance to that which now exists. The heaviest bodies would have descended first, and each particular stratum would have been arranged according to its weight and specific gravity, and we should not see solid rocks or metals placed above light sand any more than clay under coal.