quintuple Proportion only, or, if you will, only in a quadruple; and then the Table of the Multiplication of Mankind, from the Creation to the Flood, would stand thus; _Century_ 1— 10 2— 40 3— 160 4— 640 5— 2560 6— 10240 7— 40960 8— 163840 9— 655360 10— 2621440 11— 10485760 12— 41943040 13— 167772160 14— 671088640 15— 2684354560 16— 10737418240 This Product is too excessive high, if compar’d with the present number of Men upon the Face of the Earth, which, I think, is commonly estimated to be betwixt three and four hundred Millions; and yet this Proportion of their Increase seems to be low enough, if we take one Proportion for all the Centuries; for, in reality, the same Measure cannot run equally through all the Ages, but we have taken this as moderate and reasonable betwixt the highest and the lowest; but if we had taken only a tripple Proportion, it would have been sufficient (all things consider’d) for the Purpose. There are several other ways of computing this Number, and some more particular and exact than this is, but which way soever you try, you shall find the Product great enough for the Extent of this Earth; and if you follow the Septuagint Chronology, it will still be far higher. I have met with three or four different Calculations, in several Authors, of the Number of Mankind before the Flood, and never met with any yet, but what exceeded the Number of the People that are at present upon the Face of the Earth. So as it seems to me a very groundless and forc’d Conceit to imagine, that _Judea_ only, and some Parts about it in _Asia_, were stor’d with People when the Deluge was brought upon the old World. Besides, if the Deluge was confin’d to those Countries, I do not see but the Borderers might have escap’d, shifting a little into the adjoining Places where the Deluge did not reach. But especially what needed so much ado to build an Ark to save _Noah_ and his Family, if he might have sav’d himself and them, only by retiring into some neighbouring Country; as _Lot_ and his Family sav’d themselves, by withdrawing from _Sodom_, when the City was to be destroyed? Had not this been a far easier thing, and more compendious, than the great Preparations he made of a large Vessel, with Rooms, for the Reception and Accommodation of Beasts and Birds? And now I mention Birds, why