imagine that after the general flood a second inundation took place, and rose to such an amazing height as to deposit these calcareous substances and these shells on the tops of the mountains, is contrary to all probability. Their present situation can, therefore, be no otherwise accounted for than by supposing that they were either deposited at the time when these mountains were covered by the flood, or that they were carried thither by the united efforts of water and volcanic fire. In the granite, zeolites, chrysolites, and flint containing iron, copper, sulphur, and other things of the like kind, which are thrown up by Vesuvius, there are found also alum, alkali, marine salt, sal-ammoniac, and the so-called neutral salts. In the Dialogues on Vesuvius, printed at Naples in 1794, it is remarked, therefore, on very good grounds, that Vesuvius, and all volcanoes in general, give the lie to the chemists, and make them ashamed of their art. Condamine conjectured that the chemical laboratory of Vesuvius may extend to a considerable distance below the sea. Vesuvius, even in the year 1731, threw up such abundance of water that it inundated the fields, swept away the strongest trees, and buried more than five hundred people in its waves. Ought not these phenomena to serve as a proof that the water, at the time of an earthquake, rises very unexpectedly to a great height, and falls again with the same velocity? Does not this indicate the action of electric fire; and may not the latter, combined with water in the bowels of the earth, enter into a contest with it, and occasion the before-mentioned movement? The volcano in the Isle of Bourbon lies also near the sea, and the latter no doubt contributes to its throwing up abundance of lava, which is perfectly similar to that thrown up by Vesuvius. The volcanoes on the southern side of Africa, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, are also at no great distance from the sea; and I saw them throw up, in the night-time, dark red flames, and a thick smoke which covered the whole summits of the mountains. The volcano in the Island of Ascension, which has been totally extinct for several centuries, has, as already observed, covered the whole rock with a grey, porous, and ferruginous stone, which Spilberg, in his _India Orientalis_, calls _Lapides carbones fabrorum exustos referentes_; stones which have the appearance of smiths’ coals. It is hardly to be supposed that this island could have been laid so entirely waste by volcanic fire, had not the sea water, with which it is surrounded on all sides, contributed to produce that effect. The fish found in the neighbouring seas are exceedingly unwholesome, and emit a volcanic smell. A single drop of water is not to be found in the whole island; and the reason of this, in all probability, is, that the two elements, fire and water, have here formerly entered into a dreadful contest, in which the former obtained the superiority.