Telliamed, or, The world explain'd : containing discourses between an Indian philospher and a missionary, on the diminution of the sea, the formation of the earth, the origin of men & animals : and other singular subjects, relating to natural history & philosphy ; a very curious work.

  • Maillet, Benoît de, 1656-1738. Telliamed. English
Date:
1797
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Telliamed, or, The world explain'd : containing discourses between an Indian philospher and a missionary, on the diminution of the sea, the formation of the earth, the origin of men & animals : and other singular subjects, relating to natural history & philosphy ; a very curious work. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    [ *32 ] might have opened a road for her, to lower chan- nels than thole in which (he formerly was, or to fome deep cavern in the entrails of the globe, this quantity of water, though immenfe, with refpect to its extent, might have followed fuch a road.— It would not even be abfurd to fuppoie, that an ex- traordinary impulfe may have carried the waters to a certain more, which it may have drawn from the opposite one : But yeftcrdav Sir, I made you oblerve, I fea, have not only covered ountains, but I alfo by numerous an,d evident proofs (hewedyou, that fhe had reared them in her bofom from their foot to their top ; and thac fhe confequently mull have fur- mounted them cc bly. With Lucrctius's leave, k is not the earth which has engendered the mountains, as he pretends*; it is the fea which has I them in her bofom, and afterwards brought them forth by her diminur tion. In a word, if it was not 10 ; if the waves in every part of our globe had not been, at leaft, equal to the tops of our higheft mountains, how could we in the competition of the molt elevated places find the fame fubftances, which at prefent fhe produces on her lhores ? Without fuppofmg fuch a preceding elevation, how can we account lor this furpriiing phenomenon, that in the ftones of Europe, and efpecially France, and other coun- * In the fifih book, Luzretitis, when explaining why the t;,ll,: poll 11 's tn center of the upiverfe, lavs that at its origin, the rays of the fun happening to ftrike upon its furface when faid bare, Forced it to condenfe towards its cen re. thai the vallies became low; and the mountains reared! their tops In ; lenceol th.erot.ks, whofebulk and parts could not < ! ; nequc enin p\ &c.