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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    [ 6° ] fmall extent of thefe quarries, and their oblong form, always terminating in a point, were ftill, to my grandfather, evident demonftrations of their origin. He alfo obferved, that the quarries of this kind, when placed at the feet of mountains of a fub- ftance which was foft and eafily broken by the im- preffions of the air, fuch as the quarries of black, gray, or agate-coloured marble, were compofed of very fmall pieces ; whereas, when they were fituated at the foot of mountains, compofed of hard (tones that are with difficulty mouldered, fuch as all the mountains made of mud or fine fand, the pieces which compofed thefe inferior quarries, were of a much larger bulk. In order to con- vince himfelf that the one came from the other, he obferved, that the higher and deeper the fupe- rior mountains were, the more confiderable were the quarries formed at their feet, which could only proceed from the greater quantity of their wrecks, which had had leifure to fall, and be accumulated in a long fpace of time neceflary to exhauft a deep fea. . In a word, to omit nothing proper to inflrucl him in the origin of thefe concretions, and to ef- tabliih their truth, he pounded the (tones of them, in the compofition of which he found, as in the flint-beds, though lefs frequently, the bones of fea-fifh, and fhells. After this he thought he had no reafon to doubt, but that thefe fmall quar- ries were the work of the waters of che fea, as well as the flint-beds. From this he concluded, that the fea had beat a long time on the parts where the quarries were fituated, fince it had been able to form fimilar collections, and confequently had been diminifhed by all the elevation obferved from its furface to thefe quarries. The mountains in our neighbourhood are intermixed with pertificaticns