We have already given several instances of the waters of the sea having inundated different parts of the land, and after a certain period retiring again. We will now add, that there are many places along the coasts of our own island, which give proof of their having been in this state, though there is no historical memoir concerning it.

The excellent and pious Mr. Derham gives an account, that in his time there happened an inundation of the sea at Dagenham in Essex, which laid bare a part of the adjacent pasture, for more than two hundred feet in width, and in some places, twenty in depth. It discovered a number of trees that had, probably, lain there for many ages. These trees, by lying long under ground, were become black and hard, and their fibres so tough, that, he says, it was almost as easy to break a wire as any of them: they lay so thick in the place where they were found, that, in many parts, he could step from one to another: he conceived also, that not only the adjacent marshes, for several hundred acres, were covered underneath with such timber, but also the marshes along the mouth of the Thames, for several miles. The meeting with these trees at such a depth, he ascribes to the sediment of the river, and the tides, which constantly washing over them, have always left some part of their substance behind, so as, in a long course of time, to work a bed of vegetable earth over them, to the height at which he found it.

Hatfield-Chace, in Yorkshire, contains above eighteen thousand acres of ground. This tract, was, for many ages, yearly overflown. A Dutch gentleman, named Cornelius Vermusden, at length reduced it to arable and pasture-land. Under the surface of this wide extent, are found millions of the roots and bodies of trees, of such kinds as this island VOL. IV. Tt.

either formerly did, or does at present produce. The roots of all, stand in their proper postures; and by them, as thick as they could grow, the resepctive trunks of ́each: some of them even above thirty yards long. The oaks, some of which have been sold for fifteen pounds apiece, are as black as ebony, very lasting, and close grained. The ash trees are as soft as earth, and are generally cut to pieces by the spade in digging, and as soon as flung into the open air, and dried, turn to dust. But all the rest, even the willows, which are softer than the ash, preserve their substance and texture to this very day. Some of the firs appear to have vegetated, even after they were fallen, and to have, from their branches, struck up large trees, as great as the parent stock. It is observable also, that many of these trees have ben burnt, some quite through, some on one side; some have been found chopped and squared, others riven with great wooden wedges, all sufficiently manifesting, that the country, which was deluged, had formerly been inhabited. Near a great root of one tree, were found eight coins of the Roman Emperors; and, in some places the marks of the ridge and furrow were plainly perceivable, which testified that the ground had formerly been cultivated.

The gentleman who has given this account, in Phil. Trans. Vol. VI. Part II. p. 214. has conjectured that this forest must have been thus levelled by the Romans; and that the falling of the trees, must have contributed to the accumulation of the waters. "The Romans, (says he) when the Britons fled, always pursued them into the fortresses of low woods, and miry forests: in these, the wild natives found shelter; and as opportunity offered, issued out, and fell upon their invaders without mercy. In this manner, the Romans were at length so harrassed, that orders were given for cutting down all the woods and forests in Britain.

In order to effect this, and destroy the enemy the easier, they set fire to the woods, composed of pines, and other inflammable timber, which spreading, the conflagration destroyed not only the forests, but also great numbers of wretched inhabitants, who had taken shelter in them. When, by the pine trees, they had done what mischief they could, the Roman then brought their army nearer, and, with whole legions of captive Britons, cut down most of the trees that were yet left standing; leaving only here and there some great trees untouched, as monuments of their fury. These, being destitute of the support of the underwood, and of neighbouring trees, were easily overthrown by the winds, and without interruption, remained on the places were they happened to fall. The forest, thus fallen, must necessarily have stopped up the current, both from land and sea; and turned into considerable lakes, what were before but temporary streams. The working of the waters here, the consumption and decay of rotten boughs upon marshy grounds, soon formed a covering over the trunks of the fallen trees, and raised the earth several feet above its former level. The earth thus every day swelling, by a continual increase from the sediment of the waters, and by the lightness of the vegetable substances, of which it was composed, soon overtopt the waters; so that the country by degrees rose above the inundation, and only required a little assistance from the hand of man to compleat the work. Perhaps this may be the manner of the formation

of all bogs, which are formed by the putrefaction of vegetable substances, mixed with the mud and slime deposited by waters, and at length acquiring a sufficient consistency for cultivation.

From this we see what powerful effects the sea is capable of producing upon its shores, either by overflowing some, or deserting others; by altering the direction of these, and rendering those craggy and precipitate, which before were shelving. But the influence which the sea has upon its shores, is nothing to that which it has upon that greatbody of earth which forms its bottom. It is at the bottom of the sea

that the greatest wonders are performed, and the most rapid changes are produced; it is there that the motion of the tides and the currents have their whole force, and agitate the substances of which their bed is composed. But all these are almost wholly hidden from human curiosity: the miracles of the deep are performed in secret; and we can have but little information from its abysses, except what we receive by inspection at very shallow depths, or by the plummet, or from divers, who, with the help of a diving bell are known to descend from twenty to fifty fathoms deep. The eye can see but a very short way into the depths of the sea, and that only when its surface is glassy and smooth. In many seas, nothing is perceived but a bright sandy plain at the boottom, extending hundreds of miles, without any intervening object. But in others, particularly in the Red Sea, it is very different: the whole bottom of this extensive bed of water is, literally speaking, a forest of submarine plants, and corals formed by insects for their habitation, sometimes branching out to a great extent. Here are seen the madrepores, the sponges, mosses, sea mushrooms, and other marine productions, covering every part of the bottom; so that some have even supposed this sea to have taken its name from the colour of its plants below. But this is evidently not the case, for these plants are by no means peculiar to this sea, as they are found in the Persian Gulph, along the coasts of Africa, and those of Provence and Catalonia.

Some divines have piously considered the Red Sea as a type of the blood of Christ in our redemption, from an ungrounded supposition that its waters are of a red colour; but herein they are under a mistake.

The Hebrew scriptures call it the weedy sea, from the vast quantity of sea weeds, or plants, with which its bottom is covered. They sometimes also call it the sea of Edom, because it bordered upon the country of Edom. The septuagint translators mistook this epithet for a proper name, and rendered it the Red Sea. From this mistake has arisen all the pious nonsense which has been written upon this subject, by those who have treated upon the types of the Old Testament.

The bottom of many parts of the sea near America, presents a very different, though a very beautiful appearance. This is covered with vegetables, which make it look as green as a meadow, and thousands of turtles, and other sea animals, are often seen feeding upon these plants. In order to extend our knowledge of the sea to greater depths recourse has been had to the plummet; which is generally made of a lump of lead of about forty pounds weight, fastened to a cord. This,

however, only answers in moderate depths; for when a deep sea is to be sounded, the matter of which the cord is composed, being tighter than the water, floats upon it, and when let down to a considerable depth, its length so increases its surface, that it is often sufficient to prevent the lead from sinking; so that this may be the reason that some parts of the sea are said to have no bottom.

The bottom of the sea, generally speaking, appears to have the same uneven surface as the land we dwell upon. Here are extensive plains; there vallies; and, in many places, mountains of amazing height. Mr. Buache has actually given us a map of that part of the bottom of the sea, which lies betwixt Africa and America, taken from the several soundings of mariners: in it we find the same eminences, and the same depressions, as upon the face of the earth. There is this difference, however, that as the tops of the land mountains appear the most barren and rocky, the tops of the sea mountains are the most fruitful and verdant : hence the great quantities of fish of various kinds which are found upon sea mountains, such as the banks of Newfoundland and elsewere. Some of which flock thither to feed upon the plants which abound on those places, and others to prey upon such fishes as feed on vegetables.

The plummet, which gives us some idea of the inequalities of the bottom, leaves us totally in the dark as to every other particular; recourse, therefore, has been had to divers: these, either bred up to this dangerous way of life, and accustomed to remain some time under water without breathing; or assisted by a diving-bell, have been able to return some confused and uncertain accounts of the places below.

In the great diving bell improved by Dr. Halley, which was large enough to contain five men, and was supplied with fresh air by buckets that alternately rose and fell, they descended fifty fathoms. In this huge machine, which was let down from the mast of the ship, the Dr himself went down to the bottom, were, when the sea was clear, and especially when the sun shone, he could see perfectly well to write or read, and much more to take up any thing that was underneath: at other times, when the water was troubled and thick, it was dark as night below, so that he was obliged to keep a candle burning in the bell. One thing was very remarkable, which is, that the water which from above was usually seen of a green colour, when looked at from below, appeared to him of a very different one, casting a redness upon his hands, like that of damask roses-A proof that the sea takes its colour from the different reflections of the rays of light, and not from any thing floating in it..

Upon the whole, the accounts which we have received from this contrivance, are but few. We learn from it, and from divers in general, that while the surface of the sea may be tempestuous, it is usually calm below; that some divers who have gone down when the weather was calm, and came up when it was tempestuous, were surprised at their not perceiving the change at the bottom. This, however, does not apply with regard to the tides, and the currents, as they are known constantly to shift their bottom; taking their bed with great violence from one plaće, and depositing it at another. We are informed, also,by divers, that the sea grows colder in proportion as they descend; that as far as the sun's

rays pierce, it is influenced by their warmth; but that lower down the cold is almost intolerable.

A person of quality, who had been himself a diver, as Mr. Boyle informs us, declared, that he seldom descended more than three or four fathoms, yet he found it so much colder than near the top, that he could not well endure it; and that being let down in a great diving-bell, although the water could not immediately touch him, he found the air extremely cold upon his first arrival at the bottom.

The diving

After all we know but little of the depths of the sea. bell does not enable us to do more than cautiously to descend a few fathoms; and even the improvements of that machine by Mr. Spalding, and others, and the invention of the diving-bladder, by Borelli, have not much enlarged our powers of traversing the bottom of the deep.

As for natural divers, their powers are but small; such of them indeed as have been accustomed to diving from their infancy, may be able to continue for ten or fifteen minutes under water, and but very few of the most expert can do this: and even those that can, seldom go to a depth further than six or eight fathoms, the pressure of the water at this depth being so great upon the body that it is difficult for the blood to circulate, the eyes of the divers become blood-shotten, and a fatal spitting of blood often follows.

The account which the learned Kircher gives of the famous Sicilian diver, named Nicholas the fish, is doubtless a fable, we will not therefore trouble our readers with it, but such of them as wish to see it, may consult Encyclopedia Britannia, under the article, diving.

From divers, however, we learn, that the sea in many places is filled with rocks at the bottom; and among their cliffs, and upon their sides, various plants and substances sprout out, of diferent colours and sizes.

Some of these assume the shape of beautiful flowers, and though soft, when taken up, soon harden and become like stone: many such may be seen by the curious, in the British and Leverian Museums.

Thus have we attempted to explore the recesses of the great deep. Human curiosity is never satisfied; whatever object it is acquainted with, it turns from it to the contemplation of something else. The eye takes in the circuit of the horizon and the expanse of the heavens; but not content with this, it calls in the assistance of art, to enable it to discover the heavenly orbs, which elude the penetration of its natural sight. It turns its attention to the bowels of the earth, and to the bottom of the sea; it surveys each, with their forms and productions, both in their larger exhibitions, and in their smaller objects. Not content with the objects which are visible, the imagination stretches itself to those which it supposes to exist whether in earth, sea, or air. The ear, also, is open to the report of others, whether of the traveller, or the philosopher, who relate with credibility, what as fallen under their observation. Thus the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing: the curiosity of man is boundless. This principle is implanted in the human heart, by the Creator, for wise purposes, and, when duly exercised, wil! be a source of information to the mind: it will make us acquainted with God in the works of his hands: it will shew us the impress of his perfections