[] I cannot here omit the Observations that have been made in these later Times, since we have had the Use and Improvement of the Microscope, concerning the great Difference, which by the help of that, doth appear betwixt Natural and Artificial Things. Whatever is Natural, doth by that appear adorned with all imaginable Elegance and Beauty.——Whereas the most curious Works of Art, the sharpest, finest Needle doth appear as a blunt, rough Bar of Iron, coming from the Furnace or the Forge. The most accurate Engravings or Embossments seem such rude, bungling, deformed Works, as if they had been done with a Mattock, or a Trowel. So vast a Difference is there betwixt the Skill of Nature, and the Rudeness and Imperfection of Art. Bp. Wilk. Nat. Rel. L. 1. Ch. 6.
CHAP. I.
Of the Figure of the Terraqueous Globe.
This I suppose I may take for granted to be Spherical, or nearly so[a]. And this must be allowed to be the most commodious, apt Figure for a World on many Accounts; as it is most capacious, as its Surface is equi-distant from the Center, not only of the Globe, but at least (nearly) of Gravity and Motion too, and as some have thought, of the central Heat and Waters. But these, and divers other Things I shall pass over, and insist only upon two or three other Benefits of this globous Figure of the Earth and Waters.
1. This Figure is the most commodious in regard of Heat, and I may add of Light also in some measure. For by this means, those two great Benefits are uniformly and equally imparted to the World: They come harmoniously and gradually on, and as gradually go off again. So that the daily and yearly Returns of Light and Darkness, Cold and Heat, Moist and Dry, are Regular and Workman-like, (we may say,) which they would not be, especially the former, if the Mass of Earth and Waters were (as some fancied[] it) a large Plain; or as others, like a large Hill in the midst of the Ocean; or of a multangular Figure; or such like.
2. This Figure is admirably adapted to the commodious and equal Distribution of the Waters in the Globe. For since, by the Laws of Gravity, the Waters will possess the lowest Place; therefore, if the Mass of the Earth was cubick, prismatick, or any other angular Figure, it would follow, that one (too vast a Part) would be drowned; and another be too dry. But being thus orbicular, the Waters are equally and commodiously distributed here and there, according as the Divine Providence saw most fit; of which I shall take notice by and by.
3. The orbicular Figure of our Globe, is far the most beneficial to the Winds and Motions of the Atmosphere. It is not to be doubted, if the Earth was of some other, or indeed any other Figure, but that the Currents of Air would be much retarded, if not wholly stopped. We find by Experience what Influence large and high Mountains, Bays, Capes, and Head-lands have upon the Winds; how they stop some, retard many, and divert and change (near the Shores) even the general and constant Winds[c], that blow round the Globe in the Torrid Zone. And therefore, since this is the effect of such little Excrescences, which have but little Proportion to our Globe, what would be the Consequences of much vaster Angles, which would equal a Quarter, Tenth, or but an Hundredth Part of the Globe’s Radius? Certainly these must be such a Barricade, as would greatly annoy, or rather absolutely stop the Currents of the Atmosphere, and thereby deprive the World of those salutiferous Gales that I have said keep it sweet and clean.
Thus the Figure of our Globe doth manifest it to be a Work of Contrivance, inasmuch as it is of the most commodious Figure; and all others would be liable to great and evident Inconveniences.