[a] Nemo dixerit terram pulchriorem esse quòd cavernosa sit, quòd dehiscat in multis locis, quòd disrupta caveis & spatiis inanibus; iisque nullo ordine dispositis, nullâ formâ: nec quæ aliud contineant quàm tenebras & sordes; unde graves & pestifera exhalationes, terræ motus, &c. Burnet ubi supr. c. 7.
[] The Zirchnitzer Sea in Carniola, is of great Use to the Inhabitants of that Country, by affording them Fish, Fowls, Fodder, Seeds, Deer, Swine, and other Beasts, Carriage for their Goods, &c. Vid. Phil. Trans. Nr. 191, &c. or Lowth. Abridg. Vol. 2. p. 306, &c. where you have put together in one View, what is dispersed in divers of the Transactions. This Sea or Lake proceeds from some subterraneous Grotto, or Lake, as is made highly probable by Mr. Valvasor, Ibid.
The Grotto Podpetschio may be another Instance, that the very subterraneous Lakes may be of Use, even to the Inhabitants of the Surface above: Of which see Lowth. ubi supr. pag. 317. Sturmius also may be consulted herein his Philos. Eclect. Exercit. 11. de Terræ mot. particularly in Chap. 3. some of the most eminent Specus’s are enumerated, and some of their Uses.
[c] Crebri specus [remedium] præbent. Præconceptum enim spiritum exhalant: quod in certis notatur oppidis, quæ minùs quatiuntur, crebris ad eluviem cuniculis cavata. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 2. cap. 82.
[d] Woodward’s Essay, Part 3. Consect. 13.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Mountains and Valleys.
The last Thing I shall take notice of relating to the Earth, shall be the Hills and Valleys. These the eloquent Theorist owns to “contain somewhat august and stately in the beholding of them, that inspireth the Mind with great Thoughts and Passions, that we naturally on such Occasions think of God and his Greatness”. But then, at the same Time he saith, “The Hills are the greatest Examples of Ruin and Confusion; that they have neither Form nor Beauty, nor Shape, nor Order, any more than the Clouds in the Air; that they consist not of any proportion of Parts, referable to any Design, nor have the least Footsteps of Art or Counsel”. Consequently one grand Part of this lower Creation, even the whole present Face of our terraqueous Globe, according to this ingenious Author, is a Work of mere Chance, a Structure in which the Creator did not concern himself.
Part of this Charge I have already briefly answered, and my Survey now leads me to shew, that the Mountains are so far from being a Blunder of Chance, a Work without Design, that they are a noble, useful, yea, a necessary part of our Globe[a].