| OCR Text |
Show 20 KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS. Pliny had no theoretical opinion? of ?is own, concerni~g chanaes of the earth's surface; and·m th1s department, as m othe~ he restricted himself to the task of a compiler, without reasoning on the facts stated by him, or attempting to digest them into reO'u}ar order. His enumeration of the new islands which had b~en formed in the Mediterranean, and of other convulsions, shew that the ancients had not been inattentive observers of the changes which had taken place on the earth within the memory of man. We shall now conclude our remarks on the opinions enter· tained before the Christian· era, · concerning the past revolutions of our globe. No particular investigations appear to have been made for the express purpose of interpreting the monuments left by nature of ancient changes, but they were too obvious to be entirely disregarded; and the observation of the present course of nature presented too many proofs of alterations continually in progress on the earth to alJow philosophers to believe that nature was in a state of rest, or that the surface had remained, and would continue to remain, unaltered. But they l1ad never compared attentively the results of the destroying and reproductive operations of modern times with those of remote eras, nor had they ever entertained so much as a conjecture concerning the comparative antiquity of the human race, and living species of animals and plants, with those belonging to former conditions of the organic world. They had studied the movements and positions of the heavenly bodies with laborious industry, and made some progress in investiaating the . 1 b amma , vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; but the ancient his· tory of the globe was to them a sealed book, and, although written in characters of the most striking and imposing kind, they were unconscious even of its existence. CHAPTER III. Arabian writers of tho Tenth century-Persecution of Omar-Co~>mogony of the Koran-Eal'ly Italian writerS-Fracastoro-Controversy as to the real nature of organized fossils-Fossil shells attributed to the Mosaic deluge-PalissySteno- Scilla-Quirini-Boyle-Plot-Hooko's Theory of Elevation by earthquakes-His spectilations on lost species of animals-Ray-Physicotheological writers- 1Voodward's Diluvial Theory- Burnet- WhistonIIutchinson- Leibnitz-V allisneri-Lazzoro Moro-G enerelli- Buff onHis theory condemned by the Sorbonno as unorthodox-Buffon's declaration - Targioni- Al'dnino -Michell- Catcott- Raspe- Fortis- Testa _ Whitehurst-Pallas-Saussure. AE'TER the decline of the Roman empire, the cultivation of physical science was first revived with some success by the Saracens, about the middle of the eighth century of our era. The works of the most eminent classic writers were purchased at great expense from the Christians, and translated into Arabic; and Al Mamun, son of the famous HarG.n-al-Rashid, the contemporary of Charlemagne, received with marks of distinction, at his court at Bagdad, astronomers and men of learning from different countries. This caliph, and some of his successors, encountered much opposition and jealousy from the doctors of the Mahomedan law, who wished the Moslems to confine their studies to the Koran, dreading the effects of the diffusion of a taste for the physical sciences*. Almost all the works of the early Arabian writers are ]ost. Amongst those of the tenth century, of which fragments are now extant, is a system of mineralogy by Avicenna, a physician, in whose arrancrement there is considerable merit. In the same century also, 0 0mar, surnamed "El Aalem," or "the Lcamed," wrote a work on " the Retreat of the Sea." It appears that on comparing the charts of his own time with those made by the Indian and Persian astronomers two thousand years before, he had satisfied himself that important changes had taken place since the times of history in the form of the coasts of Asia, and that the extension of the sea had been greater at some former periods. ·~ Mou. Univ. Ilist. vol. ii. chap. iv. :;cdio\1 iii. |
