Original letter from Thomas Burnet to Isaac Newton, dated 13 January 1680/1

LondLondon Ian. 13. 8 $\frac{0}{1}$

SrSir I recdreceived yoryour lreletter of Dec. 24th & yethe favorfavour of those excepcontions you have made to some passages of my booke; wchwhich I cannot but take very kindly, seing you have had, it seems, both yethe patience to read it over & to make reflection upon several parts of it. The argumtment you note p. 118. seems to me conclusive for soe far as it goes; I doe there in a manner distinguish yethe Earth into 3 parts, terram planam et humilem, montes mediocres, et montes maximos, And show uppon yethe supposicontions there mentioned, ytthat all yethe Earth should bee covered maximis or mediocribꝫbus montibꝫbus, and consequently ytthat there should bee noe regiones plana᾽æ or humiles, if soe much Earth as is capable to fill yethe chanel of yethe sea was thrown upon a surface of equal height wthwith yethe sea, as yethe opinion there mentiond supposeth. And seing wee find ytthat there are a great many regions & countrys of yethe Earth ytthat are plana᾽æ et humiles, some lower then yethe surface of yethe Sea, some equal to it, some little higher, & a great many ytthat have neither montes magnos, nor mediocres, I conclude ytthat yethe mountaines wee find upon yethe Earth, greater or less, would not altogether fill yethe cavity of yethe Ocean by many degrees. Neither doe I mention how yethe subterraneous Ocean & yethe subterraneous cavities, wchwhich some thinke may bee a third or 4th part as much as yethe cavity of yethe external Ocean; And their bowels or wtwhat was dug out of them must bee thrown upon yethe Earth too, and yethe mountaines & higher parts of yethe Earth should bee capable of filling them alsoe; wchwhich how far they must come short of I leave you to imagine. Tis true if these dimenconsions were known more exactly, yethe height depth of yethe sea, yethe height of yethe mountaines, yethe quantity of yethe whole Earth higher then yethe surface of yethe sea, their ꝑproporcontions might bee stated more demonstratively, but soe far as wee know them yethe mountaines or higher parts of yethe Earth doe not answer by many degrees to yethe cavity of yethe sea & all subterraneous cavitys. And this calculus is confirmd by ytthat wchwhich im̄mmediately follows to yethe same effect (p. 119.) & is in a manner yethe same under another forme & more simple; Tis in this tenour, ytthat yethe mountaines upon supposicontion ytthat they were taken out of yethe chanel of yethe sea, should bee equal to yethe first Abyss, represented there in yethe scheame; wheras if you suppose ytthat Abyss but halfe as deep as orour deepest Ocean, ytthat calculus I thinke doth demonstrate ytthat yethe aggregate of yethe montainesmountaines of yethe Earth, or of all yethe Earth higher then yethe surface of yethe sea, doth not equal by many degrees yethe bulk of yethe Abyss, nor consequently yethe cavity of yethe Ocean wchwhich now containes it. 2 Then yethe 3d argumtment wchwhich follows im̄mmediately p. 120. confirmes these reasonings, by disproveing yethe same opinion from other consideracontions. And indeed yoryour supposicontion wchwhich men ytthat hold this opinion must goe upon, or yethe idea they must forme of yethe Exteriour Earth is altogether groundless & chymerical; for they must suppose ytthat there is some general or com̄mmon surface of yethe Earth, of an equal height wthwith yethe sea, & wchwhich runs round yethe Earth uninterruptedly in an uniforme convexity, upon wchwhich surface as upon a foundacontion or pavemtpavement yethe mountaines were set & all yethe Earth ytthat was dugg out of yethe sea. wchwhich is a meer idle notion ytthat doth not answer to any thing in nature, nor to any observacontion, as I have shown there p. 120. 121. & as is confirmd by all ytthat have to doe or know wtwhat belongs to yethe interiour structure of yethe Earth. These argumentacontions confirme one another, besides those general heads mencontiond p. 117. wchwhich show yethe inconveniences or impossibility of this Theological opinion, or of the vulgar acctaccount how yethe mountaines, yethe cavity of yethe sea, & all other cavitys & inequalities in yethe forme of yethe Earth came at first. But you seem rather to incline to yethe philosophical acctaccount of these ina᾽æqualities & of yethe irregular forme of yethe Earth; namely, ytthat yethe heat of yethe Sun rarefying ytthat side of yethe Chaos ytthat ley next it, or by yethe pressure of yethe vortex or of yethe Moon upon yethe Waters, some inequalities might bee made in yethe Earth, & then yethe waters flowing to those lower parts or cavities would make yethe seas there, & yethe upper parts of yethe Earth towards yethe poles wchwhich they flowd from, would bee dry land. And all this might yethe rather bee, because at first wee may suppose yethe diurnal revolucontions of yethe Earth to have been very slow, soe ytthat yethe first 6 revolucontions or days might containe time enough for yethe whole Creacontion, & yethe Sun in ytthat time might concortcontort & shrinke yethe parts of yethe Earth about yethe Æquator more then towards yethe poles, & make them hollower. But methinkes you forget Moses (whom in another place you will not suffer us to recede from) in this acctaccount of yethe formacontion of yethe Earth; for hee makes yethe seas & dry land to bee divided & yethe Earth wholly formd before yethe Sun or Moon existed. These were made yethe fourth day according to Moses, & yethe Earth was finisht yethe 3d day, as to yethe inanimate ꝑpart of it, sea & land, & even yethe plants alsoe; you must then according to Moses bring yethe Earth into this irregular forme it hath by other causes, & independently upon yethe Sun or Moon. Besides yethe Earth at first was cover'd wthwith an Abyss of water as both Moses & philosophy assure us, wtwhat great influence or effect then could yethe Sun have upon yethe Earth wchwhich ley at yethe bottome of this Abyss, any more then it hath now upon yethe bottome of yethe Sea? Thirdly, if yethe chanel of yethe Sea had been formd this way, it would have been regular according to yethe course of yethe Sun or yethe pressure of yethe Moon, but there is nothing of regularity in yethe figure of yethe Sea,3 Sea; & tis it lies towards yethe poles as much as towards yethe Æquator, & in all degrees of latitude. And soe for yethe mountaines too; & these mountaines are sometimes neerer yethe Sea, sometimes further off, as throughout Asia & Africa. And then when al's done, these causes or their effects would by noe meanes answer yethe vast mountaines & precipices of yethe Earth, & yethe prodigious vorago of yethe Sea. nor doth it give any acctaccount of yethe subterraneous cavities, wchwhich whose bowels neither yethe Sun could suck out nor yethe pressure of yethe Moon squeeze from wthwithin yethe Earth. Some of yethe Ancient philosophers I remembremember, especially yethe Epicur. as wee see in Gassendus, attempted such a like explicacontion of yethe Sea & formacontion Origin of yethe Earth, and of yethe formacontion of yethe Sea & mountaines & all other inequalities. But when one considers on the one hand how inadequate those causes are to yethe effects, how indistinct, how unsatisfactory when presst & examind; and on the other hand how congruously, how easily, how naturally, yethe Dissolucontion of yethe ExterirExteriour Earth (itas wee have explaind it p. 58. 59. 60.) doth at once answer all those inequalities wee now find in it, both yethe great chanel of yethe Ocean, yethe heapes & hughhigh juga of Mountaines, yethe Origine of Islands & yethe causes of subterraneous cavitys: how easily tis applicable to them all, how distinctly & fittly it answers them & all their uncouth properties, wee cannot rationally imagine ytthat they ꝑproceeded from any other causes. Especially this giveing an acctaccount alsoe of yethe universal Deluge wchwhich upon noe other acctaccount hypothesis is intelligible. As for Moses his descripcontion of yethe formacontion of yethe Earth in yethe first chap. of Genesis, I thinke I have given a true acctaccount of it p. 253. ytthat tis a descripcontion of yethe prpresent forme of yethe Earth, wchwhich was its forme alsoe then when Moses writ, and not of yethe prima᾽æval Earth wchwhich was gone out of being long before. And soe when yethe Sea is mentiond there, or Seasons or any such thing it onely shows wtwhat I say, ytthat ytthat descripcontion respects yethe prpresent Earth & not yethe prima᾽æval; wherof if Moses had given yethe Theory it would have been a thing altogether inaccomoommodate to yethe people & an useless distracting amusemtamusement. and therefore instead of it hee gives a short ideal draught of a Terraqueous Earth riseing from a Chaos, not according to yethe order of Nature & natural causes, but in ytthat order wchwhich was most conceiveable to yethe people, & wherin they could easily imagine an Omnipotent powrpower might forme it, wthwith respect to yethe conveniency of man & animals: Beginning first wthwith wtwhat was most necessary, & proceeding by steps in yethe same order to prepare an habitable world, furnisht wthwith every thing proper first for animals, & then for man yethe Master of all. & whosoevrever considers yethe whole impartially as tis reprpresented li. 2. 5. 8. I thinke will have yethe same thoughts of it. And if all Divines were as rational & judicious as yoryour selfe, I should not feare ytthat this would retard yethe recepcontion of yethe Theory, as you suggest it may. For I would aske them in yethe first place whether Moses his Hexameron or 6 dayes descripcontion of yethe creacontion, doth respect yethe whole universe or onely yethe sublunary world, all yethe heavens & yethe heaven of heavens, & all4 & all yethe host of them, Stars or Angels; Or our Earth onely & yethe Orb or heaven ytthat belongs to it: And I would not stir one step further till ytthat was determind betwixt us. Now it being demonstrable I thinke ytthat yethe whole universe was not made out of yethe Mosaical Chaos, I would in yethe next place aske them whether yethe Sun Moon & stars mentiond yethe 4th day, were made out of yethe Chaos, & then first brought into being when yethe Earth was formd? If they grant ytthat this Chaos did not extend to yethe whole universe, then they must grant ytthat yethe Sun Moon & Stars were not made out of it; but are mentiond as things necessary to make this Earth an habitable world. From wchwhich concession I would inferr 2 things, first ytthat yethe distinccontion of 6 dayes in yethe Mosaical formacontion of yethe world is noe physical reality, seing one of yethe 6 you see is taken up wthwith a non-reality, yethe creacontion of these things ytthat existed before. 2dly I inferr from this, yetheytthat as yethe distinccontion of 6 dayes is noe physical reality soe neither is this draught of yethe creacontion physical but Ideal, or if you will, morall, seing it is not physically true ytthat yethe Sun Moon & Stars were made at ytthat time, viz. 5 or 6000 yeares since when yethe Earth was form'd. And if it bee Ideal in one part, it may in some proporcontion bee ideal in evrevery part. For confirmacontion of this I'le instance in another thing, Moses his Firmamtment, wchwhich was yethe 2d dayes work; by yethe properties wherof you may easily understand ytthat it was is noe physical reality, as it is there set down; unless it bee lookt upon as a memorandum onely or a memorial of yethe firmamentum interaqueum ytthat was in yethe prima᾽æval Earth. You see yethe first property of yethe firmamtment as it is set down, is to divide betwixt yethe celestial waters & yethe terrestriall, and yethe 2d is to bee yethe seat of yethe Sun Moon & Stars. Now I appeale to any man whether these 2 local ꝑproperties bee not utterly inconsistent? to divide betwixt yethe Ca᾽ælest.Cælestial & terrest.terrestrial waters it must bee far below yethe Moon, & yethe cælest.cæestial waters must bee supposd betwixt it & yethe Moon; and to bee yethe seat of yethe Sun Moon & Stars it must bee not onely as high as yethe Moon but as yethe Sun, nay as yethe fixt stars wchwhich are at an im̄mmense distance above yethe Sun. Therefore yethe Firmamtment wthwith these properties can bee noe physical reality. and soe you see how is another day of yethe 6 imployd upon noe physical reality. If you make yethe firmamtment to bee yethe Atmospheare as you seem to doe, & yethe vapours above it to bee yethe celestial waters, wchwhich upon yethe disrupcontion of yethe Abyss were suddenly & excessively condenst; wthwith all my heart: but then how are yethe Sun Moon & stars placd in this firmamtment? and wchwhich is as bad how are these vapours extracted & settled above yethe firmamtment before there is a Sun to extract them? Neither indeed are these vapours or clouds or any space betwixt us & them soe considerable a thing methinkes, as to take up a 6th part of yethe creacontion; these things are rather a necessary conseqtconsequent of yethe Earth formd & yethe Sun acting upon it, then yethe first & most material thing in yethe formacontion of it; and if this had been wholly omitted by Moses, his cosmopæia would have appeard as compleat, & wee should have misst noe parts of orour world. Thus for yethe 4th & 2d day. Then for yethe first day & yethe Light made then, wtwhat was ytthat pray? wtwhat physical reality, where made or how5 or how? was it made out of yethe Chaos as other things, in wtwhat manner pray? if not out of yethe Chaos, it doth not seem to belong to Moses his world, nor to have any right to take up one of his 6 dayes: neither doe I know wtwhat Light was then first made ytthat was not before, or how upon yethe formacontion of a planet any new Light would be ꝑproduct. Vpon yethe whole I confess I see noe other acctaccount of these things then wtwhat I have given in yethe 8th ch. li. 2. & ytthat yethe Hexameron or hypothesis of 6 dayes is onely Ideal, accomodated to yethe prpresent Terraqueous forme of yethe Earth; but yethe Cosmopa᾽æia, if one may soe cal it, in yethe 2d chapter, of ytthat Garden wchwhich God planted מחדם a principio, ytthat is real & physical, & yethe ꝑproductions of man & other creatures there: Neither doe I see why ytthat 2d makeing of man animals & plants should have been instituted if yethe first had been a physical reality. YorYour supposicontion ytthat yethe first revolucontions of yethe Earth were much slower & yethe dayes much longrlonger then they are now, & consequently a day might then bee a competent time for some great change or transformacontion of yethe Chaos, looks pretty well at yethe first; but unless you make yethe first 6 dayes as long as 6 yeares or rather much longer, I cannot imagine ytthat they should bee sufficient for yethe work. for instance yethe 3d day when yethe waters were gathered into one place & yethe dry land made to appeare, & consequently yethe chanel of yethe Sea made then & yethe mountaines, could these grand changes bee wrought in yethe body of yethe Earth in less then a yeares time? I thinke not in a much longer time. then yethe Sun Moon & Stars wchwhich were made yethe 4th day, was not ytthat a good yeare days work, though yethe day was as long as a yeare. then if yethe day was thus long wtwhat a dolefull night would there bee? I am affraid ytthat would undoe all ytthat was done on yethe day time, & doe as much hurt in yethe state & progress of nature as yethe day did good. But if yethe revolucontions of yethe Earth were thus slow at first, how came they to bee swifter? from natural causes or supernatural? & did they come subitaneously or by degrees to ytthat swiftness they have now? if they came to it by degrees, wtwhat prodigious long life did Adam & his children live? Adams 900 & 30 yeares would make 9000 of ours at least; & soe proportionably of yethe rest. These things, SrSir & some others of this nature I would suggest to those Divines ytthat insist upon yethe hypothesis of 6 dayes as a physical reality, wchwhich even many of yethe Fathers as I remember have allowd to bee onely an artificial scheame of narracontion, they supposeing yethe creacontion to have been momentaneous. And I would further desire these persons to explaine to me yethe forme of St Peters κόσμος ἀρχαιος or ante-diluvian Earth & heavens; wherin it was differtdifferent from orsours & differtdifferent in such a manner ytthat it was thereby peculiarly subject to perish by a Deluge, as I have noted p. 25. & in many other places. They must alsoe tell me wtwhat is or can bee understood by Moses's disruption of yethe Abyss at yethe Deluge, if yethe Earth was then in yethe same forme it is in now. And wtwhat ytthat Gyrus or Orbis is wchwhich both in Iob & Solomons Cosmopa᾽æia is plac't6 plac't round yethe Abyss or face of yethe first waters; wchwhich I have taken notice of p. 126 &c & li. 2. c. 8. When they have considerd these places & especially ytthat of St Peter and joynd all yethe other reasons both a priori & a posteriori wchwhich I have brought to show ytthat yethe Earth was at first in a differtdifferent forme from wtwhat it is in now, I thinke they will iudge my supposition very reasonable ytthat Moses his hypothesis of 6 dayes work is but yethe Idea of a creacontion accomoommodate to yethe people & to yethe present forme of yethe Earth. Concerning paradise you seem to bee of opinion ytthat it might bee under yethe Æquator: but I doe not see how this alone would answer its phænomena. I distinguish yethe pha᾽ænomena of Paradise (in yethe 2d book) into those ytthat were general & comoommon to it wthwith all ytthat Earth, and into those ytthat respect its particular region & situacontion. Its general pha᾽ænom.phænomena were a ꝑperpetual serenity & temperature of air wthwithout any vicissitude of seasons; longa᾽ævity of animals, & their ꝑproduccontion out of yethe Earth: And wee must first find an Earth capable of these things, before wee enquire wtwhat region of ytthat Earth was most paradisiacal. Now these things I say orour prima᾽æval Earth was very capable of, considering yethe eaveness & equality of its surface, yethe temper of its soyle, & its right situacontion to yethe Sun, wchwhich gave it a perpetual equinox. wchwhich situacontion of yethe prima᾽æval Earth I thinke I have shown both from reason p. 182 &c. & from Antiquity p. 291, 292 &c. and I should bee willing to know yoryour opinion of ytthat hypothesis. Then as for yethe particular situacontion of Paradise, whether hemispheare twas in, I doe not undertake to determine ytthat by yethe Theory onely, but depend cheifely upon yethe testimony of yethe Ancients, who excepting one or two ytthat place it under yethe æquator as yuyou doe; did generally place it in yethe other hemispheare; either explicitly or by necessary consequence. SrSir, persueing those things ytthat were of greatest extent in yoryour lreletter, as wtwhat you had offerd concerning yethe possibility of formeing yethe Earth, as it now is, out of a Chaos; Or wtwhat related to Moses's Hexameron, Or to Paradise; I have omitted to speake to yoryour excepcontion about yethe Oval figure of yethe Earth or rather yethe cause of it. I suppose (p. 198. lin. 21. 22) as you doe, ytthat yethe equinoctial parts would first endeavorour to rise & fly off, but could not, because of yethe greater strength & resistency of yethe air over those parts of yethe Earth, then the other; for you must considder ytthat yethe Earth was then involvd in a kind of Chaos or spiss atmospheare, as tis reprpresented p. 36. and this was soe thick & strong7 strong, ytthat it may bee considerd as a kind of membrane or bag about yethe Abyss, and yethe parts of this Chaotical atmosphere orb being far more agitated & in a far stronger motion about yethe equator then towards yethe poles, & yethe space there being alsoe narrower, it would bee far more difficult to make these parts yeeld then those towards yethe poles; as if you conceive this bag or membrane more stretcht or to have a stronger tone in one ꝑpart then another, it would yeeld there sooner where twas less stretcht or its tone was weaker. Soe ytthat yethe waters attempting first to rise & fly off at yethe equator, & finding there a strong resistance wchwhich they could not overcome, they must necessarily by this repercussion & their own continual tendency from yethe center in one way or other, fall off towards yethe poles; and soe conforme themselfes into an Elliptical or oblong figure answerable to ytthat of their orb or ꝑparticuler vortex. I should bee glad to know wtwhat you thinke of yethe opinion of yethe oblong figure of yethe Earth, wtwhatsoevrever yethe cause of it was; & whether you know any argumtment or observacontion ytthat either proves yethe contrary or demonstrates ytthat. wtwhat I mention p. 197. of degrees of latitude from yethe poles to yethe equator being unequal or yethe spaces from yethe Earth ytthat answer to them, is taken out of Dechales, a French Iesuite, who hath writ a large cursus Mathematicus, & in a little tract about yethe general principles of Geography, hee hath observd ytthat LRicciolus, yethe Mathematicians of Paris, & Snellius, who have all measurd yethe circuit of yethe Earth, & to ytthat purpose tooke yethe proportion of adegreea degree, differ each of them in their measure of a degree, according as they tooke it more or less North-wards; & finds ytthat they differ much wtwhat in such a ꝑproporcontion as yethe paralels where they tooke yethe degrees were more or less distant from yethe equator. If this observacontion was pursued it would come yethe neerest to a demonstracontion of anything I know ytthat yethe Earth is still oblong North & South. SrSir yoryour kindness hath brought upon you yethe trouble of this long lreletter; wchwhich I could not avoyd seing you had insisted upon 2 such material points, yethe possibility (as you suppose) of forming yethe Earth as it now is, immm̄ediately from yethe Chaos or wthwithout a dissolucontion; & yethe necessity of adhereing to Moses his Hexameron as a physical descripcontion; to show yethe contrary to these 2 hath sweld my lreletter too much, wchwhich will howevrever give you noe further trouble then yethe reading, unless yoryour humour lead you sometime to reflect againe upon ytthat Theory. SrSir wee are all soe busy in gazeing upon yethe Comet, & wtwhat doe you say at Cambr.bridge can be yethe cause of such a prodigious coma as it had. I am SrSir YorYour affect.affectionate freind & ServtServant T. Burnet.