ine currents in transporting earthy materials to lower
levels, and he even contemplated the period when they would destroy all
the present continents. Although in geology he was not an original
observer, his genius enabled him to render his hypothesis attractive;
and by the eloquence of his style, and the boldness of his speculations,
he awakened curiosity, and provoked a spirit of inquiry amongst his
countrymen.

Soon after the publication of his "Natural History," in which was
included his "Theory of the Earth," he received an official letter
(dated January, 1751) from the Sorbonne, or Faculty of Theology in
Paris, informing him that fourteen propositions in his works "were
reprehensible, and contrary to the creed of the church." The first of
these obnoxious passages, and the only one relating to geology, was as
follows:--"The waters of the sea have produced the mountains and valleys
of the land--the waters of the heavens, reducing all to a level, will at
last deliver the whole land over to the sea, and the sea successively
prevailing over the land, will leave dry new continents like those which
we inhabit." Buffon was invited by the College, in very courteous terms,
to send in an explanation, or rather a recantation of his unorthodox
opinions. To this he submitted; and a general assembly of the Faculty
having approved of his "Declaration," he was required to publish it in
his next work. The document begins with these words:--"I declare that I
had no intention to contradict the text of Scripture; that I believe
most firmly all therein related about the creation, both as to order of
time and matter of fact; and _I abandon every thing in my book
respecting the foundation of the earth_, and, generally, all which may
be contrary to the narration of Moses."[81]

The grand principle which Buffon was called upon to renounce was simply
this,--that the present mountains and valleys of the earth are due to
secondary causes, and that the same causes will in time destroy all the
continents, hills, and valleys, and reproduce others like them. Now,
whatever may be the defects of many of his views, it is no longer
controverted that the present continents are of secondary origin. The
doctrine is as firmly established as the earth's rotation on its axis;
and that the land now elevated above the level of the sea will not
endure forever, is an opinion which gains ground daily, in proportion as
we enlarge our experience of the changes n