our continents have once been the bottom of a fea, on which "every thing paffed in the fame manner, as things pafs on the "prefent bottom of the ocean."-Among the marine bodies, depofited in the bottom of the fea that is now become our continent, there are feveral kinds, that only live in the feas, that are far diftant from it. "Therefore, the fea, that covered our continent, did not withdraw from it flowly; for, by fuch ་་ a gentle retreat, the marine animals that lived in it would "have continued to live in it, and we should find in the waters, "that are near our coafts, the kinds, whose fragments and car"cafes we discover in the contiguous lands."-9. We find alfo, in the earth, even near the fea-coafts, marine, fofile, animal, bodies, of Species which we have not as yet difcovered living in any sea, though it would feem, that, did they exift, they would not have escaped the notice of men. "There muft, "therefore, have been a caufe, which made the fea to with"draw itfelf from our prefent continents; fome circumstances, "alfo, which have either destroyed these marine animals, or con"cealed them from our view, or changed their afpect."-10. If we confider the external form of our continents, we shall not find in the whole, taken together, any thing that denotes the fea's having withdrawn from them in a violent manner. They confift of a great number of hills and plains, compofed of ftrata or layers of fand (or other unconnected matters) which have not undergone any confufion. We fee no great opening extending itself towards the prefent ocean, and even the greatest part of the rivers must have formed their own beds in order to arrive at it." From hence it follows, according to our Author, that, though it be evident, that the fea has not withdrawn itfelf from our continents, in a revolution extremely flow and fucceffive, it appears, nevertheless, on the other hand, that its removal was not attended with a fudden paffage "of the whole mafs of the ocean into a new bed."-11. We perceive, at the furface of our continents, a prodigious quantity of accumulations different from the preceding, which have been undoubtedly expofed to the action of fire, which is now quite extinguifhed, and neither hiftory nor the most ancient traditions convey any notice of the time when these mountains were formed. "Therefore, there is a clafs of volcanic moun

tains, whofe origin has probably been always unknown."12. These mountains have marks, that diftinguish them from the volcanos that burn ftill: more particularly, they are often covered with accumulations of diftinct fubftances, which are the work of the fea. Therefore the fea has alfo covered this "particular clafs of volcanic mountains:" and feveral circumftances indicated by our Author, fhew that these mountains were formed, when our continents were yet the bed of the

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ocean for their ftrata difcover alternate marks of the operations of fire and water; and there are examples on record, of fuch mountains arifing from the bottom of the fea.-13. It appears by a variety of phenomena, mentioned by our Author, "that the prefent continents have their primordial bafe precifely where it was, when it conftituted the foundation of the "ancient ocean, and that it is upon this ftable and permanent "bafe, that the fecondary eminences, produced, fome by fire "and others by water, have been raised."-It appears farther, that when the fea produced its laft accumulations of calcareous matter and fand, upon our continents, it then occupied these continents entirely.-Again-as foils, difengaged from water, and expofed to the influence of the air, are covered, in procefs of time, with plants, whofe fucceffive generations, left upon the place, produce ftrata of vegetable earth, these ftrata, when they remain untouched, affift us in calculating, by their progreffive growth, the time that a foil has been expofed to the influence of the air. Accordingly, by confidering, not the mountains, where, from various caufes, vegetation does not follow a uniform rule, but the laft ftrata of land which the fea has fpread over extenfive diftricts of our continent; our Author concludes, from a variety of circumftances here fpecified, that the time clapfed, fince thefe frata have been exposed to the influences of the air, is not fo confiderable as fome have imagined, and that all the extent of the base of our continents was thus expofed at one and the fame period. An obfervation alfo of the phenomena, that are difcernible on the borders of the prefent ocean, have led our Author to conclude, that the level of the fea undergoes no more alterations, that fince it left our continents it difcovers no tendency to change its bed, and that the period when it left our continents is not extremely

remote.

The refult of all these phenomena is reduced, by our Author, to the following propofitions.-. The fea covered formerly our continents, and covers them no more.-2. There exifted, at the fame time, other continents, that feem to exift no more.-3. The fea occupies a bed, in which it is permanent, and there is no difcernible cause that has a tendeney either to destroy this bed or to form a new one.-4. The revolution that produced this new ftate of things, muft have affected, at the fame time, all the parts of our continents, where the untouched layer of vegetable earth is of the fame thicknefs.-5. The thickness of that layer or flratum is not very confiderable, if we attend to the known effects of the caufe that produced it. M. DE Luc's fyftem may be then expreffed in the following fentence: Ancient continents, which were contemporary with the ancient fea, funk, or fell in below the level of its bed: and the fea, flowing into

that

that hollow space, left dry its ancient bed, which forms, at prefent, our continents.

The proofs and development of this fyftem ;-the hiftory of the earth fince this grand revolution ;-the examination of M. BUFFON'S epochas, as far as they relate to the origin of the planets, and the refrigeration of the earth;-a curious analyfis of the phenomena of heat ;-a confideration of the Mofaic account of the creation and deluge, and a demonstration. of their conformity with the true theory of the earth,-are the interefting fubjects that occupy the remainder of this fifth volume:-and we propofe to give fome account of them in a fubfequent Review.

ART. VII.

Obfervations fur la Mufique, & principalement fur la Metaphyfique de Art.-Obfervations concerning Mufic, and more especially the Metaphyfical Part of that Art. 8vo. Paris. 1779.

T

THIS is a very ingenious performance. The Author appears to be both a mufician and a philofopher, and his knowledge is accompanied with evident marks of genius and taste. It deferves to be compared with the excellent treatife of Mr. HARRIS, on Mufic, Painting, and Poetry, in which that very learned and judicious writer allows to the firft but a very fmall degree of perfection, when confidered as a mimetic or imitative art, and makes its genuine charm and efficacy confift in exciting directly by founds, modified in a certain manner, a variety of affections in the mind. Our Author adopts this. principle, and illuftrates it by a variety of obfervations and examples, that are curious and entertaining. He fhews, that: imitation is, by no means, effential to mufic; and that it is extremely imperfect in this fine art: he confiders mufic, as a natural and univerfal language, entirely diftinct from speech, that acts immediately on the fenfes, though the mind, by reflection and fancy, discovers, in its founds, feveral relations and analogies to different objects and effects in the natural world. He obferves, that in the ftabat mater, which commonly paffes for a powerful expreffion of grief, there is not a fingle note that imitates the natural or inarticulate cry of paffion.

The object and effect of mufic is pleafure, and pleasure is felt by the perfon who fings, even on the moft forrowful occafions. As inarticulate founds have no precife fignification, they cannot excite any ideas, but such as correspond with certain fenfations and affections, and even these they excite in a vague and confufed manner, if they are not determined by the union of music with poetry, or speech. Our Author confiders at great length the four principal characters of mufic, viz. the tender-the graceful-the chearful-and the bold. He also treats

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of melody and harmony, compofition and execution, in a mafteily manner. This volume, however, is but the first part of his work; and the fecond will certainly be defired with impatience by those who perufe the first.

TH

ART. VIII.

Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde, fuit par Ordre du Roi, &c.— An Account of a Voyage made in the Indian Seas, by the king's Order, on occafion of the Paffage of Venus over the Sun's Difk. the 6th of June 1761, and the 3d of June 1769. By M. LE GENTIL, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Vol. I. 4to. 707 pages, with xv Plates. Paris. 1779. Price 13 livres. 103. HE learned and inquifitive Author of this inftructive and entertaining work did not obtain the principal end he propose to himself by this voyage to the Eaft-Indies. He arrived too late in India for the paffage of Venus, that was to take place in 1761 and though, with a patience, that feems peculiar to the votaries of aftronomy, he waited till the year 1769 for another paffage, an untimely cloud, of a momentary duration, disappointed his hopes a fecond time. Thefe philofophical difafters did not, however, render his voyage fruitless. The ingenious traveller turned his attention toward other objects, that might tend to the improvement of various ufeful branches of knowledge. And there are, in effect, several obfervations relative to natural philofophy, geography, hiftory, civil inftitutions, and manners, in the work before us, that will be read with pleasure.

This First Volume contains two parts, and a fupplement or appendix. In the first part, our Author defcribes the cuftoms, manners, and religion of the Indians, on the coaft of Coromandel, and this defcription is accompanied with various remarks on the wars and commerce that are carried on in that part of this ftrange world. This is followed by a view of the aftronomical principles of the Brahmins. The Author fhews their conformity with the aftronomy of the ancient Chaldeans, and endeavours to throw light upon the cloudy chronology of that nation. He makes alfo feveral remarks on the confufion that reigns in the denominations frequently given to the inhabitants of the coafts of Malabar and Coromandel, and from which even the geographical maps and charts are not exempted. As to the religious ceremonies and doctrines of the Brahmins, we cannot fay that his accounts of them are mafterly. Holwel and Anquetil discover a much more accurate and more extenfive knowledge of thefe objects. M. LE GENTIL examines the accounts that have been given of the conquests of the Macedonian hero in India, and places them vaftly below the exploits and victories of Gengis-Kan, Tamerlane, and Aureng-Zeb.

His account of the beauty of the Indian climate, the fertility of the foil, the voluptuous propenfity of the inhabitants, and the fpirit of fenfuality, which reigns in those regions, and diffufes itfelf through the veins of the Europeans who frequent them, are described in vivid colours by our Author. Even the Indian fparrows do not escape his attention; and the things he relates of thefe lafcivious animals, would heighten, with fome new and glowing tints, Buffon's lively picture of their indelicate amours. It is very fingular, that in fuch a climate, and amidft the indolence and lazinefs that nourish the fenfual paffions, the conjugal fidelity of the Indian women (efpecially those of more diftinguifhed caftes or families) is fo remarkable and exemplary, as our Author reprefents it. Religion, reigning customs, nay, even certain fuperftitions, which feizing upon the paffions, have generally a firmer hold upon the mind, than the pure dictates of a rational religion, may perhaps contribute to this phenomenon. It is, nevertheless, an object of reproach to those who live under a more temperate sky, and who are furnished with fuperior means of knowledge and virtue.

From this object, our Author proceeds to the tyranny which the Moguls exercise over the voluptuous and effeminate Indians, who furpass them in number nearly in the proportion of fifty to one. This oppreffion is rendered more grievous by the diffenfions which reign among the Mogul princes, more efpecially fince the time that the Europeans have intermeddled in thefe diffenfions. He confiders the Europeans as more or lefs, and fooner or later, the dupes of thefe princes, who have recourse to them for fuccour; he condemns the plan of M. Dupleix, who aimed at nothing less than the reduction of India under the French dominion, as a plan of ruin and devastation for the former, and as detrimental even to the true commercial intereft of the latter. The only way (fays he) to mafter India, would be to have a flourishing kingdom at Madagascar, which, by its proximity, would not only be empowered to conquer, but also to preferve the conqueft.-This puts us in mind of the old proverb, When the fky falls we shall catch larks.

We refer the Reader to M. LE GENTIL'S work for his account of the theology of the Indians, which is rather circumftantial, than remarkable for new difcoveries. His defcriptions. of their facred edifices, illuftrated with plates, are curious. What is moft curious of all is his notion, that the Egyptians are defcendants of a Chinese colony in India, which is not only turning the tables on M. Des Guignes, but alfo on the authors of the Religious Ceremonies, who affirm, that the Brahmins derived their origin from an Egyptian colony. We fhall be glad to hear, in the following part of our Author's work, upon

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