The days and nights were equal; there were no eclipses; the same stars were always visible.

This state of the earth is supposed, from certain geological proofs, to have continued about a thousand years, during which time the struggle between mind and matter was solely confined to quadrupeds.

Man is thought to have made his appearance, so far as our documents go to establish the fact, about the year of the world one thousand and three.

About this period, too, it is supposed that fire was generated by the friction of the earth's axis, while making the diurnal movement; or, as some imagine, by the friction of the periphery of the orb, rubbing against vacuum at the rate of so many miles in a minute.

The fire penetrating the crust, soon got access to the bodies of water that fill the cavities of the earth.