Excerpt from General Biography, or Lives of the Most Eminent Persons of All Ages, Countries, Conditions, and Professions, Vol. 6: Arranged According to Alphabetical Order Cation of his hypothesis. About the same time Dr. Burnet printed Reflections upon the Theory of the Earth. These publications drew from our author, in the year 1699, An Examination of the Reflections on the Theory of the Earth, together with a Defence of the Remarks on Mr. Whiston's new Theory, 8vo.; in which he satisfactorily supports the animad versions in his former masterly production. It was thought by some, however, that in these pieces he treated Dr. Burnet, who was a person of great candour and moderation, with too much severity, especially considering the great disparity of their years. But though he has plainly and without ceremony exposed our theorist's false reasoning and unacquaintance with science, and consequently disclairned him as a philosopher, he has as frankly acknow ledged the merit of his work, in the noble and excellent descriptions with which it abounds; and thus, by allowing him to be a man of a fine imagination, left him in possession of.that which has since been thought to constitute the great characteristic and value of his perform ance. Perhaps, says he, in the conclusion of his examination, many of his readers will be sorry to be undeceived; for, as I believe, never any book was fuller of errors and niistakes in philosophy, . So none ever abounded with more beautiful scenes and surprising images of nature: but I write'only to those who might perhaps expect to find a true philosophy in it. They who read it as an ingenious romance, will still be pleased with their entertainment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.