OF THE EARTH.

The great elevations of the peaks of the mountains above the sphere
of the water may have resulted from this that: a very large portion
of the earth which was filled with water that is to say the vast
cavern inside the earth may have fallen in a vast part of its vault
towards the centre of the earth, being pierced by means of the
course of the springs which continually wear away the place where
they pass.

Sinking in of countries like the Dead Sea in Syria, that is Sodom
and Gomorrah.

It is of necessity that there should be more water than land, and
the visible portion of the sea does not show this; so that there
must be a great deal of water inside the earth, besides that which
rises into the lower air and which flows through rivers and springs.

[Footnote: The small sketch below on the left, is placed in the
original close to the text referring to the Dead Sea.]

The theory of Plato.