Geological Society. 307 



The very first step we take, we see a violation of continuity. Be- 

 tween the alluvial silt, deposited by the waters now flowing off from 

 the inequalities of the earth, and the masses of diluvial gravel scat- 

 tered over so many parts of its surface, we can seldom establish any 

 appearance of continuity, or give any intelligible proof of their 

 common origin. J am not going now to plunge into this long de- 

 bated question ; but I may remind you of the enormous waterworn 

 blocks (derived from the primary chains to the north of the Baltic 

 Sea), which lie scattered over the great European plain, extending 

 from the eastern states of Holland to the Steppes of central Russia. 

 Where are the inclined planes down which these boulders could 

 have descended ? Where are the grooves and channels cut out by 

 the rivers which once propelled them? W T here is the alluvial silt 

 accumulated by the erosion of these ideal waters? No answer can 

 be given to these questions : and to talk of river action, aided as it 

 may have been by every ordinary power of nature, appears to me, 

 in a case like this, little better than a mockery of my senses. 



Hundreds of instances leading to a like conclusion (on a less 

 scale indeed, and therefore perhaps the less impressive,) may be 

 found among the phenomena of our island*. 



If indeed we were to admit a period of intense volcanic violence, 

 and a sudden elevation of the Scandinavian chain, we might then, 

 have a cause commensurate to the effects observed, and in the rush 

 of the retiring waters we might explain the transport of those great 

 boulders which lie scattered over the northern plains of Europe. 

 But in the speculations I am combating, all great epochs of eleva- 

 tion are systematically, and I think unfortunately, excluded. Vol- 

 canic action is essentially paroxysmal ; yet Mr. Lyell will admit no 

 greater paroxysms than we ourselves have witnessed no periods of 

 feverish spasmodic energy, during which the very framework of 

 nature has been convulsed and torn asunder. The utmost move- 

 ments that he allows are a slight quivering of her muscular integu- 

 ments. 



But if we have proofs of the violation of continuity among the 

 most recent deposits on the earth, still more impressive are the 

 proofs as we descend in the geological series. Every observer is 

 aware that we often pass, without any intermediate gradations, from 

 systems of strata which are horizontal, to other systems which are 

 highly inclined. This is a fact independent of hypothesis ; but it is 

 now almost universally admitted, that the highly inclined strata 

 have undergone a movement of elevation. Using then the language 

 of this hypothesis (to say the least of it a convenient mode of de- 

 scribing the phenomena) we affirm that the inclined strata have 

 been elevated at a time anterior to the existence of the horizontal 

 strata which abut against them, or rest upon their edges. And if 



* The diluvial phenomena of this country are so well known, that it is 

 perhaps unnecessary to appeal to them : but I wish to refer the reader to the 

 papers of Sir James Hall (published in the Edinburgh Transactions), for some 

 very remarkable proofs of the action of diluvial currents in the neighbour- 

 hood of Edinburgh. 



2 li <Z the 



