190 Rev. \V. D. Conybeare on the Phenomena of Geology 



and that they indicate the effects not of drops and rills*, but 

 of violent currents and of vastly extended sheets of water. 

 This I shall call the Diluvial theory, premising that I use the 

 term diluvial only in a general and philosophical sense. Theo- 

 logically, I am well contented to let the Scriptural narrative 

 rest on its appropriate moral evidence, and should only fear to 

 weaken that evidence by mingling it with my own crude sci- 

 entific speculations. I hold indeed, that Science, by exhibit- 

 ing to us the independent evidence of analogous convulsions, 

 may well be cited, as removing from that narrative all ob- 

 jections arising from alleged antecedent improbability: but 

 whether the diluvial traces we still observe geologically, be 

 the vestiges of the Mosaic deluge, or whether that convulsion 

 were too transient, &c. to leave such traces, is quite another 

 question. 



Before entering more particularly on the examination of 

 the phenomena which indicate the operation of diluvial cur- 

 rents, I would first observe, that the existence of such currents 

 is itself a necessary corollary from the points which have been 

 previously established; and indeed, I am quite unable to con- 

 ceive any possible geological theory which must not necessarily 

 involve the supposition of such currents. 



In the first place it must be universally admitted, that the 

 mass of our continents was originally formed beneath the 

 ocean, and that they have subsequently emerged. Now I would 

 ask, how it can be possibly conceived that this elevation of 

 die continents from the bosom of the waves could have been 

 unattended with violent currents: also, it is nearly impos- 

 sible that the configuration of the original surface may not 

 have been such, that vast lakes should not have stagnated in 

 many of its portions; these lakes must have subsequently dis- 

 charged themselves by the disruption of their barriers (as that 

 of Thessaly is traditionally said to have done) : hence must 

 have arisen another class of diluvial currents. Again, we find 

 (from examining the dislocations of the strata) that violent 

 convulsions affecting vast masses must have occurred after 

 other portions of the continents had previously emerged. Thus 

 for instance, the Isle of Wight and sixty miles of the adjacent 

 coast have been apparently abruptly thrown on the beam-ends 

 of the strata, at a time when we must suppose much of Eng- 

 land to have been previously above the sea level. Now I 

 would ask, is it possible to conceive that such a convulsion 



* The Atmospheric theory always reminds me of the celebrated line in 

 Coleridge's tragedy : 



" Drip, drip, drip, drip ; there's nothing here but dripping." 



could 



