368 OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED THEORY. 



been twofold, or at least the two principal were ; firstly, the 

 large sandstone blocks which are scattered throughout the 



FIG. 203. 



Section at Joinville. 



river gravels of Northern and Central France ; and secondly, 

 the height at which the upper-level gravels stand above the 

 present water-line. We will consider these two objections 

 separately. 



It must be admitted that the presence of the sandstone 

 blocks in the gravels appears at first sight to be irreconcilable 

 with our hypothesis. In some places they occur frequently, 

 and are of considerable size ; the largest I have myself seen 

 is represented in the section, fig. 203, taken close to the railway- 

 station at Joinville. It was 8ft. Gin. in length, with a width 

 of 2ft. 8 in., and a thickness of 3ft. 4 in. Even when we remem- 

 ber that at the time of its deposition the valley was not 

 excavated to its present depth, we must still feel that a body 

 of water with power to move such masses as these must have 

 been very different from any floods now occurring in those 

 valleys, and might fairly deserve the name of a cataclysm. 

 But whence could we obtain so great a quantity of water ? 

 We have already seen that the gravel of the Oise, though so 

 near, is entirely unlike that of the Somme ; while that of the 

 Seine, again, is quite different from that of any of the neigh- 

 bouring rivers. These rivers, therefore, cannot have drained 

 a larger area than at present ; the river systems must have 



