344 ^rof, Henslotvon the Deluge, [Nov 



1 atom of chloride of calcium 36 -f- 20 = 56 or 50-9 

 6 atoms of water 9 x 6 = 64 49*1 



Weightofatom 110 100-0 



Or, 



1 atom of muriate of lime 37 + 28. . . = 65 or 59-09 

 6 atoms of water 9 x 5 = 45 40-91 



iTo 100-00 



Article IV. 



On the Deluge. By J. S. Henslow, MA. MGS. FLS. Secretary 

 to the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Professor of Mine- 

 ralogy in the University of Cambridge. 



(To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy,) 



SIR, Cambridge, Oct. 15, 1823. 



In a very able article in the 57th number of the Quarterly 

 Review, the " Reliquiae Diluvianae," by Prof. Buckland, has 

 been lately examined, and towards the end of that article some 

 observations are made upon the various theories which have 

 been adopted to account for the phenomena of the Deluge. 

 The reviewer is decidedly of opinion that none of the hypotheses 

 hitherto suggested are capable of solving the difficulty, and 

 seems to thmk that we ought to ascribe the whole to the mira- 

 culous interposition of Providence, " excluding the operation of 

 ordinary nature" from our consideration. That God brought 

 the waters, and that God caused them to assuage, is doubtless 

 the language of Scripture ; but, as in many other cases, so in the 

 present, I see no reason for supposing that he did not employ 

 the ordinary means of nature as the instruments of his opera- 

 tions. The reviewer himself states his. belief that " miraculous 

 agency is often, nay generally, combined with natural means," 

 though he seems at the same time anxious to dispense with them 

 in the present case. 



The hypothesis which had hitherto appeared the most plausible 

 was one stated by Mr. Greenough, in which it is supposed that 

 the waters of the ocean were thrown into a state of excessive 

 agitation by the near approach of a comet. This hypothesis 

 however, is now clearly shown to be incompatible with the 

 appearances observable in the diluvium of various parts of the 

 earth ; and it should also be recollected that the near approach 

 of a comet could not have produced the effect ascribed to its 

 influence by Mr, Greenough, without affording an anomaly in 



