204 Dr Daubeny on the Diluvial Theory, 



turally arise, agreeably to existing laws, from events wliich we 

 believe on independent grounds to have taken place, and which 

 the very persons most opposed to aqueous inundations are often 

 the foremost to contend for. 



I do not here allude to the occasional bursting of lakes, 

 which, as we have already seen, may in particular situations ac- 

 count for some of the phenomena under consideration ; because 

 it is impossible to imagine such local catastrophes to have oc- 

 curred in all the spots where indications of diluvial action are 

 supposed to present themselves ; but I maintain, that there is 

 a probability of floods having taken place, more considerable in 

 point of extent, more generally diffused over the earth, and 

 therefore more capable of modifying the character of its surface, 

 than those supposed by Mr Lyell to have resulted from the lo- 

 cal causes he has assigned. 



The same sudden rise of an extensive body of water, which 

 would in the present day be produced by the throwing up of a 

 chain of hills in the midst of the Mediterranean, might, as it 

 appears to me, have resulted from such events as the elevation 

 of the Alps, the Pyrenees, or the volcanic chain of the Andes, 

 the two former of which we know to be surrounded by immense 

 sedimentary deposits, which may have arisen from the aqueous 

 inundations that were the immediate consequences of their rise. 

 It is indeed only necessary for such a supposition, that the 

 catastrophe should have occurred in the vicinity of large lakes 

 or seas, and that it should have been brought about in a short 

 period of time ; and the latter, although I am aware it is con- 

 trary to the opinion of Mr Lyell, is the doctrine, I believe, of 

 most of the other supporters of the elevation theory, and espe- 

 cially of Monsieur Elie de Beaumont, whose recent conclusions, 

 with regard to the successive rise of several chains of mountains 

 in different parts of the globe, can hardly be embraced in their 

 full extent, except by those who are willing to admit, as a con- 

 sequence, the occurrence of several extensive, if not universal, 

 deluges. 



The doctrine in question has the further advantage of ren- 

 dering the accounts of such catastrophes, which are handed 

 down to us on the authority both of history and tradition, con- 

 sistent with probability, instead of opposed to it ; in harmony 



