and on the Origin qfthe Valleys qf Auvergne. 207 



latest of several floods which have, at different times, inundated 

 the surface of large portions of the globe, originating from the 

 sudden elevation of some great chain of mountains ; for, notp- 

 withstanding the moral purpose we are told it was intended to 

 fulfil, there seems no greater reason for supposing it brought 

 about by other than natural agents, than there is for imagining 

 the volcano which destroyed the cities in the plain of Gomorrha, 

 to have been governed by laws of a different kind from those 

 which determine its eruptions in other instances. 



If it be asked. What is the range of mountains to the eleva- 

 tion of which the deluge in question can be referred ? we may 

 reply, that the part of Asia which must be supposed to have 

 been the principal scene of its ravages, is as yet too little ex- 

 plored to allow of our determining the point ♦. ,^ 



Of this, however, at least we are certain, that the period ex^ 

 tending from the formation of the chalk to the more recent ter- 

 tiary deposites, was of all others with which we are acquainted 

 jnost fruitful in volcanic operations. It was within this interval 

 that the whole of the extinct volcanos in Europe began to burst 

 forth, and from whence the origin of those which we consider 

 now in action appears to date. 



That extensive inundations should have occurred during this 

 period is therefore not surprising, and that the Mosaic Deluge 

 was one of many cases of the kind, is a fact which seems con- 

 firmed, not only by the universal occurrence of beds of gravel, 

 but also by those enormous deposits of conglomerate and sand 

 which are so common in many tertiary formations. 



If it be objected, that we have no experience of volcanic ope- 

 rations giving rise to deluges in the present day, and therefore 

 have no right to attribute to them such consequences in periods 

 antecedent ; we may reply, that the first elevation of a volcanic 

 range of hills might be expected to occasion more formidable 

 convulsions of nature than follow after a suitable vent has been 



• Perhaps the memoir lately published by Humboldt, on the elevation of 

 mountains and other evidences of volcanic action in central Asia, may throvtr 

 some light upon this subject. It seems more reasonable at least to connect 

 this event with the appearance of a chain of mountains in that quarter of the 

 globe, than, as Elie de Beaumont seems inclined to do, with the elevation of 

 the Andes. — A?inales des Sciences Natun tom. xix.-p 232. 



