^ Prqf^ Sedgwick on [JtJtY| 



not a single spot in the ahovementioned parts of England which 

 has been exempted from the attacks of those destructive forces 

 which have produced the diluvial gravel. Whatever, therefore, 

 may have been the origin of the phenomena in question, they 

 are due to the operation of no partial or local agents. 



Diluvium on the East Coast, ^c, 



I. The eastern parts of England from the chalk downs of Lin- 

 colnshire to those of Cambridgeshire, offer a series of striking 

 facts connected with the history of diluvial phenomena. In the 

 neighbourhood of Cambridge (and I believe also along the whole 

 escarpment of the chalk in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk), 

 the diluvial deposits may be divided into two distinct classes. 

 The first, composed of coarse materials, often lodged at consi- 

 derable elevations, and apparently drifted into their present sit na- 

 tion by the first rush of the waters: the second, generally found 

 in lower elevations, and apparently comminuted by the 

 continued attrition • of the retiring waters. The extensive 

 deposits of transported materials in the low region between 

 Cambridge and Lynn, generally belong to the latter class ; and 

 the immense abundance of rolled flints contained in them seem 

 to prove that the neighbouring chalk strata must once have 

 extended considerably to the west of their present limits. An 

 examination of the chalk downs themselves completely demon- 

 strates that the denuding currents have not been confined to 

 the lower part of the escarpments ; but have pushed enormous 

 masses of gravel over the very top of the downs, and have 

 modified the whole surface of the district. Lastly, the bluff 

 escarpment presented by the chalk on the coast of Norfolk, and 

 the re-appearance of the same rock in the wolds of Lincolnshire, 

 almost compel us to admit that the formation was once continu- 

 ous, and that the whole Wash of Lincolnshire has been caused 

 by denudation. Be this as it may, we may conclude with cer- 

 tainty that the present form of the chalk downs of Suffolk, Nor- 

 folk, and Cambridgeshire, could never have been produced by 

 any known action of the waters which now drain off' that part of 

 England ; and the nature and position of transported materials, 

 which the denuding currents have drifted over many parts of 

 the neighbouring region, lead us to exactly the same conclusion. 



Diluyium of Huntingdonshire arid Camhridgeshire, 

 The elevated plains, which extend on the confines of Bedford- 

 shire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, exhibit several par- 

 tial deposits of such transported materials, from which the Rev. 

 J. Plumptre, of Great Gransden, has selected a vast variety of 

 rolled masses derived from almost every known formation in 

 England. His highly interesting collection, obtained from the 

 diluvium in the neighbouring district^ may be divided into the 



