1866.| On the Antiquity of the Volcanos of Auvergne. 209 
And on the other hand, supposing it probable that all traces of 
igneous operations had ceased before the earliest period to which 
history points, there would still be an ample margin left between 
that and the supposed date of the Flood, to allow of these outbreaks 
having taken place. ; 
Let us, then, enter upon the inquiry with minds unswayed by 
any theological bias, and simply consider whether it be probable 
that, in the passages above alluded to, anything of the nature of a 
yolcanic eruption could have been intended. 
And for my own part, as no new arguments have been advanced 
in support of those alleged by Sir Francis Palgrave, I feel still at 
liberty to adhere to the opinion which had been taken up long before 
its possible bearing upon any polemical question was dreamt of, and 
to maintain, as I did in the year 1819, that the volcanos of Central 
France haye not been shown, by evidence yet adduced, to have been 
in activity at any period within the range of history or tradition. 
And now, having, as I hope, disposed of this previous question, 
let us proceed to consider whether that class of volcanos which I 
denominated post-diluvial, but which I shall now merely designate 
as, by comparison, modern, presents any characters indicating great 
antiquity. 
In fixing their age, I have derived great assistance from the 
researches of those eminent geologists who, since the period of my 
first visit to Auvergne, had explored the district in question, and 
especially from those of Mr. Scrope, who appears to have spent 
there the summer of 1821, and of Sir Roderick Murchison and 
Sir Charles Lyell, who went through the country in 1828. 
From the descriptions given by these and other competent 
authorities, it plamly appears that the valleys in Auvergne were 
excavated, not at one, but at several successive periods—or, more 
correctly speaking, that although water was instrumental in their 
formation, yet that they must have been scooped out, not by any 
violent movement or sudden passage of a flood over the country, but 
by the long-continued action of the rivers now in existence. 
And if this be the case, it follows, that there can be no abrupt 
line of demarcation between the older and the more modern volcanic 
products, and that even those which have been ejected since the 
formation of the principal valleys, may nevertheless afford evidence 
of extreme antiquity. 
Té is but fair to attribute to Mr. Scrope our first correct notions 
on this subject. 
His ‘Memoir on the Geology of Central France,’ published in 
1827, evinces a just idea of the mode in which its valleys were 
formed, as well as a clear appreciation of the amount of time which 
must have been occupied in their excavation, and his Work is illus- 
trated by a number of interesting panoramic views, which bring vividly 
