158 Notice and Review of the Reliquiae Diluvianae. 
aot have been lodged there by the deluge : “ the phe- 
nomena in question (as a late European writer observes,) 
being now universally regarded as of antediluvial produc- 
tion.” We must, therefore, look for proofs of the Noa- 
chian deluge in those loose deposites of loam and gravel, 
confusedly mingled together, and spread over every coun- 
try on the globe ; which mantle is appropriately denomi- 
nated diluvium, and must carefully be distinguished from 
alluvium, which is the result of causes, now in operation. 
It is in this diluvium, that the principal geological eviden- 
ces of the deluge occur. The present work exhibits in 
two parts and an appendix, three general divisions of the 
argument. The proofs of the deluge are : 
1. The phenomena of caves and fissures in rocks. 
2. The beds of diluvium spread over every part of the 
s 
earth and containing the bones of animals. 
3. The excavation of vallies by diluvial action. 
The first class of proofs occupies the largest portion of 
Prof. Buckland’s work, and is chiefly original. As the 
cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, was first discovered and 
explored, and is most fertile in curious facts, we shall not 
hesitate to give its history, somewhat in detail, although 
this has already been done more or less in various period- 
ical works, but we apprehend that these interesting facts 
are still unknown to many of our American readers. It 
is well known to geologists, that the compact limestone dis 
tricts of England, Ireland, Carniola, and the United States, 
are remarkable for the number and extent of the caverns 
and fissures which they contain. No less than twenty-eight 
of these, and as many fissures, are enumerated in England; 
and the cave at Kirkdale adds another to the number. 
This was not known to exist, till the summer of 1821, when 
it was discovered by working a large quarry along the slope 
ofa hill. The original entrance of the cave was extreme 
ly small, and was closed by rubbish. Its length is not far 
from 245 feet, varying much in diameter, but never €X- 
ceeding seven feet in breadth and fourteen in height. The 
roof was covered with pendent stalactites, and the floor 
partially with an inerustation of stalagmite. Upon this, 
