Si j4n Inquiry into the Terrestrial Pkoenomena 



tins extensive circuit of moving waters from tlie Indian 

 ocean round into the northern seas, W we justly appretiate 

 the length of its duration, the incalculable weight with which 

 It must incessantly press against all opposivitj obstacles, the 

 countless inequality of depths over which it must roll, and 

 the extensive tracts of various and yielding strata subject to 

 jts constant attrition, it will surely be consonant to all our 

 experience and analogous reasoning, to believe that it is now 

 progressively transporting extensive beds of strata from one 

 distant region to another, and beating into high abrupt 

 fronts many of the more exalted ennnences in its course, 

 insomuch that, were its whoJe tract laid open to our in- 

 spection, it would unquestionably exhibit proofs of disrup- 

 tion, denudation, transition, and all the bolder phaenomena 

 of geology with which we are already familiar. The exist- 

 ence of the extensive banks of Newfoundland is of itself 

 sufficient to establish this. These banks are situated amongst 

 the last expiring eddies of the stream, where the most con- 

 siderable precipitous depositions might be expected ; and the 

 countless myriads of fish, resorting thither for food, are 

 proofs of the amazing quantities of vegetable and animal re- 

 niains brought by the stream. 



Though this current is certainly one of the most extensive 

 on our globe, there are many others far superior in their 

 rapidity, and consequently in their forces ; and indeed so 

 numerous are the currents of the ocean, and so diversified in 

 their powers and direction, that we can assign no imaginable 

 limits either to the variety or the magnitude of their effects. 

 Even the general tides are in themselves powerful and ex- 

 tensive currents ; and when aided by those occasional and 

 ^erri'jle tempests which all seas are more or less subject to, 

 their alterative effects must be such, as we have no sufficient 

 (data to estimate. 



It would certainly be a superficial objection to the exten- 

 sive transportation of strata by marine currents, to say that 

 the turbid waters surcharged with the earthy materials do 

 not appear at the surface. The fact is not strictly so ; for 

 the Gulf stream is palpably darker than the sea which it 

 traverses, and many currents of the ocean are absolutely 



turbid. 



