in reply to Mr. R. C. Taylor. 199 



it to be carried to its utmost extent and with uniform results, 

 could onl}' terminate in the conversion of our whole globe into 

 dry land, and the exclusion of water from the earth : this is 

 an impossibility, and can only be credited by those who 

 adopt St. Augustine's standard of belief. 



I will now try this reasoning by the test of facts as exhibited 

 in these valleys. Mr. Taylor says, that " four distinct pro- 

 cesses contributed to the formation of the ground on wliich 

 the town of Yarmouth now stands. First, the accumulation 

 of heavy materials rolled by the sea ; second, the deposit of 

 oozy sediment from muddy waters ; third, the external cover- 

 ing of sand by the operation of the winds; and lastly, the 

 rise and decay of vegetable substances." This narrow strip 

 of land is evidently the work of the ocean on which it abuts ; 

 yet it lies at this time so far above the highest range of those 

 waters by which it was formed, that it is never overflowed by 

 them ; the fullest tide and most furious storm acting in con- 

 junction, are insufficient to carry them over the effectual and 

 insunnountable barrier which they themselves have raised. 

 Here then is a manifest and decisive proof that they formerly 

 exerted a power which they no longer possess ; the only na- 

 tural cause from which this power can have proceeded, is 

 their acting at a higher level than that which they now oc- 

 cupy ; the loss of this power establishes, therefore, the loss of 

 that elevation from which it was derived. To overcome this 

 difficulty, Mr. Taylor has called in the assistance of two minor 

 agents — wind and vegetation ; the basis only of this bank he 

 considers to be alluvial, and the superstructure to be composed 

 of mounds of drifted sand and accumulations of decayed vege- 

 tables. Let us inquire how these agents have performed the 

 respective parts assigned to them. 



My mode of studying geology has been to collect from the 

 best sources all the most positive facts that I could ascertain, 

 relating to the structure of our globe. In the course of these 

 researches I have not failed to observe the operation to which 

 Mr. Taylor has claimed my attention. The spi'ead of what 

 is called the sand-flood in Egypt, and that of the landes iu 

 the South of France, are phaenomena which may undoubtedly 

 be repeated in all similar situations ; wherever extensive tracts 

 of sand exist, their surface may be carried forward by the 

 winds and heaped upon the adjoining land. But in these 

 cases the storm does not bear upon its wings the spoils of 

 distant climes to deposit them when and where it lists ; it is 

 from the neighbouring desert that it sweeps the dry and ste- 

 rile materials, witli which it deluges the cultivated vale. How 

 then docs this process apply to the district I'ound Yarmouth ? 



From 



