360 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C, 



are many elevated islands, such as Aurora Island, in the Low 

 Archipelago, 250 feet high. Java, Sumatra, and the neigh- 

 bonring islands were supposed to be situated in a rising area, 

 but it can be shown that there are many atoll reefs in the 

 neighbourhood. 



These and other considerations lead one seriously to 

 question the Darwinian theory as a sufficient explanation of 

 all the. phenomena of coral reefs, and in fact the theory 

 appears to have been largely accepted because there was no 

 other satisfactory theory proposed. Darwin objected to the 

 view that coral reefs might often be founded on submarine 

 volcanic cones, on the ground that it was not likely so many 

 mountains would come close to the surface without rising 

 above it. In reference to this, it may be pointed out that if 

 a volcano builds up a cone to the surface the upper part is 

 usually of loose materials, and will generally be washed away 

 and the cone remain as a shoal. Graham Island in the 

 Mediterranean, and Sabrina in the Azores, are cases in point. 

 Such a shoal would appear to be a suitable foundation for 

 coral reefs, and recent investigations of the geology of Tonga 

 have proved that there reefs had been founded on submarine 

 volcanic mountains which have since been elevated. 



10.— SOME ALLEGED INDICATIONS OF CATAS- 

 TROPHE : AN ENQUIRY. 



By REV. J. C. CORLETTE, D.D. 



{^Abstract.l 



This is an appeal for further light connected with the revival 

 of the question of Uniformity versus Catastrophe raised by 

 the recent work of Mr. Howorth, " The Mammoth and the 

 Flood." Here the theory of perpetual, absolute uniformity 

 of degree in the operation of those causes which have given 

 the earth its present form, is assailed from the side of 

 palaeontology. A copious array of facts is given, from 

 which the occurrence of some such diluvial catastrophe as 

 that described in the Bible and represented so widely in 

 human traditions is inferred. 



Professor Huxley's observation in his address to the 

 Geological Society in 1869 is quoted as encouraging further 

 consideration of such facts. He rejects any theoretical 

 antagonism between Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism ; 



