24 Dr Hibbert on the Discovery of the Fossil Elk. 



length obtained a secure lodgement for them in the deep basin 

 of the Curragh. 



According, then, to the view of Professor Buckland, the 

 greatest portion of the clay, marl, sand, and gravel of the 

 Curragh would be diluvial. But I use this geological term 

 in a far more limited sense. I involve, in its meaning, no- 

 thing more than the agency of an immense wave which swept 

 the deposit, now under consideration, from far distant shores ; 

 — but it is a distinct proposition to maintain, that this very 

 wave, the origin of which is involved in the greatest mystery, 

 can be the same which produced all the effects that are as- 

 cribed to the Mosaic Deluge. 



After these remarks, I shall proceed to give a general de- 

 scription of the diluvium of the Curragh, in reference to the 

 circumstances under which the fossil elk is discovered. The 

 disintegrated materials, which contribute most to the diluvium, 

 are limestone, rocks of the trap series of formation, and next 

 in order, quartz, grauwacke, granite, and porphyry. Boul- 

 ders and pebbles of all these rocks may be detected in the de- 

 posit. Fragments of limestone are so abundant, that it is 

 usual, for the purposes of agriculture, to carefully collect 

 them from the sea-shore, after they have been loosened by 

 the inroads which the ocean is constantly making upon the 

 cliffs. Calcareous matter is, in fact, found as a more or less 

 abundant ingredient in all the beds of clay, marl, sand, or 

 gravel, which, variously alternating with each other, charac- 

 terize this deposit. Mr Oswald of Douglas has detected in 

 the marl the fragment of a shell which appears to be a species 

 of Turritella. 



Such is the diluvium of the Curragh, in which no remains 

 of the elk have ever yet been discovered ; the antediluvian 

 origin, therefore, formerly ascribed to this animal by Profes- 

 sor Buckland was, upon his own views, destitute of proof. 



I may next remark, that the debris, of which the diluvial 

 matter has been composed, is accumulated in the greatest 

 quantity on the coast. It is considerably worn away by the 

 action of the sea, and occasionally presents to the ocean an 

 abrupt face, where it attains an elevation varying from 70 to 

 100 feet. In other places, however, the height is far less. 



