188 



NOMOS. 



In Dr. 



Young's 

 opinion, the 

 few months 

 of the deluge 

 would allow 

 sufficient 

 time for the 

 whole pro- 

 cess of strati- 

 fication. 



the fossils are entombed must have been deposited 

 with considerable rapidity. 



When, then, to repeat the question, did the epoch 

 of stratification begin ? Did it begin before the dawn 

 of historic times, or did it not ? Dr. 

 Young agrees with Woodward in sup- 

 posing that the sedimentary rocks were 

 formed at the Noachian deluge by the 

 matters washed down from the antedi- 

 luvian continents into the antediluvian 

 seas, and that we are now living upon the 

 bed of these ancient seas with this addi- 

 tional covering from the ancient lands ; and he uses 

 many of the preceding arguments to establish this 

 opinion. Hence every stratum is to him a sign of 

 the deluge. But this is going to the opposite extreme. 

 Eternal ages may not be necessary, but a few days can 

 scarcely be enough. Besides, the very orderly dispo- 

 sition of the earlier strata is an objection to this view, 

 for everything indicates a greater quiet than is con- 

 sistent with the turmoil of the commencing 

 deluge. But there is no need that we 

 should limit the process of stratification to 

 the short period of the deluge, and, on the 

 other hand, there is no reason why we 

 should not return to an older doctrine 

 than Woodward's, and agree with Hooke 

 in supposing that the sedimentary rocks 

 were deposited in the interval between the creation and 

 the deluge. 



The opinion 

 of Woodward 

 that the pro- 

 cess of strati, 

 fication ex- 

 tended from 

 the creation 

 to the deluge 

 more proba- 

 ble than that 

 of Dr. Young. 



