16 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



a general deluge. That this deluge has been 

 comparatively recent is clear from the fact, that 

 fragments of primitive and secondary rocks are 

 often found promiscuously mixed in the same 

 bed of gravel. In one large bed, near Lichfield, 

 may be found fragments of almost every rock in 

 England, from chalk to granite ; and many of the 

 pebbles contain organic remains." 



We spent a couple of hours wandering up 

 and down some of the vallies in the neighbour- 

 hood ; and though a cultivated country is not 

 the best theatre for a geological lecture, my 

 uncle contrived to shew us so many correspond- 

 ing circumstances on the opposite sides of one 

 of the transverse vallies, that it was quite evi- 

 dent to both of us that the ridge had been 

 formerly uninterrupted. We saw also many ex- 

 amples of the gravel he had mentioned, all more 

 or less rounded and smoothed, and containing 

 specimens of very different series. This was a 

 delightful walk ; for though one may acquire very 

 fine ideas at home of the operations of nature, 

 there is nothing like seeing them in their proper 

 places. 



As we returned home, my uncle told us that 

 this water-worn debris, which covers many parts 

 of the earth, is named diluvium, from that great 

 and universal catastrophe by which it appears to 

 have been formed. This name is meant to distin- 

 guish it from the more modern debris daily pro- 



