FOSSJLS AND GIANTS. 35 



deposited in situ by Noah's flood, still found favor 

 with the majority of geologists. This was especially 

 the case with the physico-theological writers of Eng- 

 land, who, in spite of the discoveries of the Italian ge- 

 ologists, still persisted in accommodating all geolog- 

 ical phenomena to their fanciful interpretations of the 

 Scriptural accounts of the Creation and the Deluge. 

 Thus Woodward taught that " the whole terrestrial 

 globe was taken to pieces and dissolved by the 

 Flood," and that subsequently the strata " settled 

 down from this promiscuous mass as any earthy 

 sediment from a flood." 



Such views were in marked contrast with those 

 held by the learned Carmelite friar, Generelli, who 

 strongly argued against the unreasonableness of 

 calling " the Deity capriciously upon the stage, to 

 make Him work miracles for the sake of confirming 

 our preconceived hypotheses." He insisted on it 

 that natural causes were competent to explain geo- 

 logical phenomena, and to account for the occurrence 

 of fossil remains on hills and mountains. In refer- 

 ring to the formation of mountains and their denu- 

 dation by the action of the elements, he forestalls the 

 teachings of modern geologists when he declares 

 " that the same cause which, in the beginning of 

 time, raised mountains from the abyss, has down to 

 the present day continued to produce others, in 

 order to restore from time to time the losses of all 

 such as sink down in different places, or are rent 

 asunder, or in other ways suffer disintegration." l 



1 See Lyell's " Principles of Geology," vol. I, p. 54. 



