1847.] Progressive Changes of Matter. 131 



ed from its original bed, and left on these upland ranges ! We 

 answer that when these boulders made their transit, the West 

 Canada creek had no existence. So too it has been said, that the 

 river St. Lawrence once swept its mighty waters through the great 

 valley, which its in part occupied by the Mohawk and the Hud- 

 son. But when these valleys were formed, rivers swept through 

 them that have long since been identified with the things that 

 have been. What is a river, more than the waters of a rain 

 cloud, flowing into a channel and working its way toward the 

 sea, and these currents prevail on the surface of the land, let that 

 surface be ever so much elevated. Therefore when we aver that 

 river currents produced the great changes in moving those stu- 

 pendous blocks and those immense masses from one place and 

 position to another, we are to consider the present rivers as 

 having taken no part. 



We are next to consider the number and magnitude of rivers 

 in ancient times in geological history, and what was the proba- 

 ble quantity of water that fell from the clouds in that age. Our 

 rivers are now constantly rolling their vast volumes into the 

 ocean. But what is the time employed by the clouds in scatter- 

 ing it upon the surface ? Suppose it to be 6 hours in every tenth 

 day, and that time however, is not consumed in the process. 

 Then the amount of water falling upon an inclined plane that 

 would hurry it immediately to the ocean would form a volume 

 tenfold larger. The one would be characterized as a constant 

 river, the other as a flood. Hence this age of our continent 

 was distinguished as an age of floods. 



We are next to inquire, what was the first great change mat- 

 ter assumed in being moved sea-ward. Conceding that the land 

 was upraised by an internal heat it would not long remain the 

 smoking ruins of the sea's dominion before this heat would escape 

 into the atmosphere. Then upon its extreme altitude in these 

 northern regions, a perpetual congelation prevailed in all proba- 

 bility, while upon the Atlantic coast every shower brought down 

 in flood form this loose deposit to the ocean's level. Upon the 

 borders of the sea the frosts of winter imposed a less restraint than 

 it did in more northern latitudes, hence this northern continent 

 presented its first great change by a southern exposure. The 

 agents were more constantly active, and also increased in volume 

 as they flowed toward the sea. The inclination of the primary 

 rocks may have also tended in a measure to give the same incli- 

 nation to the over-lying sedimentary rocks. In this ordei' of change 

 the rivers flowing into the Atlantic, extended their channels far- 

 ther north than they do at present, and not improbably north of 

 those that at present flow into the St. Lawrence river. In this 

 Avay we may account for the phenomena of drift of northern ori- 

 gin being found so far south. 



