ON CERTAIN 



GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA 



AND THEIR HEARING ON 



THE TRADITION OF THE FLOOD 



1. PREAMBLE 



ONE of th.e subjects on the borderland bclween 

 Natur-.il Scu--.ee and Theology which has long given 

 rise to discussion is the story of the Noachian 

 Deluge. Early in the century the Biblical account 

 was accepted literally as an article of faith, alike by 

 geologists and theologians, and for a time the aim 

 of the geologist was directed to an endeavour to 

 reconcile the Narrative of the Pentateuch with the 

 facts of Geology. This signally failed, as the 

 attempts were i de to account for fable as well as 

 for fact. The writers endeavoured to explain not only 

 the destruction of life, 1 but also such physical 

 impossibilities as the universality of the Deluge, and 

 the story of the Ark and its contents. These latter 



1 They looked upon the remains of the great extinct inaniv alia 

 whether found in caves or in valley-drifts as proofs of the 

 Flood, but did not admit that man was their contemporary. 



B 



