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with the creation; others supposing them to have obtained their 

 present forms at the reformation of the world, after the deluge ; 

 whilst others conjecture, that their formation is going on at the pre- 

 sent day. That many of them have been formed, at periods later 

 than the creation of the world, is rendered indisputable, by the 

 various impressions of organized substances which they bear. The 

 strongest evidence which has been adduced as to their more recent 

 formation, is that of Dr. G. Gardner, of Aberdeen, contained in a 

 paper published in the Philosophical Transactions* ; he relates, 

 that, " upon the river Don, a little below the bridge, upon the 

 river's mouth, there is a bank, the face of which is broken down ; 

 and it is full of stones, which one would think were in fieri ; they 

 are all either round or oval, of different sizes ; the faces of most of 

 them are broken off, they are soft, and will easily rub down with 

 your hand ; they are of different grits and colours, and are made 

 up of different sands and clays mingled together ; the clay is soft, 

 both to the hand and taste ; in some of them, white, in others, grey, 

 though, in some places, the clay and sand are hardened to a very 

 considerable degree/' Dr. Gardner proceeds to remark, that they 

 bore a very near resemblance to such oval stones, as we see in the 

 fields ; and that where they were softest, the bed which each stone 

 laid in, was always hard, and of another grit and colour. It is 

 however by no means improbable, that the pebbles here described 

 might be in a state of decomposition. The pebbles of which the 

 pudding-stone is chiefly formed, generally yield such an appearance, 

 as may be supposed to have been the effect of pressure, whilst they 

 existed in a soft state ; and we have a curious instance, related by 

 the celebrated Bergman, illustrative of this circumstance a moun- 

 tain of pudding-stone, in the lower strata of which, the pebbles 

 shewed evident marks of having suffered compression; being re- 



* Philosophical Transactions, Vol. XV. N 175. 



