United States, can owe its origin to the "Intestinal 

 motion" of Patrin, or volcanick agency ;* as not an in- 

 dication of the kind, I believe, has ever been found 

 east of the Mississippi river. 



In tracing up, in their due order, all the differ- 

 ent formations, and contemplating the varied features 

 that are presented to view,t we cannot hesitate long 

 in saying, that great and important changes have been 

 wrought, in, and upon its surface, long since the com- 

 pletion of this globe ; consequently they are unconnect- 

 ed, and can have no relation with its original formation. J 



These changes are various ; but by what physical 

 means they have been accomplished, no adequate so- 

 lution has, as yet, been given. The means may have va- 

 ried, or have originated from different sources, or may 

 have depended on different causes ; but no one affords 

 so strong grounds for presumption, or, in fact, such po- 

 sitive evidence in its favour, as the idea of a general 

 current having prevailed^ over the whole of this conti* 

 nent. and, perhaps, over every other, by which those 

 changes were produced. 



In support of this opinion, this continent affords the 

 most ample testimony, not only of the prevalence of 

 such a current, but that it flowed from the north east 

 to the south west. Among these proofs, 1 shall first 

 take into view the district, which is, no doubt, strictly 

 called alluvial, and which lies upon the borders of the 



* See Chapter 6th. t See Chapter 7th. 



\ See Phillips's outline of Geology, page 70. 

 See Chapter 8th. 



