Vlll PREFACE. 



abler pen, to establish the facts upon the immutable prin- 

 ciples of truth, and beyond the fear of contradiction. 



In the course of this essay on alluvial formations, he has 

 occasionally adverted to circumstances important in them- 

 selves, either separate, or as connected with the general sub- 

 ject; and which seemed to require an immediate examina- 

 tion and discussion. 



This, however, could not be done, consistently with the 

 plan of the work, as it would unavoidably occasion too 

 many and too frequent digressions, which might be consider- 

 ed as unnecessary interruptions, rendering the whole tedious 

 and uninteresting. 



To avoid this, and to give a more ample view of each 

 topick, he has, with slight references, thrown them into 

 distinct chapters, in which each subject is separately ex- 

 amined. 



If, in these, he has advanced opinions at variance with 

 those generally inculcated, he is conscious of having done 

 it, not from a spirit of opposition, or a fondness for inno- 

 vation, but from a disposition to promote the cause of truth, 

 which, from the nature of the principles that he has assum- 

 ed, and the facts which he has adduced, will admit of no 

 other possible construction. 



Should they produce in the mind of the reader a corres- 

 ponding conviction should they tend to elicit one ray of 

 light in the cause of science, all the motives will be grati- 

 fied, and all the purposes answered, that were ever antici- 

 pated by the 



AUTHOR. 



