are, it is impossible to tell ; or, in endeavouring to ex- 

 plain the secret, what method will bear most the sem- 

 blance of, or approach nearest the truth, it is equally as 

 difficult to say. 



Some have attempted a solution of the phenomenon, 

 in a way that has obtained considerable credit ; while 

 others have advanced opinions unsupported either by 

 reason or analogy. 



But however plausible they may appear, it is not 

 my intention, in the present instance, to discuss the 

 merits of the former , much less am I disposed to take 

 notice of the latter. Two circumstances, however, I 

 must necessarily take into view, in explaining my 

 own ideas of the subject. 



In the first place it is highly improbable that these 

 fishes were floating alive, and naturally in their own 

 element, and that they were caught or entrapped by a 

 deposition of alluvion from the sea, in a natural state, 

 and by which they were buried alive, and the alluvial 

 district formed ; and for the following reasons. 



There are many points of the alluvial district, which 

 are actually higher than many parts of the primitive 

 district on its borders, and particularly of the granite 

 ridge ; consequently, there ought to have been alluvial 

 deposites of equal height upon the latter likewise 5 but 

 this is not the case, 



Secondly, If this district was formed by deposites 

 from the ocean, when at that height, why do we not 

 find those fossil remains of fishes and other marine 

 animals, throughout the whole depth of the alluvial 



