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All opinion is entertained by some, particularly those 

 who believe that this district has been formed, in the 

 course of time, by the alluvion thrown upon our coast 

 by the gulf stream, that these were likewise thrown, 

 either dead or alive, upon our coast, and subsequently 

 buried by an accession of alluvion washed up by the 

 ocean. But is it probable that the body of an animal 

 can remain on the sea shore one or two weeks at most, 

 exposed to an incessant agitation and abrasion by the 

 billows of the ocean, without being completely disjoin- 

 ted, and the bones scattered upon the beach ; particu- 

 larly during the summer season ? Nay, I will ask if 

 there is a point between any two rivers, from Cape 

 Henry to the Mississippi, where there has been a suf- 

 ficient actual increase of alluvion to bury the carcass of 

 a whale within twenty years ? I doubt not ! and if 

 so, will any person contend that the carcass of a whale 

 could have remained, under such circumstances, one 

 twentieth part of that time, without being completely 

 dissected, bone from bone, when Bremontier, in his 

 new and interesting " Kecherches sur le movement 

 ties Ondes'' tells us, that the pebbles upon the sea 

 shore, in many places, are, by the action of the surf, 

 ground to the most " impalpable molecule (powder) 

 insomuch that its specific gravity scarcely exceeds that 

 of water, and is hence borne away with the tides into 

 the sea, or, when the tides are at ebb, becoming dry 

 upon the beach, is taken up by the winds and carried 

 further inland in clouds of dust. 



Uuder such circumstances, it is impossible to admit 



