alluvial matter, were swept from the continent and de- 

 posited along on the borders of the Atlantic coast. 



Such are the facts, and such appear to be the only 

 rational inferences deducible from them. 



But whether the currents, so often mentioned in this 

 essay, are to be considered as having originated from 

 the fall of torrents of rain, in ceaseless succession, for 

 the space of forty days and forty nights ; or, as is, by 

 some supposed, from the approximation of a comet to- 

 wards the earth ; or from the outlet of the waters con- 

 tained in the centre of the antediluvion earth whe- 

 ther they originated from the dissolution of the polar 

 ices, under any possible circumstances ; or whether, 

 in fact, the north pole icas the great focus, whence 

 these currents issued, or not, it is impossible to de- 

 termine. 



It is a subject from which the human mind, in the 

 eager pursuit of truth, must and will ever be re- 

 pulsed : for the circumstances essentially important to 

 its elucidation, are veiled in impenetrable mystery. 



We have before us, the book of inspiration ; and in 

 it we are told of the universal deluge or flood, which 

 by its operations, was to destroy every living thing 

 that had been made, from off the face of the earth. 



this or a similar cause ; for in his remarks on fossil organick re- 

 mains, he observes, " May it be concluded, that the transportation 

 of these living organized bodies, if such a thing ever happened, 

 has taken place from north to south, or from east to west ; or was 

 it effrcted by means that irregularly scattered and mingled them 

 together ?" (Theory of the Earth, page 66, Am. edition.) 



