PHENOMENA OP DRIPT. 906 



hard quartz rocks, weighing many tons, that have 

 been perfectly roundal and smoothed in this way, 

 and can thence conjec-ture how tearful mu eea 



the rush and the war ot" elements, that n -udl 



e£fect8. 



Geologi.-.;.^ » ^.ii.-.iilt'r that tiicit iia.. .^^ii .-. ,eral 

 periods of drift, on the northern part of this continent; 

 all of them being in a westerly direction, coming from 

 the east. Some ascribe it to the action of ice, either 

 in the form of glaciers, or icebergs; others to the up- 

 heaval of the lx)ttom in some portion of the north sea, 

 sending an indescribable torrent of mingled mud, ice, 

 and water, sweeping over the face of the country; 

 tearing away hills, scooping out valleys, crumbling 

 away various strata of rock, and depositing their ma- 

 terials in different and often far distant localities. 



The lact that the rocks on the sides of some of our 

 highest hills are ground smootli, and marked with 

 scratches and even deep grooves, in the ilirection 

 which these currents, or masses of ice, took, shows 

 how irresistible must have been their force, and how 

 great their volume. 



In some cases, the action of this drifl has been, to 

 OOfW up good soils, or rocks that are capable of pra« 

 tenng such soils, with immense accumulations of 

 sand and gravel. In* it has deposited a 



better class of substan<< riginal. On the 



whole, it may be considere<l that it has done gomi, by 

 mixing the ruins of various f'oi tuitions; varying the 

 soil, and the con-sequent | its, over distriolB 



that would otherwise have (><< n umform, and where 

 the want of these various materiabi micfht have been 

 severely felt, in all the onii tiowi of life. 



What must have seemLtl . wild dtaoUo 



cnnfasion and ruin, was thitt a wise pit>> 



vision of (lod, to prepare this ut more p»» 



fectly for our habitation. 



1" 



