2IG DISTRIBUTION OF SOILS. 



menon, is a different thing from the investigation of the manner in which that phenomenon 

 was really produced. Tliere is a simplicity in the operations of nature, which it is well to 

 heed. The hypothesis which we have framed, is based upon two or three facts, the prin- 

 cipal one of which is the submergence of the northern part of our hemisphere. This 

 submergence is proved liy the discover)' of the marine formation which occupies the valley 

 of Lake Champlain, and which may be traced far south into the vallies of the Hudson and 

 the St. Lawrence rivers, while another branch extends eastward to the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence. So also in the vallies and upon the coast of the State of Maine, a marine formation 

 is found to exist. This formation was deposited after the period of diluvial action, inas- 

 nmch as it reposes upon the scored rocks, and also upon the drift in many places where it 

 was left on the cessation of its transport. It is a formation that indicates a state of tjuiet 

 after one of turlnilence ; for the fossils are entire, though extremely thin, and the valves 

 often remain attached together, which could not well have happened in such shells as the 

 Terebratula psittacea, if they had not been deposited during a period of quiet. The thick- 

 ness of this formation is about one hundred feet ; and it is now found to be three or four 

 hundred feet above the level of the sea, preserving at this height the character of a deposit 

 from an ocean in quietude. 



Our hypothesis connects the transportation of the soils and scoring of the rocks, and the 

 submergence of this continent, as antecedent and consequent. We might add to the former 

 the simultaneous uplift of a continent to the north, which, displacing suddenly the waters 

 there existing, would give them a southward movement, with a force capable of trans- 

 porting all the moveable materials found in their way. A mighty rush of the waters 

 would thus be produced, which would be competent to tear up the exposed strata, and 

 bear the ruins along in constantly accumulating masses. 



It is no part of our business here to attempt to offer an explanation of the causes of a 

 submergence. That such a change has occurred in tlie condition of our continent, is a 

 position that is borne out by many facts ; not only by the existence of the marine forma- 

 tions of the Champlain and St. Lawrence vallies, but by the condition of all sedimentary 

 rocks, each of which was deposited at the bottom of a sea that has long since retired, and 

 now covers lands that formerly existed as continents or islands. 



On considering the relations of the period of submergence above spoken of, we are in- 

 clined to place it in juxtaposition to that of the diluvial action, for the reason that the 

 marine deposit is found either upon the drift, which is the product of the diluvial period, or 

 else immediately upon the scored surface itself, which is one of the consequences of the 

 same period. This scratched surface, where the removal of the superincumbent materials 

 has been recently made, is as fresh as if it were made yesterday ; but where it has been 

 exposed for a few yeais to the action of the waters of the lake, those of Lake Champlain, 

 the grooves are obliterated. It is then proved that these surfaces could not have been long 

 exposed to abrading action, before they were covered and defended by a deposit. 



We do not propose to enter into farther attempts to explain the phenomena of the trans- 



