TRACKS IN TEME. 65 



neighbourhood of Knightsford-bridge, on the borders of Wor- 

 cestershire, towards Herefordshire. We know, and the author 

 knows, and makes no attempt to doubt or disprove it, that these 

 impressions could only be made when the old red sand-stone was 

 plastic, and in the process of formation. All geologists, includ- 

 ing the author, admit that this formation of the old red sand- 

 stone took place long anterior to the deluge ; " some even 

 contend that it was formed thousands of years previous to the 

 creation of man;" b (p. 29,) in fact, we are not aware that a 

 single geologist now assigns it a more recent date. Let us 

 attempt to gather into a simple sentence the obvious inference 

 to be drawn from the admissions and assertions of our author, 

 thus : — 



Long before the Noachian Deluge, nay, even before the 

 creation of man himself, there existed, in the neighbourhood 

 of Knightsford-bridge, in Worcestershire, in England, some 

 animals which wore pattens, and horses which were shod in 

 the manner practised at the present day; the existence of 

 pattens and horseshoes clearly proving, moreover, the exist- 

 ence of blacksmiths, as the fabricators thereof 



Kisum teneatis amici ! A word more and we have done. 

 In order to prove that the good people wore pattens long, 

 long before the flood, Jabez Allies, Esq. quotes the book of 

 Job: — " 'It is turned as clay to the seal,' xxxviii. 14. And, 

 unless Job meant the boils with which he was afflicted, it 

 might reasonably be inferred that he figuratively alluded to the 

 patten," (p. 31.) We know not whether Jabez Allies, Esq. 

 ever heard of a non sequitur. We opine that the foregoing 

 passage is an apt illustration of the term. We cannot see why, 

 if Job meant not a boil, he meant a patten. 



Jabez Allies, Esq. is a man of talent, and a man of much 

 reading; he is one whom the Natural History Society of 

 Worcestershire delighteth to honour ; he is looked up to as a 

 philosopher, he is consulted as an oracle, and it is not our wish 

 to diminish his reputation ; we are no geologists, but we can 

 take a common-sense view of most subjects. We always 

 have, and always will differ from those who consider the Bible 

 a work on Natural History ; and we believe, firmly believe, that 

 those who attempt to prove it such, raise doubts without 



b Mark ! the author himself makes this observation, in order to prove the 

 antiquity of the impressions. 



NO. I. VOL. IV. K 



