CAUSE FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. 293 



by so eminent an authority as Professor Prestwicli. No doubt 

 there is much to be said, as has been shown, in favour of his views ; 

 but a serious objection, and to my mind the greatest objection, is 

 the entii-e absence of marine shells amongst the I'emains of these 

 ossiferous fissures. 



J. Allen Brown, F.G.S. — Professor Prestwicli, as one of our most 

 distinguished geologists, has added so much to our knowledge, that 

 any theory suggested by him must necessarily carry great weight. 

 I have looked up to him as my leader and master in Quaternary 

 Geology, and it is with regret I find myself at variance with his 

 opinion as to the formation of the rubble drift and associated sur- 

 face alterations and deposits. 



Like many other geologists, I can only see in these formations 

 the result, but with considerable modifications arising from different 

 geographical conditions, of that period of great cold, extending 

 over a long period which, with its milder inter-glacial episodes, is 

 generally accepted as the Glacial period. With such a condition 

 of severe climate with intervals of milder temperature, the whole 

 followed by a period of great rainfall or the Pluvial period sug- 

 gested by Mr. A. Tylor, and accompanied by those changes in the 

 level of the country, which we know have taken place, we have 

 the series of causes which will account for the occurrence of the 

 rubble drifts. Admitting that the evidences of ice action north of 

 the Thames are much more pronounced than in the south, we may 

 yet find, in the changes I have alluded to, sufficient for their 

 formation and for the alterations in the sculpture of the land. 

 In my opinion it is annecessary to suggest a sudden catastrophe 

 caused by rapid upheaval and subsequent as rapid submergence 

 of the land to account for these accum.ulations and changes as may 

 be seen in action in some parts of the world now, and are still 

 going on, though to a lesser extent at present in the South of 

 England. 



Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S. — I think, sir, this Paper has 

 brought about a deluge ! We have had a deluge of information, a 

 great deal of it old, and a great deal that is well worth study. 

 What Sir Henry Howovth said I should have liked to have gone 

 over. I believe him to a great extent, but still fissures, rubble, 

 ci'acks, and sediments have all to be sepai'ately taken at their 

 own value. I am now trenching on Professor Hughes' obser- 

 vation, that we must have " caution " , but I must say that Pi-ofessor 



