300 JOSErU PEESTWICH; F.K.S., P.G.S.^ ON A POSSIBLE 



utterl}'^ unparalleled in their depth and extent, tlie culrainatinf? one 

 of -whicb, he suggests, may have been the flood par excellence 

 of v/hich mankind has preserved the memory. This, M. de Roie- 

 mont says, was the beginning of the " pluvial period," the flood 

 itself which overwhelmed mankind being the climax. That there 

 may have been during the post-glacial period an exceptionally 

 heavy rainfall is not impossible nor improbable, and it may have 

 left behind it visible traces upon the earth's surface; perhaps 

 Professor Prestv/Ich is acquainted with the deposits in question 

 and can speak as to their origin, but that the scriptural flood 

 shoukl have been caused by rainfall alone, even had that rainfall 

 been not only excessive, but embracing whole continents in its 

 extent, does not appear to me to be an adequate cause for such a 

 flood as that described in the Book of Genesis, where we must also 

 remember it is expressly said "the fountains of the deep w^ere 

 broken up," pointing to marine as well as atmospheric action. 



The chief difficulty, however, which now occurs to me in 

 connection with Professor Prestwich's suggestion is the apparent 

 limitation in area of the submergence indicated by the beds which 

 he has described. That the flood was not universal in the 

 geographical sense I cannot doubt, but still should we not expect, 

 supposing that the tradition of it was connected with the sub- 

 mergence now under discussion that traces of that submergence 

 would be found in those regions to which the highest authoritiep 

 point as being the primitive home of our race, or at any rate the 

 earliest home of some of its most important members. And it is 

 also amongst the races which, at the earliest period to Avhich we 

 can trace their presence, dwelt in Asia especially in the Babylonian 

 area, that we find the clearest and most detailed accounts of the 

 flood and of its accompanying incidents. But Professor Prestwich 

 speaks of the evidence of submergence becoming " less as Ave 

 proceed from west to east along the African coast," whilst there 

 seems to be little if any evidence of deep submergence on the 

 coasts of Asia Minor or Palestine ; here then there seems to be 

 some diSiculty, for we can hardly admit that the tradition of the 

 flood originated on the European Ccntinent; this part of the 

 question thei'efore seems to demand some consideration, and 

 perhaps as a more detailed examination of eastern lands is made, 

 more light than Ave have at present may be thrown upon the 

 matter, and some of the difficulties, if not all, which now surround 

 it may eventually disappear in the presence of a more extended 

 knoAvledge. 



Mr. Warren Upham, Assist. G-eologist of the U.S. Governmenfc 

 Survey, writes : — 



In attempting to present brief notes of comment on the impor- 

 tant paper by Professor PrestAvich, I must thank him for such 

 full descriptions of the " head " or "rabble drift " and associated 



