16 Principles of Geology. 



crystals of felspar. Now, by the force of the great currents of water, 

 blocks of this granite have been scattered over a large tract of coun- 

 try to the south, where masses, some tons in weight, rest on high 

 ground near Sedbergh ; and, when the Lancaster canal was made, 

 such were found of great size in deep cutting, near the town of Lan- 

 caster. Eastward, this granite has been carried by other currents of 

 the same water, over the deep vale of Eden, and the lofty range of 

 hills which extend along the western border of Yorkshire and Dur- 

 ham, across Stainmoor forest, down the vallies of Durham, and the 

 northern dales of Yorkshire, across the vale of York, and the hills 

 of the eastern point of the county, to Scarborough and Flamborough 

 head, where it rests on the summit of the cliff one hundred miles 

 from its ancient situation. This is one of many instances. The dis- 

 persion of sienitic rocks from Carrock fell, Cumberland, of granite 

 from Ravenglass, and of whinstone from Teesdale, is not less re- 

 markable. Such facts cannot be seen without astonishment, nor 

 contemplated without full conviction. As to the height of this flood 

 in our own country, the sides of Ingleborough, on which rest frag- 

 ments of rocks transported from Keswick; the brow of Stainmoor, 

 which supports large masses of granite; and the top of Carrock 

 fell, from which so large a quantity of sienite has been removed, de- 

 monstrate that our proudest hills were overflowed; and as to the exr 

 tent, all countries acknowledge the wide-spreading visitation : — the 

 deluge covered the whole earth. 



The deluge is a great feature in the natural history of the earth, 

 and it is highly desirable to fix the period of its occurrrence ; not to 

 estimate how many centuries have passed away since it happened, 

 nor how long it remained upon the earth ; (such knowledge must be 

 gathered from other sources;) but its relative place in the succession 

 of phenomena which have visited the earth : for, in my mind, those 

 geologists have been ill-advised, who, in the present state of science, 

 affect to form a chronology of nature for comparison with the records 

 of history. But the order and series of events may be read in the 

 books of nature, and by inspection of them, two propositions are 

 demonstrable. 



First: That the deluge happened after the stratification of the 

 earth was completed. The proof is easy : whoever will examine 

 gravel-pits will be soon convinced of its truth. For in some part or 

 other, the diluvial accumulations contain fragments of every known 

 rock ; masses of the old rocks carried many miles and dispersed 



