90 Geology and Topography of Western New. York. 



recede ; but by the action of the waves and tides on this alhivial 

 mud, they would soon regain possession of that part of their for- 

 mer bed, bordering the stream to a greater or less extent. The 

 centre of the valley would thereby be lowered ; and this pro- 

 cess being repeated, a series of terraces, or steps, would re- 

 sult, precisely similar to those in the valley of the Connecticut 

 river, which Prof Hitchcock attributes to the fluviatile action of 

 existing streams.* Valleys could thus be formed where streams 

 of no great magnitude ever flowed, and where currents, except 

 the ordinary ones of the ocean, never existed. 



The formation of sand banks and of gravel beds, the rounding 

 and transportation of boulders, the formation and distribution of 

 what we call diluvium, all admit the same simple explanation. 

 Truth is said to be more wonderful than fiction ; however this 

 may be, it usually proves more simple than hypothesis. We 

 ought not, therefore, to be surprised, if the phenomena which 

 have led to the crude notion of a deluge, or a succession of deluges, 

 have been produced by an agent no less active now than at any 

 former time ; an agent, as much more powerful in its action, as 

 it is permanent in its duration. 



Could the Atlantic be drained of its waters, we should find 

 great diversity of surface ; and that portion occupied by the Gulf 

 stream, would unquestionably present a succession of beds of 

 sand, gravel, clay, &c., with boulders, more or less profusely 

 distributed, in proportion to their proximity to beds of rock, or 

 cliffs, which have been successively undermined by the contin- 

 ued- action of the surge. In other words, we should find the 

 surface covered with diluvium, and arranged, perhaps, very much 

 after the fashiou of that in Massachusetts, described by Prof. 

 Hitchcock, as exhibiting "concavities and convexities resem- 

 bling x^ery much the sandy or gravelly bottom of existing 

 streams, where the current has been very rapid, "f 



Assuming, then, that the transition rocks of western New 

 York extended far to the north, probably or possibly covering 

 that portion of this State, and of Canada, which now constitute 

 the primitive districts, and which seem to have been the nearest 

 points of disturbance, it must follow as a consequence, that they 

 were the first brought into contact with the waves by the process 



* Geology of Massachusetts, p. 134. t lb. p. 144. 



