158 Notice and Review-of the Reliquiae Diluvianae. 
ry and tertiary rocks, in search of evidence. But it is 
now proved, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the various 
fossils imbedded in the regular strata of the earth, could 
not have'been lodged there by the deluge :'“ the phe- 
nomena in question (as a late European writer observes,) 
being now universally regarded as of antediluvial produc- 
tion.” We must, therefore, !ook for proofs of the Noa- 
chian delage in those loose deposites of loam and gravel, 
confusedly mingled together, and spread over every coun- 
iry on the globe ; which mantle is appropriately denomi- 
nated diluvium, and must carefully be distinguished from 
alluvium, which is the result of causes, now in operation. 
It is in this diluvium, that the-principal geological eviden- 
ces of the deluge occur. ‘The present work exhibits im 
two parts and an appendix, three general divisions of the 
argument. The proofs of the deluge are : 
1. The phenomena of caves and fissures in rocks. 
2. The beds of diluvium spread over every part of the 
earth and containing the bones of animals. 
3. The excavation of vallies by diluvial action. 
The first class of proofs. occupies the largest portion of 
Prof. Buckland’s work, and is chiefly original. As the 
cave at Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, was first discovered and 
explored, and is most fertile in curious facts, we shall not 
hesitate to give its history, somewhat in detail, although 
this has already been done more or less in various period- 
ical works, but we apprehend that these interesting facts 
are stil unknown to many of our American readers. It 
is wel! known to geologists, that the compact limestone dis- 
tricts of England, Ireland, Carniola, and the United States, 
are remarkable for the number and extent-of the caverns 
and fissures which they contain. No less than twenty-eight 
of these, and as many fissures, are enumerated in England; 
and the cave at Kirkdale adds another to the number. 
This was not known to exist, till the summer of 1821, when 
it-was discovered by working a large quarry along the slope 
ofa hill. The original entrance of the cave was extréme- 
ly small, and was closed by rubbish. Its length is net far 
from 245 feet, varying much in diameter, but never ex- 
ceeding seven feet in breadth and fourteen in height. The 
roof was covered with pendent stalactites, and the floor 
partially with an incrustation of stalagmite. Upon this, 
