314 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



quit the ark, which had now been their habitation upwards of a year. 

 Many years, indeed, might revolve, ere the ocean subsided to its 

 present level. Now, if the object of the deluge was merely to drown 

 the inhabitants of the world, that might have been accomplished in 

 a few days ; and a week or two might have sufficed to dry the earth, 

 had there been only "a quiet effusion of water upon its surface." Is 

 there not, then, strong ground for presuming, that the globe was so 

 long immersed, to effect the most important changes in its crust; that 

 during the deluge, the old strata were extensively demolished, and 

 new^ strata formed out of their ruins; and that, as the ocean subsided, 

 the new strata rose, experiencing in their rise those breaks, undu- 

 lations, and other irregularities, with which they are marked 1 



To establish the theory here proposed, many queries demand 

 to be answered, and not a few objections require to be met. Our 

 limits will not allow us to enter very fully into the subject; but the 

 following remarks may serve to elucidate and confirm the general 

 ideas now thrown out. 



If it be asked. To what extent were the ancient strata demolish- 

 ed? We reply; that probably the whole were dissolved, except the 

 primary rocks, containing no organic remains. Dolomieu, an accurate 

 observer of nature, notices, that a gi'eat catastrophe seems to have 

 taken place after the birth of the primitive rocks, and before that of 

 the derivative; that the shell of the earth has been broken through 

 by some vast shock, and the strata, originally horizontal, thrown 

 up to a great height, some vertically, and others obliquely ; thus 

 forming the principal inequalities on the earth's surface. Mr. Green- 

 ough, after quoting these expressions, makes this judicious remark: 

 "Without assenting to every part of this doctrine, I cannot but 

 consider the almost universal occurrence of conglomerate and grey- 

 wacke on the confines of what are called primitive rocks, as one of 

 the most important and striking facts yet established in geology : it 



