HISTORICAL REVIEW 281 



innumerable kettles in the smooth eastern plains, proving the subjuga- 

 tion by standing water of ice-laid drift; (5) the occurrence of surficial 

 loams over large tracts of the lower plains; (6)' the admitted delta ter- 

 races or sand- plains on the north side of the island and north side of the 

 latest moraine, at the theoretic height (21, pages 653-651:) ; (7) the oc- 

 currence of fine, evenly bedded sands containing rafted boulders in the 

 moraine valleys; (8) the evident shorelines about the eastern moraines 

 and the wave-erosion origin of the '^Inland Cliff." These features will 

 be separately discussed in a later chapter. 



The principal facts which have been noted as unfavorable to recent 

 submergence are negative in character. These are the absence of beaches, 

 bars, or cliffs on the surface of the plains and the absence of fossils. To 

 these objections there are conclusive answers, which will be stated in a 

 later chapter. 



Historical Review 



In 1908 M. S. Fuller, in the most exhaustive paper on the geology of 

 the island (see number 36 of the bibliography), gave an excellent review 

 of the literature relathig to the geology from 1T50 to 1908. A reference 

 to that paper will show that most earlier students of the island believed 

 the southern plain was formed beneath tlie sea and, as the present writer 

 thinks, correctly. 



It is an interesting fact that the earliest writing on Long Island of 

 which we have record (1, page 150) recognized marine submergence. 

 Mather gives the following translation of de Nemour's writing: 



". . . says of Long Island, that although not a delta in form, is one in 

 reality, caused by the marine currents transporting the fluviatile alluvions of 

 the Hudson, Passaic, Hackensaek, and Raritan rivers." 



For that early time, so long before the discovery of glacial agency, it 

 was a much more rational conception than the cataclysmic notions of the 

 drift commonly held in j\Iather's day. 



The earliest published article relating wholly to the plain was in 1859, 

 by W. C. Watson (2), not geologic, but a description of the plains with 

 reference to their agricultural possibilities. However, he noted some of 

 the features which have a bearing on the genesis of the plain, and while 

 perhaps too vague and broad his statements have much value as the ob- 

 servations of a keen observer with no geologic bias. His only definite 

 ■statement as to the origin of the plain is this: "Submergence of the 

 island at some period is demonstrated by numerous circumstances" (page 

 487). He speaks of marine shells being found in the plain and in the 

 channels or "dry rivers,'" His remarks concerning these channels, the 



