15 



Still less are the conclusions shaken by the hypothesis, that the 

 weapons of the hunter completed the extinction of many species 

 of animals, of whose former existence we have no knowledge, 

 except through their bones, which are buried in the beds of old 

 diluvial covering. From the only physical evidence which we 

 can have on such a subject, we believe that not a single hunter 

 had ever trodden in the woods of Europe at the time when the 

 mammoth, the rhinoceros, and the hyaena were its inhabitants. 

 And the records of Europe afford no proof that such beasts ever 

 inhabited this part of the world in times within the reach of 

 history. Again, we know by direct evidence, which is inde- 

 pendent of any zoological details and of any history, that the 

 diluvial gravel is of great antiquity ; and we know from history 

 that in ancient times large tracts of Europe existed in the form 

 of unreclaimed marsh or almost impenetrable forest. Under 

 such circumstances, are we to believe that a set of inhabitants, 

 savage, almost naked, and few in number, should have waged a 

 war of extermination with lar^e and formidable beasts like the 

 rhinoceros, the cavern-bear, and the hyaena I The hypothesis 

 which attributes the extinction of such animals to the agency 

 of hunters in the early ages of the world is at once gratuitous 

 and incredible. 



As the general result of all the preceding details, we may 

 conclude that the separation of the superficial debris of the 

 earth into two classes {diluvial and post-diluvial detritus), formed 

 by different causes, and during distinct epochs, is completely 

 made out; first, by the direct evidence of natural sections prov- 

 ing one formation superior to the other ; secondly, by the distinct 

 suites of organio remains imbedded in the two deposits. The 

 lower formation containing nranv organic remains which are 

 never found in the upper ; and the upper also containing many 

 which are not found in the lower. In these respects, perhaps, no 

 two contiguous formations in the crust of the earth are sepa- 

 rated from each other by more clear and decisive characters. 



Sect. 5. — On /he Causes of Diluvial and Alluvial Phenomena. 

 The conclusions which I have attempted to vindicate in the 

 preceding sections, however interesting in themselves, give us 

 but scanty means of speculating on the causes which have pro- 

 duced the diluvial deposits. It may be asked, by whal Forces 

 were the diluvial* torrents first put in motion ? In what direction 

 did they sweep over the earth ? On what part of the earth's sur- 

 face have they acted? Did they operate almost simultaneously 

 over all parts of the world, or did they act at intervals and dur- 

 ing a long period of time ? What was the condition of the globe 

 prior to their action, and what are the modifications in its 

 external character produced by them ? To some of these ques- 

 tions, no answer can be given, and to none of them can we give 



