OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 159 



blocks can be traced ; but I trust we shall not long remain in 

 that state of uncertainty, since there are means by which that 

 point will be found of very easy decision, as I shall endeavour 

 to shew in a subsequent part of this paper, by examples in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh. 



It is well known, that granite is found native in Swe- 

 den ; so these blocks may have been carried across the Bal- 

 tic, as those of Mont Blanc have crossed the valley of Geneva. 

 It is possible also, that they may have been transported by the 

 help of ice from the Alps across Germany, by the very same 

 torrent we have been considering, and which had left a portion 

 of its load behind it on Mount Jura. 



This view would afford a natural account of the production 

 of Holland, and of a great part of that quarter of Europe, 

 which consists entirely of sand, and whose magnitude appears 

 to me very far to surpass any deposition that could reasonably 

 be ascribed to the present rivers. All this sand may be con- 

 ceived to have been hurried along by that mighty stream, and 

 deposited when the torrent began to spread, and lose its force 

 by diffusion. It is likely, too, that an immense quantity of 

 this sand would be carried far into the ocean, and its deposi- 

 tion being there modified in various ways, by local tides and 

 currents, might assume the character of horizontal strata, so as 

 to lay the foundation for future productions of freestone or of 

 killas. We might thus, by the help of this diluvian agent, 

 complete the great circle of events, so elegantly pointed out by 

 Dr Hutton, but which the diurnal agents seem quite insuffici- 

 ent to fulfil.. 



As the sand was depositing upon the low countries, the 

 blocks of granite, with their accompanying ice, from whatever 

 quarter they originated, would still keep floating, and thus ac- 

 count for a striking fact stated by M. de Luc. He observes,. 



that 



