CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH 3ACRED HISTORY. 459 



Our concern, however, in this discussion, is with the general deluge, 

 described in the book of Genesis, for, we are writing for the sake of 

 those who believe in the genuineness and authenticity of that history. 

 From many things that have been already said, it is obvious that the 

 amazing geological depositions of the earth cannot be ascribed to that 

 short, violent and transient catastrophe. Its genuine effects are ex- 

 actly those which all geologists ascribe to diluvial action ; namely, the 

 transportation of the loose ruins of mineral masses, and of the or- 

 ganic world, which are found strewed every where over the surface 

 of the earth. 



Professor Buckland, in his Reliquiae Diluvianae, has most ably illus- 

 trated this subject; and it is obvious, that the former practice, of at- 

 tributing the organized remains found in the solid strata, to this catas- 

 trophe, is founded entirely in an imperfect acquaintance with the sub- 

 ject, and that no man, at the present period, who had studied geology 

 thoroughly, would fall into such an error. 



It is not supposable, however, that all deposits of gravel, &,c. are 

 attributable to a general deluge, and it may be difficult to draw the 

 line between a local and a general flood. It is not important to dis- 

 cuss that topic, nor the objections of those who reject the Mosaic ac- 

 count of a general deluge. To them it is sufficient to say, that as the 

 earth bears every where marks of diluvial action, and is strewed with 

 diluvial ruins, every observer will for himself assign to local deluges, 

 or to a general debacle, as great a portion of the effects as may in 

 his view be proper. 



To those who would assign to the agency of a general deluge, the 

 vast work of depositing the immense solid geological formations, with 

 all their varied stores of animals, and plants, and fragments, and di- 

 versified successions, we can say only, that such effects, from such a 

 cause, are physically impossible, especially within the limits of time 

 and under the circumstances assigned in the Mosaic account. It is 

 not necessary to go again into the induction of particulars. 



As to the loose materials, their actual disposition and arrangement, 

 as we now see them, is to be attributed, chiefly, to a diluvial ocean — 

 no other cause being capable of reaching the regions remote from, and 

 elevated above the present great waters of the globe. 



The arrangement of the loose materials, on shores and in outlets, 

 and in regions occasionally fiooded, is, at least to some depth, and to 

 some extent, to be referred to agencies now in operation. 



It is also true, that water-worn pebbles are produced at the present 

 time. No one who, on the sea shore, has observ ed the incessant lash- 



