142 



Scientific Geology. 



vium as the result of various agencies, operating at different periods; 

 among which are the floods produced by the elevation of the rock 

 strata at various times. But they do not admit that we have in this 

 diluvium any evidence of a deluge contemporaneous with that de- 

 scribed by Moses. 



It ought to be remarked, however, that these geologists do not 

 deny the occurrence of such a deluge as is described in the Bible. 

 Some of them, indeed, are clergymen : and they merely say, that 

 geology does not furnish any evidence of such a catastrophe, although 

 it affords no evidence to the contrary, but rather a presumption in its 

 favor, in the fact so abundantly proved by the records of geology 

 that numerous extensive, if not universal deluges, have occurred since 

 the creation. 



That a transient deluge, like that described in the Scriptures, could 

 have produced, and brought into its present situation, all the diluvium 

 which is now spread over the surface of this continent, will not, it 

 seems to me, be admitted for a moment by any impartial observer. 

 It has obviously been the result of different agencies, and of different 

 epochs ; the result of causes sometimes operating feebly and slowly, 

 and at other times violently and powerfully. But the conclusion to 

 which I have been irresistibly forced by an examination of this stra- 

 tum in Massachusetts, is, that all the. diluvium, which had been pre- 

 viously accumulated by various agencies, has been modified by a pow- 

 erful deluge, sweeping from the north and northwest, over every part 

 of the State ; not excepting its highest mountains. And since that 

 deluge, none but alluvial agencies have been operating to change the 

 surface. I shall now proceed to give a history of this diluvium, with 

 the reasons that prevent me from assigning its present modified state 

 to any other cause than a recent deluge. 



The most extensive diluvial deposite on the map, is in Plymouth 

 and Barnstable counties. Indeed, nearly the whole of those counties 

 (with the exception of the north part of the former,) might have been 

 thus colored with perfect justice. But as I had good reason to be- 

 leive that a granite ridge occurs where it is marked, concealed by a' 

 few feet of diluvium only, I thought myself justified in extending 

 that rock on the map nearly to the extremity of Cape Cod. I saw, 

 however, no example of rocks in place throughout the whole extent 

 of the Cape, except perhaps a single fissured rock, which has been 

 powerfully acted upon by water ; and which, if it be in place, is only 



