NOTES AND QUERIES. 
309 
Sedgwick, who, in the Appendix to his Discourse on the Studies of the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge, thus expresses himself : — 
" Between the first creation of the earth and that day in which it pleased 
God to place man upon it, who shall dare to define the interval ? On this 
question Scripture is silent ; but that silence destroys not the meaning of those 
physical monuments of his power tliat God has put before our eyes, giving us, 
at the same time, faculties whereby we may interpret them and comprehend 
their meaning. In the present condition of our knowledge, a statement like 
this is surely enough to satisfy the reasonable scruples of a religious man. 
But let us for a moment suppose that there are some religious difficulties in the 
conclusions of geology. How, then, are we to solve them ? Not by makmg 
a world after a pattern of our own, not by shifting and shuffling the solid strata 
of the earth, and then dealing them out in such a way as to play the game of 
an ignorant hypothesis ; not by shutting our eyes to facts, or denying the evi- 
dence of our senses, but by patient investigation, carried on in the sincere love 
of truth, and by learning to reject every consequence not warranted by direct 
physical evidence. Pursued in this spirit, geology can neither lead to any false 
conclusions, nor oflPend against any religious truth." 
Evidences op Deluge — Geology of Stonehaven. — Dear Sir, — May I 
trouble you. with the two following queries ? — 
1. What evidence have we, geological or otherwise, apart from the history 
of the Bible, of the existence of the Deluge ? The traditions of all nations, 
whether in the new or old world, would seem to point to it ; but are they con- 
firmed by direct evidence from the surface of the globe ? If so, are we to 
suppose its action to have been local or general over the whole world, and what 
date can we assign to it ? In no book can I find any clear answer to these 
questions. 
2. Can you inform me whether there is any special interest in the geology 
of the country aroung Stonehaven, in Kincardineshire, and whether I could 
find any published account of it ? Hoping you will excuse the trouble, believe 
me respectfully yours, S. M. 
1. As the Biblical Deluge is supposed to have taken place in the East, it 
has been looked for in the valley of the Euphrates, and other great valleys, 
and such evidence with regard to the Euphrates valley as seems to bear on the 
subject, has been brought forward, if our memory serves us rightly, in Mr. 
William Ainsworth's " Reseaches in Assyria, Ba%lonia, and Chaldea," pub- 
lished in 1838. 
In Mr. Vernon Harcourt's work on the Deluge a great deal of information 
is brought together on the subject of the Mosaic Deluge. 
Geological evidence generally tends to disprove the Universality of the 
Deluge. Thus we have cones of volcanic ashes of early tertiary date stiU 
existing in central France entirely undisturbed, and modified only by 
atmospheric agencies. 
2. Stonehaven stands on the northernmost extension of the Old Red of Eorfar 
and Kincardineshire. The general stratigraphical features of the Old Red of 
this district, and a notice of the chief localities of fossils, have latelv been 
given by the Rev. Hugh Mitchell, of Craig, in the Journal of the Geological 
Society (No. 66, p. 45, 1861). Some papers also on this subject have appeared 
in the " Geologist," namely, " On the Flagstones of Eorfarshire," by Mr. 
Mitchell (vol. ii., p. 149, 1859), and " Notice of New Eossils from the Lower 
Old Red Sandstone of Scotland" (vol. iii., p. 273), by the same author ; and 
" On the Old Red Sandstone and its Eossil Eish in Eorfarshire, by Mr. J. 
Powrie (vol. iii., p. 336). 
Balruddery, Tealing, Glammis, Carmylie, Leysmill, Carsegowrie, Brechen 
and Cauterland, are noted localities in Kincardine and Eorfar for fossil fishes. 
