544 
Mr, Buckland on the Quartz Rock , fcfr. 
But above all I would refer them to the opinions of M. Cuvier, 
expressed in his inestimable Essay on the Theory of the Earth, in 
which, after the most enlarged and philosophical view of the state 
of the question that has ever been taken, he concludes with 
expressing his conviction, “ that if there be any one fact thoroughly 
established by geological investigations, it is the certainty of the 
low antiquity of the human race and present state of the surface 
of the earth, and the circumstance of its having been recently 
overwhelmed by the waters of a transient deluge.” 
These united authorities present us a mass of evidence collected 
from the highest sources that are accessible, all conspiring to 
establish the important fact, that accumulations of superficial gravel 
more modern than the most recent of the regular strata are found 
in all parts of the world, under circumstances of such exact 
resemblance, that it is impossible not to refer them to one and the 
same common cause, viz. a recent deluge acting universally and at 
the same period over the surface of the whole globe. 
