$20 Dr Fleming on the Geological Deluge. 
diluvian lake (it would have been, from its characters, a valley 
of denudation, had it not been necessary to have a sheet of fresh 
water for the antediluvian hippopotami to swim in) ; the deluge 
opened the gorge at Malton, and converted it into a postdiluvian 
valley. But it is just as probable that it was a postdiluvian lake, 
and that the gorge of Malton was removed by an agent, similar 
to that which opened its northern neighbours in Lochaber. 
When we see a valley, the waters of which flow out at a gorge, 
we may infer that it was formerly a lake. We may also infer 
that a sudden deluge could not tear away the barrier rocks, un- 
less previously disintegrated ; and we may watch the transport- 
ing power of the present stream : but if we have any geological 
caution, we will hesitate about fixing the era of the change. 
These terraces are found in greater numbers in alpine districts, 
as might have been anticipated. They occur, however, even at 
low levels. I have already noticed three examples in this Jour- 
nal, and I have more to produce. They are much more nume- 
rous than is commonly imagined. Even in the valley of the 
Thames there is reason to believe they exist, though this hollow 
is pronounced, by Professor Buck land, a valley of denudation *» 
* In the 44 Reply ” I am accused of supporting one of my conclusions 44 by 
stating, on the misinterpreted authority of Mr Trimmer’s paper,” that several 
of the reputed antediluvian animals occur in the postdiluvian, regularly strati- 
fied clay, &c. But how is this grave change of misinterpretation supported ? 
44 I venture (he says) to assert, that no remains of this kind have ever been 
found in the peat bogs of any part of the valley of the Thames, still less in 
the regular stratified clay, that is , the London clay” Had I really said that Mr 
Trimmer found these remains in the 44 London Clay,” the charge would have 
been well founded, as he says that they occur above the London day. But I 
say no such thing, Is the London clay (in the geological sense of the term) 
the only regular stratified clay with which my opponent is acquainted ? This 
cannot be the case. Or can he deny, that the 44 Brentford clay ” is less regu- 
larly stratified than the 44 London clay ?” I use the phrase, obviously consistent 
with the authority which I quote ; and I was the more inclined to do so, for the 
purpose of exhibiting the distinction between this regularly stratified clay and the 
ordinary diluvium, which is irregular in its stucture. So far, therefore, I have 
been misinterpreted, not Mr Trimmer. But there is still a difference between 
us. Professor Buckland says, that he has visited the clay in question, and 
pronounces it diluvium. Last spring, when in London, I was anxious to see 
a genuine example of diluvium , and the more so, as Mr Trimmer’s remarks in- 
dicated a very different deposition: and because I had suspected that the ad- 
vocates of the diluvian hypothesis were in the habit of confounding together, at 
