35 
”°“ U “? idea • and tha ‘ this reservoir should, then, from time 
bursTth ouXib' T' T " ah 1 tandre<,S ° f Jears> tave everflowed and 
m St through its natural bamer of gravel and rook ; and that, when once a 
(^“lTthT”' ’ 1 , 0UM haTe br0U * M d0 ' V11 with * ™ s t quantity of 
g avel to the more level country at the foot, and should there in a few days 
or weeks have formed one of those beds five or eight feet thick for the 
rmation of which Lyell gl ves hundreds and thousands of years ’ I have 
ventured to think it might be worth while for this meeting to be thiis 
reminded of that kind of catastrophic action of which earlier geologists took 
so great account and which certainly takes place even in the present day 
eeinX* be toe ^ , m ° re . and alm <^ imperceptible action which 
W„« V ! ldea 0f SOme modera S eol °g ists - Here at the Tin ike 
was an instance where it would have been natural for a cataclysm or 
avalanche of sand and gravel to occur from time to time, burying toe ’old 
and ’ T f ° r a n f W layCT ° f S0U afterwards gradually to accumulate, 
c , , gr 7 aSS *° grow ^owly again upon the surface of the latest formed 
gravel-bed. And yet, even here, Sir 0. Lyell, prepossessed by his one 
idea, has been so blinded to the elder theory, by which the facts of the case 
‘ 1C so na ura y explained, that although compelled to assume, between the 
several formations of the various gravel strata, long periods of unaccountable 
epose, during which the torrent would cease to overspread with its sediment 
the newly-formed soil, he nevertheless adduces this very case of La Tiniere 
as an instance of the ordinary, continuous, gradual, and imperceptible action 
of water. I cannot help saying that his doing so exemplifies his own 
remark, quite as applicable to a true as to a false theory A false theory 
it is well known, may render us blind to facts which are opposed to our 
prepossessions, or may conceal from us their true import when we behold 
them. — Principles of Geology , p. 498. 
Mr ‘ W- MASTERMAX.-Mr. Pattison says in the last paragraph of the 
paper : The Lyellian scheme is a fair working hypothesis, so is that of the 
bcnptunst ; until either is absolutely verified, I may adopt one or the other 
without obloquy ; neither can be imposed on me.” Now I differ from this 
statement. I ask, is not the question of man’s existence on this earth for 
a longer or shorter period an important point fora believer in revelation 
to inquire into and to have strong views about ; for if you admit that there 
was a race of men existing for 10,000 years before the present age, you seem 
to undermine important passages in God’s Word ? Can you hold that lorm 
an lquity of man and maintain the grand doctrines of the Fall and the 
Kedemption ? I think we must totally exclude from papers like this any allu- 
sion to Revelation or Scripture, or else we must allow some allusions in 
the discussions to these matters, and there is one text which I feel bound 
to quote . Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and 
ea i by sin : and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned : 
" .' , 01 aS ] one mans disobedience many were made sinners : so by 
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Docs not that text 
D 
