Claypcle on (Dartvin and Geclogy. 159 
announced the occurrence of twenty-nine separate catastrophes, 
each produced and immortalized by one or more mountain-sys- 
tems. To each of these he gave a name derived from the ridge 
that best exempHtied its direction. Thus he enumerated the 
Sysfcni of the Longmynd^ of the Pyrenees^ of the Wester)i 
Alps^ &c. All these were laid down on his maps and their rel- 
ative dates determined. E. de Beaumont further maintained 
that each of these mountain-systems had been violently and 
suddenly upheaved with great commotion, and that each up- 
heaval had been accompanied with catastrophe so \vide-spread 
and disastrous as to utterly destroy all living beings on the face 
of the globe. As a writer of the time has expressed it. 
In the interval following each such deluge creative power was again 
brought into operation and the earth was repeopled with animated creat- 
ures and reclothed with vegetation. But in all cases the animals and 
plants composing the new kingdom of nature, though agreeing with 
those destroyed in their classes and genera, differed from them altogether 
in their species. — Lardner, The Pre-Adamite Earth. 
These views of course rendered great compression of geolog- 
ical time possible, and by attributing creation to direct act of 
the Creator averted from their advocates the dangerous odiinn 
thcologicwn. 
It is not necessary to follow into any further detail this once 
famous theory of Mon. E. de Beaumont. SufHce it to say that 
it was the popular theory when Darwin left England in 1831. 
He says, (p. 60) "When I was starting on the voyage of the 
Beagle the sagacious Henslow who, like all other geologists, 
believed at that time in successive cataclvsms, advised me to get 
and study the first volume of the "Principles," which had just 
then been published, but on no account to accept the views 
therein advocated." But the crop that grew from Ilenslow's 
grain of seed was other than what the good man wished and 
expected. His pupil remarks, " The very first place in which 
I geologized convinced me of the infinite superiority of Lyell's 
views over those advocated in any other work then known to 
me." 
The views of this great apostle of uniforniity^ were, in brief, 
that the earth since its first formation, with which he did not 
deal, has been continuously developing into its present condition 
inuler the influence of forces still in action aided bv almost un- 
