NORTHERN BOULDERS. 
339 
Western New-York ; but I have already devoted more space than was intended to this sub¬ 
ject, upon which, although there are an immense collection of facts, there is yet no universal 
mode of explanation. 
The great difficulty has been in the attempt to find some one cause which would satis¬ 
factorily account for the whole, while no attempt has been made to recognize the products 
of successive periods. The idea of a universal deluge, early inculcated, and strengthened 
by the arguments and facts brought forward to sustain the opinion, has led to the general 
belief that all superficial deposits were due to a single period, and to one agency. Geologi¬ 
cal phenomena are now studied without reference to preconceived opinions or interpretations, 
and by adopting more natural and rational explanations than otherwise could be done, we 
escape advocating numerous absurdities, without conflicting with religious opinions. No 
geologist, at the present time, can use the term diluvium in connection with the deluge of 
Scripture history, or refer the superficial detritus of a country to the same agency. 
In many instances the relative position of the Great Boulder formation, and the more 
ancient drift, is well illustrated in the natural or artificial sections of these deposits. It must 
be acknowledged that there are often huge unworn fragments of the rocks of the district 
mingled with the granitic boulders, but these rarely extend many miles south of the outcrop¬ 
ping edge of such masses. The following example is a section of a hill in the town of Victor, 
Ontario county, on the line of the railroad : 
163 . 
The lower deposit is of fine and coarse sand, with pebbles of the rocks of the district, dis¬ 
tinctly stratified; this is succeeded by an unstratified deposit of coarser materials, consisting 
of large and small pebbles and boulders of granite, and other rocks with intermingled clay 
and sand. With this deposit are some large irregular fragments of limestone from the upper 
part of the Onondaga salt group, which have been transported only a few miles. It is evident 
that at the time this heterogeneous mass was brought upon the lower deposit, it suffered 
denudation to a considerable degree, the upper layer of sandy loam, with some of the coarser 
materials, having been removed on one side. Numerous similar deposits have been observed, 
and indeed they are among the most common appearances of the drift hills. 
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