the authors above referred to; nay, a member of the London Geological Society, has quite recently defended the essential features of the same hypothesis in an elaborate work on geology.* Dr. Ure, however, does not insist upon the entire destruction of the primitive earth, at the time of the deluge; nor does he think such destruction can be fairly inferred from the texts of Scripture which we have been considering. He takes the ground, that "the territories occupied by the human race, were permanently submerged at the deluge,-probably some great continent, corresponding to the site and area of our Pacific ocean." He does not, however, adopt the monstrous absurdity of Fairholme, that the tertiary strata were the product of the deluge. Nor does he exhibit such positiveness of opinion, or intolerance as is shown in the "Comparative Estimate," and the "Geology of Scripture." In short, the peculiar theory under consideration is defended much more scientifically by Dr. Ure, and whenever chemical principles are concerned, he shows himself at home. But, unfortunately, he has ventured out of his appropriate sphere in attempting to solve geological difficulties. We have long set at the feet of Dr. Ure, as our chemical instructor, with profit and pleasure; but he had better have left geology in other hands.

We have no doubt that the three living writers, whose works we have thus freely examined, and indeed we might say the same of all the authors of the physico-theological school, are sincerely desirous of vindicating revelation from the attacks of scientific skeptics, and that this desire prompted them to write as they have done. But we cannot doubt that the effect of their works on real geologists, who are skeptical, will be very unhappy. Such persons will see that these authors, certainly all of them, except Dr. Ure, do not understand the subject about which they write; and they will see a spirit manifested which will not greatly exalt their ideas of the influence of Christianity. On those who are not familiar with geology, the effect of these works must be to give them a distorted view of the science; excite prejudice against scientific men; and by giving them the impression that they understand the connection between geology and religion, when in fact they do not, prove a

A New System of Geology, etc. By Andrew Ure, M. D. London 1829.

great obstacle to the progress of truth. Yet these works, or compilations from them by our own writers, who adopt their views essentially, are more widely circulated than those of the ablest geological authors. Hence we have felt bound in conscience, to give our opinion very freely, however little it may be regarded.

On the continent of Europe very few works have appeared of late years, on the subject of the deluge, or any other point where science connects itself with revelation. In 1821, however, there was published at Rome, in Italian, a very curious work by Jean Fortuné Zamboni, chamberlain to the pope, entitled, "A Discourse on the necessity of putting plain people on their guard against the artifices of certain recent geologists, who, under cover of their physical observations, dare to deny the history of the creation, and the deluge." This work was published in German in 1823, in Vienna; and the author maintains that "the world was created as we see it; that is, God formed at the same time in the mineral kingdom, the substances, and rocks in their perfect state, decomposed and reaggregated; and in the other kingdoms, not only individuals of every age, but even individuals sick, dead, and in a state of putrefaction."*

A curious work has lately fallen into our hands, on the subject of the connection between geology and revelation, published in French at Paris, in 1832, by L. A. Chaubard; who modestly styles himself naturaliste obscur et ignore. The same modest bearing characterizes the whole work; and instead of taking every possible opportunity to lash geologists in the manner of Penn, Fairholme, Cole, and other English writers, he contents himself with stating the facts of geology and of history, and leaving the reader to decide whether his peculiar views are made out. His views are, indeed, very peculiar; and for aught we know, unique. They are more fanciful than any we have met with in modern times; yet they are stated in a logical and plausible manner. He first divides all the rocks into four great formations; first, the Terrains Primitifs; secondly the Ter

We have not seen the work of Zamboni, but quote here the words of Boté, in his Memoires Geologiques et Paléontologiques, Tome Premier, p. 148. Paris 1832,

+ Eleméns de Géologie, mis a la portée de tout le Monde, et offrant la concordance des faits historiques avec les faits geologiques. Par L. A. Chaubard. Paris 1832. 1 vol, 8vo,

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rains Intermediaires; thirdly, the Terrains Secondaires, and fourthly, the Terrains Tertiaires de Transport. In his secondary class, he includes the tertiary strata of other writers; and his fourth class is nearly synonymous with the diluvium of English authors, not including modern alluvium. History," says Chaubard," presents us in like manner with four great epochs, or four grand and different cataclysms, during which the surface of the earth may have been totally changed, or at least modified, by the influence of an immense and prodigious mass of waters, which covered and enveloped it. The first of these deluges, anterior to the existence of animals, anterior even, according to Scripture, to the creation of the universe, is that where the book of Genesis represents the earth coming out of chaos, in the most complete confusion of its elements, and influenced by the inconceivable pressure of an immense and prodigious mass of water, which covered all parts, so that the excess of it was lifted up on high, and the rest collected in basins scooped out for its reception. During this first cataclysm, the primitive rocks were formed. The second, posterior to the existence of organized beings, is that where traditions of all people represent the earth influenced by the universal deluge, and when, according to Genesis, it was covered during five months. During this second cataclysm, very analogous to the first, as to the exciting cause, and the effects, the transition-formations were produced, and enveloped on all sides the inequalities of the primitive rocks. The third (epoch) is that when the waters of the universal deluge, after having thus covered the earth, abandoned it, not by little and little, nor all at once, but by a peculiar movement, consisting of alternate inversion and retreat; so that in seven months it was left entirely naked and uncovered. During this third cataclysm, following, and immediately dependant upon the second, but altogether different from the first two, as to the exciting cause, and the effects, the alternating series of secondary rocks, properly so called, were formed. The fourth (epoch) is the deluge of Deucalion, and Ogyges, a partial deluge, which dates back to the time when the Israelites went forth to establish themselves in Canaan, and which the Greeks, then unlearned, have unfortunately confounded at length, with the universal deluge."* This deluge of Deucalion, M. Chaubard supposes to have happened in the time of Joshua, and to have been occasioned by the

* Elemens de Géologie, p. 16.

standing still of the sun and moon over the valley of Ajalon! that is, the motion of the earth on its axis, was stopped, and this threw the ocean with tremendous violence over the land, rushing from west to east. And although he calculates that it would rush against the western side of the continents, with a velocity about twice that of a cannon ball, yet he undertakes to show that the inundation might not have been great enough in Palestine, to render it worthy of notice in history or tradition! How monstrously perverted is the judgment, when it looks through the distorting medium of a favorite hypothesis! And how absurd too, the idea that the same almighty Power that stayed the earth on its axis, omitted to confine the waters to their wonted beds!

One other hypothesis for explaining the manner in which a universal or extensive deluge might have been produced, without miraculous intervention, remains to be noticed. And we have reserved it to this place, because it seems more in accordance with the state of geological science at the present day than any other; and has been adopted, under a modified form, by some very able living geologists. This hypothesis supposes the bed of the ocean to have been elevated by subterranean heat; or rather, according to some, by vapor and gases resulting from subterranean heat; or according to other writers, by the shrinking of the earth's crust from the refrigeration of its internal parts, whereby that crust is wrinkled or forced into ridges and furrows. In both these ways internal heat is supposed to be the original cause. We find the germ of this theory in the writings of some cosmologists more than a century ago; particularly those of Hooke. And they were drawn out more fully in the latter part of the 18th century by Whitehurst.* Hooke, however, made use of this internal expansive power merely as the agent for forming new continents at the time of the deluge, and destroying the old ones, as we have noticed in the proper place. Whitehurst, also, imagined that this internal force became so powerful as to "burst the terraqueous globe into millions of fragments," and reduced it to a heap of ruins, containing many caverns, into which the water subsequently flowed. Even Mr. Kirby, who adopted this theory of expan sion by internal heat,† supposes the action so violent as to ac

* Inquiry into the Original Strata of the Earth, 4to 1786. Philosophical Transactions, Vol. 57. p. 44.

count for the confused disposition of marine productions in the postdiluvian earth. But since the crust of the globe has been more accurately studied, it is found that no such confusion of its strata and organic contents exists. Hence those who have recently advanced this theory of accounting for the deluge, suppose either that the bottom of some one of the oceans of the globe, being expanded by the accumulation of vapor and gases beneath it, gradually rose, driving the waters over the land, until by the escape of the gases and perhaps lava, the tumefaction became less and less, until the waters were brought back into their previous situation; or they suppose that some one of the most recent mountain ridges of the globe rising from the deep, was the cause of the deluge, without going so far as to decide what became of the waters at the close of that catastrophe. This latter opinion seems to be adopted by Elie de Beaumont, one of the most distinguished geologists of our times, in his recent able essay on the elevation of mountains.* The elevation of a mountain from the bed of the ocean, says he, "would produce effects in countries remote from the spot, similar to the sudden and transient deluge of which we find traces and of a uniform data in the archives of all people." And he adds, "if that historical event be nothing else but the latest of the revolutions on the earth's surface, it will be natural to inquire, what chain of mountains was elevated at the same date; and possibly it will reach the case to remark, that the chain of the Andes, whose breathing volcanoes are yet generally active, forms a ridge the most extended, the most decided, and the least changed from the actual external configuration of the terrestrial globe."

We might here offer reasons for supposing M. de Beaumont mistaken in imputing so recent an origin to the Andes, and for doubting whether the elevation of that chain would have produced effects corresponding so well with known facts respecting diluvial agency, as an upheaving of the surface in some other part of the globe. But this would be premature until we have presented these facts. We will merely make a supposition. Imagine a volcanic force gradually to lift up a large portion of the bottom of the Arctic ocean. The effect would be to drive the waters southerly so as to deluge perhaps the eastern and

* Recherches sur quelques - unes des Revolutions de la Surface du Globe, Paris 1830.