so many nations, clearly proves this point. From what has been said it will appear, that we do not agree with our author or with Huet, in imagining that Moses was the thrice great Hermes, or that Pythagoras and Plato drew their splendid and romantic fictions from the canons of Jewish law, and the conversation of prophets and Levites. The argument in support of the Mosaic cosmogony is not altogether complete. As this was an event that could only be known by revelation, the testimony of all the ancient traditions gives it but a feeble support, and there is room for saying a great deal more than Mr. Townsend has said on the geological proofs that the account given by Moses of this event is not a mere figment of the imagination.

We now proceed to the subject which occupies the chief part of the volume, namely, the Deluge; and here our author, better satisfied with the proofs which he is about to adduce from another quarter, passes, with a brief notice, over the accounts which are preserved by almost every nation in the world, of this wonderful catastrophe. He prefers dwelling on arguments which are in a great measure new, and refers us to other writers for the historical testimony. This we cannot but approve, and yet we think that that side of the question has never been treated so extensively as it deserves to be. The Pralayas or periodical inundations of the Hindoos, as related in the Bhagavat, the successive destructions and renovations of the world, of which a corresponding account is given by Sæmund in the Runic Voluspa, and by Seneca from the representations of the Stoics, and the similar ceremonies practised in celebration of this event in Egypt and in Mexico, are facts which deserve a careful elucidation.

The proofs which Mr. Townsend brings forward of this universal catastrophe are diffused through a geological disquisition which occupies the larger portion of the volume. He takes a general survey of the surface of the earth, and the constitution and order of its strata, as far as they have been explored; in the course of which he unfolds to us in a very interesting manner the fruits of a diligent investigation, continued, as he informs us, during 50 years, and pursued in various parts of Europe. If we consider the body of facts assembled to illustrate the natural history of the earth, we may safely pronounce that this volume contains far more information than any other work on the same subject. The great evil attending the study of geology, and that which has disgusted so many persons with the pursuit, has been the precipitancy displayed by its votaries in disputing about the causes of insulated phenomena, before they have collected a range of facts sufficiently general to form a lawful basis for speculation. Of this fault our author cannot be accused. He

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sents us with a large store of observation, and proceeds with much caution in collecting the inferences which arise from them, and in investigating their causes. We are indeed of opinion (and we believe that most of Mr. Townsend's readers will coincide with us) that he has suffered the fear of being classed among rash theorists to have too much influence on his mode of reasoning. In avoiding to generalize too much, he has suffered his inferences to remain scattered through the whole of his work, to the no small perplexity of his reader, who is anxious to combine them, as far as it may be done, into a system. A few recapitulations and general surveys would have very much facilitated the comprehension of the great variety of phenomena here presented to the mind. But if this is to be regretted with respect to the merit of this work as a geological disquisition, it is still more to be lamented with relation to the principal scope of it, which is to establish the fact of the universal deluge. The proofs of this event are dispersed through every chapter, and are no where collected into one comprehensive view; and although they are abundant and satisfactory to a discerning and attentive reader, we dare say that not a few persons have closed the book with a very imperfect idea of them. Faults of this class are so unusual with geologists, that we do not think our author merits a very severe censure for going a little too far on the safe side. Another delinquency which we venture to say will often be laid to his charge, and of which we fear he must plead guilty, is, that no small part of this work is in a great measure collateral to the principal subject. When he had fairly engaged himself in unfolding the natural history of the earth for the purpose of erecting on it the most important conclusion, he seems not to have known how to stop short, and confine himself to those parts of his subordinate argument which have an immediate reference to his main design. He has however contrived so fully to awaken the interest of his readers, that very few persons will be inclined to complain much of these aberrations.

In order to lay a good foundation for the conception of more general phenomena, our author presents us in the first place with an account of the geological structure of this island. As this is in a great measure new and highly interesting, we shall lay before our readers a brief abstract of it.

The surface of Britain, and particularly of South Britain, to which our observation is chiefly directed, consists of two orders of strata, widely distinguished from each other. Wales, Cornwall, and Devonshire, Cumberland and Westmoreland, and a pretty wide tract bordering on these respectively, are chiefly composed of rocks, which lie in very irregular and various directions. The strata of these districts are often considerably inclined or dip at

great angles. If we go from any part of the above-mentioned tract towards the south-east, we come to a new series of strata which are nearly horizontal, and appear evidently to have been deposited by the sea on the irregular surface of the more inclined. These we shall call by way of distinction the level strata, though they are not exactly parallel to the plane of the horizon. If we draw a line from Torbay in Devonshire to Newcastle upon Tyne, we obtain a general outline of the boundaries of the level strata. All the country to the south-east of this line consists of the latter; to the north-west the surface is formed of the irregular and disjointed portions of the more inclined rocks. We may every where observe in the vicinity of this line that the level rocks lie over the surface formed by the other class, and in other places where from the greater depth of the level strata we cannot penetrate through them, it is still probable that they rest on the same foundation.

The strata which we term for distinction "level," have a slight inclination towards the south-east. Accordingly, if we proceed some way on one of them, advancing towards the south-east, we find that the surface of this stratum gradually becomes lower, till at length it receives on its back another, and the scarp or butting out of this new stratum fronts us as we continue our southeasterly course. As we go forward the same phenomenon is repeated, until on arriving at the south-eastern part of the island, we shall have passed successively over the whole number of the level strata.

The highest and most easterly of all these strata is the chalk formation, which occupies only high grounds; and in the deep vallies intersecting these the second stratum, consisting of beds of sand and sand-stone, make their appearance. The high chalk grounds form three principal ridges, which stretch themselves through the interior of the chalky region.

"The first," as our author observes, "leaving Berks, runs north through Bucks, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire, into Cambridgeshire, by Dunstable, Hitching, Baldock, and Royston, to Gogmagog Hills, near Cambridge.

"The second, leaving Berks, stretches eastward through Surrey, where it forms the Hogsback, that beautiful ridge which extends from Farnham to Guildford, and it then appears at Boxhill. This branch forms the hilly country and the downs north of Ryegate, Bletchingley, and Godstone, then enters Kent to the north of Westerham, and goes by Riverhead to Wrotham, where it takes to the south of Dartford and Rochester, and passes by Lenham and Canterbury to Folkstone and Dover. One division of this ridge is continued on the north coast of Kent, by Feversham, near Sheppy, Margate, and North Foreland, to Ramsgate. It is very remarkable that, south of this line, it leaves the sand bed exposed to view. Thus, for instance, at

Guildford, we have high chalk cliffs, and south of these we see sand hills rising up from under the chalk, and extending southward all the way to Petersfield, where it meets the third ridge of chalk.

"The third ridge leaving Wilts and Berks, enters Hants, and to the south passes round Petersfield; then stretching to the east, forms a barrier against the sea along the coast from Chichester and the South Downs, as far as Dover; or ranges from Maple Durham, Houghton, Steyning, and Lewes, as far as Beachy Head.

"But although the continuous mass of chalk is confined to the forementioned limits, we trace it, in detached portions, at Purfleet and at Saffron Walden in Essex, on the north coast of Norfolk, and thence round the coast, proceeding to the east as far as Walsham.

"Thus chalk hills are found to occupy the south-east corner of our island, bounded by a line which stretches from south-west to northeast." (P. 142, 143.)

The second formation, consisting of three great strata of sand, a green sand, a grey sand containing beds of fire-stone, and a red sand, runs out further towards the north-west than the chalk which rests upon it. Its boundaries are thus laid down by Mr. Townsend.

"Sand every where appears in the low lands of the districts which are occupied by chalk; and may be traced all the way from Twiverton, by Sidmouth, Blackdown, Honiton, Axminster, Lyme Regis, and Charmouth; Crewkerne, Bridport, Cerne Abbas, Hindon, Tisbury, and Fonthill; Longleat, Horningsham, Bradley Knoll, Seend, Chitty, and Lockswell Heaths; Farringdon, Highworth, Mixbury, and north of Wooburn, Amthill, Southill, and Sandy; Northampton, Mears Ashby, Brixworth, Desborough, Kettering, Rockingham, and Peterborough, to Lynn, in Norfolk, where it meets the sea.” (P. 144.)

To this stratum belong the whetstone beds of Blackdown in Devonshire, which contain so many curious fossils. "This valu able bed," says Mr. Townsend, "if sought after would be found every where below the chalk." This is an observation which might be turned to good account in many parts of our island.

Three great formations follow, divided by other strata of inferior importance, which we omit to mention for the sake of brevity. These three Mr. Townsend denominates superior, great, and inferior oolite, or egg-stone, from the small round grains which they contain, resembling the roe of fishes, and which often constitute the whole mass of rocks occupying a prodigious extent. These oolites, commonly called free-stones, are calcareous rocks, and afford the most valuable building stone of which most of our cathedrals and public edifices are constructed. The Bath, Painswick and Portland stone belong to these strata. The superior oolite forms Shotover hill, the quarries in which supplied the stone for building the colleges in Oxford. The great oolite appears near Bradford. It forms the extensive free-stone downs in

the neighbourhood of Bath, and constitutes nearly the whole of the Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire. It has been traced through Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Rutlandshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, carrying every where a bed of clay and fuller's earth.

The fourth stratum, consisting of thin beds of blue and white lime-stone divided by clay and marl, is known by the provincial name of lyas. It is found every where under the oolites, and makes its appearance on the surface to the north-west of the tract occupied by them. Therefore if we advance towards the west along the south coast, we find it to the westward of the oolites, and if we go northward along the eastern side of the kingdom, we meet with it to the northward of the same stratum. It runs through the island from Lyme Regis and Charmouth through Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and goes into the German Ocean at Tynemouth.

Under and beyond this stratum is another, which is termed by Mr. Townsend red ground. It consists chiefly of beds of red marl, which constitute a very fertile soil. It runs across the kingdom in various patches from Torbay to Newcastle upon Tyne.

We must here observe that our author has not distinguished this stratum sufficiently from one which we shall presently describe under the name of the old red sand-stone.

We have now done with the level strata, and shall proceed to give some account of the irregular formations which lie under them and constitute the north-western side of the island, and we shall here advance in an opposite direction, beginning with the lowermost and ascending until we meet the last of the series of level strata.

The high mountains in the north and west of Scotland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and North Wales, consist chiefly of primitive rocks. The same are discovered in the extreme points of Pembrokeshire, and pass thence to Devonshire and Cornwall, thus forming a continuous tract from the north to the south-east corner of the island. In these mountains the same succession of rocks prevails which has been observed in all other primitive ranges. Granite forms the basis; on this rest gneiss, mica-slate, and clay-slate. The transition rocks follow, but these have neither been sufficiently studied nor distinguished from those which precede. A phenomenon here presents itself which is the counterpart of one which the geologists of the Continent have frequently remarked from the time when Saussure first noticed it in the Valorsine. The sides of the slate hills are covered with beds of pudding-stone, composed of rounded pebbles of quartz and sand, held together by a siliceous or argillaceous cement. This rock in various places forms considerable hills. It attracted