The phenomena demanding explanation—jumbled masses of “diluvium,” polished and striated rock, bowlders distributed with apparent disregard of topography—were indeed startling. Even Lyell, the great exponent of uniformitarianism, appears to have lost faith in his theories when confronted with facts for which known causes seemed inadequate. The interest aroused is attested by 31 titles in the Journal during its first two decades, articles which include speculations unsupported by logic or fact, field observation unaccompanied by explanation, field observation with fantastic explanation, _ex-cathedra_ pronouncements by prominent men, sound reasoning from insufficient data, and unclouded recognition of cause and effect by both obscure and prominent men. With little knowledge of glaciers, areal geology, or of structure and composition of drift, all known forces were called in: normal weathering, catastrophic floods, ocean currents, waves, icebergs, glaciers, wind, and even depositions from a primordial atmosphere (Chabier, 1823). Human agencies were not discarded. Speaking of a granite bowlder at North Salem, New York, described by Cornelius (1820)[33] as resting on limestone, Finch (1824)[34] says: “it is a magnificent cromlech and the most ancient and venerable monument which America possesses.” In the absence of a known cause, catastrophic agencies seem reasonable. _The Deluge._ In the seventh volume of the Journal (1824)[35] we read: “After the production of these regular strata of sand, clay, limestone, &c. came a terrible irruption of water from the north, or northwest, which in many places covered the preceding formations with diluvial gravel, and carried along with it those immense masses of granite, and the older rocks, which attest to the present day the destruction and ruin of a former world.” Another author remarks: “We find a mantle as it were of sand and gravel indifferently covering all the solid strata, and evidently derived from some convulsion which has lacerated and partly broken up those strata....” The catastrophe favored by most geologists was floods of water violently released—“we believe,” says the editor, “that all geologists agree in imputing ... the diluvium to the agency of a deluge at one period or another.”[36] Such conclusions rested in no small way upon Hayden’s well-known treatise on surficial deposits (1821),[37] a volume which deserves a prominent place in American geological literature. Hayden clearly distinguished the topographic and structural features of the drift but found an adequate cause in general wide-spread currents which “flowed impetuously across the whole continent ... from north east to south west.” In reviewing Hayden’s book Silliman remarks: