Thejusticeofthisobservationmustbeadmitted，nolessthanthefurtherremarkthat，instillearliertimes，thepastoralHebrewsveryprobablyhadyetmorerestrictednotionsofwhatconstitutedthe\"wholeearth。\"Moreover，I，forone，fullyagreewithProfessorDiestelthatthemotive，orgenerativeincident，ofthewholestoryistobesoughtintheoccasionallyexcessiveanddesolatingfloodsoftheEuphratesandtheTigris。
Letus，provisionally，acceptthetheoryofapartialdeluge，andtrytoformaclearmentalpictureoftheoccurrence。Letussupposethat，forfortydaysandfortynights，suchavastquantityofwaterwaspoureduponthegroundthatthewholesurfaceofMesopotamiawascoveredbywatertoadepthcertainlygreater，probablymuchgreater，thanfifteencubits，ortwentyfeet（Gen。vii。20）。Theinundationprevailsupontheearthforonehundredandfiftydaysandthenthefloodgraduallydecreases，until，ontheseventeenthdayoftheseventhmonth，theark，whichhadpreviouslyfloatedonitssurface，groundsuponthe\"mountainsofArarat\"（Gen。viii。34）。Then，asDiestelhasacutelypointedout（\"Sintflut，\"p。13），wearetoimaginethefurthersubsidenceofthefloodtotakeplacesograduallythatitwasnotuntilnearlytwomonthsandahalfafterthistime（thatistosay，onthefirstdayofthetenthmonth）thatthe\"topsofthemountains\"becamevisible。Henceitfollowsthat，ifthearkdrewevenasmuchastwentyfeetofwater，theleveloftheinundationfellveryslowly——atarateofonlyafewinchesaday——untilthetopofthemountainonwhichitrestedbecamevisible。Thisisanamountofmovementwhich，ifittookplaceinthesea，wouldbeoverlookedbyordinarypeopleontheshore。ButtheMesopotamianplainslopesgently，fromanelevationof500or600feetatitsnorthernend，tothesea，atitssouthernend，withhardlysomuchasanotableridgetobreakitsuniformflatness，for300to400
miles。Thesebeingtheconditionsofthecase，thefollowinginquirynaturallypresentsitself:not，beitobserved，asareconditeproblem，generatedbymodernspeculation，butasaplainsuggestionflowingoutofthatveryordinaryandarchaicpieceofknowledgethatwatercannotbepileduplikeinaheap，likesand；orthatitseeksthelowestlevel。When，after150
days，\"thefountainsalsoofthedeepandthewindowsofheavenwerestopped，andtherainfromheavenwasrestrained\"（Gen。
viii。2），whatpreventedthemassofwater，several，possiblyverymany，fathomsdeep，whichcovered，say，thepresentsiteofBagdad，fromsweepingseawardinafurioustorrent；and，inaveryfewhours，leaving，notonlythe\"topsofthemountains，\"