vio ( Scotch )

[In Fr. alluvion; Sp. alu vion; Port. alluviao; Ital. alluvione. From Lat. alluvio = (1) an inundation, (2) alluvial land; alluo to wash against: ad = to, against; luo = to wash.] A. Ordinary Language: The act or proce of washing away soil, gravel, rocks, ., and depositing the débris in other places; also the materials thus deposited. either by alluvion , by the washing up of sand and earth, so as in time to make terra firm a," -Black stone: Comment., bk. ii., ch. 17. B. Technically : I. Geol. and Physical Geog. In these sciences the form of the words is alluvium , or rarely alluvion. 164 *1. Formerly The gravel, mud, sand, ., deposited by water subsequently to the Noachian deluge. It was opposed to dilu vium , supposed to be laid down by the deluge itself, or, in the opinion of others, by some great wave or series of waves originated by the sudden upheaval of large tracts of land or some other potent cause, different from the comparatively tranquil action of water which goes on day by day. [DILUVIUM.] 2. Now : (a) "Earth or mud, gravels, stones, and other transported matter which have been washed away and thrown down by rivers, floods, or other causes upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes or seas." ( Lyell : Princip. of Geol., Glo ary.) As generally used, the word is specially employed to designate the transported matter laid down by fresh water during the Pleistocene and recent periods. Thus it indicates partly a proce of mechanical operation, and partly a date or period. It should not be forgotten that the former has gone on through all bygone geological ages, and has not been confined to any one time. Many of the hardest and most compact rocks were once loosely-cohering débris laid down by water. The most typical example of alluvium may be seen in the deltas of the Nile, Ganges, Mi i ippi, and many other rivers. Some rivers have alluviums of different ages on the slopes down into their valleys. The more modern of these belong to the recent period, as do the organic or other remains which they contain, while the older (as those of the Sonime, Thames, Ouse, .), which are of Pleistocene age, enclose more or le rudely chipped flint implements, with the remains of mammals either locally or everywhere extinct. [NEOLITHIC, PAL EOLITHIC, PLEISTOCENE, .] Though in many cases it is po ible clearly to separate alluviums of different ages, yet the tendency of each new one is to tear up, re-distribute, and confound all its predeces IMG:content-0403.png:[blocks in formation] (b) Volcanic alluvium: Sand, ashes, ., which, after being emitted from a volcano, come under the action of water, and are by it re-deposited, as was the case with the materials which entered and filled the interior of houses at Pompeii. ( Lyell : Elements of Geol., ch. xxv., index.) II. Law . The form of the word generally used in English law is alluvion , and in Scotch law alluvio . In both of these the enactment is, that if an "eyott," or little island, arise in a river midway between the two banks, it belongs in common to the proprietors on the opposite banks; but if it arise nearer one side, then it belongs to the proprietor whose lands it there adjoins. If a sudden inundation cut off part of a proprietor's land, or transfer the materials to that of another, he shall be recompensed by obtaining what the river has deposited in another place; but if the proce be a gradual one, there is no redre . ( Black stone: Comment., bk. ii., ch. xvii.) (" Allu vio:" Index to Erskine's Instit . Scotch Law.) * all-way, * all-wayes, all wayes, * al-wěy, adv. [ALWAYS.] (Prompt. Parv., Spenser, & c.)