102 MODERN GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. ' 



in cutting the canal to Paisley, at a distance of about four miles from Glasgow; 

 twenty-two species were obtained, and a notice of them by Captain Laskey 

 appears in an early volume of the "Wernerian Transactions." A series of 

 shells are in the Andersonian Museum here, procured from Dalmuir, and a 

 notice of their discovery, by Mr. Thomas Thomson, was inserted in the first 

 volume of ^^Thomson's General Records of Science." Similar deposits are also 

 described as occurring on the shores of Loch Lomond, and more recently at 

 Airdrie. 



There is collateral proof of the former existence of the sea, or at least 

 of a branch of it, at the spot now occupied by Glasgow, in the records of 

 the discovery of several canoes, embedded in sand, at various places on our 

 river. 



The first of these was dug out of the foundations of the original church 

 of St. Enoch's, in 1780. It was lying flat, and filled with sand and shells. 

 In the bottom there was sticking a celt or hatchet, used by the aboriginal 

 inhabitants. This is of bloodstone, and is figured in '' Wilson's Pre-historic 

 Annals." The boat was seen by the late John Wilsone, Esq., who secured 

 possession of the celt, and it is now the property of his relative, Charles 

 Wilsone Browne, Esq. It is in good preservation. 



The second was found about 1781, when digging the foundation of the 

 Tontine Buildings. It is alluded to by Chapman, in his '^Picture of Ghisgow," 

 published in 1818, third edition, page 152. He describes it as "embedded 

 in sand and gravel, several feet below the surface." 



The third was found in 182o, when opening Ijondon-Street. The position 

 of this boat was vertical, the prow being uppermost, as if it had sank stern 

 foremost. It was also filled with sand and shells. Pieces of it were broken 

 ofl\, but there was no cfibrt made to disinter the boat, and it was carelessly 

 permitted to be covered up again. 



A fourth was found in Stockwell-Street, a little above Jackson- Street, 

 while cutting the common sewer, in 1825. Not much is known about this 

 boat. 



A fifth has been found within the last two months: it is preserved in the 

 Stirling Library, Glasgow. 



No less than four were found in 1847-48, within a few yards of each 

 other, in the course of the operations for widening and deepening the river, 

 at Springfield. They were found about one hundred feet from the margin 

 of the Clyde, and rested on a bed of gravel fifteen inches thick, covering a 

 bed of finely laminated sand. Over it was a bed of loam nine or ten feet 

 thick, surmounted by sand. The entire depth of the situation of the canoes 

 below the surface was seventeen feet, being just about the level of low water 

 in the river. One of these canoes had a plug of cork, which is now in the 

 possession of John Buchanan, Esq., Glasgow. 



I may in conclusion, ofler a few conjectural remarks on the period of 

 the changes indicated by these various facts, as well as on the appearance 



