104 MODKUN GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. 



if not entirely, with that at present existing in both the Scotch and English 

 estuaries." 



If Dunglass was the site of the terminating fort on this coast, its situation 

 almost on line with the present surface of the water, affords a proof that the 

 level of the sea is not lower now than it was in the year 140, or one 

 thousand seven hundred and ten years ago. 



If then two thousand years has seen such a slow rise as merely to convert 

 a swamp into dry ground, without almost raising it at all, except where that 

 has been done through artificial means adopted by man, how shall we calculate 

 the epochs necessary for the formation of the numerous beaches found at so 

 many various heights, from the present sea- level up to three hundred and 

 sixty feet? But this is not all; there are terraces covered by the sea: 

 this introduces us to a new element in the computation, namely, that the 

 movements have been downwards, as well as upwards; and increases 

 indefinitely the already almost inconceivable vastness of the time necessary 

 for these processes: and yet, as I have already stated in the outset, this is 

 but the modern period, and, in reference to the preceding eras of geology, 

 may be said to be but of yesterday. 



On the whole may we not conclude that the valley of the Clyde was 

 once an arm of the sea; and may we not imagine that at the time when 

 the beds of sand which I have already referred to were being laid down 

 where I hav^e described them, in the hollow of Sauchie-hall-Street, the waters 

 of this noble estuary eddied around the various eminences which mark the 

 physical geography of Glasgow? Garnet Hill would stand out conspicuously — ■ 

 a rounded islet of mud — separated by a narrow, and not deep channel, from 

 BIytheswood Hill. A broader and deeper current would flow on the side 

 towards the hill where Port Dundas now stands, finding its way into the 

 main channel probably by the valley of the Kelvin. Beyond, eastward, 

 Garngnad Hill and the Fir-park Hill might be other islets, while to the south 

 the wide expanse of water would sweep on towards the Cathkiii, and other 

 southern hills, with perhaps Camphill and Hillhead, and the other eminences 

 on the south side of the river, appearing here and there above the waves. 

 The scene would wear more the aspect of a landlocked bay, or inland sea, 

 than of an estuary. 



But on the remote antiquity of this era who shall speculate? And if 

 this, the most recent of all the geologic periods, is so utterly in its limits 

 and duration beyond our calculation, what of the vast series of eras that 

 preceded it? Thus much we conclude, that the indefiniteness of time which 

 geology requires is only equalled by the inde.'initeness of space which astronomy 

 demands, and the twain only surpassed by the infinity of Him who actively 

 tills them both, with the evidence of his presence and his perfections. 



Glasgow, December, 1851. 



