1S2 Mr. Carter on the Delta of the Persian Gulf, 



propositions without reference to anything but the most com- 

 mon propositions of the theory of limits. Or at any rate, 

 I feel certain that all who would be able to specify an objec- 

 tion will easily discover what are the processes which I con- 

 sider as proofs. I therefore do not think it necessary to give 

 the proofs, and my only object in writing this letter has been 

 to call attention to the possibility of establishing this cele- 

 brated theorem by methods which certainly do not lie open 

 to any objections arising from assumptions relative to expan- 

 sion of functions. 



I remain, Gentlemen, yours, &c. 

 London, July 20, 1835. . 



XXIII. On the Ancient a?id Modern Formation of Delta in the 

 Persian Gulf by the Euphrates and Tigris, in answer to 

 Mr. Beke. By W. G. Carter, Esq. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 



Gentlemen, 

 \ FTER so long an interval, and when the points in dis- 

 ■"■ cussion between Mr. Beke and myself must be nearly 

 forgotten, I reluctantly enter on it anew. The manner, how- 

 ever, in which that gentleman has met and has construed my 

 remarks in your October Number renders some notice un- 

 avoidable. 



I quite concur in leaving the question, — what was the gopher 

 wood of the ark? — where that discussion has placed it, and in 

 so doing shall not superadd a remark to awaken it. 



The topic more likely, perhaps, to engage attention at this 

 moment, thrown into that inquiry, relates to the supposed ex- 

 traordinary power of the Euphrates, Tigris, and neighbouring 

 streams to form new land and expel the ocean, Mr. Beke 

 still adhering to the theory which carries the Persian Gulf, 

 at the date of the building of Babel, or about 100 years after 

 the Flood, to the site of Babylon and beyond it to nearly one 

 third of that extent. Col. Chesney makes the distance from 

 the gulf to Hillah on this spot 451 miles*, so that the amount 

 of land formed by the deposits of the rivers since about a.m. 

 2452 is on this hypothesis of no less length to travel over 

 than 580 miles, or, in a line (adopting the J), 435. 



Seeing, however, that Pliny f, the great authority for this 

 theory, informs us in a passage to which we are referred that 

 much earlier than his day (a.d. 78) a junction, which we now 



* Report of Committee of House of Commons on Steam Navigation to 

 India. 



f Pliny, Hist. Nat., 1. vi. c. 27. 



