378 Ehrenberg and Hausmann on Siliceous Earth. 



and polishable, — a substance, which, were it not for the abun- 

 dant evidence furnished by the discoveries of Ehrenberg, it 

 would be still more difficult to suppose had resulted from the co- 

 verings of invisible animals. Such a consolidation and hardening 

 of this loose silica, might perhaps be partly accomplished in an- 

 other way, by making the experiment of employing it for the ma- 

 nufacture of glass, or as one of the ingredients in porcelain ; by 

 which means a discovery so very remarkable in a natural -histo- 

 rical point of view might at the same time become of practical 

 importance. Glass for med from the coverings of iifusory ani- 

 mals ! Who would a few years ago have believed in the pos- 

 sibility of this substance, by whose assistance invisible life in 

 water is revealed to us, being prepared from a material derived 

 from the same world of extremely minute animated beings; or 

 that we should be enabled, by means of a substance furnished 

 by an invisible creature, to investigate the smallest and most 

 obscure, as well as the largest and most remote bodies in crea- 

 tion? — (Communicated to us by Professor Hausmann from the 

 " G'dttingische gelehrte anzeigen^'' 25th January 1838.) 



On the Last Changes in the relative Levels of the Larid and Sea 

 in the British Islands, By James Smith, Esq. of Jordan- 

 hill, F.R.S.L. & E., F.G.S. & M.W.S.* 



The occurrence of recent marine remains at higher levels 

 than those at which they could have been deposited by our pre- 

 sent seas, early attracted the notice of the Wernerian Society ; 

 and its memoirs contain a valuable collection of facts illustra- 

 tive of this subject. The communications of Messrs Stevenson, t 

 Bald, t Home Drummond, || Blackadder,§ and others, 5[ furnish 

 numerous observations respecting indications of changes in level 

 on the eastern coasts of Scotland, whilst those of Captain Las- 

 key** and Mr Adamsontt record similar phenomena in the ba- 

 sin of the Clyde and Lochlomond. 



* By permission, from vol. viiL of ** Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural 

 History Society," about to appear. 



t Warn. Mem. iii. 327. :;: lb. i. 483 ; and iii. 125. || lb. v. 440. 



§ lb. V. 424, 672. ^ lb. ii. 342, 348 ; v. 572, 575. 



**Ib. iv.5C8. ttlb. iv. 334. 



