Mr Smith on the Changes of the Level qftlie Sea. 389 



of the same sandstone intersected by trap veins ; both the trap 

 and sandstone have been worn away, but in different degrees, 

 and the dykes are left standing out from the cliffs like ruined 

 walls, affording no doubtful evidence of the length of time du- 

 ring which the sea formerly washed their bases.* 



Similar phenomena have been observed in Jura, Mull, and 

 Isla, at elevated levels, as well as at that of our present seas, 

 and they furnish, as Mr M'CuUoch observes, " the most per- 

 fect record which geology affords of the wasting action of the 

 sea upon the land.""t After remarking that the destroying 

 causes of such as are found on our present shores are so obvious 

 that it would be superfluous to point them out, he offers the 

 following speculations on the origin of those in question. " The 

 other case, that of outstanding inland dykes, such as those of 

 Cumbray, and the more conspicuous examples in Isla and Mull, 

 is more difficult of explanation ; it is equally evident, however, 

 even in these two instances, that the surrounding strata must 



* The time is not yet gone by with geology, as it has with astronomy, 

 when the conclusions drawn from its phenomena are supposed to be incon- 

 sistent with the word of God. I rejoice, however, to feel assured that, in 

 yielding to evidences which it is impossible for me to resist, I am neither 

 denying its truth, nor wresting it to my own purposes. That interpretation, 

 which admits, to the fullest extent, the remoteness of the " beginning,'* 

 was not invented to meet a geological difficulty, but has been held by learn- 

 ed and pious men of all ages. To those who, unacquainted with the science, 

 think the conclusions drawn from its investigation too uncertain, and too 

 contrary to each other, to be worth attending to, I would say, that such dis- 

 crepancies of opinion are every day disappearing ^B the science advances ; 

 and on the point in question, there is no controversy which deserves the 

 name. There is, indeed, no rule >vithout exception. At the meeting of the 

 British Association held last year at Liverpool, I remember an elaborate 

 paper was published to prove that the theory of gravitation was contrary 

 to Scripture : it, of course, called forth no remark. At Newcastle, a gentle- 

 man, well entitled from his labours in one department of the science, to be 

 listened to with respect, more especially as he did not impugn opinions 

 differing from his own, took what I must call the sceptical side of this en- 

 quiry, by endeavouring to prove the uncertainty of geological evidence. 

 The paper was honoured by a reply from Professor Sedgwick, whose rea- 

 sonings were responded to by an audience containing a greater amount of 

 liigh geological authority, than perhaps was ever before congregated under 

 one roof, in a manner which proved that on this point at least there was 

 no dispute. 



t M'CuUoch's Western Islands, vol. ii. p. 480. 



