Physical Structure of the Site of Rome. 29 



height of the Alban Mount, it must have stood 3000 feet higher 

 than it does at present over the whole globe ; and if it fell from 

 the height of the Alban Mount to its present level, a mass of 

 water equal to a stratum 3000 feet in thickness over the whole 

 globe, must have disappeared. Nor can we suppose that it 

 could be received in hollow places in the interior of the earth, 

 the mean density of which is in direct opposition to any. such 

 hypothesis. 



But the phenomena in question may be accounted for by par- 

 tial elevations of the land, and proofs of such movements are to 

 be found in many parts of tlie earth ; no where in a more pal- 

 pable manner than in this district of Italy. The remarkable 

 circumstance ^f thp perforation of the limestone of the Circean 

 Promontory by lithophagi, at the height of 40 feet above the 

 present level of the sea, has already been mentioned : and per- 

 haps the most conclusive evidence which has yet been observed, 

 is that of the changes of position which the temple of Jupiter 

 Serapis has undergone. For an account of this, see Lyell's 

 Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 449 *. 



3j Before concluding, it may be worth while to notice the view 

 which some authors, not acquainted with geological observations, 

 have taken as to the origin of the elephants' bones discovered 

 in the neighbourhood of Rome, viz. that they are the remains of 

 those animals brought into Italy by Pyrrhus and Hannibal, and 

 at subsequent periods. The discovery of an elephant's tusk 

 imbedded in gravel, and encrusted with calcareous spar, at a 

 depth of 30 feet below the surface in the Mons Sacer, renders 

 it quite unnecessary to adduce. any> other proof in refutation of 

 such an idea. ...j^j j 



• Vid, Ricerche Sul Tempio di'Serapide in Puzzoli. l)el Canonic'o IJ 



Andrea de Jorio, Inspettor-Generale della Istruzione Publica, e Socio Ono- 

 rario dell' Accademia di Belle Arti, &c. Napoli 1820. This curious work 

 contains an interesting view of the geology of the Temple of Jupiter Serapis, 



