Shells of Living Species high above the Sea-Level 225 



dered it water-tight, except on the side of Etna, from whose 

 lofty flanks and cloud-capped crater the caverns beneath are re- 

 gularly supplied by fissures with rain-water and melted snow. 

 Let the author grant me so much, — I ask no more. The hy- 

 drostatic paradox has tripped up the hills of the geological one, 

 and I behold my pleiocene beds mounted at once on a pedestal 

 3000 feet high, and capable of still further promotion. j^^J 



If the explanation here offered meets the case of Castrogio- 

 vanni, it will equally account for the height of the tertiary beds 

 in different parts of the Val di Noto, and for similar phenomena 

 in every country which is or has been formerly the site of vol- 

 canic eruptions. 



To the appearances on the Gulf of St Lawrence, described 

 by Captain Bayfield, I have already adverted. 



My predecessor directed your attention, last year, to the ex- 

 istence in the Morea of four or five'distinct ranges of ancient sea 

 cliffs, marked at different levels in the limestone escarpments by 

 lithodomous perforations, lines of littoral and sea-worn caverns, 

 and other striking proofs of former tidal action. Similar ter- 

 races have been observed in Sicily, in Chili, in the Gulf of St 

 Lawrence, and various other places. At Uddevalla in Sweden, 

 are ancient beaches with shells of living species, 200 feet above 

 the level of the Baltic, a height strikingly disproportionate to the 

 very moderate rise ascertained to have taken place in other parts 

 of the Scandinavian coast : many examples of similar phenomena 

 have been found in Great Britain. It would be rash to offer a 

 solution of these phenomena in the gross. Every individual case 

 deserves separate exaniination. All I undertake at present is to 

 put a new key into the hands of the decipherer. 



It was my intention, on commencing this address, to have dis- 

 cussed, at some length, the theory of M. Elie de Beaumont, but 

 there is not time now to do it justice. He belongs to that class 

 of authors whose opinions, right or wrong, always instruct me. 

 There is no part of his theory which does not evince thought 

 and diligence, a habit of correct observation, and an enlarged 

 mind. In some respects I differ from him, and it will not be 

 difficult to infer, from what I have already said, wherein the 

 difference consists. Should these observations engage his notice, 

 I would beg him to consider whether the disturbances in the 



