BY W. MACLEAT, P L.S. 109 



mucli more intelligent, that it has been submerged by the gradual 

 filling up of the sea during the break up of the glacial period. 



Mr. Belt, the author of '' The Naturalist in Nicaragua," was I 

 believe, the first to suggest the melting of the ice at the end of the 

 glacial period as accounting for the disappearance of large masses 

 of land beneath the sea. He pointed out that the gradual accumul- 

 ation of the waters of the earth during the long glacial period, on 

 the land in the shape of glaciers, must have to that amount 

 decreased the volume of the sea, and consequently increased the 

 extent of dry land. He calculates, the addition to the depth of 

 the sea, by the break up of the glacial period at 2,000 feet, and 

 he shows, the very considerable area of the present Atlantic 

 Ocean which must have been dry land up to that time. 



A mere rise in the ocean of 2,000 feet would not, however, 

 account for the submergence of such a vast continent as has 

 disappeared in the South Pacific, but if we suppose a difference 

 of level of 1,000 fathoms, the result would be very different. 



Is the estimate of 1,000 fathoms as the increased depth of the 

 sea at the end of the glacial period excessive or impossible ? I 

 think not. Of course if we take the proportions of land and 

 water as they appear at present, it would seem impossible that 

 such a mass of ice as this supposition would involve could ever 

 have been heaped up on the land as it is now, but the lowering 

 of the level of the sea by even a few hundred feet would largely 

 increase the area of dry land, and a lowering of, as I suppose, 

 1,000 fathoms would reduce the sea to very small limits, and 

 leave a very preponderating extent of dry land for the storage 

 of ice. It strikes me that Mr. Belt's theory is worthy of more 

 consideration than has been generally given to it. It gives a 

 probable and intelligible reason for the submersion of whole 

 continents, whereas the subsidence theory gives none. 



