Jtllcvation and Suhsidcncc. 3 



The saniG tracts therefore of the earth arc not, some always sea, and others 

 always Conthicnts, but everythhig clianges in the course of th-nc." Strabo 

 also, Avas of the same opinion, and says — " it is not merely the small, but the 

 large islands also, and not merely the islands, but the continents which can 

 be lifted up together with the sea : and both large and small tracts may 

 subside, for habitations and cities, like Burc, Bizona, and many others, have 

 been cngulphcd by earthquakes."^' 



Iliis theory of the elevation and subsidence of land, affords at a glance a 

 sufficient explanation of the occurrence of sea-shells in the interior of conti- 

 nents, or even on the tops of the mountains ; but although it readily sug- 

 gested itself to the Greeks, who were in general, a very intellectual race of 

 men, it did not obtain full credence for many ages after the time of the emi- 

 nent philosophers, whose opinions we have quoted. Within a recent period, 

 it has received ample confirmation from actual observations of scientific 

 men, who have carefully watched its progress in several parts of the worlds 

 where the process of rising and sinking can be seen in actual operation. 



It is about 150 years, since Celsius a Swedish Naturalist, gave it as his 

 opinion that the levels of the Baltic and Northern Ocean were subsiding, 

 and since his day the shores of those seas have been frequently examined 

 with great care in order to ascertain whether the phenomenon really exist- 

 ed. In 1807, the celebrated geologist, Leopold Yon Buch, visited the 

 country, and after a most patient exploration, confirmed the views of Cel- 

 sius. Grooves had been made in the rocks, marking the level of the Baltic, 

 by some engineers of that country, many years before, and it was thus an 

 easy matter to keep an account of the progress of the elevation. These 

 grooves have been examined by Sir Charles Lyell, and Sir Roderick Mur- 

 chison and the fact established, that the northern part of the country is 

 rising at the rate of four feet in a centurv. 



On the coast of Puzzuoli near Naples, there was erected about a century 

 before the Christian Era, a temple to some one of the Gods, worshipped by 

 the Romans. It was constructed with a Mosaic pavement, from which 

 arose forty-six noble columns, forty feet high, and formed .each of a single 



. block of stone. The pavement at the time of its construction, was twelve 

 feet above high- water mark, but the country soon began to sink, and to- 



, wards the close of the first century after the birth of Our Saviour, the 

 foundation was but six feet above the tide. At the end of the fourth cen- 

 tury, it was on a level with the sea — in the middle ages, it was twenty-oao 



. feet below the surface and all the pillars except three were thrown down by 

 the waves. It then began to rise and in the beginning of the present cen- 



. tury, the pavement was one foot above high-water mark, but it is going 



, down again, for it is now one foot Mow the surflice of the Avater. There is 

 an abundance of evidence in other places along this coast, the wa=5t coast of 



. Italy, to show that the country ia su])ject to such oscillations, of level, bat 



. , at the temple of Serapis, the facts may be regarded as of the gi-eateat in-. 



. tere^t, for there they have been made the subject of actual observation, 



* See Lyelis Pnnciplcs of Geology, Sth Editiotij ppgo 16, 



