THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. 291 



Denmark and of Norway. Greeuland is also sinking, as was proved 

 after the grand breaking up of the ice in 1813. The ancient dwellings 

 then found were washed by the sea, and in some cases entirely sub- 

 merged, which was evidently not the case when, in the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, they were inhabited by the Dauish colonists. A striking example 

 of an alternate elevation and depression is furnished us by tne columns 

 of the temple of Serapis, not far from Pizzoli, on the Gulf of Baiae. 

 The foundation of this temple is at present below the level of the sea, 

 and the water covers it according to its height, from 30 to 45 centi- 

 meters, (12 to 18 inches.) Three large columns, of Greek marble, about 

 3.5 meters, (28 feet,) are still standing; others lie broken and scattered 

 along the shore. All these columns are perforated at the same height 

 by pholadites, which only at the level of the water attack the calca- 

 reous rocks of the coast. The space where this perforation was accom- 

 plished is very narrow, its upper and lower limits forming a zone of 

 from 2.25 meters to 2.56 meters (7£ to 8} feet) in width. The lower 

 limit with the large columns is at a height of 2.84 meters, (9^ feet;) with 

 the smaller and more elevated columns of the temple it is only about 

 half as high. The lower part of the columns is perfectly well pre- 

 served, even retaining the polish, while the part above the perforated 

 zone is much decomposed, as all calcareous matter exposed to the in- 

 fluence of the waves, the air, and the sun. When, in 1749, this temple 

 was discovered, only the upper part of the columns emerged from the 

 volcanic sand and scoria deposited by the sea. It was necessary to 

 clear away the material collected, in order to obtain this proof of a pro- 

 longed continuation of the water at a height which necessarily implies 

 a rising of the entire coast, since so great a change in ttie level of the 

 sea, it is evident, has not taken place on other parts of the Mediterra- 

 nean.* 



The Australian continent gives us, also, a proof of a contemporaneous 

 rising. Thus Mr. Becker has shown from the examination of a number 

 of facts that in the space of twelve months Hudson's Bay was elevated 

 four inches. The pole of the pavilion on the shore whose foot was bathed 

 by the sea five years before, at the time of the observations, was at a 

 considerable distance from the water, separated from it by a lawn of 

 vigorous vegetation and covered with tents and houses. The celebrated 

 navigator, Flinders, made in 1802 bathymetric observations upon the 

 south coast of Australia, and his charts, remarkable for their precision, 

 were regarded as authority with the English marine. But soon it was 

 found that, in the bay of Lacepede, for example, where Flinders had 

 marked 10 fathoms there were only 7; this was a rising of 18 feet in 

 fifty-six years, which gives four inches a year. The quay of Melbourne 

 is six feet higher than it was twenty years ago, and the inundations to 

 which this city were exposed have ceased, on account of this elevation. 

 M. Becker concludes that the whole Australian continent is relatively 



*H. Girard, Briefe iiber Al. v. Humboldt, Kosmos, t. iv, 2e partie, p. 88. 



