DUNES OF AMERICAN COASTS. 575 
Dunes of American Coasts. 
Upon the Atlantic coast of the United States, the prevalence 
of western or off-shore winds is unfavorable to the formation of 
dunes, and, though marine currents lodge vast quantities of 
sand, in the form of banks, on that coast, its shores are propor- 
tionally more free from sand-hills than some others of lesser 
extent. There are, however, very important exceptions. The ac- 
tion of the tide throws much sand upon some points of the New 
England coast, as well as upon the beaches of Long Island and 
other more southern shores, and here dunes resembling those of 
Europe are formed. ‘There are also extensive ranges of dunes 
on the Pacific coast of the United States, and at San Francisco 
they border some of the streets of the city. 
The dunes of America are far older than her civilization, and 
the soil they threaten or protect possesses, in general, too little 
value to justify any great expenditure in measures for arresting 
their progress or preventing their destruction. Hence, great as 
is their extent and their geographical importance, they have, at 
present, no such intimate relations to human life as to render 
them objects of special interest in the point of view I am 
taking, and I do not know that the laws of their formation and 
motion have been made a subject of original investigation by 
any American observer. 
Dunes of Western Europe. 
Upon the western coast of Europe, on the contrary, the 
ravages occasioned by the movement of sand dunes, and the 
serious consequences often resulting from the destruction of 
them, have long engaged the earnest attention of Governments 
and of scientific men, and for nearly a century persevering and 
systematic effort has been made to bring them under human 
control. The subject has been carefully studied in Denmark 
and the adjacent duchies, in Western Prussia, in the Nether- 
