26 REPORT—1850. 
the material which in the original expanded globe formed the comparatively level 
crust of the moon. 
The fall of the unsupported crust on the retreating nucleus was described to 
yield a very probable explanation of the appearance of granitic and igneous centres 
of certain mountain ranges, as well as the injection of igneous rocks in the form of 
trap dykes and basaltic formations, which appear to have come forth in this manner 
from below the crust of the earth, and to have overlaid formations of comparatively 
very recent formation. 
The partial and gradual retreat of the molten interior or nucleus from the solidi- 
fied crust was in like manner suggested as the most probable cause of the submer- 
sion of large portions of what had previously been dry land, causing when on a 
comparatively small scale ‘‘ Bason formations,” and when on a vast scale, and with 
more sudden action, occasioning the influx of the ocean over the submerged conti- 
nent, the waters hurling along with them fragments of rock, denuding the surface of 
the submerged land, and scattering its surface with the wreck in the form of boulders, 
gravel, sand and clay. 
Mr. Nasmyth suggests the above contracting theory to the most earnest and care- 
ful attention of geologists, as the most probable and satisfactory explanation of the 
cause of those vast torrents, of which the boulder and gravel-covered surface of ex- 
tensive districts of the earth yield the most striking evidence. Thus have we then, 
in this grand but simple action of the progressive collapse of the crust of the earth 
following down after the retreat of the contracting interior, the cause of those tre- 
mendous earthquakes, the evidence of which is so clearly indicated by faults and dis- 
located strata. 
The origin or cause of those bright lines which radiate from certain volcanic centres 
on the moon’s surface (Tycho for instance) is alluded to, and illustrated by a very 
striking experiment of causing the surface of a globe of glass filled with water to col- 
lapse on the fluid interior by rapidly contracting the surface while the water has no 
means of escape. The result was the splitting or cracking up of the surface of the 
globe in a multitude of radiating cracks, which bear the most remarkable similarity 
to those on the moon. Mr. Nasmyth further illustrated this subject by reference to 
the manner in which the surface of a frozen pond may be made to crack by pressure 
from beneath, so yielding radiating cracks from the centre of divergence where the 
chief discharge of water will take place, while simultaneously all along the lines of 
radiating cracks the water will make its appearance; thus explaining how it is that 
the molten material, which had in like manner been under the surface of the moon 
during that period of its history, came forth simultaneously up through the cracks, 
and appeared on the surface as basaltic or igneous overflow, irrespective of surface 
inequalities. Mr. Nasmyth concluded his address by an earnest appeal to his geo- 
logical hearers to test the correctness of what he had advanced, by a careful inspec- 
tion of those vast natural records of the changes which the earth’s surface has under- 
gone, of which our ‘mountains, hills and valleys are the mighty monuments, and 
which shadow forth in characters which science can trace, past events of the most 
surpassing interest and grandeur, inasmuch as they are the evidences of the handi- 
work of the all-wise Creator when preparing the earth for the advent of man, 
On Atlantic Waves, their Magnitude, Velocity, and Phenomena. By W. 
Scoressy, D.D., F.RS. L. ὃ E., Member of the Institute of France, 
American Institute, Philadelphia, &e. 
During two passages across the Atlantic in 1847-48, I had opportunities for inves- 
tigating certain elements respecting deep-sea waves, more favourable than had ever 
before occurred within my experience in navigation. These opportunities being 
made available for investigation on every occasion presenting any matter of interest 
within the time occupied by the steam-ships in which I sailed, I now give the results 
as a small contribution towards this branch of natural science—the phenomena of 
great waves, 
These observations, it should be noted in the outset, and the results deduced from 
them, were entirely uninfluenced by, and separate from, theory. They form but a 
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