S THE UAlf-r.D .-lluHK l,lNi:!>OK NLW JJKl N.-W ICK. 



piirts, raised, and in others depie.-^sed in level, and so likewise is 

 the bed of the sea." Sir A. Geikie maintains that '"the balance of 

 evidence at present seems decidedly adverse to any theory which 

 would account for ;incient and modern changes in the relative 

 levels of sea and land by variations in the figure of the oceanic 

 envelo})e, but to be in favour of regarding such changes as due 

 to movements in the solid crust." Prof. Suess believes that "the 

 limits of the dry land depend upon certain large indeterminate 

 oscillations of the .•statical tiguie of the oceanic envelope; that not 

 only are raised beaches to be thus ex)>lained," etc.. etc. Prof. 

 Shaler of Harvard has alst) w'ritten on the question. Our own 

 observations tend to support the same view, though it is now re- 

 cognized that the movements of the trust which cause a change 

 of level in the ocean may be chielly those occurring in the deeper 

 parts of its bed. The fact that raised and tilted shore lines are 

 found on the coast of nearly every country on the globe shows 

 that their origin and present position are due to a general cause, 

 or a series of causes. Since our knowledge regarding the depths 

 and contours of the ocean's floor has been greatly extended of 

 late years by deep sea exijlorations it has become known that 

 the lorm of the botton) is not ver\ diti'eient fiom that of the con- 

 tinents and, therefore, the movements of the ciust in the abyssal 

 parts may. to some extent, be similar. Such ni(jvements, even 

 though local, would doubtless ati'ect the entire oceanic envelope 

 in relation to the land border, causing a rising of the sea some- 

 times, and a lowering at others. 



From the foregoing observations it is evident that the origin 

 of these raised shore lines is by no means a simple question, and 

 that it is due as much, or more, lo a lowering of the ocean as to 

 arising of the land. The coast of New Brunswick as well as of 

 most countries seems to be undergoing changes 'of level, though 

 scarcely appreciable in a lifetime; and the present attitude of 

 the raised shore lines under consideration is only one of those 

 positions which they have assumed since their original forma- 

 tion. 



Ottawa. Ont.. Jan. 20. 1^05. 



