280 Dr. Mac Culloch on the 
It will not here be superfluous further to observe, that the 
condition of the fossil fishes of Iceland, seems to throw light on 
the remarkable deposit of Monte Bolca. These are found at 
Patrick’s Fiord in that country, imbedded in an indurated mud, 
or marl, and it is said that they are even now in the act of being 
formed. The fish, in a living state, or perhaps but just dead, 
seems to have been first entangled in a soft mud, which has 
been firmly attached to it by means of the animal matter that 
has mixed itself with that substance; while the harder parts, 
or the bones and scales, remain unchanged. Thus the nodule 
that encloses them is first produced, and it remains imbedded 
in the surrounding materials. 
I may now terminate this part of the present subject, as that 
which follows pursues the same train of reasoning on a different 
foundation of facts. But I must not quit it without pointing 
out to geologists, the propriety of examining all the situations 
analogous to Italy, since the same circumstances respecting the 
alluvia may possibly exist in many other places. That part of 
the subject has been entirely neglected; although volcanic 
regions and volcanic phenomena have been far from deficient in 
observers. The present case offers an apt instance to illustrate 
the necessity of previous theories or general views. Without 
such a guide, these obscure appearances might easily have con- 
tinued to be misapprehended, so as to have deprived us of a 
most valuable evidence respecting the changes of the earth’s 
surface and their causes. 
It is scarcely necessary to point out the places where such 
phenomena may be sought for; although, as being the most 
easy of access, and as presenting the most satisfactory examples 
of volcanic elevation, I may name the Azores and the other 
volcanic islands of the African coast, as well as St. Helena, 
Ascension, and perhaps, Owhyhee. It ought also to be in the 
perpetual recollection of every geologist, that as all the supra- 
marine land has apparently been elevated by some causes, from 
the bottom of the sea, there may be submarine alluvia beneath 
terrestrial ones, in many countries which shew no traces of a 
volcanic nature, or of a volcanic origin. 
