Mr. Middkton on the gradual Rise of the Ocean, 291 



shell-fisli and corals ; as it is now known 

 that the coraponant parts of the several 

 strata mostly consist of sea-shells and 

 coral, the products of animals who must 

 have lived and died during the time the 

 several strata were forming-. From very 

 early times these creatures have abound- 

 ed at the bottom of the ocean, and they 

 still continue to abound there ; nay, they 

 may be supposed to cover it ; their na- 

 turally very great increase is calculated 

 to have a vast eft'ect, particularly as, 

 on the extiiiclion of life, their exuviae 

 arc placed in a situation whicli renders 

 them nearly, or quite, imperiuliable. 

 Tlie sliells and the corals continually 

 accumulate upon each other, and they 

 have actually accumulated until they 

 have formed slrala of very great thick- 

 ness ; this could only have been done by 

 the ordinary generation and deatli of tlie 

 animals, and it is obvious that this ope- 

 ration is so slow as to require an im- 

 measural)ly ion^; time to form strata of 

 very great thickness. 



That strata, consisting in a very con- 

 siderable degree of the shells offish and 

 corals mixed with sand and various 

 sorts of earth, placed by tiic ocean 

 wliere we find (hem, have accumulated 

 to a tiiickness of two miles, is supposed 

 to be incontrovertible; therefore our next 

 inquiry should lie, in how many years 

 could this be done? I have on another 

 oecasioi! endeavoured to slicw that this 

 accumulation probably takes place at 

 the rate of about a foot in one liundrcd 

 years. Two miles arc; 10,561) feet, and 

 that number, multiplied by 100, pro- 

 duces l,O.'iG,()0O years, as the time in 

 which these animals, aided by the waves 

 of tlie ocean, may have accomplished 

 that vast work. 



In tiie Monthly Magazine for May 

 1810, vol. xli. j)age310, 311, and 317, 

 are doubts and objections to my com- 

 munication on the rise of the ocean, 

 which it is thought will be removed by 

 the facts stated, and the reasoning em- 

 ployed, in tiiis paper. As to the in- 

 ctease of the carlo by the decay of vege- 

 table matter, if may be seen on chalk 

 downs, and most oiher lands (that are 

 not peal), lohave been so liltic as from 

 a few ih(-hcs to a foot in thickness of 

 vegetable moiild, accunmlated in count- 

 less ages upon the surface of thi' natural 

 soil ; that is, vegetation lias added to (ho 

 land a loot in the same time as marinp 

 ]iroduc1iuns have raised the sea five or 

 ten thousand feet. The difll'crcnc* 

 shews that the land is not calculated to 

 keep itself ubove w.iter. 



P p 2 T» 



!816.] 



inconvenience, and frequently bury 

 some of them alive, when they would 

 contribute towards the formation of new 

 strata. 'I'hese loose earthy materials, 

 mixed with the shells offish and corals, 

 buried in vast numbers, both dead and 

 alive, and in every state of comminu- 

 tion, would then be subjected to infiltra- 

 tion, and the natural compression of a 

 continued augmentation of similar ma- 

 terials, as well as of super-imposed strata: 

 all these things, continued for a very 

 long time, have changed tlie loose mate- 

 rials into strata, and such seems to have 

 been the origin of all marl, chalk, lime- 

 slone, and even marble. 



All strata contain proofs in abundance 

 that creation took place in a very slow 

 and gradual manner, whereof the lowest 

 layer of slate is bedded upon either 

 quartz or granite, and all the rest have 

 been added in succession ; stratum super 

 stratum, from the quartz or granite up- 

 wards to the surface. A very considera- 

 ble proportion of these strata have un- 

 questionably been created by the inhabi- 

 tants of the ocean, though it must be ad- 

 mitted that some of the local strata 

 (coals for instancs) have had a vegeta- 

 ble origin ; but the ocean has had the 

 most important sliare in arrangiiig 

 tlicse things. 



I think it may be admitted, that our 

 knowledge of the structui'e of this pla- 

 net is mostly confined to what we dis- 

 cover by an examination of its strata; 

 and these ])rove that, with the exception 

 of coal, they are generally a marine pro- 

 duction. Of this any person may satisfy 

 himself, who will undertake tin' trouble 

 of examining them in their natuial si- 

 tuation, and view the spGcimcns of mi- 

 neralogy in the several museums, for in 

 these places the proofs are before us. The 

 strata of this planet have been examined 

 from the surface downwards to the 

 depth of about two miles, avid the whole 

 of (hat depth consists of sirrtum super 

 stratum ; and they shew, in a way 

 which cannot be controverted, tliut they 

 bave been formed one alter anoflier, 

 successively, from a great depth to the 

 surface ; or, in other words, the strata of 

 greater depth were formed more early 

 than such as lie upon them. 



It is supposed to be well understood, 

 or satisfactorily ijroved, that the work of 

 crrafion began at the ccnln! of the pla- 

 net ; if so, all, or nearly all, the subse- 

 quent formation is not more than could 

 be aceiimiiialed by gra\ily and the mo- 

 tion of water, aided, immensely aided, 

 by such ai)parcntly feeble ticatmes us 



