942 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



*' 20. Effects of the sea on cliffs 

 composed of soft strata. 



" 21. Effects of the sea on steep 

 coasts composed of stony strata. 



" 22. Effects of the sea in 

 gulphs. 



" 23. General considerations on 

 the phenomena which prove the 

 small antiquity of our continents. 



" 24. The accumulation of fallen 

 materials under the abrupt sides of 

 mountains, as well in valleys as 

 towards the plains, and those which 

 are formed at the foot of steep 

 coasts, constitute one of the most 

 common of the classes of chrono- 

 meters. 



♦' 25. The alluvial lands formed 

 by rivers along their course con- 

 stitute another class of chrono- 

 meters. 



" 26. The maritime new lands 

 form a large class of chronometers. 



"27. Since the sea has occupied 

 its present bed, its level has never 

 changed." 



Mr. de Luc, having endeavoured 

 to prove and illustrate the truth 

 of each of these heads or positions, 

 proceeds thus : 



" The history of our globe, like 

 every other which relates to past 

 time, can be traced back only by 

 monuments. It is thus that the 

 histories of nations have been com- 

 piled ; but of those the most an- 

 cient monuments have been suc- 

 cessively effaced or disfigured by a 

 thousand various events and inte- 

 rests ; and, for the most part, no- 

 thing remains in that respect but 

 traditions, obscure, imperfect, and 

 often fabulous : hence have arisen 

 so many contradictions in the early 

 annals of the same nation ; and 

 from these has originated historic 

 doubt. 



" The case is not the same with 

 the history of the earth ; the mo- 



numents of this are of too much 

 magnitude to have been essentially 

 changed by mankind, and the sur- 

 face of the globe is covered with 

 them : What, then, can be the rea- 

 son that this history has been traced 

 back in manners so discordant with 

 each other ? It is because here the 

 monuments are those of effects, 

 produced by natural causes ; so 

 that, unless these effects are re- 

 cognized as indubitably belemging 

 to certain causes, their nature can- 

 not be really determined ; as reci- 

 procally, unless this be perfectly 

 determined, the real causes cannot 

 possibly be discovered. Those geo- 

 logists, therefore, who attempted 

 to connect these effects with their 

 causes, long before observation had 

 made sufficient progress, could do 

 it only at random. But the mo- 

 numents remain, and may still lead 

 to truth. 



" This is what I have endea- 

 voured to render evident, in my 

 determination of each of the pre- 

 ceding heads. I flatter myself that 

 those who shall read them with at- 

 tention will readily agree, that, if 

 all the facts, of which they offer 

 the compendium, are such as I 

 have represented them under ge- 

 neral forms, the history of the 

 earth, which I have here succes- 

 sively traced, in opposition to dif- 

 ferent opinions, is established be- 

 yond all possibilit)' of doubt, 

 Now every thing in this history is 

 connected, as may have been seen, 

 with the four following points, 

 which the observations assembled 

 in my Travels will all concur to 

 prove: 



" 1. The catastrophes, of which 

 evident marks are impressed on the 

 mass of our continents, by the 

 valleys among mountains, the cavi- 

 ties of lakes, and the disturbed si- 

 tuation 



