306 Dr Fleming on the Expediency of forming Harbours 



sensibly the upheaving power and its effects. A model in 

 putty of the country near St Andrews, is formed upon a flat 

 plate of iron, which is suspended in a trough partially filled 

 with water, so as to leave the supposed Mount Melville beach 

 on a level with the surface of the water. By mechanism, the 

 plate can be raised till the third beach is brought to the same 

 level, next the second, afterwards the first ; and, finally, by a 

 further elevation, land and sea are shewn in their present re- 

 lative situations, excepting that I have represented, as already 

 formed, that sandy embankment which now keeps the sea 

 most part of a mile away from the Strathtyrum bank. 



Brief remarks on the Expedience/ of Forming Harbours of J?e- 

 fuge on the East Coast of Scotland, between the Moray Firth 

 and the Firth of Forth* By John Fleming, D. D., Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Philosophy, King's College, Aberdeen, 

 F.R.S.E., Member of Wernerian Society, &c. Communi- 

 cated by the Author. 



The subject of the following observations appears to be well 

 calculated to command public attention, whether we consider 

 the amount of human life, or the value of commercial property 

 at stake. That no public enquiry should have been instituted 

 respecting the fexposed state of the East Coast of Scotland, 

 with a view to the formation of Harbours of Refuge, when 

 it was granted elsewhere, may seem inexplicable, unless we 

 bear in mind that lamentable apathy exhibited by our repre- 

 sentatives in Parliament, wherever Scottish interests of a 

 general character are concerned. 



The necessity which arises for the construction of harbours 

 of refuge, involves the consideration of the defects of the ex- 

 isting harbours, which have been so long resorted to, and which 

 at one period of our trade might have been deemed sufficient 

 for every ordinary purpose. But to comprehend the true 



* The substance of the remarks on Harbours of Refuge, was communicated 

 to the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, at their first meeting, February 7- 

 1810. 



