12 On the Shelves of Lochabcr. 



SGci-beaclies — those foi*med, and forming under our eyes, are 

 vei'y differently compounded, and generally different in form. 

 If any ordinary beach, on which the sea now operates, can 

 be shewn to possess characters in all respects the same with 

 the Glen-Roy shelves, and other shelves and terraces, then 

 there will be an end of the question. No advocate of the 

 beacli theory has ever attempted this, so far as I know. 

 That shells may have been deposited by the operation of the 

 great flood at considerable elevations, and whales thrown up- 

 on the land in some localities on the east coast where their 

 exuvife had been found, I think may be shewn. Yet I by 

 no means deny the existence of facts tending to demonstrate 

 the partial elevation of the land. I myself saw, many years 

 ago, while wanderingamong the sandhills near Forres, and pro- 

 bably about ten or twelve feet above the sea, a beach which 

 was recognisable at a glance. But I must still maintain that 

 the sea-beach possesses characters that plainly distinguish 

 it from shelves of diluvium. Until they be proved identical, 

 the theory of raised beaches, as applied to the Lochaber and 

 other shelves, cannot be supported. This proof is the very 

 first thing to be given to provide a foundation for the theory. 

 When it is made known where the proof is to be seen, I will, 

 if at all able, gladly travel to see it, and with sincere plea- 

 sure will acknowledge it. 



I will conclude by remarking, that, if the conjecture be 

 correct (as I hold it to be) that a great Atlantic Continent 

 has disappeared, and that the British Islands are remnants 

 of it, one effect of sinking Avould necessarily have been to 

 lower the general level of the ocean. This would afford 

 means of explaining the phenomena of what have been called 

 raised sea-beaches ; only the title would have to be changed, 

 the sea having left them. 



Should these surmises meet the eyes of American geolo- 

 gists, they may consider whether the sinking of an Atlantic 

 Continent, and the consequent production of an enormous 

 wave, can account for the diluvial terraces in the western 

 hemisphere. The component parts of the diluvium in Ame- 

 rica should, in such a case, be nearly similar to those of the 

 European ; for the loose matter in both must have been, in 

 great part, derived from the sunken surface. 



