33 



etfier. Indeed all nature is linked together by one law 

 ness from fossil, coal, and other bituminous substances, 

 which are there in plenty. There may likewise be many 

 other substances, which the plummet does not discover. 

 For the true bottom of the sea is often concealed by 

 another accidental bottom, formed of various substances, 

 mingled together, and covering it to a considerable depth. 



The entire gulph of Lyons forms a bank above the 

 surface of the water at the shore, of the exact figure 

 of an arch. And within this there is formed another 

 such arch, making the bottom of the sea, for a great way 

 from shore, of different depths in various places, but ge- 

 nerally between sixty and seventy fathoms. In general 

 the bed of tjie main sea sinks, about as high as the 

 mountains rise on the land. Near the land, in propor- 

 tion to the height and steepness of the shores, the sea 

 is deep below. And, on the contrary, level shores denote 

 shallow seas. 



By the strata on the shores we may commonly judge 

 of the bottom of the adjacent seas. For the veins of 

 salt and bitumen doubtless run on in the same order as 

 we see them at land. And the strata of stone that 

 serve to support the hills and elevated places on shore, 

 serve also in the same continued chain, to support th.e 

 waters of the sea. Probably the veins of metals and Mi- 

 neral* likewise, which are found in the neighbouring 

 earth, are in the same manner to be found in the bottom 

 of the sea. 



But the natural surface of the bottom of the sea, is 

 greatly changed by subterranean currents. As we see 

 thfse break out in rivers, on the surface of the earth, so 

 we may be assured they break out at the bottom of the 

 sea, and empty their fresh waters into the salt mass. In 

 this case the canthuial rushing up of the water, makes a 

 roundish cavity. And its running on, continues that ca- 

 vity till by degrees it is lost. Thus every river that arises 

 injhe bottom of the sea, when the water near the shore is 

 clear, shews the traces of these currents, even to the naked 

 i ye, and the water taken up from them is more or less fresfcu 



