-24 NATURAL HISTORY. 



? the poles as navigators have approached. In conse- 

 1 quence of this motion, the Pacific Ocean must make 

 continual efforts against the coasts of Tartary, China, 

 and India; the Indian Ocean must act against the 

 east coast of Africa, and the Atlantic must operate in 

 a similar manner upon the eastern coasts of America. 

 Hence the sea has gained, and will always gain on 

 the east, and lose on the west. If such is the natural 

 effect of the motion of the sea from east to west, may 

 we not suppose that Asia, and all the eastern conti- 

 nent, is the most ancient country in the world? and 

 that Europe and part of Africa, particularly the west 

 parts of these continents, as Britain, France, Spain, 

 &c. are more recent countries ? Both history and 

 physics concur to establish this hypothesis. 



But there are many lands lower than the level of 

 the sea, and defended only by banks, which the action 

 of the waters must gradually destroy, and of conse- 

 quence the lands must then become part of the ocean. 

 The mountains too are daily diminishing ; and every 

 little brook carries earth, and other materials, from 

 the high grounds into the rivers, by which they are at 

 last transported to the ocean. Thus the bottom of 

 the sea is gradually filling up, and the surface of the 

 earth is approaching to a level. 



But we shall give a detail of facts, in order to ex- 

 plain the different alterations which the earth has un- 

 dergone, whether by irruptions of the sea upon the 

 land, or by the sea returning from lands it formerly 

 occupied. 



That irruption which gave birth to the Mediterra- 

 nean is no doubt the greatest. The motion through 

 the straits of Gibraltar is contrary to the motion in 

 every other strait; for the general motion of the sea 



