176 THEORY OP THE EARTH. 



the edge of the coast; and by this we attain a 

 known fixed point upon the primitive shore, whence 

 the nearest part of the present coast, at the mouth 

 of the Adige, is at the distance of 25,000 metres ;* 

 and it will be seen in the sequel, that the extreme 

 point of the alluvial promontory, formed by the 

 Po, is farther advanced into the sea than the mouth 

 of the Adige by nearly 10,000 metres.f 



The inhabitants of Adria have formed exagge- 

 rated pretensions, in many respects, as to the high 

 antiquity of their city, though it is undeniably one 

 of the most ancient in Italy, as it gave name to the 

 sea which once washed its walls. By some re- 

 searches made in its interior and its environs, a 

 stratum of earth has been found mixed with frag- 

 ments of Etruscan pottery, and with nothing what- 

 ever of Roman manufacture. Etruscan and Roman 

 pottery are found mixed together in a superior 

 bed, on the top of which the vestiges of a theatre 

 have been discovered. Both of these beds are far 

 below the level of the present soil. I have seen at 

 Adria very curious collections, in which these re- 



* Equal to 27,340 yards and 10 inches English measure, or 15 1-& 

 miles and 60 yards. 



In these reductions of the revolutionary French metres to English 

 measure, the metre is assumed as 39.37 English inches. Transl. 



f Or 10,936 yards and 4 inches, equal to 6 miles and nearly a quar- 

 ter, English measure. 



Hence the entire advance of the alluvial promontory of the Po ap- 

 pears to have extended to 21 miles 5 furlongs and 16 yards. Transh 



