no VESTIGES OF THE 



travelled from Norway. The only rational conjecture 

 which can be formed as to the transport of such masses 

 from so great a distance, is one which presumes them 

 to have been carried and dropped by icebergs, while tlie 

 space between their original and final sites was under 

 ocean. Icebergs do even now carry oft* such masses 

 from the polar coasts, which, falling when the retaining 

 ice melts, must take up situations at the bottom of the 

 sea analogous to those in which we tind the erratic 

 blocks of the present day. 



As the diluvium and erratic blocks clearly suppose one 

 last long submersion of the surface (^«s^, geologically 

 speaking), there is another set of appearances w^hich as 

 manifestly show the steps by which the land was made 

 afterwards to reappear. These consist of terraces, which 

 have been detected near, and at some distance inland 

 from, the coast lines of Scandinavia, Britain, America, 

 and other regions, being evidently ancient beaches, or 

 platforms, on which the margin of the sea at one time 

 rested. They have been observed at different heights 

 above the present sea-level, from twenty to above twelve 

 hundred feet ; and in many places they are seen rising 

 above each other in succession, to the number of three, 

 four, and even more. The smooth flatness of these ter- 

 races, with generally a slight inclination towards the sea, 

 the sandy composition of many of them, and, in some 

 instances the preservation of marine shells in the ground, 

 identify them perfectly with existing sea-beaches, not- 

 withstanding the cuts and scoopings wdiich have at 

 frequent intervals been effected in them by water-courses. 

 The irresistible inference from the phenomena is, that the 

 highest was first the coast line ; then an elevation took 

 place, and the second highest became so, the first being 

 now raised into the air itnd thro\\n inland. Then, upon 



