th r. 



, 



AMERICAN 



JOURNAL OP SCIENCE AND ARTS 



[SECOND SERIES.] 





Art. L — Review of 



if Terraces 



Maris ins* frith 



■ 





The author of the work on " Ancient Sea Margins/' has en- 

 tered upon a subject of great scientific interest. It rises beyond 

 the study of isolated deposits or local phenomena, and embraces 

 facts bearing upon the geological history of whole continents, 

 indicating wide changes in the earth's surface, and the latest of 

 this general nature our globe has undergone. The truth, more- 

 over, is exhibited in characters which cannot be mistaken even 

 by the mind unaccustomed to geological evidence. It is marked 

 in the condition of the soil and the extent and features of the 

 fields of our valleys ; and even the higher country along the 

 smaller streams bears evidence that the same causes have there 

 •modified the main outlines of the land, and determined its varia- 

 tions of character. The farmer is well aware of the distinction 

 of upper and lower plain or prairie along our streams, and knows 

 that he often may distinguish the different fiats by the peculiari- 

 ties of soil they present. 



It is a long time since the terraces of valleys and sea-shores 

 were first noticed; yet hitherto only isolated cases, or particular 

 valleys have received much attention. Mr. Chambers is the first 

 who has collected together the various observations, and from 

 these and other results of his own, h endeavored to arrive at 

 a general deduction for the whole. He concludes that those of 



* Ancient Sea Margins, as Memorials of Changes in the relative level of Sea 

 and Land; by Robert Chambers, Esq., F.R.S.E. 336 pp., 8vo. Edinburgh and 

 London, 1848. 



Second Series, Vol. VII, No. 19.— Jan., 1849. 



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