426 Reports and Proceedings. 



hibited a stone celt, which was found near Errol, in the Carse of 

 Gowrie, beneath a deposit of fine laminated clay (containing recent 

 shells), 8 feet 10 inches in depth, and 26 feet 5 inches above high- 

 water mark, showing beyond doubt that thei'e must have been a rise 

 of land of 26 feet at least since a rude population inhabited that part 

 of Perthshire. Mr. Smyth then stated the objections that had been 

 adduced to the opinions held by Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., Mr. Archi- 

 bald Greikie, and many others, includiug himself, that there had been 

 a considerable upheaval of the shores of the Firth of Forth since the 

 period of the Roman Occupation. Mr. Smyth then quoted the state- 

 ments of numerous authorities, which proved that the Eomans had a 

 harbom* which extended from Fisherrow to the foot of the hill near 

 Inveresk, and one at Cramond (the ancient Alaterva) ; and that the 

 positions of these harbours, as shown by the remains of the Eoman 

 dock- walls, could not have been less than 25 feet above the present 

 high-water mark. He also stated that a general tradition is current 

 in Falkirk and the surrounding district that there was once a harbour 

 near Camelon, in the vale of the Carron, upwards of three miles from 

 the sea. As Camelon was the "Static ad vallum" of the Eomans, 

 when we take into account the corroborative evidence of the Eoman 

 remains found at the place, it is not unlikely that the harbour 

 near Camelon was used by the Eomans. Mr. Smyth also stated that 

 a friend and himself had some time ago foimd, in a sand-pit between 

 Dunbar and Linton, a Eoman lachrymary and a coin of Antoninus 

 Pius. The place where they were found was in a thin deposit of mud 

 or clay, beneath a perfectly undisturbed marine deposit of stratified 

 sand and gravel, 7 feet 10 inches in depth. The place was exactly 

 24^ feet above high-water mark, and about a mile from the sea. 

 Many Eoman remains have been found in the district. Indeed, 

 from Dunbar to Cramond, altars, coins, medals, potter}'', and many 

 other remains, have been at various times discovered. Near the same 

 place where the coin of Antoninus was found, but only about 4 feet 

 from the surface, another coin (of Constantine the Great) had been 

 found by a boy who belonged to the place. As Antoninus Pius 

 reigned in the second century, it follows that when one Eoman 

 dropped his lachrymary, and another a coin, into the mud (either 

 in the sea or along the sea-shore), the land must have been at least 

 24^ feet lower (seventeen centuries ago) than it is at present. This 

 difference could only be accounted for by upheaval. The amount, 

 however, of this upheaval diuing any particular century, except the 

 present, is unknown, because since the time the Eomans occupied 

 this country we have unmistakeable evidence of periods of repose. 



Mr. Smyth then proceeded to lay before the Society the additional 

 evidences of upheaval of 2^ feet during the last half-century. He 

 stated that during the last fifteen months he had made a systematic 

 examination of the shores of the Firth of Foiih, and that part of the 

 east coast which lies between Dunbar and Berwick-upon-Tweed, for 

 the purpose of ascertaining if there had been an upheaval of our 

 shores within the memory of those who are still alive. Mr. Smyth 

 stated that persons yet alive have informed him that fifty years ago. 



