H. W.Pearson — Oscillations of Sea-level. 255 



Holborn streets. There is no possible method of explaining the 

 peculiarities of this drawing, except by the assumption that the 

 Thames at that time stood 12 to 15 feet higher than at present. 



In the History of the City of Chester, by Joseph Hemmingway, 

 we read, " The New Water Tower was erected in the year 1322 " 

 (p. 133). "At the outside of this Tower are fixed great iron rings, 

 being of use heretofore for mooring the ships" (p. 356). "It is 

 certain that long before the period at which this was written [about 

 1706] vessels had ceased to approach this tower" (p. 356). Quoting 

 Fuller from his "Worthies of the City" (pub. 1662), "and now 

 being about to take our leave of this ancient and honorable city, 

 the worst that I wish it is that the distance between the Dee and the 

 New Tower may be made up — that the rings on the New Tower 

 (now only for sight) may be restored to the service for which they 

 were first intended," etc. 



Castle Huntley (in the Carse of Gowrie, Scotland) was erected in 

 1452 (Encyc. Brit., vol. xviii, p. 667). " This castle once had rings 

 fixed to it for mooring the boats formerly sailing on the surrounding 

 waters" (Chambers, "Ancient Sea Margins," p. 20). This castle 

 is now some miles from the sea, and tlae ordnance map of that 

 region shows that it would be necessary to elevate the sea-level 

 20 to 24 feet to again allow these rings to be put to their 

 original use. " Yet we have internal evidence from the marginal 

 observations in one of the set of books (Eecords of Tide Gauges, 

 Leith, Scotland) that in the year 1810 mean tides rose to a point 

 2 ft. 10 ins. higher than they do at present " (Mr. Thomas Smyth, 

 Geol. Mag., 1866, Vol. Ill, p. 427). Mr. Smyth, in conclusion, 

 stated that " The upheaval which is at present taking place on the 

 shores of the Firth of Forth and in Berwickshire has its counter- 

 part in Caithness, which is rising at nearly the same rate " (p. 427). 

 The low-water level in Glasgow Harbour has fallen 8 feet since 

 1758 : alleged cause, improvements in bed of Clyde ; real cause, 

 the so-called upheaval as shown above by Smyth (Geological 

 Record, 1876, p. 10). "The encroachments of the land upon the 

 sea are strikingly exhibited in the sandbanks and deltas of the 

 principal bays and estuaries of the island [Arran], and there can be 

 little doubt that a few centuries ago the ships of the islanders found 

 a secure harbourage within the creeks and bays, where the heath 

 and brushwood now luxuriate " (McArthur, " The Antiquities of 

 Arran," p. 105). 



The Gulf Stream Islands were discovered in 1871. " In the spot 

 where these now are, the Dutch in 1594 found and measured 

 a sandbank in soundings of 18 fathoms, showing an upheaval here 

 of 100 feet in 300 years " (Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc, 1873, p. 253). 

 We note as to this that we have no evidence that the Dutch found 

 the shoalest water, therefore this estimated upheaval is probably con- 

 siderably too large. Diomed Island (on Siberian coast), described 

 by Chalavrof in 1760, no longer exists ; it now forms a part of 

 the main (p. 256). "From 1730 to 1839 the upheaval of 

 Loefifgrund amounted to 2 ft. 11 ins. only " (Reclus ; Harpers, " The 



