284 On the Physical Geology of the United States, §c. 
Art. V.—On the Physical Geology of the United States east 
of the Rocky Mountains, and on some of the Causes affecting 
the Sedimentary Formations of the Earth; by Witu1sm W. 
Maruer, Professor of Natural Sciences in the Ohio University, 
Athens, Ohio. 
(Continued from page 20 of this volume.) 
Part II. On the Causes of Elevation of the Sedimentary Rocks above 
the Level of the Sea. 
In the first part of this paper, I have treated very concisely of 
the effects that would flow from the refrigeration of the earth as 
a heated body, and the influence of the rays of the sun in produ- 
cing, maintaining and occasionally modifying the great equilibra- 
ting currents of the ocean, that, by their long continued action, 
have caused the transport and deposition of the materials of the 
sedimentary rocks of the United States. 
It is now purposed to treat of the causes by which these rocks 
may have been raised above the level of the sea. 
The sedimentary rocks are generally found to contain an abun- 
dance of the remains of marine animals, so perfect, that we feel 
constrained to infer that they must have lived and died and been 
buried where we now find them. ‘Those rocks, often of great 
thickness, cover extensive areas of the earth’s surface, and must at 
some time have been the bed of the sea. Here the animals whose 
remains we find once lived, and their relics were buried beneath 
oceanic deposits, each of which was successively the bottom of 
the ocean. The relative levels of the continents and of the 
ocean must have changed, and one of two conclusions follows, 
viz. the ocean must have sunk below its former level and exposed. 
the land, or the continents have been raised and made to emerge 
from the ocean. 
It is not probable that there is less water on the surface of the 
earth at present than at any preceding time; for we know of no 
cause by which it could have disappeared, except by decompo- 
sition and its elements combining with other bodies ; and there 
is no body or class of bodies known that contains hydrogen sufli- 
cient in quantity, if converted into water, to cause an increased 
elevation of level of one foot, or even one inch, over the ocean. 
Hence we infer that the relative variations of the level of the 
ocean is not due to the disappearance of water. 
