338 REVIEWS — THE TEMPLE OF SERAPIS. 



Sir Charles Lyell, in liis " Principles of Geology," after noticing 

 the diverse opinions of Antiquaries as to the date, form, and purpose 

 of the ruined structure at Pozzuoli, remarks : 



" It is not for the Geologist to offer an opinion on these topics ; and I shall, 

 therefore, designate this valuable relic of antiquity by its generally received 

 name, and proceed to consider the memorials of physical changes inscribed on the 

 three standing columns in most legible characters by the hand of Nature. These 

 pillars, which have been carved each out of a single block of marble, are forty-two 

 feet in height. An horizontal fissure nearly intersects one of the columns ; the 

 other two are entire. They are all slightly out of the perpendicular, inclining 

 somewhat to the south-west, that is, towards the sea. Their surface is smooth and 

 uninjured to the height of about twelve feet above their pedestals. Above this 

 is a zone, about nine feet in height, where the marble has been pierced by a 

 species of marine perforating bivalve. — Lithodomus, Cuv.* The holes of these 

 animals are pear-shaped, the external opening being minute, and gradually in- 

 creasing downwards. At the bottom of the cavities, many shells are still found 

 notwithstanding the great numbers that have been taken out by visitors ; in many 

 the valves of a species of area, an animal which conceals itself in small hollows, 

 occur. The perforations are so considerable in depth and size, that they manifest 

 a long-continued abode of the lithodomi in the columns ; for, as the inhabitant 

 grows older and increases in size, it bores a large cavity, to correspond with the 

 increasing magnitude of its shell. We must consequently, infer a long-continued 

 immersion of the pillars in sea-water, at a time when the lower part was covered 

 up and protected by strata of tuff and the rubbish of buildings ; the highest part, 

 at the same time, projecting above the waters, and being consequently weathered, 

 but not materially injured. 



" On the pavement of the temple lie some columns of marble, which are perfo- 

 rated in the same manner iu certain parts ; one, for example, to the length of eight 

 feet, while, for the length of four feet, it is uninjured. Several of these broken 

 columns are eaten into, not only on the exterior, but on the cross fractui'e, and, on 

 some of them, other marine animals have fixed themselves. All the granite 

 pillars are untouched by lithodomi. The platform of the temple, which is not 

 perfectly even, is at present (1828) about one foot below high- water mark (for 

 there are small tides in the Bay of Naples) ; and the sea, which is only one hun- 

 dred feet distant, soaks through the intervening soil. The upper part of the per- 

 forations, then, are at least twenty-three feet above high-water mark ; and it is 

 clear that the columns must have continued for a long time in an erect position, 

 immersed in salt water. After remaining for many years submerged, they must 

 have been upraised to the height of about twenty-three feet above the level of 

 the sea." 



If we leave the ruins of the ancient temple, and turn our attention 

 to the neighboring coasts, the like evidence of upheaval, depression, 

 and submergence of the land meets the eye. But still the ancient 

 temple has a value of its own, which the cliff of Moute Barbaro and 



* Modiola Uthophaga. Lam. Mytilus lithophagus, Linn. 



