142 Dr. Berger on the physical Slnictttre 



torians, that St. Michael's Mount, situated in Mount's Bay, at the 

 distance of a quarter of a mile from the nearest land, (Marazion) had 

 been separated from it at a period, apparently not very remote, since 

 some carry their pretensions so far as to state the quantity of 

 land and the number of churches, that were swallowed up. Dr. 

 Maton has taken the trouble to collect together the different ac- 

 counts of this matter.* 



I do not presume to reject, or even to lessen, the degree of confi- 

 dence which ought to be placed in historical records of very remote 

 date, notwithstanding the general tendency of the human mind to 

 receive with eagerness every thing that is at all extraordinary, espe- 

 cially if presented in a plausible shape. All that I can say is, that 

 upon an examination of the place, I am satisfied, that if a separa- 

 tion did. ever take place (an event certainly possible and even pro- 

 bable) it must have been previous to the deposition of the grauwacke 

 formation, consequently at a period, which I presume is extremely 

 remote from that of any historical record whatsoever. The strata 

 of grauwacke, which all along the south slope of the mountain-chain 

 of Cornwall, invariably dip S.S.E. have here, a direction exactly the 

 reverse, viz. they dip N.N.W. This maybe seen near the bottom 

 of the northern side of the mount, which is the least abrupt, exactly 

 in the meridian of Ludgvan Church-town, near a well of fresh water, 

 the only water fit for drinking which the inhabitants have when they 

 are surrounded by the tide. 



The grauwacke extends westward, facing Penzance, and seldom 

 rises above the eighth part of the absolute height of the mount ;f 



* Observations on the Western Counties, vol. I. p. 197. 



+ I found by the barometer, the height of St. Michael's Mount to be two hun- 

 (Ired and thirty-one feet from the level of the sea to the platform of the tower of the 



thapcl. 



