J. R. Mayer on Celestial Dynamics. 289 
tobably shingle beaches and bars, old coast lines loaded with 
ulders, “ trains” of boulders, or “ oza ost of them con- 
an to my mind the impression of ice-action along a slowly sub- 
siding coast, forming successive deposits of stones in the shallow 
water, and burying them in clay and smaller stones as the depth 
\. increased. These deposits were again modified during emer- 
gence, when the old ridges were sometimes bared by denudation 
and new ones heaped up. 
Tsshall close these remarks, perhaps already too tedious, by a 
mere reference to the alleged prevalence of lake basins and fiords 
in high northern latitudes, as connected with glacial action. In 
Teasoning on this, it seems to be overlooked that the prevalence 
of disturbed and metamorphic rocks over wide areas in the 
north is one element in the matter. Again, cold Arctic currents 
are the cutters of basins, not the warm surface currents, Fur- 
ther, the fiords on coasts, like the deep lateral valleys of moun- 
tains, are evidences of the action of the waves rather than of 
that of ice. Iam sure that this is the case with the numerous 
indentations of the coast of Nova Scotia, which are cut into the 
softer and more shattered bands of rock, and show in raised 
beaches and gravel ridges, like those of the present coast, the 
levels of the sea at the time of their formation. 
35 
Art. XXVII—On Celestial Dynamies ;* by J. R. MAYER. 
_ ‘THE surface of the sun measures 115,000 millions of square 
Miles, or 64 trillions of square metres; the mass of matter which 
Jn the shape of asteroids falls into the sun every minute is from 
94,000 to 188,000 billions of kilograms; one square metre of 
Solar surface, therefore, receives on an average from 15 to 30 
grams of matter per minute. : 
To compare. this process with a terrestrial phenomenon, a 
gentle rain may be considered which sends down in one h 
Jayer of water 1 millimetre in thickness (during a thunder-storm 
‘the rainfall is often from ten to fifteen times this quantity); this 
fagal’ action only existed. The increase of volume could scarcely 
be appreciated by man; for if the specific gravity of these cos- 
Mical masses be assumed to be the same as that of the sun, the 
. Extracted from the L. E. and D. Phil. Mag., [4], xxv, 399-402, 
from vol. xxxvii, p. 198 of this Journal, * [Centripetal !—Ts. ] 
