xliii 



the sandstone cliffs between Gourock and Largs, in the trap -dykes of Cum- 

 brae, and, indeed, nearly all round the coasts of the Firth of Clyde, there 

 was unmistakeable evidence of the slow and long-continued action of the 

 sea ; and the beds of fossil shells found at various elevations, and remote 

 from the present coast, obviously demonstrated that a great part of Scot- 

 land had, at a comparatively late geological period, been covered by the sea. 

 In pursuing his researches, Mr. Smith soon perceived the importance of 

 carefully comparing the shells of the living species of molluscain European 

 and more northern seas with those found in the superficial deposits of 

 Scotland now known as post-pliocene or glacial drift, and with the forms 

 occurring in raised beaches and other later formations. These researches 

 he conducted by dredging explorations from his yacht. In this investiga- 

 tion he discovered that a large proportion of the moUusks whose shells are 

 found in these deposits, but do not now exist in the Clyde, are still to be 

 found living in the arctic seas. This led him to the conclusion announced 

 to the Geological Society in 183G, of the existence, before the present state 

 of things, of a colder climate than the present — a conclusion which, though 

 opposed to what geologists had previously believed, is now universally ac- 

 cepted* In continuing his investigations, Mr. Smith found reason to dis- 

 tinguish the deposits in question into two, in the older of which a consider- 

 able proportion of shells and other remains had belonged to animals now 

 extinct in our latitudes, but in the later of which, belonging to a more re- 

 cent period, every one of the shells has been found as species now exist- 

 ing, though some of them only in the arctic seas. This is the period of 

 long repose of the land, at a depression of about 40 feet below the sea, 

 which now has left the modern shores of the west of Scotland fringed, 

 at an elevation of 40 feet, with that old sea-cliff which is so marked a fea- 

 ture in its scenery. 



From 1839 to 1846 the health of members of his family caused Mr. 

 Smith to reside successively at Madeira, Gibraltar, Lisbon, and Malta, and 

 valuable geological papers on each of those localities attest the zeal with 

 which he pursued his favourite science. 



His residence at Malta was the occ?:sion of the remarkable series of inves- 

 tigations by which he is best known in literature and theology. These were 

 first published in 1848 in " The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, with 

 Dissertations on the Life and Writings of St. Luke, and the Ships and 

 Navigation of the Ancients.' 



The part of the volume which relates to the voyage and shipwreck of St. 

 Paul has been accepted by all critics and theologians who have since written 

 as conclusively settling all doubtful and contested questions as to the nar- 

 rative. This work is a remarkable instance of originality, ingenuity, and 

 sagacity, and of the application of practical knowledge of seamanship 

 and geology to the elucidation of a point of literary and theological 

 interest. 



The minute study of the writings of St. Luke, to which Mr. Smitli was 



