SUBSIDENCE OF LAND. 



205 



Acraus fell into the sea; in 111*2, the city of Liege 

 was flooded by the Meuse ; in 1186, a city on the 

 Adriatic shore sank into the sea ; in 1596, the sea 

 covered many towns in Japan; in 1638, St. Euphe- 

 mia became a lake ; in 1692, Port Royal sank ; and in 

 1755, the great earthquake caused the new quay at 

 Lisbon to sink, and its place was occupied by water 

 100 fathoms deep ; and many places on the Por- 

 tuguese and African shores were ingulfed. We 

 have already stated that in 1819 a town and large 

 tract of country at the mouth of the Indus were 

 submersed. 



De la Beche remarks, " that the changes caused 

 by earthquakes on the surface of the earth are 

 small, and quite irreconcilable with those theo- 

 ries which propose to account for the elevations of 

 vast mountain ranges, and for enormous and sud- 

 den dislocations of strata, by repeated earthquakes 

 acting invariably in the same line, thus raising the 

 mountains by successive starts of five or ten feet 

 at a time, or by catastrophes of no greater impor- 

 tance than a modern earthquake. It is useless 

 to appeal to time ; time can effect no more than 

 its powers are capable of performing ; if a mouse 

 be harnessed to a large piece of ordnance, it will 

 never move it, even if centuries on centuries be 

 allowed ; but, attach the necessary force, and the 

 resistance is overcome in a minute." 



Whether this opinion or that of Mr. Lyell is the 

 most probable, we shall not attempt to decide 



