SUBSIDENCE OF LAND. 



205 



Acraus fell into the sea; in 1112, 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- 

 niia 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 



