106 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



structure, at still higher levels, derived their origin from 

 " ground storms" or sudden risings of the sea, by which shells, 

 sand, and gravel, had been placed in situations now consider- 

 ably removed from the influence of the tide. Professor Flem- 

 ing had arrived at this conclusion as early as 1806, from ex- 

 amining a bed of shells, chiefly composed of the common 

 oyster shell, to the westward of the town .of Borrowstounnes^, 

 in the county of Linlithgow, and stretching along the banks 

 of the Forth into Stirlingshire. The raised sea-beach contro- 

 versy forms nearly the whole of the last chapter of his last 

 work — " The Lithology of Edinburgh." Any new fact, there- 

 fore, connected with this distinct marine deposit would be of 

 interest. This raised sea-beach bed is well exposed in many 

 parts of the coast between the sandstone quarry at Granton 

 and the Magdalen Burn near Fisherrow. It varies in thick- 

 ness from two to ten feet, and contains abundance of com- 

 minuted shells, with many in a more or less perfect state 

 of preservation. The horizontal position of the bed in re- 

 spect to the present high- water level is by no means equal. 

 At Granton quarry, the base of the bed is about ten or twelve 

 feet above high-water mark, and rests upon the sandstone and 

 boulder clay ; whereas a quarter of a mile to the eastward, at 

 a ledge of rocks projecting sea-ward, it is only two or three 

 feet above high-water level. The bed is then interrupted by 

 a sea-wall, until at the east end of the village of Newhaven. 

 at the collection of boulders that form a boat harbour, it is 

 again observed nearly on a level with high-water. 



From this point eastward the bed gradually rises in height, 

 and at an interesting geological section of the boulder clay 

 called the Man- trap, the base of the bed is seen to rest on the 

 clay, 15 feet above the high-water line. It is then lost sight 

 of by the sea-wall in front of the artillery barracks ; but Dr 

 M'Bain had lately an opportunity of seeing it exposed in a 

 digging for a drain, at the north end of Albany Street, where 

 it appeared about seven or eight feet above high-water. 

 Nearly in a line with this digging, and south of the road op- 

 posite the west end of Leith Docks, a foundation for a large 

 building was begun a month or two ago ; and in w r atching the 

 progress of the work, after the removal of two or three feet 



