342 Proceedings of the Boy at Physical Society. 



took place may be determined by the character of its shores. 

 If the shore exhibit an unbroken, shelving descent, there is 

 reason to conclude that the movement has been uniform 

 and continuous. If the land is bordered by level terraces, 

 ending in abrupt descents, then times of rest have been 

 followed by sudden upheavals. 



Elevation of the Scottish Coasts. 

 In the middle districts of Scotland, more especially in the 

 estuaries of the Forth and Tay, we find plains of consider- 

 able extent. The soil is a rich alluvium, evidently formed 

 of the mud brought down from the higher grounds. In the 

 parts nearest the sea they are raised only a few feet above 

 the water, and are liable to be flooded at spring tides. In 

 the places that are farthest from the sea, the level of the 

 soil is from 10 to 20 feet above the ordinary high-water 

 mark. The uniform horizontality of the surface, especially 

 in the lower parts, is very remarkable. The appearance 

 which they present seems to be exactly such as would be 

 produced by the agencies we have been examining, if we 

 were to suppose the sea and land to have remained at their 

 present level through a lengthened series of years. Various 

 circumstances, however, show that they must have been 

 raised to their present position by the action of internal 

 forces. The skeleton of a whale was found at Airthrie, near 

 Stirling, entire, and in good preservation, a few feet below 

 the present surface of the soil, and about 20 feet above 

 high-water mark. If that animal had been cast ashore and 

 left on the bank exposed to the influence of the atmosphere 

 and to the action of the waves, the skeleton must have sepa- 

 rated into pieces, and the bones must have been scattered 

 and broken. The circumstance of its having been found 

 entire can only be explained on the supposition that it had 

 sunk in deep water, and been embedded in mud, while the 

 bones, and the ligaments binding them together, were still 

 undecayed. If, therefore, when it perished, it sank in deep 

 water, and if, when disinterred, it was found nearly 20 feet 

 above the present high-water mark, the inference is plain — 

 the land must have been raised. Some discoveries that 



