ON THE BED OF THE 



posing the mass to be uniformly the same through- 

 out, it is found to amount to no less a quantity than 

 21,2141,2148,563,110 of cubic yards, being equal to 

 about 14 feet of the depth of the whole German 

 Ocean, or to a portion of the firm ground of Great 

 Britain, on a level with the sea, taken 28 feet in 

 perpendicular height or depth, supposing the surface 

 to be a level plane. 



These calculations at least tend to shew, that an 

 immense body of water must be displaced, in conse- 

 quence of these banks occupying so very consider- 

 able a proportion of the bed of the North Sea, the 

 unavoidable effect of which must give a direct ten- 

 dency to the tidal waters, and the flux produced by 

 storms in the Atlantic, to overflow the bed of the 

 German Ocean, in the same manner as if stones or 

 other matter were thrown into a vessel already near- 

 ly brimful of water. This may further be illustrat- 

 ed by considering the actual state of any of the great 

 inland lakes, as those of Geneva, Lochness, Loch- 

 lomond, &c. which for ages past have been receiving 

 the debris of the surrounding mountains. We must 

 doubtless allow that they contain a smaller portion 

 of water, or are actually of a less depth than they 

 were at an earlier period of the history of the globe. 

 Accordingly, from inquiries, which, in the prosecu- 

 tion of this subject, ] have been led to make re- 

 garding the two last mentioned lakes, it has satis- 

 factorily appeared that their waters are subject to 

 overflow or rise upon their banks. On Lochlomond, 



