326 



ON THE BED OF THE 



extensive tracts of land by the encroachment of the 

 sea. 



Indeed, by a closer inquiry into this department 

 of the subject, we shall, perhaps, find ourselves ra- 

 ther at a loss to account for the smallness of the 

 quantity of this deposition, considering the waste 

 which is constantly going forward in the process of 

 nature, and even be led to seek for its wider distri- 

 bution over the whole expanse of the bed of the 

 ocean, as has been supposed in that theory of the 

 globe, so beautifully and so ably defended by our 

 late illustrious countryman Professor Playfair. 



One of the most striking and general examples 

 of this kind may perhaps be found in the abrupt 

 and precipitous headlands and shores which we 

 every where observe along the coast, and which we 

 suppose to have once been of the same sloping form 

 and declining aspect with the contiguous land. In 

 the production of these effects alone, an immense 

 quantity of debris must have been thrown into the 

 bed of the ocean. The channels which are cut by 

 the sea in the separation of parts of the mainland, 

 and the formation of islands, no doubt make way 

 for a considerable portion of the displaced fluid ; 

 but still these channels, when filled with water, 

 come far sliort, in point of bulk, when compared 

 with the portions of the elevated land which are 

 thus removed. Now, it has been alleged by some, 

 that while the land is wasting at certain points, it 

 is also gaining in others ; and this is a state of 



