SUBSIDENCE OF LAND. 
205 
Acraus fell intatbe 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- 
mia 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 tha 
most probable, we shall not attempt to decide. 
S 
