342 Proceedings of tlie Royal 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 w^as 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 j 
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 
