176 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Roman occupation of tlie country. The evidence is as follows : 
On the south shore of the Firth of Forth, there is a small 
stream near Falkirk, and several miles up this stream, and 
considerably beyond the reach of the tides, the foundations of 
old Roman docks were discovered and described by General 
Roy. These docks were built near the termination of the wall 
of Antoninus, which stretched across the island from the 
Firth of Forth to that of the Clyde. When these docks were 
built they stood of course on the banks of the sea, which 
never reaches the spot now. Another branch of the evidence 
has been ably elucidated by Mr. A. Geikie, and seems satis- 
factory. The wall of Antoninus, built by the Romans to keep 
out the tribes on the north side from the territory they occu- 
pied, was, we may infer, carried from sea to sea at both ends, 
beyond which the sea itself would form a protection. Its 
eastern termination is recognised by most antiquarians as 
having been placed at Carriden, on the top of a considerable 
cliff overlooking the flat “ carse 33 of Falkirk, which stretches 
down to the sea. Its western extremity, not having the 
favourable site offered by a cliff, terminates a short distance 
back from the sea-margin of the Clyde. Now we must give 
the Roman engineers credit for more sagacity than to suppose 
they would carry their wall across the country, and leave a 
level space at each end, which the Celtic warriors could easily 
steal round on a dark night and thus turn the flanks of these 
laborious lines of fortification. It is clear, therefore, that 
the wall was originally carried down to the water's edge, and 
probably some distance into both seas ; and the subsequent 
elevation of the land appears to be a satisfactory explana- 
tion of the relation of the ends of the W|tfl to the shores, 
especially when taken in connection with the position of the 
Roman docks near Falkirk already described. To those 
therefore who have witnessed the rapid waste going forward 
along some portions of our coast, it may be some consolation 
to know that, since the Roman occupation, millions of acres 
have been added to the land of Great Britain by the upheaval 
of that fringe of level land known as the twenty-five or thirty - 
feet 33 beach of Scotland. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 
These sketches (executed by the graphotype process) represent one or more 
raised beaches on the western coast of Scotland. Two of them — on the coast 
of Fife and Arran — are by the pencil of Mr. A. Geikie, F.R.S. The former 
showing three raised beaches, the lowest of which is the “ 30-feet,” or most 
recent ; the sea- stack of old redsandstone on the coast of Arran stands on 
the same beach. The third sketch is taken on the western coast of Cantyre, 
and shows the relative position of the “ 30-feet ” raised beach to the present 
coast-line. Along this terrace, the road from Campbelton to Tarbet is carried, 
and on it most of the villages are built. 
