46 
Mr Stevenson on the Bed of ilie 
tion of the land, as, for example, one of these extends from 
Holland across the German Ocean to the Thames, and through 
the interior of the country to the Bristol Channel ; then crossing 
St George’s Channel, this sectional line passes through the 
southern extremity of Ireland and falls into the Atlantic Ocean ; 
but this will be more particularly noticed, when I come to speak 
of the bed of the English Channel, in a future paper. 
On examining the accompanying cross sections, of the depths 
of water on the same parallel they will be found to vary consider- 
ably. It may, however, be stated as a general conclusion, that 
there is a greater depth of water on the eastern and western 
sides of the German Ocean than in its central parts, and that, 
upon the whole, it is deeper on the British than on the continen- 
tal shores, the coast of Norway excepted. 
We have already observed, that this sea is much encumber- 
ed with sand-banks, or great accumulations of debris, especially 
in the middle or central parts, and also along the shores to- 
wards what may be termed the apex of the bay, extending from 
the River Thames along the shores of Holland, &c. to the 
Baltic. One of these great central banks, delineated on the 
chart, and known to mariners as the Long Forties, trends 
north-east in the direction of the ebb-tide from the entrance 
of the Frith of Forth no less than 110 miles, while the 
Denmark and Jutland banks may also be traced on the chart 
from the entrance of the Baltic, upwards of 105 miles in a 
north-western direction. Besides these, we have also another 
great central range of banks, which is crossed by no fewer 
than four of our sectional lines. These are known under 
the common appellation of the Dogger Bank, which is sub- 
divided by the navigator into the Long-Bank, the White-Bank, 
and the Well-Bank, including an extent of upwards of 354 
miles from north to south. There are also a vast number of 
shoals and sand-banks, lying wholly to the southward of our 
section, between Flamborough-Head and Heligoland. Alto- 
gether, therefore, the superficies of these extensive banks is 
found to occupy no inconsiderable portion of the whole area of 
the German Ocean ; the surface of which, in making these inves- 
tigations, has been estimated to contain about 153,709 square 
