German Ocean^ or North Sea. ^51 
We have many convincing proofs in the natural history of 
the globe, that the sea has at one time occupied a much higher 
elevation than at present. On the banks of the Frith of Forth, 
near Borrowstounness, for example, I have seen a bed of ma- 
rine shells, which is several feet in thickness, and has been found 
to extend about three miles in length, and which is now situate 
many feet above the present level of the waters of the Forth. A 
recent illustration of this subject occurred also in the remarkable 
discovery of the skeleton of a large whale, found in the lands 
of Airthrey, near Stirling. The present surface of the ground 
where the remains of this huge animal were deposited, having 
been ascertained (by my assistants, when lately in that neigh- 
bourhood) to be no less than 24 feet 9 inches above the present 
level of the Frith of Forth at high water of spring-tides. Nov/, 
whether we are to consider these as prdofs of the higher eleva- 
tion of the waters of the ocean in the most general acceptation of 
the word, at a former period, I will not here attempt to enquire. 
But aside from these anomalous appearances, there is reason for ^ 
thinking that the waters of the higher parts of the Frith of Forth, 
like those of the Murray Frith, may at one time have formed a 
succession of lakes, with distinct barriers, as we find in the case of 
Lochness, and the other lakes forming the track of the Caledonian 
Canal. My object on the present occasion, however, is simply to 
notice the wasting effects of the North Sea upon the surround- 
ing land, its deposition in the bottom of the sea, and the conse- 
quent production of surplus waters at the surface, and to en- 
deavour to account for these appearances consistently with the 
laws of nature. The opinion accordingly which I have form- 
ed, and the theory which I have humbly to suggest, (for I am 
not aware that this subject has been before particularly noticed), 
is, that the silting up of the great basin of the North Sea, has 
a direct tendency to cause its waters to overflow their banks. 
Referring to the chart, we find that the North Sea is sur- 
rounded with land, excepting at two inlets or apertures, the one 
extending about 100 leagues between the Orkney Islands and 
the Norwegian coast, Sad the other between Dover and Calais, 
which is of the width of 7 leagues. The aggregate leater-way 
of these two passages fonns the track for the tidal waters, and 
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