56 Mr Stevenson on the Bed of the German Ocean. 
without a corresponding elevation of the waters in the great 
polar basins/^ 
In this manner such ah accumulation of water may, at a for- 
mer period of time, have taken place at the then Poles of the 
Globe, as to have altered the position of these points, and given 
rise to the Flood or temporary general overflowing of the waters 
over the earth’s surface, producing a change in the beds of the 
seas or oceans of former times. In this way may have been 
produced many of the phenomena observable in the crust of the 
earth, which are otherwise with much difficulty accounted for. 
Of what has now been advanced, regarding the waste of the 
land by the operations of the sea, it will be proper to notice that 
much consists with my own personal observation. The conse- 
quences of this process must be the deposition of debris, and a 
tendency to raise the bottom of the ocean, and produce a pro- 
portional elevation of the water; With regard, however, to the 
distribution of the surplus waters that is produced, what I have 
now said is offered with much deference, in hopes that some one 
better qualified than myself will turn his attention to this cu- 
rious subject. 
Art. VI. — Account of Mr Edward Nairnds Process (f Arti- 
fcial Drying and Freezing by the Air-Pump. 
M^HEN I observed in the First Number of the Edinburgh 
Philosophical Journal^ that your ingenious correspondent Mr 
Herschel ascribes to Mr Leslie the invention of the process of 
artificial desiccation by means of sulphuric acid acting under the 
receiver of an air-pump^ 1 had a distinct recollection of having 
seen the same method iii some paper in the Philosophical Tran- 
sactions ; but owing to accidental circumstances, it was out of 
my power till lately to verify this suspicion. The paper to which 
I allude is written by Mr Edward Nairne, a well known opti- 
cian, and is entitled, An account of some eaperiments made 
with an air-pump on Mr SmeatorCs principle f &c. ^ It is a 
Published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1777, vol. Ixvii. p. 61 4'. 
