Valleys^ Bay^^ and Creehs, 155, 
is obviously the continuation. Now, if we could suppose, that 
the beck of Newton Dale has cut its channel, a supposition high^ 
ly improbable, the channel being extremely deep, and carried 
through thick beds of crow-stone and other hard rocks, the ques- 
tion would remain to be solved. What hollowed out the fen ? It 
is clear, that the formation of the feri, arid of the dales which dt 
unites, must be attributed to one great break, passing from the 
Vale of Pickering into that of the Esk. An instance of the 
same kind occurs in the two opposite vales of Commondale and 
Kildale, which form but one long, narrow valley, connecting the 
vale of Esk with the plain of Cleveland. As the whinstone 
dike passes through part of this valley, the idea of its being the 
result of an extensive break is the more confirmed. 
In regard to the indentations of the shore, there is no doubt 
that the sea has greatly modified their shape, but their origin 
must be ascribed to breaks and denudations of the strata. 
Wherever bays have been formed on the coast, as at Filey, Ro- 
bin Hood’s Bay, Sandsend, and Runswick, we can trace their 
formation to breaks, subsidences, or interruptions, of the strata. 
Even our promontories and clilFs must have been formed by si- 
milar means. Vast masses of the strata must have sunk down, 
and become part of the bed of the ocean, while the rocks from 
which they were detached have remained as sea-cliffs. How 
can we account for our submarine cliffs and promontories, but 
by supposing that the rocks, which are below the level of the 
sea, have experienced dislocations, like those above it ? Indeed, 
the form and position of Whitby Rock may suffice to show, that 
the breaks in the strata have extended outwards beyond the line 
of the shore.” 
Art. XXVI. — Account rf the Eruption qf the Old Volcano of 
Eyqfjeld Jdkkul in Iceland^ in December 18S1. 
X HE remarkable fall of the barometer which took place al- 
most simultaneously throughout all Europe, on the £5th of De- 
cember 1821, and which in some cases was accompanied with an 
agitation of the magnetic needle, induced many persons to con- 
jecture that some tremendous convulsion of nature must have 
