a t the Temple of Sera/pis. 9T 
from the explanation of the plate given above. It is local, and 
sets the matter in a clear light, by the simplest means, and will 
■certainly meet with approbation from all candid inquirers into 
nature. 
The difficulty here seems, as is often the case, to proceed from 
a false supposition. The columns, it is said, are perforated by 
mussels of the genus P hoi as, which exist only in the sea : the 
sea, therefore, it is inferred, must have risen to this height, and 
encircled the columns. 
Such a conclusion requires only to be reversed ; and we must 
infer, that, because the effects of these animals are here found 
more than 30 feet above the level of the sea, and a temporary 
lake can be shown to have existed, these mussels, of whatever 
species, must have been capable of subsisting in fresh water, or at 
least in water impregnated with salt by volcanic ashes. And 
here, I pronounce in general, without hesitation, that an expla- 
nation, supported by new experience, is worthy of considera- 
tion. 
On the contrary, let the Mediterranean be supposed, in the 
dark period of priestcraft and knight-errantry, to have been 
elevated 30 feet above its former level, what changes must not 
the whole of its shores have undergone ! How many bays en- 
larged,— how many tracts of country desolated, — how many ha- 
vens destroyed ! And besides, the water must have remained 
for a considerable period at this elevation ; and yet, in no chro- 
nicle, in the history of no Prince, nor town, nor church, nor 
cloister, is there the slightest mention of such an occurrence, 
although accounts and traditions are nowhere entirely wanting 
in any of the centuries subsequent to the fall of the Roman 
Empire. 
Here we may be interrupted by the question, What are you 
disputing about ? And with whom ? Has any one ever maintain- 
ed that such a commotion of the sea took place since the 
Christian Mra ? No, it belongs to a more early period, per- 
haps even to the Poetic Aires. 
So be it. We give in willingly, since we have no wish to en- 
gage in a war of words; it is enough for us, that a Temple, 
built in the third century, can never thus have been inundated 
by the sea. 
VOL. XI. NO. 21. JULY 1824. 
G 
