86 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY. 
JANUARY 17, 1855. 
Dr. Andrews, President, in the Chair. 
Mr. Joseph John Murphy read a paper on 
THE FIORDS OF NORWAY, AND OTHER SIMILAR COASTS. 
A fiord was defined as a mountain valley, partly filled by the sea ; and it was 
remarked, that were the sea to rise on almost any mountain chain, so as to submerge 
its base, the coast thus formed would present a succession of headlands and fiords, 
like that of Norway. Comparatively few mountainous coasts, however, do present 
such features, in consequence, probably, of their indentations being filled up with 
alluvium. But the original mountain valleys are left, so as to present the fiord 
formation, where the rocks are too hard to permit alluvium to be washed down, as 
in Dalmatia and Greece ; and where the coast is exposed to frequent storms that 
wash the alluvium away, as in Norway. The most storm-beaten coasts in the 
world are those which front the west in high latitudes, and there alone is the fiord 
formation to be seen in perfection, especially in Norway, Scotland, the northern 
part of the west coast of North America, and the southern part of the west coast 
of South America. A variety of geographical facts were brought to bear on the 
writer’s theory, that the fiord formation is, in general, the result of exposure of the 
coast to violent storms. 
JANUARY 81, 1855. 
Dr. Dickie, V.P., in the Chair. 
Professor Wyville Thomson, LL.D., gave a lecture on some of the 
NATIVE ZOOPHYTES. 
He alluded to the old idea, that most of the beings now included in the class 
“ Zoophyta” were marine plants, and to the more recent speculation, that they 
formed a distinct tribe intermediate between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. 
He pointed out the distinctly animal nature of the whole series, but admitted that 
they must be placed near the base of the animal scale, at a point where some of 
the more prominent peculiarities of vegetables appear to encroach on the limits of 
the sister kingdom. He suggested, as an interesting subject for inquiry, the 
question, what are those properties, peculiarly animal, which attained their maxi¬ 
mum amongst the highest members of the animal series, becoming less distinct as 
we descend to simpler forms, till, at length, they become completely merged at a 
point where the two kingdoms appear to blend ? And, in the second place, what 
are those peculiarities, essentially vegetable, which, most fully developed among 
higher plants, became obscure in simpler orders, till they likewise disappear at the 
point of junction; some of them appearing still, however, to encroach on the lower 
members of the animal tribes ? The distinct appropriation of several defined por¬ 
tions of a general whole for the performance of different functions of life, and the 
occurrence of similar organs singly, or, at most, in pairs (e.<?., a single liver to 
assist in the process of digestion—a pair of lungs to subserve the function of respi¬ 
ration), were adduced as highly animal peculiarities. The absolute necessity of 
the complete integrity of these single organs, the fact, that if lost, they cannot be 
reproduced, and the disastrous consequences to life, consequent on the injury or 
destruction of one of them—the perfection of the nervous system, binding them all 
together in a consciousness of unity, and the high perfection of the sensory portion 
of this system, a consequence of the absolute necessity of removing those precious 
