PRINCIPLES

OF

GEOLOG Y.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

Printed by A. SPOTTISWOODE,

New-Street-Square.

OF

UNIV. OF

GEOLOGY:

BEING

AN INQUIRY HOW FAR THE FORMER CHANGES OF
THE EARTH'S SURFACE

ARE REFERABLE TO CAUSES NOW IN OPERATION.

BY

CHARLES LYELL, Esq. F.R.S.

FOREIGN SECRETARY TO THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

"The inhabitants of the globe, like all the other parts of it, are subject to
change. It is not only the individual that perishes, but whole species."
"A change in the animal kingdom seems to be a part of the order of nature,
and is visible in instances to which human power cannot have extended."

PLAYFAIR, Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, § 413.

continued.

Action of tides and currents, continued-Inroads of the sea upon the delta of the Rhine in Holland—changes in the arms of the Rhine - Estuary of the Bies Bosch, formed in 1421 Formation of the Zuyder Zee, in the 13th century — Islands destroyed - Delta of the Ems converted into a bay- Estuary of the Dollart formed - Encroachment of the sea on the coast of Sleswick - Inroads on the eastern shores of North America Tidal wave, called the Bore - Influence of tides and currents on the mean level of seas - Action of currents in inland

lakes and seas - Baltic-Cimbrian deluge-Straits of Gibraltar -No under-current there - Whether salt is precipitated in the Mediterranean Waste of shores of Mediterranean.

Inroads of the sea at the mouths of the Rhine. - THE line of British coast considered in the preceding chapter offered no example of the conflict of two