Litchfield enquirer., 1854-02-23

the shore, while the finer exeayhted por- tiOns have been carried far and wide, per- haps thousands of miles from their form. CT situation.
 By the action of waves entire islands have been worn into rugged columns of rock. and perhaps in some cases, entire> ly submerged, and carried away. Hells~ wick Ness, once an entire granite island, has been divided into spires and pillars, and nearly all transported 10 other lands by the same agency. The ancient town of Findhorn, on the coast of Scotland has been entirely undermined and carried away by the ocean, and the town oI Mathers was demolished in one night. the sea having carried away in that time 45O cubic feet of cliif At Abarath. parts of the village have been carried away with the cliff of sandstone on wh they stand. Stones weighing hundreds of tons. and some measuring 30 cubic feet have been thrown out of the deep water upon Bell rock. Upon the east coast of England we find that extensive tracks of land have been destroyed and carried away, which were those near Bamboroagh and Tyne. mouth castle. A strong carrent from the north has decomposed, and wasted away extensive chalk cliffs on the coast of Yorkshire. while the present vase of the rock at Ou,hotne isabout twelve feet per year. asaaas a'.
 The cliffs of Ravensper. when Henry W. landed to effect the deposal of Rich. ard H., have been beaten down and re. moved by. the ocean, and many towns of celebrity upon this coast have shared the same fate. Much land on the coasts of Lincolnshire and Norfolk has been rapid. ly submerged, while in the vicinity of Sherriagham and Wey eybourne. there is enough water to float frigate. where there was lofty cliff. The old villages of Eccles and Winterton, Shipden. and Win.weIl have all disappeared. Devas. tations ofequal magnitude have occurred on the coast of Suffolk. Dunwich, a town on this coast has also been des,roy> ed. Essex and Kent have suffered in the same manner. A channel situated 50 years ago in the middle of the Isle of Shipley is now on the coast, and the church of Reculver standing in l76l, at quite distance from the coast. and at the time of Henry VIII. one mile from the sea, is now on the extreme bank of the precipice which has been gradually demolished and carried away by the sea.
 The Isle of Tbanet in the time of the Romans, was separated from the main land by navigabIe channel. This is now filled up by the materials carried from the demolished cliffs of some other shores and is completely joined to the main land. The celebrated Desmarest by a variety of proofs. has, Gin some minds at least) established the belief that England and France were once united, and that the Straits of Dover were occasioned by the predominance of the northern current. An ancient country once extending from Lands End to the Scilly Islands. is said to have been worn away and removed by the sea. Since the year l764, some half mile of the cliffs on the coast of Ches- hire have been submerged in a similar manner.
 There are many traditions in France concerning the destruction of very exten. sivc lands by the approach of the sea We may at least infer from these. tha channels perhaps not unlike, and perhaps greater than those we have mentioned may have taken place upon the shores oI Brittany.
 Great changes have occurred near tie outlet of the Rhine. A bout the yea, 1905. the ocean burst through an exten. sive Istbmus. entered Lake Fieyo. and from thence broke through to several other lakes. and at last excavated an en. tire bay between 80 and 70 miles ir di. ameter. A number of Islands situated betW cen the moutls of the Elbe and the Texel, are evidently the last relics of a tract once continuous.
 Heligoland. once an extensive rocky tract. has been almost entirely carried away, and sine, l79O. the current has cut passage some 60 feet deep. and sufficiently large to admit fleet through tLe portion that get remains. North. strand was peninsular, containing some 50 square miles in 1900. while now. q mere insulated rock marks it's fo, mer sit. uation. It's farms and inhabitants have all been swept away by the devou,ing floods and currents of the sea. The i.land BaTsoe and Aisen, near the coast of Lels. wick. lost abnu. an acre a year at one time. and many capes and islands on the Danish coas. have yearly suffered in this manner 10 an almost incredible extent.
 The Straits of Gibraltar are conlinual- y widening by the action of the currents of the Mediterranean. while the under currents of this sea. the locality or direc- ton of which are not fully understood, are constantly carrying out an excess of sals. sad probably making sub.ma,ine iorm atiOns and excavations. in regard to which wc have no means of gaining defn.