146 R E - M A R K S an T HE
DIMINUTION
OF
THE SEA
too far, fo it has happened in this particular inftance. One' oF
the hiftorians o f that kingdom, Mr.. D a l in , pretends that the
ocean falls 45 Swediih inches = 37 '.3 - Engli-lh inches in 100
years, and confequently 0,45 = 0,37 in ona year:: and By this
means proves when Sweden firft became' h a b it a b l e , which he
immediately*coniiders as the timewhen it was actually in h a b it e d *. .
There are others who have oppofed this very opinion; fo that i t feems
by no means, to. be a point as yet decided ; nor is it yet, as far
as I am able to judge;, a.proper time fo-decide the queftion*.* we are
firft to colled:.a great many fa&s, and by-no means toTorm fyftems
from a few particulars, which perhaps may be proved to arife from
other caufes, than the recefiion of theTea;. and i f in one place, the
fea uncovers Tome ground, we. ought likewife as carefully and
faithfully to record the places where, the fea has made encroachments
upon the land; which,, i f rightly compared, might Ihew, that
what in one place is gained, is loft in another- Nor da thefe
gentlemen confider, that, Ihould the ocean decreafe, nothing but
the aqueous particles would naturally be diminilhed,. and the faline,
as fixed particles would remain, which of courfe muft conftantly
increafe the faltnefs o f the ocean; and fuch filh and fubmarine
animals as can now fubfift in the ocean, would, in courfe o f time,
find themfelves in an element by no means fuited to their life and
neceffities: nay, as their organs for fwimming are by no means
adapted
adapted.to To denfe a fluid, they would laftly die, and the ocean d i m i n u -
would in a little time after, flioot into cryftals o f fait and become .
.entirely folid. Rain, dew, and vapours would be formed, every
century more and more Tparingly, and at laft no vegetation or animal
life.could be fapported, and would end with the fubverfion of this
-our globe.
I met with one inftance only, during -our expedition, where I
:could fairly obferve, that the ground had been raifed. It is well,
known, and often remarked in the South Sea, that the animalcules
forming the lithophytes, create in the fea curious ftrudtures: they
are commonly narrow below, and have as it were only one ftalk :
the more they grow, the more they.fpread above; To that Tome of
them are found above 15 feet high, expanding from a bale' o f two
or three feet, to.i 8 or 20 on the top, but as-the animalcules inhabit-
ing-thefe lithophytes, cannot'live out o f water, they never extend
.their ftrudture higher than fo the waters edge, at low water mark.
When we. came on the the 3d o f July, 1774, to Turtle Ifland,
we faw on the reef feveral fuch lithophytes o f the abovementioned
heighth and fize : they were perfedtly above water, and on their
Tpreading tops, fome plants were already growing; which thews
that they are above high water mark : and befides this, Ihould they
be now again covered by the fea, half o f the.file, which is not very
high, would certainly be drowned, with all its trees, and the
U 2 - habitations