[CHAPTER I.]
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SEA.
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| Extent of the Ocean.—Length of its Coast-Line.—Mural, Rocky, and Flat Coasts.—How deep is the Sea?—Average Depth of the Atlantic Ocean.—The Telegraphic Plateau between Newfoundland and Ireland.—Measurement of Depth by the Rapidity of the Tide-Wave.—Progressive Changes in the Limits of the Ocean.—Alluvial Deposits.—Upheaving.—Subsidence.—Does the Level of the Sea remain unchanged, and is it everywhere the same?—Composition and Temperature of Sea-Water.—Its intrinsic Colour.—The Azure Grotto at Capri.—Modification of Colour owing to Animals and Plants.—Submarine Landscapes viewed through the Clear Waters | [3] |
[CHAPTER II.]
THE WAVES OF THE OCEAN.
| Waves and the Mode of their Formation.—Height and Velocity of Storm-Waves, on the High Seas, according to the Calculations of Scoresby, Arago, Sir James Ross, and Wilkes.—Their Height and Power on Coasts.—Their Destructive Effects along the British Shore.—Dunwich.—Reculver.—Shakspeare's Cliff. | [24] |
[CHAPTER III.]
THE TIDES.
| Description of the Phenomenon.—Devastation of Storm-Floods on Flat Coasts.—What did the Ancients know of the Tides?—Their Fundamental Causes revealed by Kepler and Newton.—Development of their Theory by La Place, Euler, and Whewell.—Vortices caused by the Tides.—The Maelstrom.—Charybdis.—The Barre at the mouth of the Seine.—The Euripus | [32] |
[CHAPTER IV.]
MARINE CAVES.
| Effects of the Sea on Rocky Shores.—Fingal's Cave.—Beautiful Lines of Sir Walter Scott.—The Antro di Nettuno.—The Cave of Hunga.—Legend of its Discovery.—Marine Fountains.—The Skerries.—The Souffleur in Mauritius.—The Buffadero on the Mexican Coast | [45] |