The effect of the attraction of continental land upon the oceanic waters adjoining seems to have been very much overlooked by British physical geographers. That some slight effect arises in the direction of elevating the surface of the ocean in proximity to the coast is generally admitted, but the amount of rise is considered to be small, perhaps insignificant. The prevalence of these views was attributed by the author to the widespread influence of Lyell's hypothesis of the uniformity of the ocean-surface all over the globe.