388 Analyses of Books. / [Nov. 



II. — Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 London, for 1835. Part i. 



Geology. 



1. The Bakerian Lecture. On the proofs of a gradual risin»; of 

 the Land in certain parts of Sweden. By Charles Lyell, jun., Esq. 



It may be known to our readers that Mr. Lyell advocates the 

 opinion first stated and ably supported by the celebrated John Ray, 

 in his admirable Physico Theological Discourses, that the changes 

 which we observe on the earth's surface can be satisfactorily explained 

 as the effect of causes still in operation. The present paper is devoted 

 to the investigation of some important facts which contribute to sup- 

 port his position. 



It was remarked by Celsius, Play fair, and Von Buch, that a con- 

 siderable alteration in the relative levels of the land and sea was 

 observable on the coasts of Sweden ; and subsequent observation had 

 tended to confirm this affirmation. Still the fact had only been 

 noticed in a limited number of places, and, therefore, it did not 

 appear to what extent these changes extended. IMr. Lyell, in the 

 summer of 1834, visited Sweden for the purpose of examining into 

 the question. He proceeded first to Calmar, in lat. 56''-41, whose 

 castle, he inferred from the appearances which he observed, was 

 originally founded under water, and that a projecting rim of dressed 

 stone may have formed the visible base of the building which now 

 rises to the height of 25 feet above. The true base is now situated 

 2 feet above the present level of the Baltic. Proceeding to Stock- 

 holm, he found ridges of sand 30 feet above the level of the sea at 

 Solna, about a mile to the north-west of the city, and part of which 

 traverses the city, containing, in pits in their neighbourhood, Car^ 

 dium edule, Tellina Baltica, Mytilus edulis, Littorina crassior, 

 Littornia littorea, and a Palludina, perhaps ulva. Similar ridges 

 exist about three miles to the south of Stockholm, at Brankyrka, where 

 Neritina fluviatitis exists, a fresh water shell which lives abun- 

 dantly in the brackish water of the Baltic. Bulimus luhricus was 

 also found. The height of the latter shells is 70 feet. At Soder- 

 telge, lb' miles south of the city, a similar deposit occurs at a height of 

 90 feet. In cutting a canal at this place several buried vessels of 

 great antiquity were found, besides a small wooden house, at a depth 

 of 64 feet. 



In examining the country about 45 miles north-west from this 

 point, between the towns of Torshalla and Arboga, the author found 

 Tellina Ballica, in an unctuous clay. This locality is 7^ miles 

 from Stockholm, and 89 from the general coast line. 



Some marks in the suburbs of Stockholm are then brought forward 

 which serve to prove that the elevation of the land during the last three 

 or four centuries must have been very limited. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Upsala ridges occur, containing shells at an height of 100 feet 

 above the river which flows at their base ; and in a meadow to the 

 south of the town, the Glaux mnritima and Tri'^lochin mariti- 

 mufi, plants which flourish in salt marshes near the sea, (although 

 they have been found in Germany and France, near saline springs), 

 are met with. The ridges consist of thin layers of sand, loam and 



