86 Mr Johnston 07t the Elevation of 



distance of buildings, and other fixed objects from the edge of 

 the waters. Along the greater part of the Swedish coast, we 

 meet with examples of this recession of the waters. In some 

 places the harbours are becoming shallower ; in others, the 

 scarped faces of the rocks indicate a fall in the mean level of 

 the water; while in places now dry, rings are occasionally met 

 with in the rocks, marking the places where, in former times, the* 

 fishermen moored their boats. At different elevations, also, the 

 rocks are not only rounded and water-worn, but frequently pre- 

 sent round holes or pits of various depths, which ancient eddies 

 have scooped out of the solid rock. These, I have often ob- 

 served in the northern suburbs of Stockholm, but they oc- 

 cur in many places even in^ the interior of Sweden, and are ol>- 

 jects of superstition to the common people. 



In many other countries, indications of a change in the relative 

 level of the land and water are to be met with, but in none, ex- 

 cept Sweden and Finland, am I aware of its having been found 

 to be still in progress. A whole coast has been observed to be 

 sensibly elevated by a sudden convulsion, as was the case a iew 

 years ago in South America ; but in Scandinavia, there are no 

 convulsions nor traces of volcanic action, and the apparent 

 change of level takes place, not by starts, but by a succession of 

 small and individually imperceptible alterations. Towards the 

 head of the Bothnian Gulf, this change is sufficiently conspicu- 

 ous to attract the notice of the common people, — at Lulea a mile 

 of land being gained in twenty-eight years, and at Pitea half a 

 mile in forty-five years ; and it is more or less observable along 

 the Finland and Swedish coasts, till we approach the southern 

 provinces of the latter kingdom, where it ceases to be sensible. 

 This latter fact is not only curious in itself, but of considerable 

 importance, as a test of the manner in which the phenomena are 

 produced. 



The attention of the Swedish philosophers having been drawn 

 to this subject early in the last century, a series of accurate ob- 

 servations was made, the mean height of the waters of the Bal- 

 tic carefully determintd, and lines representing the true eleva- 

 tion chiseled out upon the rocks at different favourable posi- 

 tions along the coast. Similar observations have since been re- 

 peated at various intervals, the most recent and extensive ha- 



