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ON A GRADUAL ELEVATION OF THE LAND IN SCANDINAVIA. 



By James F. W. Johnston, A. M., F. R. S. E., 8fc. 8fc *. 

 Communicated by the Author. 



Of the various changes which slowly operating causes gradu- 

 ally produce on the earth's surface, those which affect the ex- 

 tent of arable or otherwise improveable land, attract the earliest 

 and most general attention. Such changes are in progress in 

 almost every country, either along the banks of rivers or the 

 shores of the sea, and have long been observed and universally 

 known. Numerous instances of the encroachments of the sea 

 are to be met with along the east coast of Great Britain, as well 

 as on the opposite shores of Norway, Denmark, and Holland; 

 and the recent floods in Morayshire show how destructive even 

 small rivers may become under certain circumstances. 



At the mouths of rivers, examples of the growth of land, and 

 the gradual formation of banks and islands, are frequently met 

 with. On the coasts similar phenomena are much more rare ; 

 for though the sea, during its slow but incessant encroachments 

 upon the land, carries off much soil, it deposits it again chiefly 

 in the less agitated parts of its own bed, either filling up its 

 greatest depths, or forming submarine hills of sand and gravel, 

 .similar to those already found scattered over so large a portion 

 of the globe. 



Some peninsular tracts of land occur on the opposite coasts, 

 of which, both effects of the sea may be observed, the one being 

 washed away, while the other is increased by continual deposits. 

 North Jutland presents an example of this kind. The Jutlands 

 form the north-western termination of that extensive arenaceous 

 deposit, which stretches from the Skaw through Denmark, 

 Prussia, Poland, and much of the east of Europe. The sur- 

 face in North Jutland consists in general of loose sand, of large 

 heaths, and of moss, more or less suceptible of improvement, all 

 resting upon chalk. Occasional tracts of arable land occur; 

 but the chief value of the country consists in its pasturage, and 

 this value inereases towards the south, till we reach the rich 

 meadow lands of Holstein. 



• Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1833. 



