74 Prof. Bischof on the Natural History of 



taken place.* Peron noticed a similar phenomenon on the 

 coasts of some islands in the neighbourhood of Van DiemeTi's 

 Land. Many other instances of this kind occur, which present 

 traces of elevations, some of them perfectly incontestable,*f- 

 others very probable.J In conformity with this are also the 

 assertions of the inhabitants of Otaheite,§ and those of the Mo- 

 luccas,\\ that their islands still continue to rise. 



The latest earthquakes, which, in the month of February 

 1835, destroyed a great part of Chili, {Conception, and many 

 other towns), offer also evident proofs of elevations occasioned 

 through their agency. Some days after this devastation the sea 

 did not rise to its ordinary level, the difference amounting to 

 four or five feet in height. This difference decreased gradually; 

 in the middle of April it was still two feet. The fact that the 

 island of Santa Maria has risen nine feet, proves the actual 

 elevation of the country. Near TuhuJ, south-east of Santa 

 Maria, the country has risen six feet, and the island of Mocha 

 seems to have risen about two feet.1I 



The gradual elevation of Scandinavia and Fiftland is pecu- 

 liarly interesting. More than a century ago Celsius called at- 

 tention to this phenomenon, and endeavoured to account for it 

 by a gradual sinking of the level of the Baltic. Playfair,** how- 

 ever, remarked, as early as the year 1802, that an elevation of 

 the land may be assigned as the cause of this phenomenon with 

 more probability than a sinking of the water. This supposition, 

 he thinks, accords with Hutton's theory, according to which the 

 continents have been actually raised by subterraneous powers, 

 and are even now supported by them in their place. Lastly, 

 Von Buch,tt without having seen Playfair^s work, gave his 



* Phil. Mag. V. X. p. 136 ; Jameson's Phil, Journal, vol. xxv. p. 378 ; and 

 Mem. Wernerian Soc. vol. viii. part. i. in the press. 



+ Dolomieu Orylctol. Bemerk. Uber Calabrien. Frankf. u. Mainz 1780, 

 p. 167. 



J Brochi in Biblioteca Italiana 1821. Sept. Breislak Reisen in Cara- 

 panien, t. ii. p. 115. 

 [ § Correspondence Astronomique, v. x. p. 266. 

 \ I! PoggendorfF's Ann. t, ii. p. 444, according to Prof. Reinwardt. 

 •fl Nautical Magazine, No. 49 and 51. March and June 1836. 

 ** Illustrations of the Huttonian theory, 

 ft Reise durch Norwegen und Lappland, t. ii. p. 389. 



