. [ 297 ]. 

 LI. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1834. 'X'HE reading of a paper, entitled, ** On the Proofs of 

 Dec. 18. — -■- a gradual Rising of the Land in certain parts of 

 Sweden." By Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S., — was resumed, but not 

 concluded. 



1835. January 8. — On the Proofs of a gradual Rising of the Land 

 in certain parts of Sweden. By Charles Lyell, Esq., F.R.S. 



An opinion has long been entertained that the waters of the Baltic, 

 and even of the whole Northern Ocean, have been gradually sinking j 

 and the purport of the present paper is, to communicate the obser- 

 vations which the author made during the summer of 1S34, in refer- 

 ence to this curious question. In his way to Sweden he examined 

 the eastern shores of the Danish islands of Moen and Seeland, but 

 neither there, nor in Scania, could he discover any indications of a 

 recent rising of the land ; nor was there any tradition giving support 

 to such a supposition. The first place he visited, where any elevation 

 of land had been suspected, was Calmar j the fortress of which, built 

 in the year 1030, appeared, on examination, to have had its founda- 

 tions originally laid below the level of the sea, although they are now 

 situated nearly two feet above the present level of the Baltic. Part 

 of the moat on one side of the castle, which is believed to have been 

 formerly filled with water from the sea, is now dry, and the bottom 

 covered with green turf. At Stockholm, the author found many 

 striking geological proofs of a change in the relative level of the sea 

 and land, since the period when the Baltic has been inhabited by the 

 Testacea which it now contains. A great abundance of shells of the 

 same species were met with in strata of loam, &c., at various heights, 

 from 30 to 90 feet above the level of the Baltic. They consist chiefly of 

 the Cardium edule, the Tellina baltica, and the Littorina littoreus ; to- 

 gether with portions of the MytUus edulis, generally decomposed, but 

 often recognisable by the violet colour which they have imparted to 

 the whole mass. In cutting a canal from Sodertelje to lake Maelar, 

 several buried vessels were found ; some apparently of great antiquity, 

 from the circumstance of their containing no iron, the planks being 

 fixed together by wooden nails. In another place, an anchor was dug 

 lip ; as also, in one spor, some iron nails. The remains of a square 

 wooden house were also discovered at the bottom of an excavation 

 made for the canal, nearly at a level with the sea, but at a depth of 

 64 feet from the surface of the ground. An irregular ring of stones 

 was found on the floor of this hut, having the appearance of a rude 

 fire-place, and within it was a heap of charcoal and charred wood. 

 On the outside of the ring was a heap of junburnt fir wood, broken 

 up as for fuel J the dried needles of the fir and the bark of the branches 

 being still preserved. The whole building was enveloped in fine 

 sand. 



The author next notices several circumstances regarding buildings 

 in Stockholm and its suburbs, from which he infers that the elevation 

 of the land, during the last three or four centuries, has not exceeded 



Third Series. Vol. 6. No. 34. Jpril 1835. 2 Q 



