243 [Rogers. 



thoroughly established the AiTtic and sub- Arctic character of the 

 great majority of the many species they and others have collected and 

 identified. A number of the Mollusca are of species still living, only 

 they frequent no longer the British Seas, but frequent the waters of 

 the Baltic, or even the Arctic Sea. 



Mr. Croskey has established this very interesting general fact, that 

 of these Pleistocene Fossils, those of the eastern side of Scotland, and 

 of England too, betoken an essentially cooler aquatic climate than do 

 those of the western or Atlantic side. 



Before the announcement of this important deduction, I had ex- 

 pressed my conviction more than once, at Sessions of the PhUosophi- 

 eal Society of Glasgow, where this fact of a diiference of temperature 

 was first made public, that we must seek the cause or origin of this 

 refrigeration of the ancient coasts of Scotland in the physical geogra- 

 phy of the regions separating Scandinavia from Russia. I grew im- 

 patient to procure authentic information respecting the Isthmus of 

 Finland, which now links together those two countries, for I had be- 

 come persuaded that all the phenomena of the Arctic Temperature 

 of the Pleistocene Clay-period seemed plainly to imj^ly that the frigid 

 waters of the Arctic Ocean had access at that time to the British 

 shores through the wide valley of the Baltic, and the low, flat plain, 

 now the neck of Finland. I was aware, as every person at all versed 

 in European geography should be, that the district separating the 

 Gulf of Finland from the Southern bays of the " White Sea," is flat 

 and watery, and of only moderate elevation, with no ridge of hills 

 passing through it as a water-shed ; but I was unable to authenticate 

 this beUef by inspection of any accessible trustworthy geographical 

 materials. 



In this state of suspense and uncertainty I therefore sent to the 

 Governor of Finland, Baron Rokasoski, a letter explanatory of my 

 conjectures and wants, with a Hst of interrogations. I was soon after 

 in receipt of two admirable orographic charts of Finland, carefully 

 annotated by C. Gulden, the government geographer, and quickly 

 after, a letter from the same excellent authority, in fiill and satisfac- 

 tory reply to all my questions. 



The information embodied in this letter and the charts, is to this 

 effect. The wide Isthmus dividing the Gulf of Finland from the 

 White Sea is low^ very flat and marshy, and nowhere elevated above 

 the Baltic as much as two hundred English feet. For ages past there 

 has been a tradition familiar to the Finland peasantry and fishermen, 

 that their country was once an island, and their ancient name for it 

 is the '• Island of Finland." Moreover, they and the more enlight- 

 ened inhabitants have always believed and asserted that the land is, 

 and has been steadily and perceptibly slowly rising higher and higher 



