714 ANNUAL KEPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



writings in which Linne expressed his views on geology were, with the 

 exception of the tvy-elfth edition of the Systema Natiirse, published 

 before 1T60, and the majority even before 1750. By this time he was 

 probably so engrossed in his botanical and zoological labors that he 

 could devote but little time to " the mineral kingdom." * =!= * 

 ******* 

 For the sake of brevity it may be advantageous to collect Linne's 

 geological observations and remarks under the various subjects with 

 which they deal. I shall commence with : 



The Question of " Decrease of Water " or Growth of Land. 



In his review of the Lapland journey we find the following obser- 

 vation from Helsingland: 



At several places on the road from Xjntanger to Brinstad I saw a violet- 

 colored clay which was used in fertilizing * * *_ Between the inn at 

 Iggsund and Hudiiisvald I saw plenty of the same violet clay, a stratum of 

 which could be seen in the ditches of the moor * * *. In this claj^ there 

 were seen small, white, faii'ly perfect, smooth shells {Tellina Mltica), but upon 

 close examination the violet-colored part seemed to me to be composed of brown 

 shells, such as abound on the seashore {Mytilu§ edvlis). It is also my firm 

 belief that all these dells and swamps formerly formed the sea bottom and that 

 the top of the mountain was once a visible reef. 



This quotation is of special interest, since it is the first instance in 

 Vtdiich Linne cites an observation of his own as proof of a former 

 higher water level. That he was particularly interested also in the 

 question of the " decrease of Avater '' is evident also from his close 

 connection with Anders Celsius, who, the year before (1731), had had 

 a high-water mark cut in a rock in the vicinity of Gefle as a guide to 

 jDosterity. In his speech on the growth of the habitable land (1743), 

 Linne reverts to the following observation: 



The conchiferous earth common in Helsingland is exclusively composed of 

 brownish pieces of a shell called " Mytilus" It is, however, a well-known fact 

 that these shells exist in the sea, and not on dry land. 



In the Q^conomia Naturae (1749) he says: 



The innumerable shells now lying many miles from the seashore, in the soil of 

 Helsingland, never lived on dry land, but in water. 



In the description of his journey in Dalecarlia there is a very re- 

 markable statement — discussed by myself in 1890— concerning a phe- 

 nomenon that has only been satisfactorily ex^^lained within our own 

 times. In his diary for July 20, 1731, Linne writes : 



When at Grofvel Lake, Vala Mountain, we could see, on the east side of the 

 lake, near Palm Peak, several horizontal ridges along the side of the peak high 

 above the lake, ridges which were said to have been formed by the rising of 

 the water immediately after the deluge. 



