CARL VON LINNE AS A GEOLOGIST — NATHOBST. 721 



hensive: The indication of conchiferous earth in Helsingland; of 

 shore terraces in Oland, on the island " Jungfrun,"' in Gotland, and 

 in Skane ; of " ranks " and grotto formations in Gotland and Wes- 

 trogothia ; and finally his examination of the " shell banks " at 

 Uddevalla. Pie was, moreover, the first naturalist to describe shore 

 lines in the momitainous regions (due to ice-dammed lakes), and not 

 least significant were his repeated utterances against the supposition 

 that the former higher elevation of the water had any connection 

 with the biblical deluge : 



He wlio ascribes all this to the deluge, which came suddenly and passed as 

 rapidly away, Is indeed a stranger to natural science and, blind himself, sees 

 only with the eyes of others, provided, generally speaking, he sees anything at all. 



Formation or Granite Mountains — * * * — Taberg — The Dala 

 SxVNDSTONE — Petroleum — Fossils in Dalarne — Potholes 

 ("Giant Pots") — * * * — The Eecognition or Marl and Its 

 Economic Importance — " Marl Stones " — * * * — " Earth 

 Shots " — * * * — Quicksand — The Sea Bottom on Shallow 

 Coasts. 



The geologic character of the region surrounding Linne's home, 

 which must have made a deep impression upon him when a young 

 man, is monotonous in the extreme. Bed rock exposures are excep- 

 tional, and, where there are no peat bogs, the soil consists almost 

 exclusively of gravel (partly moraine gravel and partly rubble), in- 

 closing more or less larger stones which are also scattered about on 

 the surface. One may travel for many miles in this region without 

 seeing a single outcrop. 



These conditions seem to offer an explanation of Linne's peculiar 

 view that " granite, of which most of our mountains consist, is found 

 to have its origin in chessom, and that it is most frequently formed 

 when the soil is mixed with particles of iron." This chessom, or 

 argilla grandceva^ is characterized in the Systema Naturae as a sili- 

 ceous or sandy clay, which is rather soft in the spring and fall, but 

 so hard in summer that it can not be broken readily without hammer 

 or chisel ; it is said to exist in Dalarne. 



* * * In his speech on the growth of the habitable land he says 

 that if large blocks of rock were broken they would be found to con- 

 sist of mica, quartz, and spar. 



This affords clear proof that they, like all other stones, originated through 

 coalescence of the soil, and that they were therefore formed underground. 



From large pieces of rock to isolated cliffs consisting of the same 

 minerals, the step was a short one, and we may thus understand how 

 Linne derived his peculiar view of the origin of granite. It may 



