GAEL VON LINNE AS A GEOLOGIST NATHORST. 733 



This last-mentioned statement that the " highest hill " consisted of 

 sandstone, * * * jg palpably a slip of the pen and should be 

 graj^stone, because only a few pages farther on in the latter it is said : 



The uppermost hill consisted entirely of graystone covered with soil. * * * 

 H^ * * ♦ * ♦ * 



The most remarkable part of the description, in which he goes into 

 a detailed account of his opinion in the matter, reads as follows : 



The strata terrae everywhere around Mosseberg, Alleberg, and Billingeu are 

 all like those of Kinnekulle, so that when one exactly knows the rock layers 

 of Kinnekulle, one also knows what may be found all over in the depths. 



* * * These strata extend even farther ; * * * thus the profile of 

 Kinnekulle may serve as a clew to the strata terrse or anatomy of the earth's 

 crust, not only here in Westrogothia, but perhaps of the greater part of tRe 

 world. 



Lithogenesy is a simple enough matter, although still quite obscure owing 

 to the few researches as yet made. We know that the sand of the sea becomes 

 sandstone, the compounds of the sediment of the sea clay, the clay becomes 

 lime, the lime " blecke " [chloride of lime], the " blecke " chalk, and the chalk 

 silex or flint. Peatbog mud becomes slate and the slate again surface soil. 

 We see that spar, quartz, and rock flint, together with mica, are formed where 

 the rocks have cracked and join them together. We see that graystone is 

 formed, from loose friable material. * * * 



* * * The statements made in the last paragraph but one 



* * * open up at once a conception of a uniform succession of 

 strata all over the globe, and in so doing lay the foundation for 

 stratigraphic geology and the knowledge of the history of the earth 

 in complete accord with the words often cited by Linne, " that the 

 stones shall speak for themselves." 



It should be emphasized right here that Linne nowhere mentions 

 anj'thing about the strata underlying the sandstone layer of the 



stone, but supposedly owing to an error in the writing Linne states that the 

 undermost stratum of this is gray, instead of red. There are, of course, 

 actually four divisions of the Orthoceras limestone, which, according to color 

 and succession (from below upward), are distinguished as the lower red, 

 lower gray, upper red, and upper gray. 



id) The Gorstone Cliff =the upper gray Orthoceras limestones. (Holm, 

 loc. cit.) 



(e) High Hills, where Linne did not notice any bedrock exposure but only 

 loose blocks, must be considered as corresponding to strata which are now called 

 the Chasmops limestone, Trinucleus shales, and Brachiopod shales. 



(/) The Crow Mountain=the upper graptolite shales. 



ig) The Highest Hill=the diabase cover (trap). 



It is thus only the Ceratopyge limestone, between the alum and the lower 

 graptolite shales, and the three strata just mentioned (the Chasmops limestone, 

 the Trinucleus, and the Brachiopod shales) that Linne did not observe. When 

 it is taken into consideration that he stayed in this place but three days, and 

 that he also made a number of botanical and other observations and notes, it 

 must be admitted that he made good use of his time. * * * 



