734 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



Westrogothia Mountains, and in the Curiositas Naturalis he comes 

 right to the point, " but what tlien follows (i. e., below the sand- 

 stone) I do not know." His opinion of the formation of rock strata 

 at the bottom of the sea is briefly set forth in the 1748 edition of the 

 Systema Naturae, and the following year (1749) he published an 

 account agreeing with the former, although somewhat more detailed, 

 in the introduction to the CEconomia Naturae. He assumed that the 

 sargassum or sargasso weed floating on the sea had been of con- 

 siderable importance in this respect, by quieting the motion of the 

 waves. * * * 



In tlie Sargasso are found species of birds and fishes; that is, those who have 

 floating eggs and species of Vermes, Cochlese, Conchas, Corals, Medus;i?. etc., 

 other than those known on the shores. These gradually die off and then their 

 bodies sink and mix with the clay, when thus mixed with clay, being themselves 

 covered with limeshells, they change the clay into limestone.'^ 



This might serve to explain why such petrifications, Orthoceratites and 

 others, the animals of which are now entirely unknown to us, have been found 

 in the lime rocks of the " allvar " of Oland. Kinnekulle seems to indicate 

 similar conditions, and the latter may have originated through the conglomera- 

 tion of sea sand forming its undermost layer of sandstone, on which rests the 

 slate formed by the black mud or ooze covering the sand of the sea bottom. 

 On top of the last named there is a deep stratum of sandstone full of strange 

 fossils, perchance precipitated through the action of the Sargasso. Upon this 

 last-mentioned layer there is again slate originating from molded Sargasso, 

 and the uppermost part is gray rock formed of gi*avel, which may be identical 

 with that cast up by the sea when the rock first became a shore line. 



It is strange that the uppermost strata of all the mountains consist solely 

 of graystone. From this it may be concluded that they [the strata of gray- 

 stone] have not been there from the beginning, because the stratum next below 

 is slate, which is always formed from black mold ; and as all mold is formed 

 from vegetable growth, there must have been plants before the graystone layer 

 got there, and hence it could not have been created.^ Those who would at- 

 tribute all this to the deluge think very little and see still less. A much 

 longer period than the duration of the flood has been required for this. 



That the " trap " of the Westrogothia mountains could be accounted 

 for in no other way than did Linne, and Swedenborg before him, 

 is not to be wondered at, as nothing was known at that time either 

 of the enormous streams of lava poured out in violent volcanic erup- 

 tions or of horizontal intrusions between the strata. 



H: 4: 4: ^ 4: 4: 4: 



Linne stated his view of a definite succession of strata throughout 



the world in the twelfth edition of the Systema Natura3, the third 



part of which, treating of the mineral kingdom, was issued in 1708. 

 * * * 



The fact that Linne's opinions about the Strata telluris were pub- 

 lished in the Systema Naturae caused them to become widely known 



« See Syst. Nat., sixth ed., p. 219, note 5. 

 * Reisen durch Westgothland, p. 35. 



