116 Baron Alexander von Humboldt on the Physiognomy 



local modifications of the power of atti'action,* and the result- 

 ing altered curvature of a portion of the liquid element. It 

 appears, according to the opinion now generally entertained 

 by geologists, and which is founded on the long- continued 

 observation of connected facts, as well as on the important 

 analogy of volcanic phenomena, that the elevation of continents 

 is a real, and not merely an apparent, elevation. The merit 

 of this view belongs to Leopold von Buch, who stated it, and 

 first introduced it into science, in the narrative of his im- 

 portant journey through Norway and Sweden, performed in the 

 years 1806 and 1807. t Although the whole coast of Sweden 

 and Finland is rising (upwards of four English feet in a 

 century) from the boundary of northern Schonen (Solvits- 

 borg) to Gefle, and thence as far as Torneo, and from Torneo 

 to Abo, yet, on the other hand, according to Nilson, southern 

 Sweden is sinking.;]: The maximum of the elevating foi'ce 



* Vide Bessel iiber 3faass und Gewicht, in Schumacher's Jahrhuch for 1840, 

 p. 134. 



t Vol. ii. (1810), p. 39. See also Hallstrom, in Kongl. Veiensl-aps — 

 Academiens Handlingar (Stockholm), 1823, p. 30; Lyell, in Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1835, p. 1 ; and Blom's Sfafistischc Bcschrcibunff von 

 Norwegen, 1843, pp. 89— IIG. Although in 1802, Playfair, in his Illus- 

 trations of the Huttonian Theory, § 393, and, as Keilhau reminds us {Om 

 Landjordcns Stigning in Norge, in the Nyt Magazin for NaturvidensTcaherne) , 

 Jesseu the Dane, previously to Phi3'fair, both expressed the conjecture 

 that the sea does not sink, but that the solid land of Sweden rises; yet 

 these suggestions were entirely unknown to our great geologist Von 

 Buch, and exercised no influence on the progress of physical geography. 

 Jessen, in his work, entitled Kongcrigct Norge frcmstillct cftcr dels naturlige 

 og borgcrlige Tilstaiid ; Kjohenh. 1763, supported his idea of the causes of 

 the change of the relative level of the sea and coasts by the old state- 

 ments of Celsius, Kalm, and Dalin. He also advances some confused 

 notions regarding the possibility of an internal growth and increase of 

 stones (of the rocky surface) ; but at last declares himself to be in favour 

 of the elevation of the land being a consequence of earthquakes. He 

 says, — " Although, immediately after the earthquake (at Egersund), no 

 such elevation was remarked, j-et other causes may thus have been 

 afforded for producing it." 



X Bcrsclius' Jahreshcricht iiher die Forfschrilte der yhysichcn Wissenschaften, 

 No. 18, p. 686. The islands of Saltholm, opposite Copenhagen, and 

 Bornholm, are rising very slightly ; Bornholm scarcely one foot in a 

 century. See ForchUammet m the Phil. Mag., series 3, vol, ii., p. 309. 



