3^v , Mr Robert's Oh^^rvations oii the -.-» 



trailsported by ice to the plains they now occupy. According 

 to M. Robert the greyish S£^ndy argillapeous soil of Ham- 

 burgh, Zealand, the rich valleys of Norway, particularly the 

 basins of Cliristiania and Drontheim, are assignable to the 

 same cause, namely, the disintegration of the clay - slate 

 rocks, so abundant in this country. The bottom of the 

 sea, where it washes these coasts, and even at a distance from 

 them, is likewise composed of the same elements. M. Ro- 

 bert then cites a great number of facts which tend to shew 

 that all the coasts of Norway and Sweden exhibit marks of . 

 the sea to the height of 600 or 700 feet, as proved by the ex- 

 istence of polished and rubbed blocks of a rounded form, or 

 by the deposition on their surface of fossil shells, the greater 

 part of which still live in the sea. He particularly mentions, 

 in.;Support of his opinion, a secondary limestone near Chris- 

 tiania, pierced by the Saxicava rvgosa, at the height of 

 400 feet above the present level of the sea, and beds of shells 

 at Krageroe (east side of Norway), at the North Cape in 

 many places, and at Soederhamn (on the east side of Sweden). 

 He observed likewise, near the North Cape, numerous ter- 

 races or old banks, which seem to indicate that the phenome- 

 non of the elevation of Scandinavia, or the sinking of the wa- 

 ters of the sea, was occasionally subject to intermissions. 

 Having observed, moreover, indications of the presence of 

 the sea in the centre of the tract which separates the wa- 

 ters of the Icy Sea from the Baltic, M. Robert has also come 

 to the opinion, that, formerly, Norway and Sweden formed 

 oniy an island or a great archipelago. M. Robert is much 

 more inclined to favour the opinion, that the waters have re- 

 ceded in the northern parts of the globe, than that there has 

 been an elevation of the soil, seeing, that of all the countries 

 with primitive mountains, Scandinavia, with an extent of 15' 

 of latitude, is perhaps the only one which has never been = 

 shaken by an earthquake, and which presents neither volca- 

 nic deposits, properly so called, nor the least appearance of a 

 thermal spring. 



According to the same geologist, the gigantic wall which ■ 

 forms the North Cape, is composed of a diallagitic syenite, OC' 

 of the norite of Esmark ; but he mentions particularly a small 



