Scientific Intelligence. — Geology. 391 



defence, and the splendid monuments by which he has endea- 

 voured to give eternity even to his perishable remains, are gra- 

 dually destroyed ; and those structures which have resisted the 

 waves of the ocean, the tempests of the sky, and the stroke of 

 lightning, shall yield to the operation of the dews of heaven, of 

 frost, rain, vapour, and imperceptible atmospheric influences; 

 and as the worm devours the lineaments of his mortal beauty, so 

 the lichens and moss, and the most insignificant plants, shall feed 

 upon his columns and his pyramids, and the most humble and 

 insignificant insects shall undermine and sap the foundations of 

 his colossal works, and make their habitations amongst the 

 ruins of his palaces and the falling seats of his earthly glory. 



10. Norway has not been materially elevated above the level of 

 the sea for the last 800 years. — The history of the small island 

 of Munkholm, on the coast of Norway, is interesting, as con- 

 nected with a well known speculation, namely, that which 

 maintains that the land of Scandinavia is gradually rising above 

 the level of the sea, through the agency of some subterranean 

 power. M. Everest says, " The history of this small isle weighs 

 strongly against the rise of Scandinavia, as a general proposi- 

 tion. Its area is not greater than that of a small village, and, 

 by the official survey, its highest point is said to be 23 feet 

 above the mean high-water-mark (that is, the mean between 

 neap and spring tides). An extreme spring tide may rise 3 feet 

 higher, thus leaving 20 feet for the highest point. But the 

 Swedish rate of rise is stated at 40 inches in a century. Now, 

 A. D. 1028, or 800 years ago, a monastery was founded there 

 by Canute the Great; and, in 995 (33 years before that time), 

 it was in use as a common place of execution, and the famous 

 Hagen Hlade JarPs head was nailed to a gibbet there. Take 

 the first of these periods, 1028 ; then, 40 x 8 = 320 inches, or 

 26 feet 8 inches ; so that this rock must then have been below 

 high-water-mark, according to this supposition. It is not Ukely 

 that, in such a state, it would have been chosen as the site of a 

 building." — Everest^ s Travels through Noricay. 



11. Fos-iil Insects in lower Oolite, at Solenhof. — In the cabi- 

 net of the Royal Academy of Munich, there arc many sped- 



