Communications respecting Bocks of Scandinavia. 305 



and striated from Neptune's workshop. The traveller In the 

 south of Sweden has no need of compass, for every exposed 

 rock shews him, by the direction of the striae, the direction 

 from north to south. In the same direction run those boul- 

 der-dikes, which characterise this phenomenon of Sweden. 



There is no Asar in Norway, at least not in the middle and 

 northern divisions. I do not know whether any occur on the 

 south coast of Christiansandstift, but I would be inclined to 

 doubt it. In Sweden, however, they often extend continu- 

 ously over many miles, and their direction may be found in 

 every travelling map ; for, by reason of their great regularity, 

 the highways in Smaland and Sodermanland are canned along 

 these causeways. In the neighbourhood of Stockholm, of 

 which Noi*-Malm lies partly upon an Asar, I had occasion to 

 examine one newly cut into. I then saw that it consists of 

 nothing else than rounded boulder-stones, amongst which a 

 certain stratification could not be mistaken. Nothing in it 

 reminds one of moraines. As regards the striated character 

 of the rocks, neither in this respect did they appear to me 

 quite analogous to our Swiss phenomenon : the rocks are 

 more rounded, and frequently deep furrows of a foot in 

 breadth are washed out in them. Those very smooth mii*- 

 ror-like surfaces, such as the " slielle platte" in Handeckfalle, 

 do not occixr in Sweden. On the contrary, we frequently meet 

 with the riesent5pfe or giant's pots, which do allow us to in- 

 fer these have been produced by the washing of water. 



Thus, if we are referred for the explanation to currents of 

 water which moved sand and larger stones along the bottom, 

 then the view of Mr Sefstrom, that this current was produced 

 by the rising of the land, appears not quite evident ; for this 

 rising up of the coast fi-om the sea appears far too gradual 

 to allow even a small stone being moved from its place. We 

 must have recourse to the theory of sudden and frequently 

 interrupted risings ; and this is a new hypothesis, in sup- 

 port of which there is no proof. Mr Professor Forch- 

 hammer sees in the phenomenon the effect of aqueous cui-- 

 rents, such as still occur in all seas ; and this mode of 

 explanation strikes me as much more probable : it possesses 

 the advantage of requiring no new hypothesis, since it cx- 

 VOL. WAX. NO, T.XN'XVin. — Al'lill; 1848. u 



