380 Phyfical Obfervations'on the Baltic Sea. ~ + 
fea in a firaight line from Konigfberg fo Lubec. Six years: 
after this fea was every where covered with ice, im fuch- 
a manner that journeys of the like kind were undertaken 
not only from Pruffia to Holftein, but alfo from-Mecklen- 
burg to Denmark ; and this was \done likewife in 1459.: Inv 
the ftrong froft of the year 170g, the ice extended fo far on 
the Baltic, from the Pruffian coaft, that people on the 
higheft fteeples on the fhore could not fee where it ended ; 
and this no doubt was the cafe during the cold of the year. 
1740, which exceeded the former fome degrees. | 
«The depth of the Baltic, in moft places, never exceeds 
fifty fathoms. In fome few places of the Gulph of Bothnia 
no bottom indeed is to be found; but in others, quite near, 
the depth is not more than fifty fathoms. 
-- In regard to the decreafe of water in the Baltic, much has 
been faid for and againft it; but nothing certain can be 
determined on this point. Mr. Otto is of opinion that the 
contradictions, apparent on the firft view of the fubject, 
might be reconciled by attending to the times. The period 
of the decreafe of water in this fea, of which the ftill ex- 
ifting remains of marine productions are incontrovertible. 
proofs, belongs to the moft remote ages. Since the time 
when the Baltic was confined within its prefent boundaries, 
the decreafe and increafe of its water are merely. apparent 5 
as it may have happened, from various) caufes, that land 
may have been gained in one quarter and loft in another, 
Large rivers, which flow with great rapidity, may, ‘for 
example, have carried with them into the fea’a great deal of 
earth and fand, by which the beds at their mouths may 
have been raifed, and the banks extended towards the fea, 
VII. Exans- 
