Miscellanies. 387 
GEOLOGY. 
1. On the Proofs of a gradual Rising of the Land in certain 
parts of Sweden. By Charles Lyell, Esq., F. R. S—An opinion 
has long been entertained that the waters of the Baltic, and even of 
the whole Northern Ocean, have been gradually sinking ; and the 
purport of the present paper is, to communicate the observations 
which the author made during the summer of 1834, in reference to 
this curious question. In his way to Sweden he examined the east- 
ern shores of the Danish islands of Moén and Seeland, but neither 
there, nor in Scania, could he discover any indication of a recent ris- 
ing of the land ; nor was there any tradition giving support to such a 
supposition. The first place he visted, where any elevation of land 
had been suspected, was Calmar; the fortress of which, built in the 
year 1030, appeared, on examination, to have had its foundations 
originally laid below the level of the sea, although they are now sit- 
uated nearly two feet above the present level of the Baltic. Part 
of the moat on one side of the castle, which is believed to have been 
formerly filled with water from the sea, is now dry, and the bottom 
covered with green turf. At Stockholm, the author found many 
striking geological proofs of a change in the relative level of the sea 
and land, since the period when the Baltic has been inhabited by the 
Testacea which it now contains. A great abundance of shells of the 
same species were met with in strata of loam, &ce., at various heights, 
from 30 to 90 feet above the level of the Baltic. They consist — 
chiefly of the Cardium edule, the Tellina baltica, and the Littorina 
littoreus ; together with portions of the Mytilus edulis, generally 
decomposed, but often recognisable by the violet color which they 
have imparted to the whole mass. In cutting a canal from Sodertelje 
to lake Maelar, several buried vessels were found ; some apparently 
of great antiquity, from the circumstance of their containing no iron, 
the planks being fixed together by wooden nails. In another place, 
an anchor was dug up; as also, in one spot, some iron nails. The 
remains of a square wooden house were also discovered at the bot- 
tom of an excavation made for the canal, nearly at a level with the 
sea, but at a depth of 64 feet from the surface of the ground. An 
irregular ring of stones was found on the floor of this hut, having the 
appearance of a rude fire-place, and within it was a heap of charcoal 
and charred wood. On the outside of the ring was a heap of un- 
burnt fir wood, broken up as for fuel; the dried needles of the fir 
