Masterpieces of Science 



UNIFORMITY OF 'CHANGE CONSIDERED, THIRDLY 



IN REFERENCE TO SUBTERRANEAN 



MOVEMENTS 



Thirdly, to pass on to the last of the three topics 

 before proposed for discussion, the earthquakes 

 recorded in history, certain countries have, from 

 time immemorial, "Been rudely shaken again and 

 again; while others, comprising by far the larger 

 part of the globe, have remained to all appearance 

 motionless. In the regions of convulsion rocks 

 have been rent asunder, the surface has been 

 forced up into ridges, chasms have been opened, 

 or the ground throughout large spaces has been 

 permanently lifted up above or let down below 

 its former level. In the regions of tranquillity 

 some areas have remained at rest, but others have 

 been ascertained, by a comparison of measure- 

 ments made at different periods, to have risen 

 by an insensible motion, as in Sweden, or to 

 have subsided very slowly, as in Greenland. 

 That these same movements, whether ascending 

 or descending, have continued for ages in the 

 same direction has been established by historical 

 or geological evidence. Thus we find on the 

 opposite coasts of Sweden that brackish water 

 deposits, like those now forming in the Baltic, 

 occur on the eastern side, and upraised strata 

 filled with purely marine shells, now proper to 

 the ocean, on the western coast. Both of these 

 have been lifted up to an elevation of several 

 hundred feet above high-water mark. The rise 

 118 



