340 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



gained by the influx of water. It has since pre- 

 served nearly its present form, the only material 

 changes being on the low-lying coasts and about the 

 mouths of the great rivers. 



3. Movements of the Earth in the Northern Hemisphere — Subsid- 

 ence in the North of Europe and of America — Elevation of the 

 Polar Regions— Sinking of the Coast of Sweden. 



Certain portions of the earth's surface sink ; others 

 rise, apparently perhaps without obeying any general 

 law, but not really so. Everything goes to prove that in 

 our hemisphere the continental mass is being elevated. 

 A concave bend may be traced from the south of the 

 Baltic to the Atlantic, passing by Denmark, the 

 North Sea, and the Low Countries. Prolonged 

 through the Chaimel, it is probably continued under 

 the ocean, where, however, we cannot follow it ; but 

 it is demonstrable again to the north-east of North 

 America, and at Greenland. On the inner side of 

 this bend, which marks a zone of subsidence, the bed 

 of the former ocean is in process of elevation. 



The line of subsidence cannot be followed to the 

 east beyond the Baltic, for reasons we have already 

 mentioned ; but it certainly should not stop where 

 we can no longer demonstrate the phenomena. In 

 the neighbourhood of Sweden, where the oscillating 



