342 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



ports at a distance from the coast, by the abandon- 

 ment of fisheries dried up or converted into shallows, 

 and the conversion of islands into continuous land. 



The facts stated by Celsius were exact, but his ex- 

 planations were erroneous. In 1802, Playfair assigned 

 their true cause by attributing the observed changes 

 to the movement of the land. 



His opinion was confirmed, in 1807, by Leopold de 

 Buch, who discovered, when he was travelling in Scan- 

 dinavia, the gradual elevation of the whole country 

 between Frederickshall (Norway) and St. Peters- 

 burg. He thought, without being certain, that 

 Sweden rose more than Norway, and that the effects 

 were more rapid in the north than in the south. 



At the commencement of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, lines had been cut in the rocks to indicate 

 the ordinary level of the sea in calm weather. These 

 data were examined, in 1820 and 1821, by the officers 

 charged with the pilotage, and new lines were cut. 

 During this interval of time the level of the Baltic 

 had sunk, but not everywhere equally during equal 

 times. 



Nilson declared, in 1837, that Scania, the most 

 southern province of Sweden, seemed to have sunk 

 during several centuries. This Swedish savan at the 

 same time cited a number of facts in support of his 

 novel statement. A large stone near Talbourg, the 



