LfcVEL OF THE BALTIC. 403 



Are the facts contained in the memoir in question of a 

 nature to overthrow this opinion ? They do not appear 

 so to us. The two series of observations which are ad- 

 duced, only shew a fall upon the coasts of Sweden, pro- 

 perly so called, that is to say, upon the west coast of the 

 Baltic, and the east coast of the Cattegat. Two obser- 

 vations only have been made upon the coasts of Finland, 

 toward the extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia. These 

 facts would perfectly accord with the opinion of those 

 who think that the currents determined from the north 

 to the south of the Baltic by the numerous streams 

 which rush into itj push the waters toward the south 

 shore, that of Pomerania, Mecklenbourg, and Holstein ; 

 and that the waters consequently gain upon the land on 

 this coast, as numerous historical facts attest, while they 

 retire along the northern shores, those of the Gulf of 

 Bothnia. Be this as it may, the question as to the con- 

 stancy of the level of the sea cannot be considered as de- 

 cided, until a long series of observations shall have been 

 made upon authentic and perfectly fixed measures erect- 

 ed upon all Jhe shores of the different seas, and of the 

 different regions of the ocean. Those which have been 

 published in the Swedish Transactions furnish import- 

 ant documents for this purpose ; and similar ones should 

 be begun to be collected in other countries. 



The phenomena exhibited by the waters of the Baltic 

 engaged the attention of two rival speculators^ Playfair 

 and Deluc ; and their views are often alluded to by geo- 

 logists. We shall here state them in their own words. 

 Professor Playfair, in his well known and elegant work 

 on the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, has the following 

 remarks : 



