Ch. XIII.] THE INCLINED POSITIONS OF STRATA. 271 



of land, but even whole continents. This opinion is sup- 

 ported by many records concerning volcanic countries, which 

 indicate not only occasional elevations of land, but also 

 similar depressions, as in the notable example of the temple 

 of Serapis at Pozzuoli. The extensive elevation of the coast 

 of Chili, at the time of the earthquake in 1822, is another 

 fact of great importance, inasmuch as the same coast affords 

 indications of a succession of such catastrophes, thus afford- 

 ing an explanation of the analogous elevated beaches and 

 cliffs so common near the shores of many parts of Europe. 

 It has been long observed, that the waters of the Baltic sea 

 are retiring from the land in many parts of Sweden and 

 Finland ; indeed, it is the general persuasion in Sweden, that 

 the land is slowly and insensibly rising ; and Haussman, Von 

 Buch, and other geologists who have examined the countries 

 bordering on the Baltic, have advocated the same opinion. 

 Lyell has taken a different view of this subject, attributing 

 the gradual filling up of the Baltic to the accumulation of 

 fluviatile and marine sediments ; and has supported his con- 

 clusion by the citation of many weighty facts.* During the 

 past year, Mr. Johnston has contributed an excellent paper 

 on the elevation of the land of Scandinavia f, in which he 

 admits that parts of the Baltic are silted up, and that the 

 growth of ancient pines close to the sea, on the coast of 

 Finland, and the similar position of the walls of the castle of 

 Abo, prove that no sensible change has taken place in those 

 spots for a long period ; but he contends, that though this is 

 decisive as to the permanence of the water's level, it in no 

 degree weakens the positive evidence of a rise of the land in 

 many parts of Scandinavia. Observations similar to those 

 made by the Swedish philosophers, during the early part of 

 the last century, " have been repeated at various intervals, 

 and as late as the year 1821, under the joint direction of the 

 Swedish Academy and the Russian Minister of Marine. 



* Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 228. 



t Kdin. New Philos. Journ., vol. xv. p. 34. 



