276 Natural History of Volcanos and Earthquakes, 



a gradual sinking of the level of the Baltic. Playfair,* how- 

 ever, remarked, as early as the year 1802, that an elevation of 

 the land may be assigned as the cause of this phenomenon with 

 more probabiHty than a sinking of the water. This supposition, 

 he thinks, accords with Hutton's theory, according to which the 

 continents have been actually raised by subterraneous powers, 

 and are even now supported by them in their place. Lastly, Yon 

 Buch.f without having seen Playfair's work, gave his opinion, 

 " that the whole country, from Frederickshall in Sweden to Abo 

 in Finland, is in the act of rismg slowly and insensibly." The 

 rising of the Gulf of Bothnia amounts, according to the obser- 

 vations communicated by Hallstrom, from 3.71 to 4.61 feet ; on 

 an average 4.26 feet during a century.| Beds of sea-shells, 

 found sometimes 200 feet above the present level of the sea, as, 

 for instance, on the sea-coast and on the islands of Uddevalla, 

 as also on all the sea-coasts of the south of Norway, and which 

 sea-shells consist of such kinds as are still found living at these 

 places in the sea, prove how much the level of the Baltic has 

 changed even during the time that the present testacea have in- 

 habited it.'^. But the rising seems to be very unequal at various 

 places. In the north it is more considerable than in the south. 

 On the eastern coast of the Danish islands of Mben and >S'ee- 

 land., Lyell|| found no indication of a recent elevation of land. 

 The first place along the whole coast of the jBoto'c, where an 

 elevation is said to have taken place, is the town of Cahnar. 

 Beyond the Swedish coast, on the coast of Finland, the inhab- 

 itants are perfectly convinced, either that the water sinks or the 

 land rises. This remarkable phenomenon has excited a general 

 interest among the Swedish naturalists, and caused continual 

 exact observations of the marks inscribed on the shores of the 

 Gulf of Bothnia. Thus Nilsonll thinks he has found convin- 

 cing proofs that the most southern part of Sweden is sinking, 

 whilst the remaining part is rising. He has also endeavored to 



* Illustrations of the Huttonian theory. 

 t Raise duvch Norwegen und Lappland, t. ii. p. 389. 

 t Bruncrona u. Hallstrom in Poggend. Ann. t. ii. p. 308. 

 § Berzelius Jahresbericht, 1826, p. 292. 

 11 Poggendorff's Ann. t. xxxviii, p. 64. 



IT Berzelius Jahresbericht, No. 18, p. 386, and Poggendorff's Ann. t. x:lii, p. 

 472. 



