§50. ELEVATION OF SCANDINAVIA. 117 



visited Scandinavia within the last few years, with the 

 view of determining this interesting question, expresses 

 himself fully convinced that certain parts of Sweden are 

 undergoing a gradual rise, to the amount of two or three 

 feet in a century ; while other tracts, farther to the south, 

 appear to have experienced no movement.* He surveyed 

 the shores of the Bothnian Gulf, between Stockholm and 

 Gefle, and on the western coasts of Sweden, districts par- 

 ticularly alluded to by Celsius. Upon examining the 

 marks cut by the pilots, under the direction of the Swedish 

 Academy of Sciences, in 1820, the level of the Baltic, in 

 calm weather, was found to be several inches lower than 

 the marks, and from two to three feet below those made 

 seventy or a hundred years ago. Similar results were 

 obtained on the side of the ocean, and in both districts the 

 testimony of the inhabitants agreed with that of their 

 ancestors, as recorded by Celsius. On the shores of the 

 Northern Sea, there are banks of recent shells, at various 

 heights, from 10 to 200 feet ; and on the side of the Both- 

 nian Gulf, between Stockholm and Gefle, there are deposits 

 containing fossil shells of the species which now inhabit the 

 brackish waters of that sea. These occur at different eleva- 

 tions, from one to a hundred feet, and sometimes extend 

 fifty miles inland. Some of the shells are marine, and 

 others fluviatile ; the marine species are identical with 

 those now living in the ocean, but are small in size, and 

 never attain the average dimensions of those which live 

 in water sufficiently salt to enable them to reach their full 

 development. The specimens before us were collected by 

 Mr. Lyell at Uddevalla, in Sweden, from the summit of 

 cliffs twenty feet above the level of the sea ; they consist 

 of marine species, which still inhabit the neighbouring 

 waters. 



* Philosophical Transactions. Principles of Geology, Fifth Edition, 

 vol. ii. p. 286. 



