322 Mr G. A. Rowell on the 



could place your hand on the side of the vessel without feel- 

 ing any inconvenient degree of heat ; and so slowly and 

 imperfectly does this thin lining of half an inch of clay and 

 sand permit the heat to pass outwards, that the entire mass 

 might rest there till it became cool ere the outside of the 

 pot would have reached a temperature high enough to car- 

 bonize wood in contact with it." 



With such facts as these, I think it fair to assume that, 

 after the geological change I have supposed, thousands of 

 years must pass ere the parts of America to which I have 

 alluded could obtain their highest degree of temperature : 

 for if half an inch of clay and sand thus intercepts the com- 

 munication of so high a temperature as that of 11 tons of 

 white-hot cast-iron, how can we estimate the time it would 

 require for thousands of square miles of frozen land and sea 

 to become elevated in temperature even a few degrees. 



Bringing these reasonings and facts to bear on the question 

 of the change of temperature in Europe, I submit that there 

 are fair grounds for attributing the change of declination to 

 this change of temperature. For although the opening of 

 the British Channel may date too far back to support this 

 opinion, there are ample proofs that the connection of the 

 Baltic with the Frigid Ocean, and the elevation of parts of 

 Sweden, have been much more recent ; and these were the 

 principal causes of the change of temperature in the north 

 of Europe. 



It has been shewn by Professor Nilsson that the northern 

 parts of Sweden formed the bottom of a sea after the south- 

 ern part was inhabited by man. The land since then has 

 been elevated some hundreds of feet, but the fact that there 

 are no dislocations of strata, shews that this elevation of 

 land has been gradual, and even at the present time an 

 elevation is going on in various parts of Sweden. Dr 

 Daubeny, in his recent communication on Scandinavia, 

 alluded to this fact, and, amongst other authors on the sub- 

 ject, Professor Nilsson states that the elevation of the coast 

 of Sweden has been going on gradually during the last 300 

 years at the rate of two feet in the century. 



In proof of the recent connection of the Baltic with the 



