314 



Testacea which it now contains. A ^reat abundance of shells of the 

 same species were met with in strata of loam, &c, at various heights, 

 from 30 to 90 feet above the level of the Baltic. They consist chiefly of 

 the Carclium edule, the Tellina baltica, and the Littorina littoreus ; to- 

 gether with portions of the Mytilus edulis, generally decomposed, but 

 often recognisable by the violet colour which they have imparted to 

 the whole mass. In cutting a canal from Sodertelje to lake Maelar, 

 several buried vessels were found 3 some apparently of great antiquity, 

 from the circumstance of their containing no iron, the planks being 

 fixed together by wooden nails. In another place, an anchor was dug 

 up ; as also, in one spot, some iron nails. The remains of a square 

 wooden house were also discovered at the bottom of an excavation 

 made for the canal, nearly at a level with the sea, but at a depth of 

 64 feet from the surface of the ground. An irregular ring of stones 

 was found on the floor of this hut, having the appearance, of a rude 

 fire-place, and within it was a heap of charcoal and charred wood. 

 On the outside of the ring was a heap of unburnt fir wood, broken 

 up as for fuel 3 the dried needles of the fir and the bark of the branches 

 being still preserved. The whole building was enveloped in fine 

 sand. 



The author next notices several circumstances regarding buildings 

 in Stockholm and its suburbs, from which he infers that the elevation 

 of the land, during the last three or four centuries, has not exceeded 

 certain narrow limits. At Upsala he met with the usual indications 

 of a former elevation of the sea, from the presence of littoral shells 

 of the same species as those now found in the Baltic. Certain plants, 

 as the Glauca maritima and the Triglochin maritimus, which naturally 

 inhabit salt marshes bordering the sea, flourish in a meadow to the 

 south of Upsala 3 a fact which corroborates the supposition that the 

 whole of the lake Maelar and the adjoining low lands have, at no 

 very remote period of history, been covered with salt water. 



The author examined minutely certain marks which had at different 

 times been cut artificially in perpendicular rocks, washed by the sea, 

 in various places ; particularly near Oregrund, Gefle, Lofgrund, and 

 Edskosund 3 all of which concur in showing that the level of the sea, 

 when compared with the land, has very sensibly sunk. A similar con- 

 clusion was deduced from the observations made by the author on 

 the opposite, or western coast of Sweden, between Uddevalla and 

 Gotenburg 5 and especially from the indications presented by the 

 islands of Orust, Gulholmen, and Marstrand. 



Throughout the paper a circumstantial account is given of the geo- 

 logical structure and physical features of those parts of the country 

 which the author visited : and the general result of the comparison he 

 draws of both the eastern and western coasts and their islands, with 

 the interior, is highly favourable to the hypothesis of a gradual rise 

 of the land; every tract having, in its turn, been first a shoal in the 

 sea, and then, for a time, a portion of the shore. This opinion is 

 strongly corroborated by the testimony of the inhabitants, (pilots and 

 fishermen more especially,) of the increased extension of the land, 

 and the apparent sinking of the sea. The rate of elevation, however, 



