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Art. XIII . — On the Constancy of the Level of the Sea in ge- 
neral , and (f the Baltic Sea in particular. 
About the middle of the last century, an animated contro- 
versy took place among the natural philosophers of the north 
of Europe, regarding the alleged gradual lowering of the level 
of the sea in general, and of the Baltic Sea in particular. Cel- 
sius was the first who introduced this idea to notice. He gene- 
ralized it, by applying it to all the planets, and was supported by 
the authority of the celebrated Linnaeus. It was soon perceived, 
however, that the point could never be settled by mere discus- 
sion, and that facts alone could lead to any certain result. Ob- 
servation was therefore had recourse to ; and thus, the dispute 
in question had at least one good effect, that of directing to the 
subject the attention of men of science, whose situation might 
enable them to mark the variations of level that take place 
along the coasts of the North Sea. The results of investiga- 
tions, undertaken for this purpose, are now beginning to be 
collected. 
In the course of 1820 and 1821, Mr Bruncrona, assisted 
by the officers of the pilotage establishment, and other qualified 
persons, undertook the examination of all the authentic mea- 
sures that had been established upon the west coast of the Bal- 
tic during the last half century. The results of this examina- 
tion are given in a short memoir inserted in the Swedish Trans- 
actions for 1828. The following Table indicates the degree to 
which the level of the sea has fallen during the last forty years, 
on the coast of Sweden, at various latitudes. It is proper to re- 
mark, that, in some of the places observed, the measures were 
much older, and in some others much more recent, than the pe- 
riod of forty years. In both these cases, the change of level 
that must have been effected during this period, has been esti- 
mated by calculating the mean annual depression furnished by 
the observations. 
