78 On the Constancy of the Level of the Sea in General , 
Latitude. 
East Coast. 
Fall of Surface 
in 40 years, 
in feet. 
Latitude, 
East Coast, 
Fall of Surface 
in 40 years, 
in feet. 
Latitude. 
East Coast. 
Fall of Surface 
in 40 years, 
in feet. 
63° 59' 
1.50 
59° 17' 
2.17 
56 10 
0.00 

2.50 
58 44 
1.00 
56 11 
0.00 
__ 
0.50 
58 42 
3.08 
55 53 
0.00 
61 43 
2.50 
58 45 
1.17 
61 37 
2.83 
58 35 
2.00 
South-West Coast. 
61 32 
2.50 
58 28 
0.07 
55 23 
0.00 
61 45 
2.50 
58 11 
0.83 
55 22 
0.00 
60 11 
2.33 
58 8 
1.00 
57 21 
0.00 
59 46 
0.17 
57 50 
1.00 
57 53 
1.00 
59 46 
2.00 
56 41 
0.41 
Of the facts collected in the course of this investigation, the 
following may be mentioned as tending to support the opinion 
of a fall of level. x 
1. It is generally believed among the pilots of the Baltic, 
that the sea has become shallower along the course which ves- 
sels ordinarily follow ; but it is added, that this alteration is 
more sensible in the places where the tide collects sand, detach- 
ed pebbles, and sea-weed, than in those where the bottom is com- 
posed of rocks. The same observation has been made in the 
neighbourhood of some large towns and fisheries ; for example, 
a hydrographic chart, made in 1771, gives six fathoms for the 
mean depth of the sea opposite the harbour of Landskrona, 
whereas, in 1817, the sounding line scarcely gave five fathoms at 
the same point. 
% According to the oldest and most experienced pilots, the 
straits, which separate the numerous islets scattered along the 
coast of Sweden, from Haarparanda to the frontiers of Norway, 
received vessels that drew ten feet of water ; now they are not 
practicable for boats that draw more than two or three feet. 
3. The pilots further affirm, that, along the whole coast of 
Bothnia, the depth of the water undergoes a diminution, which 
becomes sensible every ten years, in certain places where the bot- 
tom is composed of rocks. Several other parts of the Baltic may 
be cited, in which a similar change has been remarked. 
Mr C. P. Hallstrom, in an Appendix to Mr Bruncrona’s 
Memoir, gives the following Table of the diminution observed 
in the depth of the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia. 
