ope into the sea. In the same manner, some advocates of the Celsian
theory formerly appealed to the increase of lands near the mouths of
rivers, not sufficiently adverting to the fact, that if the bed of the
sea is rising, the change will always be most sensible where the bottom
has been previously rendered shallow; whereas, at a distance from these
points where the scarped granitic cliffs plunge at once into deep water,
a much greater amount of elevation is necessary to produce an equally
conspicuous change.

As to the area in northern Europe which is subject to this slow
upheaving movement, we have not as yet sufficient data for estimating it
correctly. It seems probable, however, that it reaches from Gothenburg
to Torneo, and from thence to the North Cape, the rate of elevation
increasing always as we proceed farther northwards. The two extremities
of this line are more than a thousand geographical miles distant from
each other; and as both terminate in the ocean, we know not how much
farther the motion may be prolonged under water. As to the breadth of
the tract, its limits are equally uncertain, though it evidently extends
across the widest parts of the Gulf of Bothnia, and may probably stretch
far into the interior, both of Sweden and Finland. Now if the elevation
continue, a larger part of the Gulf of Bothnia will be turned into land,
as also more of the ocean off the west coast of Sweden between
Gothenburg and Uddevalla; and on the other hand, if the change has been
going on for thousands of years at the rate of several feet in a
century, large tracts of what is now land must have been submarine at
periods comparatively modern. It is natural therefore to inquire whether
there are any signs of the recent sojourn of the sea on districts now
inland? The answer is most satisfactory.--Near Uddevalla and the
neighboring coastland, we find upraised deposits of shells belonging to
species such as now live in the ocean; while on the opposite or eastern
side of Sweden, near Stockholm, Gefle, and other places bordering the
Bothnian Gulf, there are analogous beds containing shells of species
characteristic of the Baltic.

Von Buch announced in 1807, that he had discovered in Norway and at
Uddevalla in Sweden, beds of shells of existing species, at considerable
heights above the sea. Since that time, other naturalists have
confirmed his observation; and, according to Strom, deposits occur at
an elevation of more than 400 fe