Essay on the Theory of the Earth

by baron Georges Cuvier

Places.	Mean marked in	Height of the water reobserved in	Fall beneath the original mark in feet.	Number of years.	Fall of the water in 100 years, in feet.
Raholem, parish of Lower Kalix,	1700	1750	2.05	50	4.10
		1775	2.49	75	4.32
Stor Rebben, parish of Pitea,	1751	1785	1.70	34	5.00
		1796	1.90	45	4.22
Ratan, parish of Bygdea,	1749	1785	2.70	36	4.72
		1795	2.50	46	5.43
		1819	2.60	70	3.47
	1774	1785	0.55	11	5.00
		1795	1.16	21	5.52
		1819	1.60	45	3.57
	1795	1819	0.65	24	2.71
Rönnskat, on the coast of Wasa,	1755	1797	1.70	42	4.05
		1821	2.87	65	4.35
Wargön, on the coast of Wasa,	1755	1785	1.45	30	4.83
		1797	1.69	42	4.02
		1821	2.87	65	4.35
Lögfrundet, near Sefle,	1731	1785	2.90	54	5.37
		1796	2.17	65	3.34
Ulfon, in Angermanland,	1795	1822	1.58	27	5.85

It is not demonstrated that the numbers of the last column represent exactly the lowering of the water in a century; for it has not yet been sufficiently determined if this lowering be uniform, or if it vary at different periods, and if it depend upon some local circumstance,—upon the climate,—or upon the state of the atmosphere. Nor is it properly established, that this lowering, which becomes less perceptible from the north of the Baltic, until it disappears entirely at the southern extremity, follows precisely the same law of diminution as the latitude. It appears to be uniform in the whole extent of the Gulf of Bothnia, and it rises about four feet and a quarter in that region; at Calmar (lat. 57° 50′) it is only two feet; but it is not yet known whether it decreases in a regular manner between these two places.

Some authors consider the facts related by MM. Bruncrona and Halstrom, as deciding the question in favour of those who believe in a lowering of the level of the Baltic. The editor of the Annalen der Physik[384] goes farther, and seems to consider it as confirming the opinion of a general lowering of the level of the sea. In support of this opinion, he adduces the traditions and observations of the natives of Otaheite and of the Moluccas and Sunda Islands, regarding the retreat of the sea in several parts of their coast. We are disposed to stand neutral in this matter. The geographers who have collected the greatest number of facts relating to the level of the inland seas, and of the ocean in its various regions, find nearly as many in favour of a rise as in favour of a fall of level. The very distribution of contrary indications, leads them to believe in a partial displacement of the mass of waters from one region towards another, and even from the one side of an inland sea towards the opposite side; a displacement which might be owing to fugitive or more or less durable causes, such as a variation of temperature in the polar regions, the action of winds and of currents, modified by the greater or less quantity of water in the rivers that feed the different basins, upon the sides opposed to their direction.

Are the facts contained in the memoir in question of a nature to overthrow this opinion? They do not appear so to us. The two series of observations which are adduced, only shew a fall upon the coasts of Sweden, properly so called, that is to say, upon the west coast of the Baltic, and the east coast of the Cattegat. Two observations only have been made upon the coasts of Finland, toward the extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia. These facts would perfectly accord with the opinion of those who think that the currents determined from the north to the south of the Baltic by the numerous streams which rush into it, push the waters toward the south shore, that of Pomerania, Mecklenbourg, and Holstein; and that the waters consequently gain upon the land on this coast, as numerous historical facts attest, while they retire along the northern shores, those of the Gulf of Bothnia. Be this as it may, the question as to the constancy of the level of the sea cannot be considered as decided, until a long series of observations shall have been made upon authentic and perfectly fixed measures erected upon all the shores of the different seas, and of the different regions of the ocean. Those which have been published in the Swedish Transactions furnish important documents for this purpose; and similar ones should be begun to be collected in other countries.

The phenomena exhibited by the waters of the Baltic engaged the attention of two rival speculators, Playfair and Deluc; and their views are often alluded to by geologists. We shall here state them in their own words. Professor Playfair, in his well known and elegant work on the Huttonian Theory of the Earth, has the following remarks:

“If we proceed further to the north, to the shores of the Baltic for instance, we have undoubted evidence of a change of level in the same direction as on our own shores. The level of the sea has been represented as lowering at so great a rate as forty inches in a century. Celsius observed, that several rocks which are now above the water, were not long ago sunken rocks, and dangerous to navigators; and he took particular notice of one which, in the year 1680, was on the surface of the water, and, in the year 1731, was 20½ Swedish inches above it. From an inscription near Aspo, in the lake Melar, which communicates with the Baltic, engraved, as is supposed, about five centuries ago, the level of the sea appears to have sunk in that time no less than thirteen Swedish feet. All these facts, with many more which it is unnecessary to enumerate, make the gradual depression, not only of the Baltic, but of the whole Northern Ocean, a matter of certainty.”—Playfair’s Illustrations, p. 445.

That indefatigable and accurate observer De Luc, has the following commentary on the preceding passage.