ORIGIN OF MOUNTAINS IN SWEDEN.

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matter that it brought with it ; adding stratum after stratumwith every fresh current, until the mountain reached the presentaltitude. On another side, the great lake Wenner lies at itsbase, and presents a hollow corresponding to the elevation ofthe mountain. We need hardly speak of the different sub-stances of which the latter is formed, further than to remark,that the base itself consists of limestone strata of differentkinds and colours, succeeded by scissile argillaceous, which insome places is as perpendicular as a wall; then we have theharder scissile and black calcareous rocks; some part also con-sists of the common granite. Pyrites and various other stonesare also found there; the pyrites, in particular, is very rich,and deserves to be classed amongst the rarer ores of Europe .

From the above facts we may conclude that all these forma-tions have been produced in some very deep or universal dilu-vian ocean, which is proved by the following considerations.1. The mountains consist of substances of such different kinds,as sand, clays, smooth pebbles, large stones, and masses ofrock. 2. Their slopes indicate that they were thrown up bythe sea into great accumulations, and so formed into lengthenedridges, with shelving sides. 3. These ridges run north andsouth; which shews that the same winds prevailed in the dilu-vian as in the present ocean. The cause of the variation of thewinds in the inland seas, (for example, in the North Sea , theGerman Ocean, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, &c.,) seems tobe owing to the neighbouring shores and countries, by whichthe winds are turned, or compelled to alter their direction; thishowever is not the case in the Ocean, where the winds are knownto blow nearly always from the same quarter, and indeed gene-rally from the east or west. If, therefore, such large massesand accumulations of clay and sand could be moved by thepower of the sea, this must necessarily have taken place underthe influence of these easterly and westerly winds, which woulddetermine the direction of the mountain chains: and this indi-cates that the ocean we are speaking of was universal, andstood at a great height above the land, and had no limits,shores, or straits to warp the winds, or cause them to blow tonew and unusual quarters.

But should the reader ask how the ocean could carry away