8

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS,

stones of so vast a size, and pile them together, he will find hisanswer in the principles of hydraulics. It is well known, 1. Thatwater presses according to its depth; so that its pressure onbodies or stones at the bottom is greater at a considerable thanat a small depth; which indeed cannot be denied. 2 . It islikewise known, that when the sea is in motion, not merely thewater on the surface, but that at the bottom also, rolls andfluctuates; when therefore a tempest arises, the bottom is oftenthrown upwards, and the water rendered turbid; in the sameway as in the atmosphere in which we live, we perceive thatthe air is in commotion, and driven into waves at the bottom,as well as at a greater height. 3. If therefore the waves givean impulse to the sea at the bottom, and water presses accord-ing to its depth, it follows that the water rolling at a greatdepth, is carried on with greater force and weight, in the sameway as a large and heavy ship strikes against any obstacle withgreater violence than a small or light vessel, though constructedof the same kind of timber. A wave at the bottom of the seaacts in a similar manner, and owing to the power derived fromthe weight of the superincumbent water, rushes with a greaterimpetus against any masses of stone, or other obstacles, andcarries them away with facility. 4. Therefore, as the bottom ofthe sea was covered with different sorts of stones, sand and clay,it is by no means extraordinary that a wave of very deep watercontinued towards the bottom should have had sufficient powerto bear away in its current stones of enormous bulk, and afterhaving torn them away from their foundations, to strew themabout in heaps, or pile them into mountains, and thus to form .ridges, or cover whole provinces with them. 5. Hence we seethat mountains of this description generally extend from northto south, that they contain stones that have been rubbed andpolished, mixed with sand, and scattered about in variousdirections. 6. These stones also exist in the greatest quan-tity in those places which are now at the highest elevationabove the sea, as in the province of Orebro , which is situatedbetween two seas, at a great height above their present level;namely, from seventy to eighty Swedish ells, in which provincethey are indeed most abundant. The reason of this is, thatas they could only be moved by the deeper waves, if the sea