bell. In that of Sydserff, the ball was placed by the sheriff in the common duct, and the voter, by moving a lever, guided it into a channel leading to the box of a particular candidate. Generally, it may be said that these mechanical contrivances have been attempts to make the ball-system secret and accurate, each voter depositing a ball, and the accumulated balls showing the state of the poll. This in a large constituency would become unwieldy, and no permanent record of the poll (except the collocation of the balls) would be obtained. A considerable advance is made in the invention of Mr. James Davie, Edinburgh, | which we select for detailed description. Of this register an essential part is the wooden chamber (4 feet square by 7 feet in height) which the voter, having received a metal ball from the sheriff, enters by a spring-hinged door to which a lever is attached. On one side of the chamber is a box, on the lid of which stand differently colored cups, marked each with a number and the name of a candidate. Inside the box is a cylinder traversed lengthwise by a spindle, and having at one end a toothed wheel. By a screw-nut the cylinder revolves on and moves along the spindle. On the cylinder is paper divided into spaces, which correspond with the cups, and above this a sheet of carbonized paper as a printing medium. A pinion connects the cylinder with the door-lever, so that the opening of the door drives round the paper one space. A steel type, suspended on an elastic card, is centred to each cup. The voter having placed the ball in a cup, leaves the chamber by another spring-hinged door, which in opening displaces the bottoms of the cups, and thus causes the ball to drop on the head of the type, beneath which it presses against the recording sheet on the cylinder. The ball immediately rolls down a groove to the sheriff's desk outside the chamber, where it is handed to the next voter, only one ball being used in connection with each register (unless, of course, there are more votes than one to be given). The closing of the exit door restores the bottoms to the cups. This simple and effectual plan has the merit of secrecy, of immediate detection of fraud (e.g., the introduction of a nonofficial ball to the cup), of rapidity in voting and in counting, and of leaving almost nothing to the voter's presence of mind. The voter can make only one well-defined mark on the paper, and this he can do only in leaving the chamber before the next voter has entered. Mr. Davie's invention, which in 1870 received a prize from the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, is obviously not adapted to cumulative voting, but may be worked with any number of candidates under single voting. Although the motion of the cylinder would record in a diagonal direction the series of votes, it would be practically impossible to identify votes from a numbered list of the voters. (w. c. s.) BALLYCASTLE, a seaport town of Ireland, county Antrim, situated on a bay opposite Rathlin island. The town is well built, consisting of two parts, about a quarter of a mile asunder, and connected by a fine avenue. Towards the close of the 18th century, one of the Boyd family devoted himself to the extension and improvement of the town, establishing manufactures, endowing charities, and building churches, and succeeded in producing a temporary vitality. Upwards of £150,000 is said to have been expended upon the pier and harbor; but the violence of the sea overthrew the former, and the latter has been filled with sand. To the east of the town are the remains of an abbey. Population in 1871, 1253. BALLYMENA, a town of Ireland, county Antrim, on the Braid, an affluent of the Maine, two miles above their junction. It is 33 miles N.N.W. of Belfast, with which it is connected by railway. The town owes its prosperity chiefly to its linen trade, introduced in 1733, which gives employment to the greater part of the inhabitants. It has a parish church, several chapels and schools, a markethouse, and four branch banks. There is a newspaper published in the town called the Ballymena Observer. Population in 1871, including Hanyville in the suburbs, 7931. BALLYSHANNON, a seaport and market-town of Ireland, county of Donegal, situated at the mouth of the Erne. Lat. 54° 30′ N., long. 8° 11' W. The river is here crossed by a bridge of fourteen arches, which connects the town with the suburb of Purt. Below the bridge the river forms a beautiful cascade, 150 yards wide, with a fall at low water of 16 feet. The harbor is a small creek of Donegal Bay, about 600 yards long and 350 yards broad, and 1 Letters-Patent, No. 63 of 1869, is only accessible to small vessels. The town contains a church, several chapels, a bank, a market-house, barracks, and a union workhouse The salmon fishery is the only important occupation. Previous to the Union Ballyshannon returned two members to the Irish Parliament. Population in 1871, 2958. BALMEZ, JAIME LUCIEN, a Spanish ecclesiastic, eminent as a political writer and a philosopher, was born at Vich in Catalonia, on the 28th August, 1810, and died there on the 9th July, 1848. The most important of his works, and that on which his fame principally rests, is entitled E Protestantismo comparado con el Catolicismo en sus relaciones con la Civilisacion Europea, published 1842-44, a most able defence of Catholicism. It has been translated into French, Italian, German, and English. The best of his philosophical works, which are able expositions of the old scholastic system of thought, are the Filosofia Fondamental, 1846, and the Corso de Filosofia Elemental, 4 vols. 1847. The Protestantism and Catholicity and the Fundamental Philosophy have both been translated into English (1849, 2 vols. 1857). Nearly all the works are to be had in German and French. See M. de Blanche-Raffin, Jacques Balmès, sa Vie et ses Ouvrages, Paris, 1849. BALMORAL CASTLE, a residence of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, on the right bank of the River Dee, about 9 miles above Ballater and fifty miles from Aberdeen. The property, which now consists of upwards of 10,000 acres, besides a large tract of hill ground, belonged in its original extent to the Farquharsons of Inverey, by whom it was sold to the Earl of Fife. In 1848 it was leased by the late Prince Consort, and in 1852 was finally purchased for a sum of £32,000. The castle, which was erected at Prince Albert's private expense, is of the Scotch baronial style of architecture. in BALNAVES, HENRY, a Scottish Protestant, born at Kirkcaldy in Fife, in the reign of James V., and educated at the university of St. Andrews. There is some doubt both as to the exact date of his birth, which has been fixed as 1520, and as to the rank in society to which he belonged. He completed his studies on the Continent, and returning to Scotland, entered the family of the Earl of Arran, who at that time was regent; but in the year 1542 the earl dismissed him for embracing the Protestant religion. 1546 he was implicated in the murder of Cardinal Beaton, at least he is known to have taken refuge with the conspirators in the castle of St. Andrews; and when they were at last obliged to surrender to the French, he was sent with the rest of the garrison as a prisoner to France. During his confinement at Rouen he wrote the work entitled Confession.of Faith, to which Knox added marginal notes and a preface; but it was not published till 1584, five years after his death. He returned to Scotland about the year 1559, and having joined the Congregation, was appointed one of the commissioners to treat with the duke of Norfolk on the part of Queen Elizabeth. In 1563 he was made one of the lords of Session, an office which he is said to have held for the first time in 1538, and was appointed by the General Assembly, with other learned men, to revise the Book of Discipline. Knox, his contemporary and fellow-laborer, gives him the character of a very learned and pious man. Balnaves died at Edinburgh in 1579. BALSAM, an oleo-resin or natural compound of resin and essential oil, in such proportions that the substance is in a viscous or semi-fluid condition. The gradations from a solid resin to a limpid essential oil are insensible, and most resins have a balsamic consistency on their exudation, only hardening by exposure to air. It has been proposed to limit the name balsam to such substances as contain cinnamic or an analogous acid in addition to the volatile oil and resin which turpentines contain alone; but this distinction has not been carried out. The fragrant balsams which contain cinnamic or benzoic acid may, however, be regarded as a distinct class, allied to each other by their composition, properties, and uses. Those of this class found in commerce are the balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, liquid storax, and liquidambar. Balsam of Peru is the produce of a lofty leguminous tree, Myrospermum peruiferum, growing within a limited area in San Salvador, Central America, but now introduced into Ceylon. It is a thick, viscid oleo-resin of a deep brown or black color and a fragrant balsamic odor. It has been analyzed by Kachler, who thus states its percentage composition, cinnamic acid 46, resin 32, benzylic alcohol 20. It is used in perfumery, and in medicine as a stimulant | occupation he achieved great success, and was selected to application to indolent sores, as well as internally for prepare the plans for some of the largest public edifices in asthma and pectoral complaints. Balsam of Tolu is like- Paris. His reputation, however, rests not so much on his wise produced from a species of Myrospermum, M. tolui- practical performances in architecture as on his great skill ferum. It is of a brown color, thicker than Peru balsam, in the art of engraving. Among the best known of his and attains a considerable degree of solidity on keeping. plates are the drawings of Paris (Paris et ses Monuments, 2 It also is a product of equatorial America, but is found over vols. fol., 1803), the engravings for Denon's Egypte, the a much wider area than is the balsam of Peru. Tolu bal- illustrations of Napoleon's wars (La Colonne de la grande sam consists of a combination of inodorous resin with Armée), and those contained in the series entitled the Grand cinnamic acid, no benzoic acid being present in it. It is Prix de l'Architecture, which for some time he carried on used in perfumery and as a constituent in cough syrups alone. He has also gained distinction as an engraver of and lozenges. Liquid storax is a balsam yielded by portraits. Liquidambar orientalis, a native of Asia Minor. It is a soft resinous substance, with a pleasing balsamic odor, especially after it has been kept for some time. It contains a principle styrol or cinnamene-to which it owes its peculiar odor, besides cinnamic acid, stryacin, and a resin. Liquid storax is used in medicine as an external application in skin diseases, and internally as an expectorant. An analogous substance is derived from Liquidambar Altingia in Java. Liquidambar balsam is derived from Liquidambar styraciflua, a tree found in the United States and Mexico. It contains cinnamic acid, but is destitute of benzoic acid. BALTIC SEA. The name by which this inland sea is commonly designated is first found in the 11th century, in the work of Adam of Bremen, entitled Chorographia Scandinavic. The derivation of the word is uncertain. It seems probable that, whatever may be the etymology of the name Of balsams entirely destitute of cinnamic and benzoic constituents the following are found in commerce:-Mecca Balsam or Balm of Gilead, yielded by the Balsamodendron Berryi (B. gileadense of De Candolle), a tree growing in Arabia and Abyssinia, is supposed to be the balm of Scripture and the Báλcauov of Theophrastus. When fresh it is a viscid fluid, with a penetrating odor, but it solidifies with age. It was regarded with the utmost esteem among the nations of antiquity, and to the present day it is peculiarly prized among the people of the East. Balsam of Copaiba or Capivi is a fluid oleo-resin of a pale brown or straw color, produced from several trees of the genus Copaifera, growing in tropical America. It possesses a peculiar odor and a nauseous persistent tarry taste. Balsam of copaiba contains from 40 to 60 per cent. of essential oil, holding in solution a resin from which capivic acid can be prepared. It is chiefly used in medicine for the treatment of inflammatory affections of mucous surfaces. Under the name of Wood Oil, or Gurjun Balsam, an oleoresin is procured in India and the Eastern Archipelago from several species of Dipterocarpus, chiefly D. turbinatus, which has the odor and properties of copaiba, and is used for it in East Indian hospital practice. Wood oil is also used as a varnish in India, and forms an effective protection against the attacks of white ants. A substitute for copaiba is also found in the dark red balsam yielded by Hardwickia pinnata, a leguminous tree. Canada Balsam.-The oleo-resins obtained from coniferous trees are usually termed turpentines, but that yielded by Abies balsamea is known in commerce as Balsam of Canada. It is a very transparent substance, somewhat fluid when first run, but thickening considerably with age, possessed of a delicate yellow color, and a mild terebinthous odor. According to Flückiger and Hanbury it contains 24 per cent. of essential oil, 60 per cent. of resin soluble in alcohol, and 16 per cent. of resin soluble only in ether. It has been used for the same purposes as copaiba, but its chief uses are for mounting preparations for the microscope and as a varnish. BALTA, the chief town of a circle of the same name in the Russian government of Podolia. It stands on the Kodima, near its junction with the Bng, and carries on a large trade in cattle and horses and the raw products of the surrounding district. It has two great annual fairs, the more important being held at Whitsuntide and the other in June. A variety of industries, such as tallow-melting, soap-boiling, tile-making, and brewing, are likewise prosecuted. The Jews form a very considerable part of the population, which in 1867 numbered 14,528. Balta was in great part destroyed by the Russians in 1780. BALTARD, LOUIS PIERRE, a distinguished French architect and engraver, was born at Paris in 1765, and died in 1846. He was originally a landscape painter, but in his travels through Italy was so much struck with the beauty of the Italian buildings, that he changed his profession and devoted himself to architecture. In his new Sketch-Map of Baltic Sea. The Baltic, that of the Great and Little Belts is the same. Swedes, Danes, and Germans call it the Ostsee or East Sea. The Baltic is enclosed by Sweden, Russia, the German empire, and Denmark; and it communicates with the North Sea, by the winding channel which lies between the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula and the northern peninsula of Schleswig and Jutland. The first part of this channel is in great measure blocked by the islands of Zealand and Fünen, so as to form the three narrow passages which are known as the Sound (between Sweden and Zealand), the Great Belt (between Zealand and Fünen), and the Little Belt (between Fünen and Jutland). Each of these forms a distinct communication between the Baltic and the Cattegat, which is the open portion of the channel lying between the coast of Sweden and the eastern side of Jutland; while the Cattegat opens freely into the Skager Rack, which is the continuation of same open channel, between the southern end of Norway and the north-west coast of Jutland, into the North Sea. The length of the Baltic Sea, from Swinemünde in the S. to Tornea in the N., is nearly 900 miles; and its greatest width, between Karlscrona and Memel, exceeds 200 miles. Its whole area, including the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, is about 160,000 geographical square miles. It runs first in an easterly direction as far as Memel, a distance of 300 miles, and then northwards as far as lat. 59° 21′ N., a distance of 350 miles, at which point it separates into two great gulfs. One of these, the Gulf of Finland, runs nearly due E.; the other, the Gulf of Bothnia, almost N. The Gulf of Bothnia is 400 miles in length, with an extreme breadth of 120 miles, but where narrowest it does not exceed 40 miles. The archipelago of Aland lies at its entrance. The Gulf of Finland is 280 miles in length, with a mean breadth of 60 or 70 miles. The depth of the Baltic rarely exceeds 100 fathoms being greatest between the island of Bornholm and the coast of Sweden, where it reaches 115 fathoms, and least in the neighborhood of the mouths of large rivers, which bring down a great quantity of earthy matter, especially in the spring, so that in many parts the bottom is being so rapidly raised by its deposit that the mouths of rivers formerly navigable are now inaccessible. This is especially the case in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, above Quarken, where several tracts are now dry land which were once water; and also in the neighborhood of Tornea, where meadows now take the place of waters which were traversed in boats by the French Academicians, when they were measuring an arc of the meridian. Along the southern coast the shallowness of the harbors is a great obstacle to navigation, especially since they are closed by ice for nearly one-third of the year. On the western side it is not more than 15 fathoms deep; and, in general, it is only from 8 to 10 fathoms. On the S. it nowhere exceeds 50 fathoms. The Gulf of Finland suddenly shallows from 50 or 60 fathoms to 5, or even less. The average depth of the Gulf of Bothnia is not greater than that of the rest of Numerous rocky islands and reefs, many of them level with the water, render the navigation of this sea extremely dangerous. the sea. Dnieper by a canal through which vessels can pass from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Vistula, which receives the waters of the whole area of Russian and Prussian Poland, flowing past Warsaw into the Baltic at Dantzig, is a very large and important river, having a length of 520 miles, of which 430 are navigable, and a drainage area of 72,000 square miles. And the Oder, rising in the hill districts of Silesia, drains the extensive level areas of Brandenberg and Pomerania, and discharges into an estuary, that may be said to begin from Stettin, the water drawn from an area of 45,000 square miles. Numerous rivers discharge themselves into the Gulf of Bothnia, bringing down water from the mountain ranges of Sweden and Norway; but their course is comparatively short and direct, with few tributaries, so that, individually, they do not attain any great size. The drainage of the more level southern portion of Sweden is for the most part collected by the great lakes Wener, Wetter, and Mälar, of which the first pours its water into the North Sea, and the others into the Baltic. By means of a canal joining Lakes Wener and Wetter vessels can pass directly from the Cattegat into the Baltic. The shore of the Baltic is generally low. Along the southern coast it is for the most part sandy,-with sandbanks outside, and sand-hills and plains inland. Where streams come down, there are often fresh-water lakes termed haffs, which are separated from the sea by narrow spits called nehrungs. Two of these haffs are of great extent; one of them, termed the Frische Haff, lies between Danzig and Königsberg, which last town is situated on the part of it most remote from the sea; the other, termed the Kurische Haff, lies between Königsberg and Memel, the latter town being situated on the channel connecting the haff with the sea. Near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland the coast becomes rocky, and continues to be so for the most part around the gulfs both of Finland and Bothnia, except towards the head of each; the rocks, how-owing in great degree to the fact that its shallowness and ever, are never high. The shores of the southern part of the Swedish peninsula are mostly high, but not rocky; at Stockholm, however, there is an archipelago of rocky islands, on some of which the town is partly built. Drainage Area. The Baltic may be considered as the estuary of a great number of rivers, none of them individually of great size, but collectively draining a very large area, which is estimated at about 717,000 square miles, or nearly one-fifth of the entire area of Europe. This great drainage area is remarkable for the small proportion of its boundary that is formed by mountains or high table-lands,-its greater part consisting of land of no considerable elevation, which slopes down very gradually to its coast-line, and of which a large proportion is covered by lakes. This is especially the character of the drainage area of the Neva, whose waters are immediately derived from the large shallow Lake Ladoga, which receives the contributions of numerous other lakes, Onega being the largest, though Lake Saima in Finland, with its irregular prolongations, is scarcely less extensive. The entire surface drained by the Neva is esti- | Imated at about 100,000 square miles, or nearly twenty times that of the drainage area of the Thames. Through Lake Onega, the Neva is connected with the Dwina and the Volga by canals, through which small vessels can pass from the Baltic into either the White Sea or the Caspian. The Duna or South Dwina, which discharges itself into the Gulf of Riga, is another important river, draining an area of about 35,000 miles in West Russia, and having a length of 520 miles, of which 405 miles are navigable. The drainage area of the Niemen, which enters the Baltic at Memel, is conterminous with that of the Duna, and is of about the same extent; this river is navigable for more than 400 miles from its outlet, and communicates with the Climate. It is not only, however, the extent of its drainage area, but the large proportion borne by the rain and snow which fall upon that area to the amount dissipated by evaporation from its surface, that goes to swell the aggre gate of fresh water poured into the basin of the Baltic; for there is probably no inhabited region of the whole globe over which so large a quantity of snow falls, in proportion to its area, as it does in the countries round this basin. They receive, direct from the Atlantic, a vast amount of moisture brought by its west and south-west winds; and even the winds which have already passed over the low plains of Jutland and Northern Germany will have parted with little of their moisture before reaching the Baltic provinces of Russia. When these vapor-laden west and south-west winds meet the cold dry east and north-east winds of Siberia, their moisture is precipitated, in summer as rain, and in winter as snow; and owing to the prevalence of a low atmospheric temperature through a large part of the year, the proportion lost by evaporation is extremely small as compared with what passes off from other inland seas. The large excess of the amount of fresh water discharged into the basin, over that which passes off by evaporation from its surface, is indicated by its low salinity, which, however, varies considerably in its different parts and at different seasons of the year. The temperature of the Baltic is remarkable for its range, which is rather that of a terrestrial than of a marine area-this being doubtless the low salinity of its water allow a large part of its surface to be frozen during the winter. Nearly the whole of the Gulf of Bothnia, with the land enclosing it on both sides, lies between the January isotherms of 10° and 20°-the former crossing it near its head, and the latter near its junction with the Baltic proper; and the whole of the Baltic proper, with the land enclosing it on the east, south, and west, lies between the January isotherms of 20° and 30°. On the other hand, the July isotherm of 60°, which crosses England near the parallel of 54°, passes across the Gulf of Bothnia near the Walgrund Islands, almost 9° further north; and the whole of the Baltic proper, with the Gulf of Finland and the southern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, lies between the July isotherms of 60° and 65°. Thus the range between the mean summer and mean winter temperatures, which is only about 20° in the British Islands, is about 40° over the Baltic area. The mean annual temperature of the Gulf of Bothnia ranges between 30° at its northern extremity and 40° at its southern, while that of the Baltic ranges from 40° at its northern boundary to about 46° at its southern. Formation and Transportation of Ice.-The greater part of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland is usually frozen over during the winter, the formation of ice beginning at the head and extending downwards. Masses of ice, conveyed by the currents into the Baltic proper, freeze together as the winter advances, and form vast fields, generally extending on the east side as far south as the islands of Dagë and Oesel, and on the west to the south of Stockholm. It happens sometimes, though rarely, that large portions of the Baltic proper are continuously frozen over; but navigation is usually interrupted by the blocking up of its bays and harbors with ice, from the latter part of December to the beginning of April. The freezing of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland begins earlier and ends later. The curious phenomenon of the formation of bottom-ice, and its rise to the surface, is more frequently seen in the Baltic and the Cattegat than in the open ocean, chiefly, it seems probable, on account of the shallowness of these seas. It has been particularly observed by Prof. Nilsson in the Cattegat, off Kullen Point, near the southern extremity of Sweden; but according to Chydenius it is very common in various parts of the Baltic, having been especially noticed by the fishermen off the Aland Islands. In calm winter weather, water of from 4 to 8 feet deep is often covered in a very short time with small plates of ice, mostly circular in form, varying in diameter from 1 to 5 inches, and having a uniform thickness which never exceeds two lines. These plates can be seen coming up from below, rising edgeways towards the surface, often with such force as to lift themselves three or four inches out of the water. When they come up in great numbers they are often piled one upon another, and are then usually soon broken, by the action either of waves or of currents, into small pieces, which unite again by regelation so as to form irregular cakes of ice; and these, as soon as the water becomes tolerably still, cohere into a continuous rough sheet. But it sometimes happens that if the plates come up more sparsely, and the weather is very still and cold, they remain unbroken, and the diameter of each increases, sometimes to two feet or even more. When the fishermen notice these ice-plates coming up from below in large quantities, they at once make for land, as they know that they might otherwise be soon completely ice-bound. The same thing appears to happen in polar seas in the shallow water near land. Chydenius, who was a member of the Swedish Spitzbergen expedition in 1857, states that on one occasion the surface of the sea, which was previously quite clear of ice, became so covered in the course of half an hour, that it was with difficulty that a boat could be forced through it; and this although the temperature of the air during the day had not been lower than 4o C., and no wind or stream had brought the ice together. It does not seem very clear in what way this formation of bottom-ice is to be accounted for. Bottom-ice has often been noticed in fresh-water lakes and streams; and large plates have been seen to rise to the surface, sometimes with force enough to bring up stones of considerable size,-in one instance a heavy iron chain. In these cases it would seem that the motion of the bottom-water over roughened surfaces contributes to its congelation. And in the shallow water near the sea-shore, stones and sea-weeds may be seen covered with ice, like the hoar-frost on trees, before any ice forms on the surface. It is to be remembered that seawater increases in density down to its freezing point, so that the water cooled at the surface will always go down, the deepest stratum being thus the coldest. And thus, although no lower temperature can be carried down by the water than that to which it has been subjected at the surface, the water that does not freeze at (say) -2.5° C. when lying upon water, changes into ice when it comes in contact with the irregular solid bottom, perhaps on account of the more ready dissipation, under the latter circumstances, of the heat set free in the act of congelation. When ice forms over the shallow bottoms which border parts of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, large blocks of stone are frequently frozen into it; and these, being lifted when the water rises in the early summer, are often transported by currents to considerable distances, finally subsiding again to the bottom when the ice melts. In this manner a deposit of rocky fragments, some of them 6 or 8 feet across, is being formed at the bottom of the Baltic outlets; as is known from the fact, that sunken ships which have been visited by divers in the Sound and in Copenhagen roads have been found covered with such blocks within no very long period. It not unfrequently happens, moreover, that sheets of ice with included boulders are driven up on the coast during storms, and are thus carried some way inland, being sometimes packed to a height of even 50 feet. A case was described by Von Baer in which a block of granite, whose weight was estimated at between 400 and 500 tons, was thus carried by the ice during the winters of 1837-8; and Forchhammer mentions that the Sound being suddenly frozen over during an intense frost in February, 1844, sheets of ice driven by a storm were heaped upon the shore of the bay of Täarbeijk, and frozen into one mass so as to form a mound more than 16 feet high, which threw down the walls of several houses, and left behind it ridges of sand and pebbles when it thawed. It is apparently, moreover, by similar agencies, that the fringe of rocky islands of all dimensions called the Skär, which lies at a little distance from the shore of many parts of the Baltic, is being gradually modified. Boats and small vessels can sail in smooth water within this skär, even when the sea outside is strongly agitated; but the navigation is intricate, and the danger from sunken rocks to those not thoroughly acquainted with it is very considerable. The diminution which has been noticed from time to time in the depth of the channels, and the appearance above water of what were formerly regarded as sunken rocks or reefs, have been regarded as concurring with other evidence to prove that a general rise of land is now going on over this area. But it seems probable, from what has now been stated, that the increase of height and dimensions which has been observed in the reefs and inlets of the skär during the last half century, may be adequately accounted for by the action of ice, which has piled up (generally on a basis of fixed rock) accumulations of transported debris. Rise of Land around the Baltic.-Early in the last century the Swedish physicist Celsius (to whom we owe the invention of the centigrade scale) formed the opinion that the waters both of the Baltic and of the North Sea were gradually subsiding; and this opinion, though controverted by other authorities, was embraced by Linnæus. It is now clear that many of the facts by which it was supported are explicable by the transporting agency of rivers and of ice, as already explained; and it was pointed out by Playfair in 1802, that even admitting the proofs on which Celsius relied, they would rather show that the land is rising, than that the water is receding. During the present century a great deal of attention has been given to this question, on account of its geological interest, by many very able observers; and the results may be briefly summarized as follows:-(1.) An elevation of the whole of Norway, from the North Cape to the Naze, has taken place within a comparatively recent period,—as is evidenced by the numbers of raised beaches containing existing shells,1 which are found at different points along the western coast, frequently at a height of 200 feet above the present sea-level, and in some spots at a height of more than 600 feet. As these beaches, where one lies above another, are not always parallel, it appears that the elevatory action did not take place equally over the whole area; and the movements were probably intermittent, with long pauses between. (2.) At various points along the coast of the Baltic and the Gulf of Bothnia, alike in Sweden and in Finland, similar collections of shells have been found, belonging to species now inhabiting the basin, and characterized by the peculiar facies to be presently noticed as distinguishing its molluscan fauna from that of the ocean. Such deposits have been found very far inland, and at a height of 230 feet above the sea. Hence it appears that before this upheaval took place, the Baltic must have been separated, as now, from the North Sea by the mountain ridge of Norway, although it extended over a considerably larger area of what is at present low-lying land. (3.) Notwithstanding the numerous observations which have been made with a view to ascertain whether any change of level is now going on, the question must be regarded as still undetermined. Little reliance can be placed on occasional comparisons of the height of marks made upon rocks above the sea-level, since, although there are no tides, the height of the water in the basin is subject to considerable variations, from causes to be presently explained. (4.) There is a good deal of evidence, on the other hand, that, towards the southern extremity of Sweden, there has been a depression of the land since the historic period. In this portion, known as Scania, no elevated beds of recent marine shells have been met with; in its seaport towns there are streets now at or even below the level of the water, which must have been above it when first built; and a large stone whose distance from the sea was measured by Linnæus, in 1749, was Jeffreys in 1862, were characterized by him as glacial; but they have been shown to be specifically identical with mollusca now living at Spitzbergen; and it is probable that when the water was deeper than at present along the coast of Norway, these would have ranged southwards along the cold bottom, as they do even now to a certain extent. 1 The shells found in the raised beach at Uddevalla by Mr. J. Gwyn even as much as 3 feet without any apparent cause, and maintains itself at that height, sometimes only for a few days, but occasionally for several weeks together, and this at all seasons. Schultén, having observed that such elevations of level are preceded by a fall of the barometer, and that when the barometer rises again the water subsides, was led to recognize the dependence of these changes upor converse changes in atmospheric pressure; and this reference was confirmed by observation of the constant proportion borne by one to the other. A similar consequence of variation in atmospheric pressure has been observed in the Mediterranean (see MEDITERRANEAN); and it has also been noticed in England as a disturbing element in modifying the height of the tides. found 100 feet nearer the water's edge when its distance | It had long been noticed that its level occasionally rises was again measured in 1836. Near Stockholm, again, a fishing-hut, with remains of boats of very antique form and construction, was found, in 1819, at a depth of 60 feet, covered over with gravel and shell-marl; and it was considered by Sir C. Lyell to be impossible to explain the position of this hut without imagining first a subsidence to the depth of more than 60 feet, and then a re-elevation. On the whole, it appears clear that oscillations of level, not uniform either in direction or in degree, have taken place in various parts of the Scandinavian peninsula within a recent period, whilst in regard to the continuance of any such changes at the present time we have no certain knowledge, though it is considered probable by many of the most distinguished savans both of Sweden and Norway. Movements of Water in the Baltic.-There is scarcely any tidal movement in the Baltic; for though there are sensible tides in the Skager Rack, these begin to diminish in the Cattegat, and are very trifling in the Sound and Belts, averaging only about a foot at Copenhagen. There is usually a general movement of the upper waters of the Baltic towards the three channels which form its outlet, and a considerable flow of water through them. The large volume of water discharged by the rivers that empty themselves into the upper end of that gulf forms a southward current, which becomes very rapid where it narrows at Quarken (being partly blocked also by the Walgrund Islands), and again where it is obstructed by the Aland Islands, as it enters the Baltic proper. In that part of the basin the current is liable to considerable modification from prevalent winds; but it is usually very perceptible in the spring and early part of the summer, when the snows are melting. On the other hand, when an unusual continuance of north-west wind concurs with high spring-tides to drive the water of the North Sea into the outlet of the Baltic, a large body of water flows back into its basin, producing a reverse current, which is felt as far as Danzig. There are also considerable variations in the height of the water, that seem for the most part referrible to three different conditions, which may operate separately or in combination, viz., (1), the seasonal increase and decrease of the amount of water brought down by rivers; (2), the banking-up of the outflow by opposing winds; and (3), variations in atmospheric pressure. (1.) During the winter months the quantity of fresh water poured into the Baltic by the rivers which discharge themselves into it is greatly reduced by the freezing of their sources; and this is, of course, especially the case with those that empty themselves into the Gulf of Bothnia. Hence the general level of the surface is at its lowest at this season. With the melting of the snow in spring and early summer, however, there is an enormous increase in the quantity of fresh water poured into the basin, and the level of its surface then rises. There is always, of course, a tendency to equalization of the level of the Baltic with that of the sea outside, by outflow or inflow currents through its three channels of communication; but the narrowness of these prevents that equalization from being immediate, and it is often interfered with by winds. (2.) The influence of winds in banking up the water at the outlets, and even in reversing the usual currents, is very decided, as has been especially shown by the recent researches of Dr. Meyer of Kiel. The strongest and most constant surface-outflow is seen during the autumn and winter months, when there is little or no elevation of level, but when the prevalent direction of the wind is such as to drive the Baltic water towards and through the straits. When, on the other hand, the winds prevalent in the North Sea tend to drive its water into the straits, their usual outcurrent may be reversed; and this most frequently happens during the spring and summer months, although the excess water to be discharged is then at its greatest. It sometimes happens, especially about the autumnal equinox, that a N.W. gale concurs with a high tide in the Skager Rack to drive its water towards the Baltic, causing it to overflow the lower portions of some of the Danish islands. If, then, a southerly wind should carry this water onwards into the Gulf of Finland, the check which it gives to the downflow of the Neva produces disastrous inundations at St. Petersburg. (3.) The influence of atmospheric pressure upon the height of the water in the Baltic is very remarkable. 1 Untersuchungen über Physikalische Verhältnisse des Westlichen Theiles der Ostsee. Salinity of Baltic Water.-As might be expected from what has been already stated, the proportion of salt in the water of the Baltic is very much below that of oceanic water, and varies greatly at different seasons. In the Gulf of Bothnia, at the time the river-flow is greatest, the surface water is often so little salt as to be quite drinkable, its sp. gr. having been found as low as 1.004. But it is said to contain at Christmas six times as much salt as at midsummer, showing that when the river supply is at its lowest, its place is taken by a reflux of salt water from the outside ocean. In the Baltic proper there is a very decided difference in salinity between the upper and the lower stratum; the less saline water of the surface flowing towards the outlet over the more saline water beneath, just as the fresh-water current of a great river runs out to sea, even far beyond the sight of land. Thus the proportion of salt in 1000 parts of a sample of surface-water taken near Stockholm being 5-919, that of bottom-water, brought up from 120 fathoms, was 7·182; and in like manner the proportion of salt in surface-water at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland being 3·552, that of bottom-water at 30 fathoms' depth was 4.921,-the proportion of salt in North Sea water averaging 32-823 parts in 1000. Nearer the outlet the proportion of salt is greater alike in surface and in bottom-water. From the careful and systematic observations of Dr. Meyer (op. cit.), it appears that the sp. gr. of the surface-stratum at Kiel ranges between about 1·0082 in summer and 1.0142 in winter, the latter showing somewhat above half the quantity of salt contained in ordinary sea-water. But if the direction of the prevalent winds during the autumn be such as to maintain a strong surface out-current, and consequently (as will presently appear) a very strong inward under-current, as happens in some years, the maximum of salinity will present itself at that season. The sp. gr. of the deeper stratum ranges at Kiel from 1.0145 to 10190; at Helsingör on the Sound from 10190 to 10220; and at Korsör on the Great Belt from 10180 to 10243; thus showing it to be principally composed of North Sea water, whose sp. gr. may be taken as 1'0264. Currents in the Baltic Straits.-The results of observation of the movements of the upper and under strata of water in the Baltic Straits, strongly confirm the doctrine elsewhere enunciated (see ATLANTIC) in regard to the potency of slight differences of downward pressure in the produc tion of under-currents. The prevalent movement of the upper stratum in the Baltic Straits is outward; and this concurs with the low salinity of Baltic water to indicats that it is partly an overflow current, produced by the excess of river supply over loss by evaporation, which tends to raise its level. But even when this outward surface-current is strong, there is usually an inward under-current of North Sea water, carrying back into the basin of the Baltic a large proportion of the salt which would otherwise be lost to it; and the existence of this under-current, which has been abundantly established by experimental inquiries, as well as by the observations of divers, is exactly what theory would lead us to predict. For if two columns of water of the same height, but differing in specific gravity, be made to communicate with each other alike at the surface and at the bottom, the lower part of the heavier column, having a greater lateral pressure, will flow towards the lighter, thus tending to produce an elevation of level in the latter, which will rectify itself by a surface-flow in the opposite direction; and thus a vertical circulation will be maintained, as long as the causes which maintain the difference of salinity remain in operation. Now, as the salinity in the oceanic column may be regarded as practically constant, whilst |