{"collection":"earth","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/earth/toe/toe16.htm","path":"earth/toe/toe16.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/earth/toe/toe16.htm","text":"Theory of the Earth, by James Hutton, [1788 and 1795]\nConcerning that which may be termed the Primary Part of the Present Earth.\nIn the present theory, it is maintained, that there is no part of the earth which has not had the same origin, so far as this consists in that earth being collected at the bottom of the sea, and afterwards produced, as land, along with masses of melted substances, by the operation of mineral causes. But, though all those things be similar, or equal, as to the manner of their production, they are far from being so with regard to the periods of their original composition, or to the subsequent operations which they may have undergone.\nThere is a certain order established for the progress of nature, for the succession of things, and for the circulation of matter upon the surface of this globe; and, the order of time is associated with this change of things. But it is not in equal portions that time is thus combined with dissimilar things, nor always found, in our estimation, as equally accompanying those which we reckon similar. The succession of light and darkness is that which, in those operations, appears to us most steady; the alternation of heat and cold comes next, but not with equal regularity in its periods. The succession of wet and dry upon the surface of the earth, though equally the work of nature and the effect of regular causes, is often to us irregular, when we look for equal periods in the course of things which are unequal. It is by equalities that we find order in things, and we wish to find order every where.\nThe present object of our contemplation is the alternation of land and water upon the surface of this globe. It is only in knowing this succession of things, that natural appearances can be explained; and it is only from the examination of those appearances, that any certain knowledge of this operation is to be obtained. But how shall we acquire the knowledge of a system calculated for millions, not of years only, nor of the ages of man, but of the races of men, and the successions of empires? There is no question here with regard to the memory of man, of any human record, which continues the memory of man from age to age; we must read the transactions of time past, in the present state of natural bodies; and, for the reading of this character, we have nothing but the laws of nature, established in the science of man by his inductive reasoning.\nIt has been in reasoning after this manner, that I have endeavoured to prove, that every thing which we now behold, of the solid parts of this earth, had been formerly at the bottom of the sea; and that there is, in the constitution of this globe, a power for interchanging sea and land. If this shall be admitted as a just view of the system of this globe, we may next examine, how far there are to be found any marks of certain parts of our earth having more than once undergone that change of posture, or vicissitude of things, and of having had reiterated operations of the mineral kingdom changing their substance, as well as altering their positions in relation to the atmosphere and sea.\nBesides the gradual decay of solid land, exposed to the silent influences of the atmosphere, and to the violent operations of the waters moving upon the surface of the earth, there is a more sudden destruction that may be supposed to happen sometimes to our continents of land. In order to see this, it must be considered, that the continents of our earth are only raised above the level of the sea by the expansion of matter, placed below that land, and rarefied in that place: We may thus consider our land as placed upon pillars, which may break, and thus restore the ancient situation of things when this land had been originally collected at the bottom of the ocean. It is not here inquired by what mechanism this operation is to be performed; it is certainly by the exertion of a subterranean power that the land is elevated from the place in which it had been formed; and nothing is more natural than to suppose the supports of the land in time to fail, or be destroyed in the course of mineral operations which are to us unknown. In that case, whatever were remaining of that land, which had for millions of ages past sustained plants and animals, would again be placed at the bottom of the sea; and strata of every different species might be deposited again upon that mass, which, from an atmospheric situation, is now supposed to be lower than the surface of the sea.\nSuch a compound mass might be again resuscitated, or restored with the new superincumbent strata, consolidated in their texture and inclined in their position. In that case, the inferior mass must have undergone a double course of mineral changes and displacement; consequently, the effect of subterranean heat or fusion must be more apparent in this mass, and the marks of its original formation more and more obliterated.\nIf, in examining our land, we shall find a mass of matter which had been evidently formed originally in the ordinary manner of stratification, but which is now extremely distorted in its structure, and displaced in its position,\u2014which is also extremely consolidated in its mass, and variously changed in its composition,\u2014which therefore has the marks of its original or marine composition extremely obliterated, and many subsequent veins of melted mineral matter interjected; we should then reason to suppose that here were masses of matter which, though not different in their origin from those that are gradually deposited at the bottom of the ocean, have been more acted upon by subterranean heat and the expanding power, that is to say, have been changed in a greater degree by the operations of the mineral region. If this conclusion shall be thought reasonable, then here is an explanation of all the peculiar appearances of the alpine schistus masses of our land, those parts which have been erroneously considered as primitive in the constitution of the earth.\nWe are thus led to suppose, that some parts of our earth may have undergone the vicissitudes of sea and land more than once, having been changed from the summit of a continent to the bottom of the sea, and again erected, with the rest of that bottom, into the place of land. In that case, appearances might be found to induce natural philosophers to conclude that there were in our land primary parts, which had not the marine origin which is generally to be acknowledged in the structure of this earth; and, by finding other masses, of marine origin, superincumbent upon those primary mountains, they might make strange suppositions in order to explain those natural appearances.\nLet us now see what has been advanced by those philosophers who, though they term these parts of the earth primordial, and not primitive, at the same time appear to deny to those parts an origin analogous to that of their secondary mountains, or strata that are aquiform in their construction.\nM. de Luc, after having long believed that the strata of the Alps had been formed like those of the low countries, at the bottom of the sea, gives an account of the occasion by which he was first confirmed in the opposite opinion. 26 Like a true philosopher, he gives us the reason of this change.\n\"Ce fut une esp\u00e8ce de montagne tr\u00e8s commune, et que j'avois souvent examin\u00e9e qui dessilla mes yeux. La pierre qui la compose est de la classe appell\u00e9e schiste; son caract\u00e8re g\u00e9n\u00e9rique est d'\u00eatre feuillet\u00e9e; elle renferme l'ardoise dont on couvre les toits. Ces feuillets minces, qu'on peut prendre pour des couches, et qui le font en effet dans quelques pierres de ce genre, rappelloient toujours l'id\u00e9e vague de d\u00e9p\u00f4ts des eaux. Mais il y a des masses dont la composition est plut\u00f4t par fibres que par feuillets, et dont le mo\u00ebllon ressemble aux copeaux de bois d'un chantier. Le plus souvent aussi les feuillets sont situ\u00e9s en toute suite de sens dans une m\u00eame montagne, et quelquefois m\u00eame verticalement, Enfin il s'en trouve de si tortill\u00e9s, qu'il est impossible de les regarder comme des d\u00e9p\u00f4ts de l'eau.\n\"Ce fut donc cette esp\u00e8ce de montagne qui me persuada la premi\u00e8re que toutes les montagnes n'avoient pas une m\u00eame origine. Le lieu o\u00f9 j'abjurai mon erreur, \u00e9toit un de ces grands chantiers p\u00e9trifi\u00e9s, qui, par la vari\u00e9t\u00e9 du tortillement, et des zig-zags des fibres du mo\u00ebllon qui le composoit, attira singuli\u00e8rement mon attention. C'\u00e9toit un sort grand talus qui venoit d'une face escarp\u00e9e; j'y montai pour m'approcher du rocher, et je remarquai, avec \u00e9tonnement, des multitudes de paquets enchev\u00eatr\u00e9s les uns dans les autres, sans ordre ni direction fixe; les uns presqu'en rouleaux; les autres en zig-zag; et m\u00eame ce qui, s\u00e9par\u00e9 de la montagne, e\u00fbt peu \u00eatre pris pour des couches, le trouvoit inclin\u00e9 de toute mani\u00e8re dans cette m\u00eame face de rocher. Non, me dis-je alors \u00e0 moi-m\u00eame; non, l'eau n'a pu faire cette montagne.... Ni celle-l\u00e0 donc, ajoutai-je en regardant ailleurs.... Et pourquoi mieux celle-l\u00e0? Pourquoi toutes les montagnes devroient-elles \u00eatre le produit des eaux, seulement parce qu'il y en a quelques-unes qui annoncent cette origine? En effet, puis qu'on n'a song\u00e9 aux eaux, comme cause des montagnes, que par les preuves \u00e9videntes que quelques-unes offroient de cette formation; pourquoi \u00e9tendre cette cons\u00e9quence \u00e0 toutes, s'il y en a beaucoup qui manquent de ces caract\u00e8res? C'est comme le dit Mr. d'Alembert, qu'on g\u00e9n\u00e9ralise ses premi\u00e8res remarques l'instant d'apres qu'on ne remarquoit rien.\"\nScience is indebted to this author for giving us so clear a picture of natural appearances, and of his own reasoning upon those facts, in forming his opinion; he thus leads astray no person of sound judgment, although he may be in error. The disposition of things in the present case are such, that, reasoning from his principles, this author could not see the truth; because he had not been persuaded, that aquiform strata could have been so changed by the chemical power of fusion, and the mechanical force of bending while in a certain state of softness.\nBut though, in this case, the reasoning of this philosopher is to be justified, so far as he proceeded upon principles which could not lead him to the truth, his conduct is not so irreproachable in applying them to cases by which their fallacy might have been detected. This author acknowledges calcareous strata to be aquiform in their original; but, in those mountains which he has so much examined, he will find those aquiform bodies have undergone the same species of changes, which made him conclude that those schistus mountains had not been truly aquiform, as he at first had thought them. This would have led him to reason back upon his principles, and to say, If one species of strata may be thus changed in its texture, and its shape, may not another be equally so? Therefore, may not the origin of both be similar?\nBut least I should do injustice to this author, to whom we are indebted for many valuable observations in natural history, I shall transcribe what he has said upon the subject, being persuaded that my readers will not think this improper in me, or impertinent to the argument.\n\"Quand nous fumes une fois persuad\u00e9s que la mer n'avoit pas fait toutes les montagnes, nous entrepr\u00eemes de d\u00e9couvrir les caract\u00e8res distinctifs de celles qui lui devoient leur origine; et s'il \u00e9toit, par exemple, des mati\u00e8res qui leur fussent propres. Mais nous y trouv\u00e2mes les m\u00eames difficult\u00e9s qu'on rencontre dans tout ce qu'on veut classer dans la nature. On peut bien distinguer entr'elles les choses qui ont fortement l'empreinte de leur classe; mais les confins \u00e9chappent toujours.\n\"C'est l\u00e0, pour le dire en passant, ce qui a pu conduire quelques philosophes \u00e0 imaginer cette cha\u00eene des \u00eatres o\u00f9 ils supposent, que, de la pierre \u00e0 l'homme et plus haut, les nuances sont r\u00e9ellement imperceptibles. Comme si, quoique les limites soyent cach\u00e9es \u00e0 nos sens, notre intelligence ne nous disoit pas, qu'il y a un saut, une distance m\u00eame infinie, entre le plus petit degr\u00e9 d'organization propageante, et la mati\u00e8re unie par la simple coh\u00e9sion: entre le plus petit degr\u00e9 de sensibilit\u00e9, et la mati\u00e8re insensible: entre la plus petite capacit\u00e9 d'observer et de transmettre ses observations, et l'instinct constamment le m\u00eame dans l'esp\u00e8ce. Toutes ces diff\u00e9rences tranch\u00e9es existent dans la nature; mais notre incapacit\u00e9 de rien conno\u00eetre \u00e0 fond, et la necessit\u00e9 o\u00f9 nous sommes de juger de tout sur des apparences, nous fait perdre presque toutes les limites, parce que sur ces bords, la plupart des ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes sont \u00e9quivoques. Ainsi la plante nous paro\u00eet se rapprocher de la pierre, mais n'en approche jamais r\u00e9ellement.\n\"On \u00e9prouve la m\u00eame difficult\u00e9 \u00e0 classer les montagnes; et quoique depuis quelque tems plusieurs naturalistes ayent aussi observ\u00e9 qu'elles n'ont pas toutes la m\u00eame origine, je ne vois pas qu'on soit parvenu \u00e0 fixer des caract\u00e8res infaillibles, pour les placer s\u00fbrement toutes dans leurs classes particuli\u00e8res.\n\"Apr\u00e8s avoir examin\u00e9 attentivement cet objet, d'apr\u00e8s les ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes que j'ai moi-m\u00eame observ\u00e9s, et ce que j'ai appris par les observations des autres; j'ai vu que c'\u00e9toit l\u00e0 un champ tr\u00e8s vaste, quand on vouloit l'embrasser en entier, et trop vaste pour moi, qui n'\u00e9tois pas libre d'y consacrer tout le tems qu'il exige. Je me suis donc repli\u00e9 sur mon objet principal, savoir la cause qui a laiss\u00e9 des d\u00e9pouilles marines dans nos continens, et l'examen des hypoth\u00e8ses sur cette mati\u00e8re.\n\"Les ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes ainsi limit\u00e9s, se r\u00e9duisent \u00e0 ceci: qu'il y a dans nos continens des montagnes visiblement form\u00e9es par des d\u00e9p\u00f4ts successifs de la mer et a l'\u00e9gard des quelles il n'y a besoin de rien imaginer, si ce n'est la mani\u00e8re dont elles en sont sorties: qu'il y en a d'autres au contraire, qui ne portent aucun des caract\u00e8res de cette cause, et qui, si elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 produites dans la mer, doivent \u00eatre l'effet de toute autre cause que de simples d\u00e9p\u00f4ts successifs, et avoir m\u00eame pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 l'existence des animaux marins. J'abandonne donc les classes confuses o\u00f9 ces caract\u00e8res sont \u00e9quivoques, jusqu'\u00e0 ce qu'elles servent \u00e0 fonder quelque hypoth\u00e8se; ayant assez de ces deux classes tr\u00e8s distinctes pour examiner d'apres elles tous les syst\u00e8mes qui me sont connus.\n\"L\u00e0 o\u00f9 ces deux classes de montagnes sont m\u00eal\u00e9es, on remarque que celles qui sont form\u00e9es par couches, et qui renferment des corps marins, recouvrent souvent celles de l'autre classe, mais n'en sont jamais recouvertes. On a donc naturellement conclu, que lors m\u00eame que la mer auroit en quelque part \u00e0 la formation des montagnes o\u00f9 l'on ne reconno\u00eet pas son caract\u00e8re, celles auxquelles elle a travaill\u00e9 seule, en enlevant des mati\u00e8res dans certaines parties de son fond et les d\u00e9posant dans d'autres, font au moins les derni\u00e8res form\u00e9es. On les a donc nomm\u00e9es secondaires, et les autres primitives.\n\"J'adopterai la premi\u00e8re de ces expressions; car c'est la m\u00eame qui nous \u00e9toit venu \u00e0 l'esprit \u00e0 mon fr\u00e8re, et \u00e0 moi longtemps avant que nous l'eussions vue employer; mais je substituerai celle de primordiales \u00e0 primitives pour l'autre classe de montagnes, afin de ne rien d\u00e9cider sur leur origine. Il est des montagnes, dont jusqu'\u00e0 present on n'a pu d\u00e9m\u00ealer la cause: voila le fait. Je ne dirai donc pas qu'elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 cr\u00e9\u00e9es ainsi, parce qu'en physique je ne dois pas employer des expressions sur lesquelles on ne s'entend pas. Sans doute cependant, que l'histoire naturelle ni la physique ne nous conduisent nullement \u00e0 croire que notre globe ait exist\u00e9 de toute \u00e9ternit\u00e9; et lorsqu'il prit naissance, il fallut bien que la mati\u00e8re qui le composa fut de quelque nature, ou sous quelque premi\u00e8re forme int\u00e9grante. Rien donc jusqu'ici n'emp\u00eache d'admettre que ces montagnes que je nommerai primordiales, ne soient r\u00e9ellement primitives; je penche m\u00eame pour cette opinion \u00e0 l'\u00e9gard de quelques unes. Mais il y a une tr\u00e8s grande vari\u00e9t\u00e9 entr'elles; et quoiqu'elles soyent toutes \u00e9galement exclues de la classe secondaire, elles ne sont pas toutes semblables: il y en a m\u00eame un grand nombre dont les mati\u00e8res ont une certaine configuration qui semble annoncer qu'elles ayent \u00e9t\u00e9 molles et durcies ensuite, quoique par une toute autre cause que celle qui a agi pour former les montagnes secondaires.\"\nHere I would beg leave to call the attention of philosophers to this observation of a naturalist who explains all petrification, and the consolidation of strata by aqueous infiltration. If he has here found reason to conclude that, in those primordial parts of the earth, there are a great number which, from their present configuration, must have been in a soft state and then hardened, and this by a quite different cause from that which he supposes had produced the consolidation and hardness of the secondary parts; this is entering precisely into my views of the subject, in ascribing all the consolidation of the earth, whether primary or secondary, to one general cause, and in tracing this cause, from its effects, to be no other than the fusion of those bodies. It must be evident, that if this philosopher has seen good reason for concluding such a softening cause, which had operated upon the primary parts, to be quite different from that which he ascribes to the consolidation of the secondary, which is the effect of water, it must then, I say, be evident that the softening cause of the primary parts, if not heat, by which every degree of fusion may be produced, must be an occult cause, one which cannot be admitted into natural philosophy.\nBy thus choosing to consider mountains as of two distinct kinds, one aquiform which is understood, and the other primordial which is not to be known, we supersede the necessity of reconciling a theory with many appearances in nature which otherwise might be extremely inconvenient to our explanation, if not inconsistent with our system. Our author no doubt has thus relieved himself from a considerable difficulty in the philosophy of this earth, by saying here is a great part which is not to be explained. But I would beg leave to observe, that this form of discussion, with regard to a physical subject, is but a mere confession of our ignorance, and has no tendency to clear up another part of the subject of which one treats, however it may impress us with a favourable opinion of the theorist, in allowing him all the candour of the acknowledgement.\nThe general result of the reasoning which we now have quoted, and what follows in his examination, seems to terminate in this; that there are various different compositions of mountains which this author cannot allow to be the production of the sea; but it is not upon account of the matter of which they are formed, or of the particular mixture and composition of those species of matter, of which the variety is almost indefinite. According to this philosopher, the distinction that we are to make of those primordial and secondary competitions, consists in this, that the first are in such a shape and structure as cannot be conceived to be formed by subsidence in water.\nM. de Saussure has carefully examined those same objects; and he seems inclined to think that they must have been the operation of the ocean; not in the common manner of depositing strata, but in some other way by crystallization. The present theory supposes all those masses formed originally in the ordinary manner, by the deposits or subsidence of materials transported in the waters, and that those strata were afterwards changed by operations proper to the mineral regions.\nBut the subject of the present investigation goes farther, by inquiring if, in the operations of the globe, a primary and secondary class of bodies may be distinguished, so far as the one may have undergone the operations of the globe, or the vicissitudes of sea and land, oftener than the other, consequently must be anterior to the later productions both in time and operation, although the original of all those bodies be the same, and the operations of the earth, so far as we see in the effects, always proceed upon the same principles. This is an extensive view of nature to which few have turned their thoughts. But this is a subject to which the observations described by this author have evidently a reference.\nIn his 113th letter, he has given us a view of one of those parts of the earth that are proper to be examined in determining this question so important in the genealogy of land, although no ways concerned in altering the principles upon which nature in forming continents must proceed.\nIt is in describing the nature of the mountains about Elbingerode; and he begins in ascending from Hefeld.\n\"Cette partie ext\u00e9rieure de la cha\u00eene est primordiale: c'est du granit \u00e0 Hereld et au commencement de la route; puis quand on passe dans d'autres vall\u00e9es, on trouve les schistes et la roche grise dans tout le pied des montagnes: mais des qu'on est arriv\u00e9 \u00e0 une certain hauteur, on voit de la pierre \u00e0 chaux par couches \u00e9tendue sur ces mati\u00e8res; et c'est elle qui forme le sommet de ces m\u00eames montagnes; tellement que la plaine \u00e9lev\u00e9e, qui conduit \u00e0 Elbingerode, est enti\u00e8rement de pierre \u00e0 chaux, except\u00e9 dans sa partie la plus haute ou cette pierre est recouverte des m\u00eames gr\u00e8s et sables vitrescibles qui sont sur le schiste du Bruchberg et sur la pierre \u00e0 chaux dans la Hesse et le pays de Gottingue.\n\"Les environs d'Elbingerode \u00e9tant plus bas que ces parties recouvertes de mati\u00e8res vitrescibles, montrent la pierre \u00e0 chaux \u00e0 nud; et l'on y trouve de tr\u00e8s beaux marbres, dont les nuances jaunes, rouges et vertes sont souvent tr\u00e8s vives, et embellies par les coupes des corps marins.\n\"Cependant le schiste n'est pas enseveli partout sous ces d\u00e9p\u00f4ts de la mer; on le retrouve en quelques endroits, et m\u00eame avec de filons.\n\"Ainsi au milieu de ces mati\u00e8res calcaires qui forment le sol montueux des environs d'Elbingerode, paro\u00eet encore le schiste sur lequel elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9pos\u00e9es: Et en montant \u00e0 la partie la plus \u00e9lev\u00e9e de ces m\u00eames environs, on trouve que la pierre \u00e0 chaux est recouverte elle-m\u00eame d'une pierre sableuse grise par couches, dans laquelle on voit quantit\u00e9 de petits fragmens de schiste pos\u00e9s de plat. C'est la que se trouve une des mines de fer dont le minerai va en partie \u00e0 la Koningshutte, mais en plus grande partie \u00e0 la Rothechutte, qui n'est qu'\u00e0 une lieue de distance. On perce d'abord la couche sableuse; sous elle se trouve de la pierre \u00e0 chaux grise; puis une couche de pierre \u00e0 chaux ferrugineuse, remplie de corps marins, et surtout d'entroques: C'est cette couche qui est ici le minerai; et elle appartient \u00e0 la formation de cette \u00e9minence comme toutes les autres couches. Cette mine se nomme bomshey: elle n'est pas riche; mais elle sert de fondant aux mati\u00e8res ferrugineuses tir\u00e9es des filons des montagnes primordiales en m\u00eame tems qu'elle leur ajoute son fer dans la fonte. A quelque distance de l\u00e0 on a perc\u00e9 un autre puits; qui a transvers\u00e9 d'abord une sorte de pierre, que je ne saurois nommer, mais qui ressemble fort \u00e0 une lave poreuse. Au dessous de cette couche on a retrouv\u00e9 la pierre \u00e0 chaux ordinaire; puis la couche ferrugineuse y continue; mais elle diff\u00e8re un peu de ce qu'elle est dans l'autre mine, une partie de sa substance \u00e9tant convertie en jaspe.\n\"Mais ce qui est digne de la plus grande attention dans cette contr\u00e9e, est un filon peu distant nomme Buchenberg, qui appartient en partie au Roi, et en partie \u00e0 Mr. le Comte de Wernigerode. La montagne en cette endroit montre une vall\u00e9e artificielle de 70 \u00e0 80 pieds de profondeur, de 20 \u00e0 30 de largeur dans le haut, et de 400 toises en \u00e9tendue. C'est le creusement qu'on a d\u00e9j\u00e0 fait en suivant ce filon de fer, que l'on continue \u00e0 exploiter de la m\u00eame mani\u00e8re sur les terres de Mr. le Comte de Wernigerode. La mati\u00e8re propre de la montagne est de schiste; et la vall\u00e9e qui se forme de nouveau \u00e0 mesure qu'on enl\u00e8ve la gangue du filon, a s\u00fbrement d\u00e9j\u00e0 exist\u00e9 dans la mer sous la forme d'une fente, qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 remplie, et en particulier des ingr\u00e9diens dont on fait aujourd'hui le fer.\"\nHere is a supposition of our author that corresponds to nothing which has yet been observed any where else, so far as I know. It is concerning a mineral vein, one which does not appear to differ in any respect from other mineral veins, except in being worked in that open manner which has given our author an idea of its being a valley. He then supposes that valley (or rather empty vein) to have been in this mountain when at the bottom of the sea, and that this mineral vein had then been filled with those materials which now are found in that space between the two sides of the separated rock. This is a very different operation from that of infiltration, which is commonly supposed to be the method of filling mineral veins; but, we shall soon see the reason why our author has here deserted the common hypothesis, and has adopted another to serve the occasion, without appearing to have considered how perfectly inconsistent those two suppositions are to each other. That mineral veins have been filled with matter in a fluid state, is acknowledged by every body who has either looked at a mineral vein in the earth, or in a cabinet specimen; mineralists and geologists, in general, suppose this to have been done by means of solutions and concretions, a supposition by no means warranted by appearances, which, on the contrary, in general demonstrate that the materials of those veins had been introduced in the fluid state of fusion. But here is a new idea with regard to the filling of those veins; and, I would now beg the reader's attention to the facts which follow in this interesting description, and which have suggested that idea to our author.\n\"Quand cette mati\u00e8re accidentelle est enlev\u00e9e, on voit la coupe du schiste des deux c\u00f4tes de la fente, faisant un toit et un mur, parce que la fente n'est pas absolument verticale: des qu'il y a un peu d'inclinaison, on distingue un toit et un mur, comme j'ai l'honneur de l'expliquer \u00e0 V.M. On ne conno\u00eet point encore l'\u00e9tendue de ce filon, ni dans sa profondeur, o\u00f9 l'on ne peut pas s'enfoncer beaucoup de cette mani\u00e8re, ni dans la longueur, selon laquelle on continue \u00e0 l'exploiter.\n\"Voil\u00e0 donc un filon, \u00e0 la rigueur de la d\u00e9finition que j'en ai donn\u00e9 \u00e0 V.M. c'est \u00e0 dire, une fente dans la montagne naturelle, combl\u00e9e de mati\u00e8re \u00e9trang\u00e8re. Mais ce qu'il y a d'extraordinaire ici, c'est que cette mati\u00e8re vient de la mer: ce sont diff\u00e9rentes couches aquiformes, dont quelques unes sont remplies de corps marins. Il y a des couches d'une terre martiale fort brune et sans liaison: d'autres, au contraire toujours martiales, sont tr\u00e8s dures et renferment de tr\u00e8s beau jaspe sanguin: d'autres enfin sont de vrai marbre gris vein\u00e9es de rouge. C'est dans ce marbre que font les corps marins, savoir des coquillages et des spongites; et il est lui-m\u00eame martial comme tout le reste: les mineurs le nomment Kubrimen, et ne l'employent que comme un fondant pour d'autres min\u00e9raux de fer.\n\"A ce filon, s'en joignent d'autres plus embarrassans. Ils viennent du toit, qu'ils divisent par de larges fentes combl\u00e9es, aboutissantes au filon principale. Ils font de m\u00eame calcaires et marins faits par couches; mais ces couches ont une si grande inclinaison, que je ne puis les comprendre: il faut qu'il y ait eu d'\u00e9tranges bouleversemens dans ces endroits-l\u00e0 27.\n\"Ces fentes se sont faites, et ont \u00e9t\u00e9 remplies, dans la mer; puisque les mati\u00e8res qui les remplissent sont de la classe de ses d\u00e9p\u00f4ts tr\u00e8s connoissables, et qu'il contiennent des d\u00e9pouilles marines. Mais ce qui embarrasse alors c'est que les autres filons ne soyent pas dans le m\u00eame cas. N'est ce point l\u00e0 encore un indice, que ces fentes out \u00e9t\u00e9 d'abord et principalement remplies de mati\u00e8res, pouss\u00e9es du fond par la m\u00eame force qui secouoit les montagnes 28.\n\"Ce filon n'est pas le seul dans le Hartz qui donne des signes marins. Il y en a un autre, qui m\u00eame se rapproche davantage de la nature du commun des filons, et o\u00f9 l'on trouve aussi des coquillages. C'est celui de Haus-Hartzbergerzug, pres de Clausthal, o\u00f9, dans les Halles de quelques mines de plomb abandonn\u00e9es, et dans une forte d'ardoise, on trouve de petites moules ou tellines stri\u00e9es, d'une esp\u00e8ce particuli\u00e8re que j'ai vue dans des ardoises secondaires d'Arotzen en Waldek et de Sombernon en Bourgogne. Il y a donc certainement quelques filons faits par les d\u00e9p\u00f4ts de la mer dans les fentes de montagnes primordiales; comme au contraire il y a des filons m\u00e9talliques sans indices marins, dans des montagnes \u00e9videmment secondaires, telles que celles de Derbyshire, ou les filons de plomb traversent des couches de pierre \u00e0 chaux.\"\nHere again our author seems to me to refute his own supposition, That a chasm in the schistus rock may have existed at the bottom of the sea, and been then filled from above with such materials as were transported by the moving water to that place, is not impossible; but nobody, who knows the nature of a common metallic vein, can ever suppose it to have been filled in that manner. Our author then adds, \"On ne fait r\u00e9ellement que commencer dans ce genre d'observations, consid\u00e9r\u00e9es quant \u00e0 la Cosmologie; ainsi il ne faut point d\u00e9sesp\u00e9rer que tout cela ne se d\u00e9voile un jour, et que nous n'acquerrions ainsi un peu plus de connoissance sur ce qui se passoit dans la mer ancienne.\n\"En revenant vers Elbingerode, nous retrouv\u00e2mes ces schistes, qui paroissent au travers des marbres: ils sont donc la continuation de la masse schisteuse \u00e0 laquelle appartient le filon, dont je viens de parler. Ce filon \u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 form\u00e9 dans une fente, rest\u00e9e ouverte et vide: les d\u00e9p\u00f4ts de la mer l'ont combl\u00e9e, en m\u00eame tems qu'ils formoient les couches de marbre, qui sont \u00e0 l'ext\u00e9rieur. En effet, ce filon contient des couches marines ferrugineuses, de la m\u00eame nature que celles des collines calcaires voisines form\u00e9es sur le schiste.\n\"Nous part\u00eemes d'Elbingerode dans l'apr\u00e8s midi pour nous rapprocher de Clausthal. Notre chemin fut encore quelque tems sur des sommit\u00e9s calcaires; et avant que d'en sortir, nous trouv\u00e2mes une autre mine singuli\u00e8re \u00e0 Arenfeld. C'est encore un vrai filon; mais dans une montagne de pierre \u00e0 chaux: C'est \u00e0-dire, que cette montagne a aussi \u00e9t\u00e9 fendue, et que la fente a \u00e9t\u00e9 remplie d'une gangue. La mati\u00e8re de ce filon est encore calcaire en plus grande partie; mais cette pierre \u00e0 chaux distincte est ferrugineuse, et parsem\u00e9e de concr\u00e9tions de jaspe comme celles d'Elbingerode: on y trouve aussi une mati\u00e8re verd\u00e2tre, qui, comme le jaspe, ne fait pas effervescence avec l'eau forte.\"\nHere is a phenomenon which is altogether incompatible with the theory that this author has given us for the explanation of those appearances. He supposes empty crevices in the schistus mountains at the bottom of the sea; these crevices he supposes filled by the deposits of the sea, at the same time, and with the same materials with which the lime-stone strata were formed above the schistus mountains; but we find one of those same veins in these secondary calcareous strata. Now, tho' we should be disposed to allow, that, in the primordial mountain, of which we are supposed not to know the origin, there might have been empty crevices which were afterwards filled with materials transported by the sea, this cannot be admitted as taking place in the loose or incoherent materials deposited above the schistus. Consequently, this theory of our author, which is evidently erroneous with regard to the veins in the lime-stone, must, in the other case, be at least examined with a jealous eye.\n\"Le haut de cette partie des montagnes calcaires \u00e9toit encore recouvert de sable et de gr\u00e8s vitrescibles: et continuant \u00e0 marcher, sans aucune inflexion sensible, nous nous trouv\u00e2mes subitement sur les schistes; d'o\u00f9 nous mont\u00e2mes plus rapidement. Puis traversant quelques petites vall\u00e9es nous arriv\u00e2mes sur les montagnes qui appartiennent au prolongement du Brocken ou Blocksberg. La mati\u00e8re dominante est alors le granit; mais il est tout en blocs le long de cette route, et ces blocs se trouvent \u00e0 une telle distance de tout sommit\u00e9 intacte de cette pierre, qui est ais\u00e9 de juger non seulement qu'ils ne sont pas dans leur place originaire, mais encore qu'il ne sont arriv\u00e9s l\u00e0 par aucune des causes naturelles qui agissent dans les montagnes; savoir, la pesanteur, la pente, et le cours des eaux. Ce sont donc de violentes explosions qui ont dispers\u00e9 ces blocs; et alors ils deviennent un nouveau trait cosmologique de quelque importance: car rien ne se meut, ni ne paro\u00eet s'\u00eatre mu depuis bien des si\u00e8cles, dans ces lieux qui montrent tant de d\u00e9sordre: un tapis de verdure couvre tout, en conservant les contours baroques du sol. Le b\u00e9tail ne sauroit p\u00e2turer dans de telles prairies; mais l'industrieux montagnard fait y faucher 29.\n\"Oberbruck, ou nous avions \u00e9t\u00e9 la pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente fois, se trouva sur notre route, et nous y passames aussi la nuit, dans l'esp\u00e9rance de pouvoir monter le lendemain sur le Brocken; mais il fut encore envelopp\u00e9 de nuages; ainsi nous continu\u00e2mes \u00e0 marcher vers Clausthal, passant de nouveau par le Bruchberg, o\u00f9 le sable et ses gres recouvrent le schiste; puis arrivant \u00e0 une autre sommit\u00e9, nous y trouv\u00e2mes la m\u00eame pierre sableuse par couches, m\u00eal\u00e9e de parcelles de schiste, que nous avions vue sur les montagnes calcaires d'Elbingerode. Il est donc toujours plus certain que le sol primordial de toutes ces montagnes existoit sous les eaux de l'ancienne mer; puisqu'il est recouvert de diverses fortes de d\u00e9p\u00f4ts, connus pour appartenir \u00e0 la mer; et que les fentes des filons existoient dans cette mer ancienne; puisqu'elle en a rempli elle-m\u00eame quelques unes, et qu'elle a recouvert de ses d\u00e9p\u00f4ts quelques autres filons tout form\u00e9s. Quant \u00e0 celles des mati\u00e8res de ces filons, qui ne paroissent pas \u00eatre marines (et c'est de beaucoup la plus grande quantit\u00e9), j'ai toujours plus de penchant d'en attribuer une partie \u00e0 l'op\u00e9ration des feux souterreins, \u00e0 mesure que je vois diminuer la probabilit\u00e9 de les assigner enti\u00e8rement \u00e0 l'eau. Mais quoi-qu'il en soit, ces gangues ne font pas de m\u00eame date que les montagnes 30.\n\"Le lendemain de notre arriv\u00e9e a Clausthal, qui \u00e9toit le 13e, nous all\u00e2mes visiter d'autres mines de fer en montagnes secondaires, situ\u00e9es au c\u00f4t\u00e9 oppos\u00e9 du Hartz. Elles sont aupr\u00e8s de Grund l'une des villes de mines, et pr\u00e8s du lieu ou sortira la nouvelle galerie d'\u00e9coulement \u00e0 laquelle on travaille, etc.\n\"Arriv\u00e9s \u00e0 Grund les officiers mineurs vinrent, comme \u00e0 l'ordinaire, accompagner Mons. de Reden aux mines de leur d\u00e9partement. Celles-ci, sans \u00eatre plus extraordinaires que celles qui nous avions vues \u00e0 Elbingerod, ou sans aider mieux jusqu'ici \u00e0 expliquer ce qu'elles ont toutes d'extraordinaire, nous donnent au moins des indices probables de grands accidens. Ces montagnes de Grund sont encore de l'esp\u00e8ce remarquable, dont la base est de schiste, et le haut de pierre \u00e0 chaux. Les mines qu'on y exploit sont de fer, et se trouvent dans cette mati\u00e8re calcaire; mais elles y sont sous des apparences tout-\u00e0-fait \u00e9tranges. La montagne o\u00f9 nous les v\u00eemes principalement le nomme Iberg. On y poursuit des masses de pierre \u00e0 fer, de l'ensemble desquelles les mineurs ne peuvent encore se rendre compte d'une mani\u00e8re claire. Ils ont trouv\u00e9 dans cette montagne des cavernes, qui ressemblent \u00e0 l'encaissement de filons d\u00e9j\u00e0 exploit\u00e9s, ou non form\u00e9s; c'est-\u00e0-dire, que ce sont des fentes presque verticales, et vides, Le minerai qu'ils poursuivent est en Rognons; c'est \u00e0 dire, en grandes masses sans continuit\u00e9 d\u00e9cid\u00e9e. Cependant ces masses semblent se succ\u00e9der dans la montagne suivant une certaine direction; tellement que les mineurs savent d\u00e9j\u00e0 les chercher, par des indices d'habitude. La substance de cette pierre \u00e0 fer particuli\u00e8re renferme des crystallizations de diverses esp\u00e8ces. Il y a des druses de quartz, ou de petits cristaux de quartz qui tapissent des cavit\u00e9s; il y a aussi du spath commun, et de celui qu'on nomme pesant; on y trouve enfin une forte de crystallization nomm\u00e9e Eisenman (homme de fer) par les mineurs; se sont des amas de cristaux noir-\u00e2tres, qui ressemblent \u00e0 des groupes de grandes lentilles plattes, et ces cristaux sont ferrugineux.\n\"Entre les signes de bouleversement que renferme ce lieu, est un rocher nomm\u00e9 Gebichensten, qui est en pierre \u00e0 chaux, ce que l'Ebrenbreitstein de Coblentz est en pierre sableuse: c'est-\u00e0-dire, que ses couches, remplies de corps marins, sont presque verticales; ceux de ces corps qu'on y trouve en plus grande quantit\u00e9, sont des madr\u00e9pores. Ce rocher s'\u00e9l\u00e8ve comme un grand ob\u00e9lisque, au-dessus des cavernes, dont j'ai parl\u00e9; montrant par le c\u00f4t\u00e9 ses couches, qui se trouvent, comme je l'ai dit, dans une situation presque verticale. Sa base est d\u00e9j\u00e0 bien min\u00e9e, tant par les cavernes, que par la pierre \u00e0 fer qu'on en tire; et je ne me hasardai dessus, que parce que je me dis, qu'il y a des millions contre un \u00e0 parier, que ce n'est pas le moment o\u00f9 il s'enfoncerait. Mais je n'en dirois pas autant, s'il s'agissoit de m'y loger \u00e0 demeure.\n\"Quoique tout ce lieu l\u00e0 soit fort remarquable, il se pourrait que ce ne fut qu'un ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne particulier. Les cavernes peuvent devoir leur origine \u00e0 la m\u00eame cause que celle de Schartzfeld; et le d\u00e9rangement des rochers sup\u00e9rieurs \u00e0 des enfoncemens occasionn\u00e9s par ces cavernes. Rien n'est si difficile que de retracer aujourd'hui ces fortes d'accidens \u00e0 cause des changemens que le tems y a op\u00e9r\u00e9s. S'ils sont arriv\u00e9s sous les eaux de la mer, on con\u00e7oit ais\u00e9ment les alt\u00e9rations qui ont d\u00fb succ\u00e9der; et si c'est depuis que nos continens sont \u00e0 sec, les eaux encore, tant int\u00e9rieures qu'ext\u00e9rieures, et la v\u00e9g\u00e9tation, en ont beaucoup chang\u00e9 l'aspect.\"\nThis author has a theory by which he explains to himself the former residence of the sea, above the summits of our mountains; this, however, is not the theory by which we are now endeavouring to explain appearances; we must therefore be allowed to reason from our own principles, in considering the facts here set forth by our author.\nNothing, I think, is more evident, than that in this mineral country of the Hartz, we may find the clearest marks of fracture, elevation, and dislocation of the strata, and of the introduction of foreign matter among those separated bodies. All those appearances, our author would have to be nothing but some particular accident, which is not to enter into the physiology of the earth. I wish again to generalise these facts, by finding them universal in relation to the globe, and necessarily to be found in all the consolidated parts of our land.\nIt was not to refute our author's reasoning that I have here introduced so much of his observations, but to give an extensive view of the mineral structure of this interesting country. This therefore being done, we now proceed to what is more peculiarly our business in this place, or the immediate subject of investigation, viz. the distinction of primary and secondary strata.\n\"Dans le voisinage de cette montagne, il y a une autre fort int\u00e9ressante, que je vis le jour suivant. Quoiqu'en traitant des volcans, j'aie d\u00e9montr\u00e9 que la formation des montagnes, par soul\u00e8vement, \u00e9toit sans example dans les faits, et sans fondement dans la th\u00e9orie, je ne laisseroi pas de m'arr\u00eater au ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne que pr\u00e9sente cette montagne; parce qu'il prouvera directement que les couches calcaires au moins, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 form\u00e9es \u00e0 la hauteur ou elles sont; c'est-a-dire qu'elles n'ont pas \u00e9t\u00e9 soulev\u00e9es.\n\"Voulant prendre l'occasion de mon retour \u00e0 Hanovre, pour traverser les avant-corps du Hartz, dans quelque nouvelle direction; je r\u00e9solus de faire ce voyage \u00e0 cheval, et de prendre ma route droite vers Hanovre, au-travers des collines; ce qui me conduisit encore \u00e0 Grund puis \u00e0 M\u00fcnchehof Brunshausen, Engelade, Winsenburg et Alfeld, o\u00f9 enfin, traversant la Leine j'entrai dans la grande route.\n\"Je quittai donc Clausthal (et avec bien du regret) le 14 au matin; et revenant d'abord \u00e0 Grund, je le laissai sur ma droite, ainsi que l'Iberg; et plus loin, du m\u00eame c\u00f4t\u00e9, une autre montagne nomm\u00e9e Winterberg dont la base est schiste, et le sommet plus haut que Clausthal, enti\u00e8rement compos\u00e9 de couches calcaires. De Grund je montai vers une montagne nomm\u00e9e Ost Kamp; et je commen\u00e7ai l\u00e0 \u00e0 donner une attention particuli\u00e8re au sol. Le long de mon chemin, je ne trouvai longtemps que des schistes, qui montroient leurs points en haut, comme \u00e0 l'ordinaire, et avec tous leurs tortillemens de feuillets. Mais arriv\u00e9 au haut de la montagne, j'y vis des carri\u00e8res de pierre \u00e0 chaux, o\u00f9 les couches absolument r\u00e9guli\u00e8res, et qui ont peu d'\u00e9paisseur sur le schiste suivent parfaitement les contours du sommet. Ces lits de pierre \u00e0 chaux n'ont certainement pas \u00e9t\u00e9 soulev\u00e9s du fond de la mer sur le dos des schistes; lors m\u00eame qu'\u00e0 cause de la grande inclinaison des feuillets de ceux-ci on voudroit le attribuer \u00e0 quelque r\u00e9volution telle que le soul\u00e8vement; (ce que je n'admettrois point). Car si ces lits calcaires, ayant \u00e9t\u00e9 faits au fond de la mer, avoyent \u00e9t\u00e9 soulev\u00e9s avec les schistes, ne feroient-ils pas bris\u00e9s et boulevers\u00e9s comme eux? Il est donc evident, que quoiqu'il soi arriv\u00e9 au schiste qui les porte, ces lits, et tous les autres de m\u00eame genre qui sont au haut de ces montagnes, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9pos\u00e9es au niveau o\u00f9 ils sont; et que par cons\u00e9quent la mer les surpassoit alors. Ainsi le syst\u00e8me de soul\u00e8vement perd son but, s'il tend \u00e0 expliquer pourquoi nous avons des couches, form\u00e9es par la mer, qui se trouvent maintenant si fort au dessus de son niveau. Il est \u00e9vident que ces couches n'ont pas \u00e9t\u00e9 soulev\u00e9es; mais que la mer s'est abaiss\u00e9e. Or c'est l\u00e0 le grand point cosmologique \u00e0 expliquer: tous les autres, qui tiennent \u00e0 la structure de certaines montagnes inintelligibles, n'appartiendront qu'\u00e0 l'histoire naturelle, tant qu'ils ne se lieront pas avec celui-la.\"\nHere are two things to be considered; the interesting facts described by our author, and the inference that he would have us draw from those facts. It would appear from the facts, that the body of schistus below, and that of lime-stone above, had not undergone the same disordering operations, or by no means in the same degree. But our author has formed another conclusion; he says, that these lime-stone strata must have been formed precisely in the place and order in which they lie at present; and the reason for this is, because these strata appeared to him to follow perfectly the contour of the summit of this mountain. Now, had there been in the top of this mountain a deep hollow encompassed about with the schistus rock; and had this cavity been now found filled with horizontal strata, there might have been some shadow of reason for supposing those strata to have been deposited upon the top of the mountain. But to suppose, first, that shells and corals should be deposited upon the convex summit of a mountain which was then covered by the sea; secondly, that these moveable materials should remain upon the summit, while the sea had changed its place; and, lastly, that those shells and corals left by the sea upon the top of a mountain should become strata of solid limestone. and have also metallic veins in it, certainly holds of no principle of natural philosophy that I am acquainted with. If, therefore, such an appearance as this were to be employed either in illustration or confirmation of a theory, it would itself require to be explained; but this is a task that this cosmologists does not seem willing to undertake.\nHe has formed a hypothesis for explaining the general appearance of that which was once the bottom of the sea being now found forming the summits of our mountains; but surely this philosopher will acknowledge, that those natural appearances, in any particular place, will be the same, whether we suppose the bottom of the sea to have been raised, as in the present theory, or the surface of the sea to have sunk according to his hypothesis. For, it is equally easy to suppose a portion of the earth to have been raised all this height, as to suppose all the rest of the surface of the globe to have sunk an equal space, while a small portion of the bottom of the sea, remaining here and there fixed in its place, became the highest portion of the globe. Consequently, whatever evidence this philosopher shall find in support of his theory of the present earth, (a subject which it is not our purpose to examine) it cannot be allowed that he has here brought any argument capable of disproving the elevation of the bottom of the sea; a supposition which other theories may require.\nI would now observe, in relation to the present theory, that so far as this author has reasoned justly from natural appearances, his conclusions will be found to confirm the present supposition, that there is to be perceived the distinction of primordial, and that of secondary, in the masses of this earth, without altering the general theory either with respect to the original formation of those masses, or to their posterior production.\nHere one of two things must be allowed; either that those strata of schistus had been broken and distorted under a mass of other superincumbent strata; or that those superincumbent strata had been deposited upon the broken and distorted strata at the bottom of the sea. Our author, who has examined the subject, inclines to think, that this last has been the case. If, therefore, strata had been deposited upon broken and bare rocks of schistus, it is probable that these had been sunk in the sea after having been exposed to the atmosphere, and served the purpose of land upon the globe. 31\nAn example of the same kind also occurs in the Discours sur l'Histoire Naturelle de la Suisse; and this author of the Tableaux de la Suisse has given a very distinct description of that appearance, which is perhaps the more to be valued as a piece of natural history, as this intelligent author does not pretend to any geological theory, but simply narrates what he has seen, with such pertinent observations on the subject as naturally must occur to a thinking person on the spot.\u2014(Discours, etc. page 228. Entr\u00e9e au pays de Grisons).\n\"Du village d'Elen on continue \u00e0 monter le reste du petit vallon pendant une lieue et demie parmi les m\u00eames esp\u00e8ces de pierres qu'on vient de d\u00e9crire; en passant au travers de bois et de for\u00eats de sapins et de quelques p\u00e2turages dont ce haut est couvert, on parvient au pied du Bundnerberg, montagne des grisons, qui forme la t\u00eate du vallon. On laisse \u00e0 droite un fond ou esp\u00e8ce d'entonnoir, entour\u00e9 de tr\u00e8s-hautes montagnes inaccessibles, pour s'enfourrer \u00e0 gauche entre des rochers qui font fort resserr\u00e9s, o\u00f9 coule un torrent. Ce lieu seroit horreur si on ne se trouvoit accoutum\u00e9, par degr\u00e9s, \u00e0 voir de ces positions effrayantes: tout y est aride, il n'y a plus d'arbres ni de v\u00e9g\u00e9taux ce sont des rochers entass\u00e9s les un sur les autres; ce lieu paroit d'autant plus affreux que le passage a \u00e9t\u00e9 subit, et qu'en sortant de bois et des for\u00eats, on se trouve tout-\u00e0-coup parmi ces rochers qui s'\u00e9l\u00e8vent comme des murailles, et dont on ne voit pas la cime; cette gorge ou cette entr\u00e9e qui se nomme Jetz, est la communication du Canton du Glaris aux Gritons; on a dit pr\u00e9c\u00e9demment qu'il y en avoit une plus ais\u00e9e par le Gros-Thal ou le grand vallon. Ce passage est tr\u00e8s-curieux pour la Lithogeognosie, il est rare de trouver autant de ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes int\u00e9ressans rassembl\u00e9s, et des substances aussi vari\u00e9es par rapport \u00e0 leurs positions; c'est le local qui m\u00e9rite le plus d'\u00eatre examin\u00e9 en Suisse, et la plus difficile que nous ayons parcouru. On se souviendra que nous avons continuellement mont\u00e9 depuis Glaris, et que nous nous trouvons au pied de ces montagnes ou de ces pics \u00e9tonnans qui dominent les hautes Alpes; on trouve ici la facilit\u00e9 peu commune de pouvoir examiner, et voir le pied ou les fondemens de ces colosses qui couronnent le globe, parce qu'ils sont ordinairement entour\u00e9s de leurs d\u00e9bris et de leurs \u00e9boulemens qui en cachent le pied. Ici c'est une roche de schiste bleu\u00e2tre, dure et compact, travers\u00e9e de filons de quartz blanc, et quelquefois jaun\u00e2tre, dans laquelle on a taill\u00e9 un sentier pour pouvoir en franchir le pied. Cette roche s'\u00e9l\u00e8ve \u00e0 une hauteur prodigieuse, est presque verticale, et ces couches sont \u00e0 quatre-vingt degr\u00e9s d'inclinaison. L'imagination est effray\u00e9e de voir que de pareilles masses ayent pu \u00eatre \u00e9branl\u00e9es et d\u00e9plac\u00e9es au point d'avoir fait presque un quart de conversion. Apr\u00e8s avoir mont\u00e9 et suivi cette roche parmi les pierres et les d\u00e9combres, une heure et demie, on trouve cette roche de schiste surmont\u00e9e d'autres rochers fort hauts qui sont calcaires, et dont les lits sont fort horizontaux. Les schistes, qui sont directement sous les roches calcaires, conservent la m\u00eame inclinaison qu'elles ont \u00e0 leur pied.\"\nHere is an observation which certainly agrees with that given by M. de Luc, and would seem to confirm this conclusion, that strata had been deposited upon those schisti after they had been changed from their natural or horizontal position, and become vertical; at the same time, this conclusion is not of necessary consequence, without examining concomitant appearances, and finding particular marks by which this operation might be traced; for the simply finding horizontal strata, placed above vertical or much inclined schiste, is not sufficient, of itself, to constitute that fact, while it is acknowledged that every species of fracture, dislocation, and contortion, is to be found among the displaced strata of the globe.\nSince writing this chapter, I am enabled to speak more decisively upon that point, having acquired more light upon the subject, as will appear in the next chapter.\nv1:26 Lettres Physique et Morales sur l'Histoire de la Terre, tom. 2. pag. 206.\nv1:27 Here, no doubt, are appearances which it is impossible to explain by the theory of infiltration; it is the filling of mineral veins, and their branches or ramifications, with marble containing marks of marine objects. But, if we shall suppose this marble to have been in the fluid state of fusion, as well as the iron-ore and jasper, we may easily conceive it introduced into the principal vein and its branches. The description here given of those appearances is by no means such as to enable us to judge particularly of this case, which surely merits the most accurate investigation, and which, I doubt not, will give physical demonstration of the fusion of those mineral substances. I know that shells have been found within the body of veins in Germany; but, a stratification of those materials in a vein was never heard of before, so far as I know.\nv1:28 But what is this power by which matter is to be forced from the bottom of the sea to the top of the mountains? For, unless we can form some idea of that power which, as a cause, we ascribe to the perceived effect, we either say nothing to the purpose, or we employ a preternatural cause. It is not sufficient to imagine a power capable of raising from the bottom of the sea the materials deposited in the abyss; it is also necessary to find a power capable of softening bodies which are hard, and of thus consolidating those masses which are formed of loose or unconnected materials. Such a power, indeed, the present theory assumes; and, so far as this shall be implied in the supposition of our author, it will thus have received a certain conformation.\nv1:29 M. de Saussure endeavours to explain those appearances of transported blocks of granite by another cause; this is a certain debacle of the waters of the earth, which I do not understand. M. de Luc again attempts to explain it by violent explosions; I suppose he means those of a volcano. But he has not given us the evidence upon which such an opinion may be founded, farther than by saying that those blocks could not have come there by the natural operations of the surface. By this must be meant, that, from the nearest summit of granite, there is not, at present, any natural means by which these blocks might be transported to that place. But it is not with the present state of things that we are concerned, in explaining the operations of a distant period. If the natural operations of the surface change the shape of things, as is clearly proved by every natural appearance, Why form an argument against a former transaction, upon the circumstances of the present state of things? Our author does not seem to perceive, that, from this mode of reasoning, there is is an insuperable objection to his violent explosions having been employed in producing those effects. For, had there been such a cause, the evidence of this must have remained; if the surface of the earth does not undergo great changes: If, again, this surface be in time much changed, How can we judge from the present shape, what might have been the former posture of things?\nThis author, indeed, does not allow much time for the natural operations of the globe to change its surface; but, if things be not greatly removed from the state in which the violent operations of the globe had placed them, Why does he not point out to us the source of this great disorder which he there perceives? From what explosion will be explained the blocks of granite which are found upon the Jura, and which must have come from the mass of Mont Blanc? If these dispersed blocks of stone are to be explained by explosion, there must: have been similar explosions in other countries where there is not the smallest appearance of volcanic eruptions; for, around all our granite mountains, and I believe all others, there are found many blocks of granite, travelled at a great distance, and in all directions.\nv1:30 I most willingly admit the justness of our author's view, if he thus perceives the operation of fire in the solids of our earth; but it is not for the reasons he has given us for discovering it here more than in other places; for there is not a mineral vein, (so far at least as I have seen), in which the appearances may be explained by any thing else besides the operation of fire or fusion. It is not easy to conceive in what manner our author had conceived the opinions which he has displayed in these letters. He had no opinion of this kind, or rather he was persuaded that subterraneous fire had no hand in the formation of this earth before he came to this place of the Hartz; here he finds certain appearances, by which he is confirmed in his former opinion, that water had operated in forming mineral veins; and then he forms the idea that subterraneous fire may have operated also. But, before the discovery of the chasms in the schistus mountains having been filled with the stratified materials of the sea, How had he supposed veins to be filled? If this philosopher had before no opinion of subterraneous fire, as instrumental in that operation, How comes he now to change that former opinion? For, unless it be the extraordinary manner of filling these open crevices in the mountains by matter deposited immediately from the sea, there is certainly no other appearance in this mineral country of the Hartz, that may not be found in any other, only perhaps upon a smaller scale.\nv1:31 This is also supported by another very interesting observation contained in this letter. M. de Luc observes, that in this country the schistus is generally covered by strata of lime-stone, and that these lime-stone strata are again covered with those of sand-stone, in which are found a great many fragments of schistus lying flat. Therefore, while those sand-stone strata were collecting at the bottom of the sea, there had been rocks of schistus in some other place, from whence those fragments bad been detached.","title":"Theory of the Earth: Chapter V. Concerning that which may be termed the Primary Part of the Present Earth","type":"page"}