{"collection":"earth","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/earth/toe/toe27.htm","path":"earth/toe/toe27.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/earth/toe/toe27.htm","text":"Theory of the Earth, by James Hutton, [1788 and 1795]\nFacts in confirmation of the Theory, respecting\n those Operations which re-dissolve the Surface\n of the Earth.\nWe have now discussed the proof of those mineral operations by which the horizontal strata, consolidated at the bottom of the sea, had been changed in their position, and raised into the place of land. The next object of our research is to see those operations, belonging to the surface of the earth, by which the consolidated and erected strata have been again dissolved, in order to serve the purpose of this world, and to descend again into the bottom of the sea from whence they came.\nOf all the natural objects of this world, the surface of the earth is that with which we are best acquainted, and most interested. It is here that man has the disposal of nature so much at his will; but here, man, in disposing of things at the pleasure of his will, must learn, by studying nature, what will most conduce to the success of his design, or to the happy economy of his life. No part of this great object is indifferent to man; even on the summits of mountains, too high for the sustaining of vegetable life, he sees a purpose of nature in the accumulated snow and in majestic streams of the descending ice. On every other spot of the surface of this earth, the system of animal and vegetable life is served, in the continual productions of nature, and in the repeated multiplication of living beings which propagate their species.\nBut, for this great purpose of the world, the solid structure of this earth must be sacrificed; for, the fertility of our soil depends upon the loose and incoherent state of its materials; and, that state of our fertile soil necessarily exposes it to the ravages of the rain upon the inclined surface of the earth. In studying this part of the economy of nature, we may perceive the most perfect wisdom in the actual constitution of things; for, while it is so ordered that the solid mass of earth should be resolved for the purpose of vegetation, the perishable soil is as much as possible preserved by the protection of those solid parts; and these consolidated masses are resolved in so slow a manner, that nothing but the most philosophic eye, by reasoning upon a chain of facts, is able to discover it. Thus it may be concluded, that the apparent permanency of this earth is not real or absolute; and that the fertility of its surface, like the healthy state of animal bodies, must have its period, and be succeeded by another.\nThe study of this subject must tend to enlarge the mind of man, in seeing what is past, and in foreseeing what must come to pass in time; and here is a subject in which we find an extensive field for investigation, and for pleasant satisfaction. The hideous mountains and precipitous rocks, which are so apt to inspire horror and discontentment in minds which look at sensible objects only for immediate pleasure, afford matter of the most instructive speculation to the philosopher, who studies the wisdom of nature through the medium of things. As, on the one hand, the summit of the mountain may be supposed the point of absolute sterility, so, on the other, the sandy desert, moved by nothing but the parching winds of continents distant from the sources of abundant rains, finishes the scale of natural fertility, which thus diminishes in the two opposite extremes of hot and dry, of cold and wet; thus is provided an indefinite variety of soils and climates for that diversity of living organised bodies with which the world is provided for the use of man. But, between those two extremes, of mountains covered with perpetual snow, and parched plains in which every living thing must perish, we find the most pleasant subject of contemplation, in studying the means employed in nature for producing the beautiful and benevolent system of hills and valleys, of fertile soils and well watered plains, of the most agreeable circumstances and proper situations for every thing that lives, and for the preservation of an indefinite variety of organised bodies which propagate their species.\nWithout this philosophic view of things, the prospect of the surface of this earth is far from giving always satisfaction or contentment to the mind of man, who is subject to be continually displeased with that which is presented to his view, and which, in his opinion, is not the best; in his partial views of things, it is either too high or too low, too cold or too warm, too moist or too dry, too stiff for the labour of his plough, or too loose for the growing of his corn. But, considering nature as the common parent of living growing propagating bodies, which require an indefinite variety of soils and climates, the philosopher finds the most benevolent purpose in the end proposed, or effect which is attained, and sees perfect wisdom in the effectual means which are employed. This is the view that I would wish men of science to take; and it is for this purpose that I am now to examine the phenomena of the surface of this earth.\nIf strata, formed at the bottom of the sea, had been consolidated by internal operations proper to the earth, and afterwards raised for the purpose of a habitable world; and if, for the purpose of vegetation, the solid land must be resolved into soil by the dissolution and separation of its parts, as is required in the theory, the strata, instead of being entire immediately below the soil, should be found in a mutilated state; the ends of hard and solid beds should present their fractures or abrupt sections immediately under the confused materials with which they are covered; and the softer strata should appear to suffer gradual resolution and decay, by which may be perceived their transition into soil, the most important part of all the operations of the globe which do not immediately concern our life.\nThese are facts which every person of observation has it in his power to verify; they are facts for which nothing further can be laid than that the thing is truly so; and they are facts from which the most important arguments might be formed, were any doubt to be entertained concerning the justness of the theory which has now been given.\nThe theory consists in this, that it is necessary to have a habitable country situated in the atmosphere, or above the surface of the sea.\nIt is difficult to say precisely what constitutes a habitable country. A resting place out of the water suffices for such amphibious animals as, while they necessarily live in the atmosphere, feed in the sea. Man, more versatile in his nature than most animals, and more capable of adapting his manners to his circumstances, is even sometimes found subsisting in situations where the land affords him little more than it does the seal on which he feeds. The growth of terrestrial plants, however, seems necessary to the idea of a habitable country; and, for the growth of plants, there is required soil: Now, this is only to be procured by the resolution or decay of solid land.\nWe are not to consider the resolution of our land as being the effect of accident, while it is performed by the operations of the sun and atmosphere, by the alternate action of moisture and of drought, and by the casual operations of a river in a flood. Nothing is more steady than the resolution of our land; nothing rests upon more certain principles; and there is nothing which in science may be more easily investigated.\nCalcareous, argillaceous, and other soluble earths, compose many of the strata; but in many more, which are partly or chiefly composed of insoluble substances, those soluble earths are mixed in various proportions. Now, when the siliceous substance, which is the insoluble part, shall be supposed resisting every effort of the elements towards its dissolution, those compound masses upon the surface of the earth, however endued with hardness and solidity, are gradually impaired by the dissolution of some of their constituent parts, and by the separation of others which are thus exposed to the ablution of water. In like manner, by the resolution of the surrounding parts, the solid silex, which is supposed to be insoluble, is removed from its bed, and thus suffers new parts of the solid land to be exposed to those injuries of the air, by which the general good of plants, of animals, and even of future worlds, are consulted.\nThe solid land is resolved into stones, gravel, sand, earths, and clays; all or either of these, by retaining moisture, and affording places for the roots of plants, are disposed for vegetation in different degrees; a mixture of the different earths being, upon the whole, the best suited to that purpose; and this compound body, mixed with vegetable or animal substances, becoming a most luxuriant soil.\nSoils are thus formed, either by the resolution of the surface of that land upon which they are to rest, or by the transportation of those solid parts to be again deposited upon another basis. In this manner soils are constantly changing upon the same spot; sometimes they are meliorated, at other times impoverished. From the tops of the mountains to the shores of the sea, all the soils are subject to be moved from their places, by the natural operations of the surface, and to be deposited in a lower situation; thus gradually proceeding from the mountain to the river, and from the river, step by step, into the sea. Countries are thus formed at the mouths of rivers in the sea, so long as the quantities of materials transported from the land exceeds that which is carried from the shore, by tides and currents, into the deeper water.\nThe soil, with which the surface of this earth is always covered more or less, is extremely various, both with respect to quantity and quality; it is found resting upon the solid parts; and those solid parts are always more or less affected by the influences of the atmosphere near the surface of the earth. Those parts of the strata which approach the surface are always in a decayed state; and this sometimes may be observed for very considerable depths, according as the quality of the materials, and the situation of the place dispose to that effect. This general observation however may be formed, that, cet. par. the strata become always more solid, or are found in their sound and natural state, more and more in proportion as we sink into the earth, or have proceeded from the surface.\nThere is nothing of which we have more distinct experience than this, That, universally upon the surface of the earth, the solid parts are dissolving and always going into decay; whereas, at a sufficient depth below, they are found in their natural consolidated state. The operations of man in digging into the ground, as well as the sections of the earth so often formed by brooks and rivers, affords such ample testimony of this truth that nothing farther need be observed upon this head only that this is a most important operation in the natural economy of the globe, and forms a subject of the greatest consequence in the present Theory of the Earth, which holds for principle, that the strata are consolidated in the mineral regions far beyond reach of human observation.\nConsistently with this view of things, the strata or regular solid parts, under the soil or travelled earth, should be found in some shape corresponding to the represented state of those things, when affected by the powers which have acted upon the surface of the earth. Here, accordingly, the strata are always to be observed with those marks of resolution, of fracture, and of separation, which have most evidently arisen from the joint operation of those several causes that have been now explained. But though every operation of the globe be necessarily required for the explanation of those appearances which we now examine, it is principally the action of the sun and atmosphere, and the operations of the waters flooding the surface of the earth, that form the proper subject of the present investigation.\nIt must not be imagined that, from the present state of things, we may be always able to explain every particular appearance of this kind which occurs; for example, why upon an eminence, or the summit of a ridge of land which declines on every side, an enormous mass of travelled soil appears; or why in other places, where the immediate cause is equally unseen, the solid strata should be exposed almost naked to our view. We know the agents which nature has employed for those purposes; we know the operations in which the solid parts are rendered soil of various qualities and for different purposes; and when we find the marks of those natural operations in places where, according to the present circumstances, the proper agents could not have acted or existed, we are hereby constrained to believe, that the circumstances of those places have been changed, while the operations of nature are the same.\nIt is thus that we shall find reason to conclude an immense period of time, in those operations which are measured by the depradations of water acting upon the surface of the earth; a period however which is to be esteemed a little thing compared with that in which a continent had taken birth and gone into decay; but a period which interests us the more to examine, in that it approaches nearer to another period, for the estimation of which some data may perhaps be found by naturalists and antiquaries, when their researches shall be turned to this subject. It is only in this manner that there is any reasonable prospect of forming some sort of calculation concerning that elapsed time in which the present earth was formed, a thing which from our present data we have considered as indefinite.\nIn this view which we are now taking of the surface of the earth, nothing is more interesting than the beds of rivers; these take winding courses around the hills which they cannot surmount; sometimes again they break through the barrier of rocks opposed to their current; thus making gaps in places by wearing away the solid rock over which they formerly had run upon a higher level; and thus leaving traces of their currents in the furrowed sides of rocky mountains, far from the course of any water at the present time.\nSo strongly has M. de Saussure been impressed with this and some other appearances, that he has imagined a current of water which, however in the possibility of things, is not in nature; and which moreover could not have produced the appearances now mentioned, which is the work of time, and the continued operation of a lesser cause. We are further obliged to him for the following facts.\nVol. 1. (page 163.) \u00abLes tranches nues et escarp\u00e9es des grandes couches du petit et surtout du grande Saleve, pr\u00e9sentent presque partout les traces les plus marqu\u00e9es du passage des eaux, qui les ont rong\u00e9es et excav\u00e9es, on voit sur ces rochers, des sillons \u00e0 peu pr\u00e8s horizontaux, plus ou moins larges et profonds; il a de 4 \u00e0 5 pieds de largeur, et d'une longueur double ou triple, sur 1 ou 2 pieds de profondeur. Tous ces sillons ont leur bords termin\u00e9s des courbures arrondies; telles que les eaux ont coutume de les tracer. Je dis qu'ils sont \u00e0 peu pr\u00e8s horizontaux, parce qu'ils sont par fois inclin\u00e9s de quelques degr\u00e9s, en descendant vers le sud-sud-ouest, suivant la pente qu'a du avoir le courant.\u00bb This is evidently the effect of a river running along the side of a rock of such soft materials as may be worn by the friction of sand and stones; and such are the materials of the rocks now considered. Notwithstanding that it is so easy to explain this appearance by the operation of natural causes, M. de Saussure proceeds in taking it in another view. \u00abDe tels filons ne sauroient avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 trac\u00e9s par les eaux des pluies; car celles-ci forment des excavations, ou perpendiculaires \u00e0 l'horizon ou dirig\u00e9es suivant la plus grande inclinaison des faces des rochers; au lieu que celles la font trac\u00e9es presqu'horizontalement sur de faces tou-\u00e0-fait verticales.\u00bb Here our author takes it for granted that things upon the surface of this earth were always the same as at present; and he reasons justly from these principles. But we are now tracing a former state of things; and those furrowed rocks testify the former current of a river by their side.\nThis operation of rivers undermining the sides of mountains, and causing scenes of ruin and destruction, may be illustrated by what our author has described under the title of Ravage du temps sur les Rochers de Saleve, \u00a7236. \u00abL\u00e0 ou ces couches manquent, il est ais\u00e9 de voir qu'elles ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9truites par le tems; les couches m\u00eame horizontales, contres lesquelles elles out appuy\u00e9es, ont souffert en bien des endroits des alt\u00e9rations consid\u00e9rables.\n\u00abUn peintre qui voudroit monter son imagination, et se faire des grandes id\u00e9es des ravages du tems sur de grands objects, devroit aller au pied de Saleve, \u00e0 l'extr\u00e9mit\u00e9 des ces grands rochers, au-dessus du coin, hameau fort \u00e9lev\u00e9 de la paroisse de Collonge.\n\u00abOn voit l\u00e0 des rochers taill\u00e9s \u00e0 pic \u00e0 la hauteur de plusieurs centaines de pied avec des faces, ici planes et uniformes, l\u00e0 partag\u00e9es et sillonnes par les eaux.\n\u00abLa base de ces rochers est couverte de d\u00e9bris et de fragmens \u00e9normes, confus\u00e9ment entass\u00e9s; un de ces d\u00e9bris soutenu fortuitement par d'autres est demeur\u00e9, et paro\u00eet de pr\u00e8s un ob\u00e9lisque quadrangulaire d'une hauteur prodigieuse; de plus loin on reconno\u00eet que sa sommit\u00e9 est une arr\u00eate tranchante, et qu'il a la forme d'un coin; et c'est peut-\u00eatre cette forme qui a donn\u00e9 son nom au hameau qu'il domine.\n\u00abL'Angle m\u00eame de la montagne est partag\u00e9 par une fente qui le traverse de part en part. Cette profonde fissure m\u00e9rite qu'on la voye, et m\u00eame qu'on la p\u00e9n\u00e8tre. Elle est tortueuse, et dans quelques endroits si \u00e9troite, qu'\u00e0 peine un homme peut il y passer. Quand vous y \u00eates engag\u00e9s vous trouvez des places ou les sinuosit\u00e9s du rocher vous cache le ciel, plus loin elles le laissent apercevoir par \u00e9chapp\u00e9es; ailleurs vous voyez des blocs de rochers engag\u00e9s dans la crevasse, et suspendus au-dessus de votre t\u00eate.\u00bb\nIn his route from Contamine to Bonneville, he observes, page 365, \u00abEnfin vis-a-vis la Bonne-ville, ces m\u00eames escarpemens des bases du mole, pr\u00e9sentent une grande \u00e9chancrure, qui paro\u00eet \u00eatre le vuide qu'a laiss\u00e9 une montagne qui s'est anciennement \u00e9croul\u00e9e; ses d\u00e9bris sont encore entass\u00e9s au-dessous de l'\u00e9chancrure. Il paro\u00eet m\u00eame qu'elle \u00e9toit plus \u00e9lev\u00e9e que ses voisines, j'en juge par leur couches qui montent \u00e0 droite et \u00e0 gauche, contre le vuide qu'elle \u00e0 laiss\u00e9.\n\u00ab\u00a7 493. En suivant la route de servez, on voit sur sa gauche la continuation des rocs escarp\u00e9s qui couronnent les montagnes situ\u00e9es au-dessus de Passy. Un de ces rochers est si \u00e9lev\u00e9, et en m\u00eame tems si mince que l'on a peine \u00e0 concevoir qu'il puisse se tenir debout et r\u00e9sister aux orages.\n\u00abC'est aupr\u00e8s de cette sommit\u00e9 \u00e9lev\u00e9e qu'\u00e9toit situ\u00e9e une montagne qui s'\u00e9boula en 1751, avec un fracas si \u00e9pouvantable, et une poussi\u00e8re si \u00e9paisse et si obscure, que bien de gens crurent que c'\u00e9toit la fin du monde.\u00bb\nVitaliano Donati, who was sent from Turin to examine this phenomenon, says in his letter, which M. de Saussure transcribes, that the great snows, which fell that year in Savoy, increasing the operation of some lakes, the waters of which continually undermined this mountain, occasioned the fall of three millions of cubic toises of rock.\nIn describing the Saleve, our author proceeds to mention other appearances equally conclusive with regard to the operations of water, but such as may be found over all the surface of the globe, to have been brought about by natural causes. \u00abCe que l'on nomme le Grottes de l'Hermitage, ou ces excavations profondes de 30 pieds, et 8 ou 10 fois aussi longues produites par la destruction totale de plusieurs couches de rocher.\n\u00abLa gorge m\u00eame de Monetier, ou cette grande \u00e9chancrure qui s\u00e9pare le grand Saleve du petit, et dans le fond de laquelle est renferm\u00e9 le joli vallon de Monetier, paro\u00eet avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 form\u00e9e par un courant semblable, qui descendant des Alpes par la vall\u00e9e de l'Arve, venoit se jetter dans notre grand courant; car les couches correspondantes du grand et du petit Saleve indiquent leur ancienne jonction; et l'on ne comprend pas quel agent auroit pu d\u00e9tacher et emporter la pi\u00e8ce \u00e9norme qui manque en cet endroit \u00e0 la montagne.\u00bb\nFurther, in treating of the changes made in the form of the Jura by the ravages of time, our author observes, page 273, vol. I.\n\u00abLe faite de la montagne, battu de tous cot\u00e9s par les vents, et par les pluies, a souffert des alt\u00e9rations les plus grandes: ici les couches du cot\u00e9 du lac ont \u00e9t\u00e9 detruites, et laissent voir les sommit\u00e9s des couches oppos\u00e9es, dont les escarpemens paroissent tourner contre ce m\u00eame lac; l\u00e0, ce font les couches du cot\u00e9 de la vall\u00e9e de Mijoux, qui out \u00e9t\u00e9 emport\u00e9es, et la montagne en pente uniforme de notre cot\u00e9, est escarp\u00e9e du cot\u00e9 de celle vall\u00e9e; plus loin, le faite entier a \u00e9t\u00e9 enlev\u00e9, et l\u00e0 on voit des abaissemens ou des gorges comme aux Faucilles, \u00e0 St. Serge, etc.\n\u00abLes flancs et la base de La montagne ont aussi \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9grad\u00e9s par les torrens que produisent la pluie et les neiges fondues, qui ont form\u00e9 de larges et profondes excavations.\u00bb\nThese ravages of time, or rather of the wasting operations of the surface of the earth, however great, compared with the little changes that we find in our experience, or in the most ancient record of our histories, are little things, considering the softness and solubility of the materials, and compared with the wasting of the Alps, which we find in tracing up those same rivers to their sources in the icy valleys. Let us go up the Arve to the valley of Chamouni. From this fertile valley, M. de Saussure heads us up the Montanvert, 428 fathoms above the level of the valley, and consequently 954 above that of the sea.\nFrom this mountain we descend again into the high frozen valley which runs between the granite mountains, and pours its ice into the valley of Chamouni.\nIn this high valley, which communicates with an immensity of the like kind, we find ourselves among the most hard and durable materials. Here we must perceive, that most enormous masses of those solid materials had, in the course of time, been wasted by the flow effects of air and water, of the sun and frost, in order to hollow out those barren valleys of immense extent, which have, during an amazing tract of time, contributed from their solid rocks to the formation of travelled soils below, but which materials have long ago been travelling in the sea. The sides of those valleys are solid rock here exposed naked to our view. It is to such a place as this that we should go to see the operations of the surface wasting the solid body of the globe, and to read the unmeasurable course of time that must have flowed during those amazing operations which the vulgar do not see, and which the learned seem to see without wonder!\nM. de Saussure, in his second volume of Voyages dans les Alps, has given us a most interesting view of this scene, p. 6.\n\u00abEn montant au Montanvert, on a toujours sous ses pieds la vue de la vall\u00e9e de Chamouni, de l'Arve qui l'arrose dans toute la longueur, d'une soule de villages et de hameaux entour\u00e9s d'arbres et de champs bien cultiv\u00e9s. Au moment ou l'on arrive au Montanvert, la sc\u00e8ne change; et au lieu de cette riante et fertile vall\u00e9e, on se trouve presqu'au bord d'un pr\u00e9cipice, dont le fond est une vall\u00e9e beaucoup plus large et plus \u00e9tendue, remplie de neige et de glace, et bord\u00e9e de montagnes colossales, qui \u00e9tonnent par leur hauteur et par leurs formes, et qui effraient par leur st\u00e9rilit\u00e9 et leurs escarpements.\u00bb\nIt is the cause of this appearance, of deep valleys and colossal mountains, that I would now wish my readers to perceive. This is a thought which seldom strikes the mind of wondering spectators, viewing those lofty objects; they are occupied with what they see, and do not think how little what they see may have been, compared with what had been removed in the gradual operations of the globe. We have but to suppose this scene hewn out of the solid mass of country raised above the level of the valley; and, that this had been the case, must appear from the examination of all around.\nLet us follow our author up those valleys between the solid granite mountains, valleys which properly are great rivers of ice moving, grandly but slowly, the ruins of those mountains upon which they were gathered. It is the Glacier de Bois upon which he is set out, (p. 26.)\n\u00abApr\u00e8s une bonne demi-heure de marche sur le glacier, nous traversons une arr\u00eate de glace charg\u00e9e de terre, de sable et de d\u00e9bris de rocher. J'ai parl\u00e9 dans le 1er. vol. de ces arr\u00eates parall\u00e8les \u00e0 la longueur de glaciers, que l'on voit souvent dans le milieu de leur largeur, ou \u00e0 des distances plus ou moins grandes de leurs bords. J'ai fait voir qu'elles sont produites par des d\u00e9bris qui du haut des montagnes, roulent sur le glacier, et qui entra\u00een\u00e9s par la glace sur laquelle ils reposent suivent comme elle une direction oblique en descendant tout-\u00e0-la-fois vers le milieu et vers le bas de la vall\u00e9e.\n\u00abDix minutes apr\u00e8s, nous travers\u00e2mes une seconde arr\u00eate plus haute que la premiere, et nous juge\u00e2mes que sous ces d\u00e9bris la glace \u00e9toit de 20 ou 25 pieds plus \u00e9lev\u00e9e que dans les endroits o\u00f9 l'air et les rayons du soleil agissent librement sur elle. On rencontre une troisi\u00e8me arr\u00eate \u00e0 vingt minutes de la seconde, et la quatri\u00e8me, qui est la derni\u00e8re, la suit de tr\u00e8s-pr\u00e8s.\n\u00abIci nous nous trouvons au point o\u00f9 le glacier des bois se divise, comme je l'ai dit, \u00a7 611, en deux grandes branches, dont l'une tourne \u00e0 droite vers le Mont-Blanc, et prend le nom de glacier de Tacul, et l'autre \u00e0 gauche se nomme le glacier de Lechaud. Il seroit, sans doute, plus int\u00e9ressant de suivre celle de la droite, et de s'approcher ainsi du Mont-Blanc; ses pentes de neige et de glace, qui se presentent \u00e0 nous, semblent m\u00eame n'\u00eatre point absolument inaccessibles: mais ce sont des apparences trompeuses; des glaciers entrecoup\u00e9s de profondes crevasses masqu\u00e9es \u00e7\u00e0 et l\u00e0 par des couches minces de neige les approches de cette redoutable montagne, quoique peut-\u00eatre en choisissant une ann\u00e9e ou il seroit tomb\u00e9 beaucoup de neige, et en prenant le temps o\u00f9 cette neige seroit encore ferme, quelque chasseur adroit et courageux pourroit tenter cette route.\n\u00abComme dans ce moment cette entreprise est absolument impraticable, nous suivons la branche gauche de la vall\u00e9e, et apr\u00e8s deux heures de marche sur le glacier des bois, nous en sortons au pied de celui du Tal\u00e9fre, c'est-\u00e0-dire, \u00e0 l'endroit o\u00f9 celui-ci vient verser sa glace dans celui-l\u00e0 qui a chang\u00e9 de nom, et qui s'appelle ici le glacier de L\u00e9chaud.\n\u00abLa vue du glacier du Tal\u00e9fre est ici majestueuse et terrible. Comme la pente par laquelle il descend est extr\u00eamement rapide, les gla\u00e7ons se pressant mutuellement, se dressent, se rel\u00e8vent, et pr\u00e9sentent des tours, des pyramides diversement inclin\u00e9es, qui semblent pr\u00eates \u00e0 \u00e9craser le voyageur t\u00e9m\u00e9raire qui oseroit s'en approcher.\n\u00abPour parvenir au sommet de ce glacier, o\u00f9 il est moins inclin\u00e9 et par cela m\u00eame moins in\u00e9gal, nous gravissons le rocher qui est \u00e0 la gauche du c\u00f4t\u00e9 du couchant. Ce rocher se nomme le Couvercle; il est domin\u00e9 par une cime inaccessible, qui, suivant l'usage du pays, est d\u00e9cor\u00e9e du nom aiguille, et, en prenant le nom du glacier le plus proche, s'appelle l'aiguille du Tal\u00e9fre.\n\u00abLa pente, par laquelle on gravit le couvercle, est excessivement rapide; on suit une esp\u00e8ce de sillon creus\u00e9 dans le roc par la nature; quelques pointes de roc aux quelles on se cramponne, en montant avec les mains, autant et plus qu'avec les pieds, ont fait donner \u00e0 ce passage le nom d'\u00e9gralets ou de petits degr\u00e9s. Ce passage n'est cependant point dangereux, parce que le roc, qui est un granit tr\u00e8s-coh\u00e9rent, permet d'assurer toujours solidement les mains et les pieds; mais la rapidit\u00e9 le rend un peu effrayant \u00e0 la descente.\n\u00abLorsqu'on est au haut des \u00e9gralets, on suite un pente beaucoup moins rapide; on marche tant\u00f4t sur du gazon, tant\u00f4t sur de grandes tables de granit, et on arrive ainsi au bord du plan du glacier du Tal\u00e9fre. On nomme le plan d'un glacier la partie \u00e9lev\u00e9e et \u00e0-peu-pr\u00e8s horizontale dans laquelle on peut le traverser.\n\u00abNous avions mis une heure et un quart \u00e0 monter du glacier de L\u00e9chaud au plan de celui du Tal\u00e9fre. Nous fumes tent\u00e9s de nous reposer un moment avant d'entrer sur celui-ci. Tout nous invitoit \u00e0 choisir cette place, un beau gazon arros\u00e9 par un ruisseau qui sortoit de dessous la neige et qui rouloit son eau crystalline sur un sable argent\u00e9, et ce qui \u00e9toit plus s\u00e9duisant encore, une vue d'une \u00e9tendue et d'une beaut\u00e9 dont une description ne peut donner qu'une bien foible id\u00e9e.\n\u00ab\u00a7 631. En effet comment peindre, \u00e0 l'imagination des objets qui n'ont rien de commun avec tout ce que l'on voit dans le reste du monde; comment faire passer dans l'\u00e2me du lecteur cette impression m\u00eal\u00e9e d'admiration et de terreur qu'inspirent ces immenses amas de glaces entour\u00e9s et surmont\u00e9s de ces rochers pyramidaux plus immenses encore; le contraste de la blancheur des neiges avec la couleur obscure des rochers, mouill\u00e9s par les eaux que ces neiges distillent, la puret\u00e9 de l'air, \u00e9clat de la lumi\u00e8re du soleil, qui donne \u00e0 tous ces objets une nettet\u00e9 et une vivacit\u00e9 extraordinaires; le profond et majestueux silence qui regne dans ces vastes solitudes, silence qui n'est troubl\u00e9 que de loin en loin par le fracas de quelque grand rocher de granit ou de glace qui s'\u00e9croule du haut de quelque montagne; et la nudit\u00e9 m\u00eame de ces rochers \u00e9lev\u00e9s, o\u00f9 l'on ne d\u00e9couvre ni animaux, ni arbustes, ni verdure. Et quand on se rappelle la belle v\u00e9g\u00e9tation, et les charmans paysages que l'on a vus le jours pr\u00e9c\u00e9dens dans le basses vall\u00e9es, on est tent\u00e9 de croire qu'on a \u00e9t\u00e9 subitement transport\u00e9 dans un autre monde oubli\u00e9 par la nature, ou sur une com\u00e8te dans son aph\u00e9lie. La vue du Montanvert ne donne de celle-ci qu'une id\u00e9e tr\u00e8s-imparfaite; l\u00e0 on ne voit qu'un seul glacier, au lieu que d'ici vous voyez les trois grands glaciers des Bois, de L\u00e9chaud et du Tacul, sans compter un grand nombre d'autres moins consid\u00e9rables qui, comme celui du Tal\u00e9fre, versent leurs glaces dans les glaciers principaux.\n\u00abLes rochers innombrables que l'on voit au-dessus de ces glaciers sont tous de granit, car s'il y a, comme j'en suis certain, des rochers feuillet\u00e9es, interpos\u00e9es entre ces granits, des gneufs, par exemple, ou des roches de corne; comme elles \u00e9toient plus tendres que les granits, leurs parties faillantes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9truites par les injures de l'air, et il ne reste plus que leurs bases, cach\u00e9s au fond des gorges qui s\u00e9parent les hautes pyramides.\u00bb\nThis is a fact which, independent of the good authority we have here, we would have been naturally led, from the theory, to suppose. For, in wearing out the solid mass, which had been once continuous among those mountains, something must have determined the situation of those valleys; but what so likely as some parts more destructible by the wasting operations of the surface than others, which are therefore less impaired, and remain more high.\nNow, whatever may be our theory with regard to the origin or formation of these solid masses of the globe, this must be concluded for certain,\u2014that what we see remaining is but a specimen of what had been removed,\u2014and that we actually see the operations by which that great work had been performed: we only need to join in our imagination that portion of time which, upon the surest principles, we are forced to acknowledge in this view of present things.","title":"Theory of the Earth: Theory of the Earth [1795], Vol. II ...","type":"page"}