ijhfye Appenines cf Llgip'ia. 303 



the junqtiou of bpth s,ubstances ; and the doubts we might 

 raise as to the lime-stone placed against it secondarily, and 

 afterwards .against the serpentine rock, disappear entirely 

 uf>on examining the. j:acts T haye mentioned. 



In short, when the torrent in its various overflowings, 

 and when after storms its waters are' precipitated from 

 precipice to precipice with a violence and impetuosity car- 

 rying every thing before it, and laying bare the calcareous 

 and serpentine beds, ^so as tp present \.\q \vhole at full view ; 

 w,e then remark tVie gPfiy, hard, and .compact lirne-stQue, 

 which is modified into white calcareous spar, and forms 

 large strings or lineaments, which are joined and interlaced 

 with v^ry .small layers ot linea^iients of ateatitic serpentine. 

 These lineaments sometimes increase, and are developed 

 Ipngituflinally, and like stripes of a gray or greenish colour 

 around longitudinal or circular laminae of calcareous spar of 

 a white colour. In other parts adjacent, the two substances 

 forip a Iqind of net work. In a word, we think we can per- 

 ceive in the union and in the play of these two substances, 

 so different in their nature, the results of the movement of 

 the fluid which held both in solution at one and the same 

 time; and we only know the waters of the sea, and their 

 long. continuance upon these regions, at very remote periods, 

 as having acted upon masses which, constitute chains of 

 mountains. 



Every thin^, therefore, inclines us to think, that.in this 

 case the lime-stone has been attached, or rather joined, to 

 the magnesian rock, not by an after process, but in one 

 and the sarpe operation, when, great accumulations of dis- 

 solved calcareous matters being, in the neighbourhood of 

 substances which have given bnlh to the serpentine rock, 

 their mplecules floated in the same fluid, which gave rise to 

 points of meeting, contact, union, and mixtuie, similar 

 to those we observe here. Nothing proves ipnore completely 

 that tbis mixture is ma^e f*jmultancously than the ehemicaf 

 state of these two substances ; for the purest of the lime-stone 

 contains 6, 7, .ai)d even 8 pi;r cent, of magnesian earth, while 

 the serpentine rQckibfUi as much lipac-^ioue i;;v ii^^piass. 



Saussure. 



