14? Mr. Bakewell on the Thermal Waters of the Alps. 



C. On Ingleborough, Simon Fell, and Park Fell, about 700 

 feet thick. 



D. As the upper surface of the grauwacke, &c. apparently 

 diversified with hill and dale previous to the deposition of the 

 superincumbent beds, is not a regular plane, the thickness of 

 this section must vary in conformity. In some parts of Wharf- 

 dale it is very probably upwards of 1200 feet in thickness. 



I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 

 Your most obedient servant, 

 Leeds, Dec. 8, 1827. John NlXON. 



III. On the Thermal Waters of the Alps. By R. Bakewell, Esq. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Annals. 



Gentlemen, 



Yl^HEN we approach a range of lofty mountains, like that 

 J " of the Pennine Alps, and observe the calcareous strata 

 on the outer part of the range, bent and contorted in various 

 directions ; when we further observe beds of limestone and 

 puddingstone alternating and placed in an elevated position, 

 as we advance to the central part of the range ; and that the 

 beds of granite in the central part are frequently vertical ; we 

 feel assured that their present contorted or vertical position 

 is not the original one. The opinions of geologists have been 

 much divided respecting the cause or causes that have elevated 

 mountains and given a vertical position to beds that once 

 formed the bottom of the ocean. Those who maintain that sub- 

 terranean heat has expanded and broken the solid crust of 

 the globe, and has raised from vast depths the ancient bed of 

 the ocean, appeal to a cause that is known to exist, and which 

 seems sufficient to explain most of the various appearances 

 which alpine regions present. 



In opposition to this theory, it is asserted that there are no 

 remaining vestiges of the action of subterranean fire in the 

 Alps ; — but this I am convinced is erroneous. It is true that 

 from near the source of the Rhone, to the foot of the Little 

 St. Bernard, there does not occur any known rock of a vol- 

 canic character, with the doubtful exception of some rocks in 

 the valley of Sass, and in the Valorsine. I have examined 

 various parts of this range on the northern side of the highest 

 mountains in the Alps, along a line of one hundred and twenty 

 miles ; and though I could discover no indications of the ac- 

 tion of subterranean heat in the rocks themselves, I was greatly 

 surprised to observe, the numerous thermal springs that are 



abundantly 



