122 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



is described as 'Beauty lying iu the lap of 

 Horrour ' ! " 



We have now to unravel some of the mysteries 

 of this district, to seek among "that turbulent 

 chaos of mountain," as Gray speaks of it, for some 

 laws of order and of harmony. 



Who amongst us can look thoughtfully upon the 

 beautiful scenery of the Lake district without being 

 led to ask innumerable questions as to its cause, 

 why here the mountains should be rugged, there 

 smooth ; here craggy, and there gently sloping ? 

 Why iu some places there should be flat plains, in 

 others gently rolling hills, and in others precipitous 

 mountains ? When, too, was this effect produced ? 

 Were all the types of scenery formed at once by 

 the " I will " of the All-powerful, or were they 

 elaborated gradually in the great workshop of 

 Nature by the action of those laws ordained by the 

 great First Cause ? 



If the latter be the case, our minds immediately 

 ask, What were these laws ? Are they still in 

 operation? And if so, can we, by noting their 

 working now, form some idea of their working in 

 ages past ? Surely there is abundance of matter 

 for thought here ; let us meet Nature gladly, 

 question her fully, accept her answers frankly, and 

 we must of necessity become both wiser and 

 happier. 



What then is the first question we should address 

 to Nature in our endeavour to find out the causes of 

 the varied scenery ? Clearly this : Is the rocky 

 material forming the varied types of scenery the 

 same ? 



The low swelling hills which for the most part 

 encircle the mountain-district, are made up of 

 alternations of limestone and sandstone, with a 

 gentle dip away from the inclosed higher ground, 

 the strata being of somewhat varying hardness, and 

 but little disturbed or contorted. 



The lofty, massive, but smooth Skiddaw consists of 

 dark clay-slate, old mud-deposits hardened, cleaved, 

 and contorted, shivering into flaky fragments. 

 The still more lofty Scawfell, all craggy, precipitous, 

 and stony, presents us with another kind of rock ; 

 x close, altered, stratified volcanic ash, breaking 

 into blocks by reason of the numberless joints 

 traversing it, and strewing the ground below with 

 broken angular fragments. 



Go over into Eskdale and mark the heathery and 

 rounded hills around Stony Tarn, and north of the 

 river Esk; here we find granite crumbling at the 

 surface, and giving rise to a gritty quartzose soil. 



Pass back to that mysterious conical hill, Mell 

 Fell, north of Ullswater, standing like a sentinel at 

 ihe outposts of the mountains, with a height of 

 1,760 feet, and not a trace of crag or cliff upon its 

 sides. What have we here? Conglomerate, a 

 shingly deposit, mostly loose and ready to slip 

 ;*way when the grassy covering is removed.^ 



Those small grassy plains, nestling among the 

 mountains, and found at the head of so many of 

 our lakes ; these are formed of soft river-mud and 

 loose sand and gravel evenly spread out. Thus we 

 find each different type of scenery associated for the 

 most part with a different kind of rocky material. 



Tlie next question we must ask is. What are the 

 agents which produce scenery as a whole ? 



The only possible agents are, 1. The denuding 

 action of the sea along coast-lines. 2. The denud- 

 ing power of the various atmospheric agencies ; viz., 

 the chemical action of the air and running water, 

 and the mechanical action of the air, running water, 

 and frost. 3. The violent upheaval and disruption 

 of the rocky matter by an action from below. To 

 which of these agents are we to ascribe the pro- 

 duction of scenery in general? or have they all 

 taken part in the work ? 



It is not here necessary to enter into discussion 

 of the first principles of geological science, and 

 therefore I shall say no more upon this part of my 

 subject than is necessary for the logical complete- 

 ness of the whole. 



It is well known that the sea denudes chiefly 

 along the coast-line, acting like a great planing 

 machine, and tending to form what Prof. Ramsay 

 has called a " plain of marine denudation ;" and if 

 this be so, it is clear we cannot look to it as the 

 agent producing scenic detail, though we may 

 regard it as the great worker which has rough- 

 hewn a block of earth to be afterwards moulded 

 and carved by other agents. 



The other agents to which the scenic tracery 

 of nature is due, are chiefly the various atmospheric 

 powers as enumerated above. But few geologists 

 who have practically worked in the field, now 

 believe in the agency of violent cataclysnis ; deep 

 valleys and ravines are not generally produced by 

 gaping fissures and wide rents, but by the slow 

 action of causes we now see in operation — the 

 chemical and mechanical action of the atmosphere. 



Let us think but for a few moments of what we 

 must all have noticed of this action in a mountain- 

 ous district or elsewhere. 



Look at a mass of greenstone ; its exterior is 

 weathered brown, and has become soft and crum- 

 bling; chemical decomposition has taken place, and 

 its stained outside effervesces briskly when touched 

 with acids. Examine limestone crags ; see how 

 honeycombed they are, how moulded into fantastic 

 shapes, how eaten out into hollows and depressions : 

 the carbonated rain-water is the solvent power. 

 Take, again, the case of sandstone and grit rocks ; 

 see how much they are often weathered by the 

 atmosphere. The amount of weathering depends 

 much upon the material that cements the particles 

 of silica together; if this be calcareous, the rain- 

 water readily dissolves it, and then the sandy 

 particles fall away ; but if the cement be siliceous, 



