82 On the Revolutions which have 



south by the arm of the sea, that separated it from the Alps, 

 which at this period had not yet attained their entire elevation, 

 and presented none of those great rents and sharp peaks ob- 

 servable at the present day. A long sandy plain extended be- 

 tween the sea and the Jura. As it enjoyed a climate sufficient- 

 ly mild to produce palms, which is proved by the impressions 

 of Chamserops found in the interior beds of the Molasse at 

 Lausanne and near Vevay ; it was inhabited by several species 

 of Mammalia peculiar to warm countries, but different from 

 any which now exist. 



All conjecture as to the duration of this state of repose would 

 be completely hypothetical. * We only know, by the observa- 

 tion of the geological phenomena of Switzerland, that this tran- 

 quillity was followed by a most extraordinary revolution, which 

 caused the sea to disappear entirely from these countries, ele- 

 vated the Alps to a height infinitely greater than they had pre- 

 viously attained, changed their climate, formed the present 

 valleys, and gave to the country pretty nearly the aspect it ex- 

 hibits at the present day. 



This cataclysm was occasioned by the appearance of the 

 granite. Two vast granitic masses rose at the same time above 

 the waters ; the one in the Haul Valais^ and the other in Sa- 

 voy. It is especially this last which exercised the greatest in- 

 fluence on Western Switzerland. It comprehends the whole 

 enormous mass of feldspathic rocks, whose highest summit is 

 Mont Blanc, and which reaches our canton near the thermal 

 springs of Lavey. 



This granite opened a passage through the gneiss, the mica- 

 slates, and the other talcose and slaty rocks which lay imme- 

 diately under the limestone of our Alps.* It elevated them all 

 to a height considerably greater than that of the present Alps. 

 The rents and dislocations produced by the soulevement and the 

 rupture of these solid masses, as well as the partial subsidings 



* Our most celebrated geologists regard gneiss, mica-slate, and other 

 analogous rocks of a slaty structure, as having been deposited by and in wa- 

 ter ; but as having afterwards, under the double influence of excessive heat 

 and a considerable pressure, completely changed their nature, and retained 

 nothing of their original condition except the slaty structure. Probably this 

 change took place long before the soulevement of the Alps. 



