in the neighbourhood of the Pieta, Malta. 27 



quent occurrence in geology, and which are usually (and in the 

 present state of science perhaps justly) overlooked by those ob- 

 servers whose attention is more properly directed to general 

 and comprehensive facts. 



The single circumstance, however, of the discovery of the 

 traces of human workmanship in the situation above described, 

 is sufficient to place it in a distinct class. If the frozen ele- 

 phant of Siberia had been discovered two hundred years ago, it 

 would have given rise to a number of vain and fanciful theories. 

 It now finds its just and proper place ; being classed apart, as 

 a separate and (in our present state of knowledge) an unac- 

 countable fact, awaiting its solution from such future disco- 

 veries as chance or science may produce, and which it may con- 

 tribute to confirm or to illustrate. In the same manner the dis- 

 covery (which I have been endeavouring to describe), though 

 not immediately available for the solution of any question ac- 

 tually in discussion, or even likely to be discussed for some 

 time to come, appears to me so singular and unusual as to de- 

 serve at least to be distinctly authenticated and recorded. With 

 this view, wishing that scientific strangers who may happen to 

 pass this way should have an opportunity of visiting the spot 

 while the traces of every thing are fresh and distinct, I hope 

 you will not think that I take an unwarrantable liberty with 

 your name, if what I have written is communicated to this 

 portion of the public in the easiest and most obvious way, being 

 printed with its Italian translation in the Malta Gazette. 



Some Conjectures regarding the Great Revolutions which have 

 so changed the Surface of Switzerland, and particularly that 

 of the Canton ofVaud, as to give rise to its present Aspect. 

 By. F. DE CHAUPENTIER. 



THERE was formerly a time when the whole of Switzerland 

 formed part of a vast ocean, which completely enveloped the 

 terrestrial globe. The level of this sea, that is to say, the dis- 

 tance from its surface to the centre of the earth, does not ap- 

 pear to have undergone any sensible change ; for we must not 

 attribute the appearance of continents and islands to its low- 



