BS On the former Changes of the Alps. 



bidden to rise again from beneath the waters and constitute 

 the present continents and islands before man was placed 

 on the surface. Our race, in short, was not created until 

 the greater revolutions of which I have treated had passed 

 away. 



" These grand dislocations belong, therefore, distinctly to 

 former epochs of nature, and their magnitude is enormous 

 when compared with anything which passes under our eyes, 

 or has been recorded in human history. At the same time 

 geologists have shewn upon clear evidences, that during the 

 long and comparatively tranquil former period which in- 

 termitted with geological revolutions, there was a constant 

 exhibition of diurnal agencies similar to those which prevail 

 in the present world. In those older times, rain must have 

 fallen as now, — volcanic forces must have been active in 

 scattering ashes far and wide, and in spreading them out 

 together with sheets of lava beneath the waters, — gradual 

 movements of oscillation and moderate elevations and de- 

 pressions must have occurred, — long continued abrasion of 

 the sides of the mountains must have produced copious ac- 

 cumulations of ' debris ' to encroach upon the lakes, the 

 overflow or bursting of which may have sterilized whole 

 tracts. 



" All such and many more modifications of the ancient 

 surfaces of the globe, including many slight brealis in the 

 long career, were doubtlessly common to all epochs. But 

 whilst no such operations can be compared with those phe- 

 nomena of disruption and overturning of mountain masses 

 which have been specially dwelt upon this evening, so also 

 according to my view, it is impossible that any amount of 

 small agencies, if continued for millions of years, could have 

 produced such results. 



" In thus attempting to shadow out in the space of an 

 hour all the chief formations and transmutations of a chain 

 like the Alps, I have probably laboured to eff^ect what many 

 persons may deem impossible ; but I have thought that some 

 at least of these evening discourses should awaken the mind 

 to the larger features of each science, the details of which 

 must be followed out in course of lectures. I would beg, 

 therefore, those persons who have not studied geology prac- 



