172 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



south. Some interesting transverse sections are given in illustration of 

 these facts. The next section treats of the mountain ridges, and here we 

 have the same results as in the ratios of altitude and extension. The Py- 

 renees are the most abrupt. Then the Alps, and the Scandinavian moun- 

 tains, according to M. Schouw, can hardly be said to have ridges at all, 

 the breadth of the summits being usually 8 to 10 miles, and the passage 

 of the mountains occupying one or two days instead of a few hours, as in 

 the Alps. 



In speaking of the vallies, and then of the rivers, little illustration is 

 required. Of the former, those which lie longitudinally to the range are 

 frequent in the Alps, more rare in the Pyrenees, and in the Scandinavian 

 range almost unknown, with one considerable exception, Elv Dal *, be- 

 tween the high land and the Gulf of Bothnia. Of rivers, it is needless to 

 enter into particulars; one of the most remarkable in Lapland is the Lu- 

 lea, on which are said to occur the most magnificent cataracts in the 

 world, and which we are surprised M. Schouw does not mention. In the 

 next section, we have a copious detail of the heights of lakes connected 

 with the mountain ranges above the sea. We shall give some of those of 

 the Alps, taking a mean of their heights given by different authors where 

 they occur, instead of the round numbers of M. Schouw, as they seem to 

 have been taken with great care. It is unfortunate that no estimate of 

 their surfaces has been given. 



The lakes of the higher Alps are few and small. Cenis, 6031, that on 

 Mount Pilatus, 5625 feet. Scandinavia abounds much in lakes ; three of 

 those mentioned are above an elevation of 3000 feet, and six above 2000. 

 on the Pyrenees they are wholly awanting on the sides of the chain, and 

 on the summits are few and small ; their altitude, however, is very great ; 

 for instance Lac de Loubassou, 6786, Lac du Mont Perdu, 7881, Lac 

 Glace, 8232, Lac d'Albe, 6810. 



The twelfth section treats of the geognostical relations, and it is to be re- 

 gretted that it is so very short. We shall, therefore, translate almost the 

 whole of it. — " Primitive mountains occupy the central portions of the 

 Alps and Pyrenees, and on all sides extend great districts of newer forma- 

 tions, both transition and secondary. The Scandinavian range is almost 

 wholly composed of primitive mountains ; the transition series is more con- 



* It is worth remembering, that dal in Swedish means valley, as Herjedal, 

 Dalarne, Ac. ; and mark^ a plain, as Lappnnarken, Tellemarken, &c. 



