as advocated by M. Elie de Beaumont. 131 



qui^me terme a la s^rie de rapprocliements qui indique cette 

 singuliere periodicity? des directions des dislocations ;*" (p. 647.) 

 Now I ask any one, if, with these true propositions, one can still 

 talk of the " Independance des systemes de montagnes diverse- 

 ment dirigees ?" Does it not confirm those who had seen only 

 a misconception in that abstraction ? This important part of 

 M. de Beaumont's system is thus completely modified; and we 

 must take the retractation in the details, although in the gene- 

 ralization the contrary view is given. 



Besides this, M. de Beaumont has not taken the trouble to 

 answer the objections made to his opinions by various geolo- 

 gists ; as, for example, in regard to the possible formation, 

 by elevation, of much curved or contorted chains (see Bullet, 

 de la Soc. Geol. de France, v. iii. p. 51.) ; the difficulties pre- 

 sented by chains of hills composed of horizontal beds, or beds 

 elevated together^, without being upturned, as in the German 

 Jura in Wurtemberg and Bavaria, a chain which presents also 

 to M. de Beaumont the difficulty of describing a curve from 

 Schaffhausen to Ratisbon, and thence to Cobourg ; the diffi- 

 culties presented by cavities filled by upraised masses; and, 

 lastly, the occurrence of chains in which the strike of the bed is 

 not parallel to the direction of the mountains, as, for instance, 

 in the Thiiringerwald, where Heim described the fact in 1798. 

 (Geol. Beschreib. v. ii. p. 18. See my Resume des Progres de 

 la Geologic pour 1832, p. cxviii to cxx, in the Bull, de la Soc. 

 Geol. de France.) To all these objections M. de Beaumont 

 answers nothing, and he does the same in regard to rhose made 

 by Thiirmann ; (Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Strasbourg, 

 vol. ii.) ; Schwatz, (Natiirliche Geographie von Wurtemberg, 

 1832, T. S. Min. 1833, cah. i.) ; Pasini, (Ann. delle Sc. del 

 regno Lombardo Veneto, vol. i. fasc. 1) ; and Hibbert, (History 

 of the Extinct Volcanoes of the Basin of Neuwied, &c. 1832.) 



With regard to the cataclysms and destruction of creations 

 produced by the elevation of the chains, that idea was mention- 

 ed by many old writers, of whom I need only allude to Fuchsel. 

 Mr Sedgwick was the first to object that some philosophers had 

 wished to separate in too decided a manner by revolutions, 

 creations which would seem to be connected with the other great 

 relations. 



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