as advocated by M. Elie de Beaumont. 137 



Geol. et Paleont, p. 28,-31 et 35). Professor Merian lucu- 

 tions direciions of stratification from east to west in the old- 

 er formations of the Black Forest, and there are similar ex- 

 amples in Southern Silesia, in Sudermanland and Smoland in 

 Scandinavia, and I do not see well how these accidens can be 

 made to agree with the epoch of elevation of which we have 

 now spoken. 



The Jifth system of elevation is that of the Rhine. The 

 Vosges, the Hardt, the Bli^ck Forest, and the Odenwald, form 

 two symmetrical groups, which present two long steep acclivities 

 which are rather sinuous, but parallel to each other and also 

 to the bed of the Rhine, and having the direction of N. 2P 

 E. to S. 21° W. These lines are the type of Von Buch's 

 Rhine system. 



The escarpments of the Vosges are composed chiefly of sand- 

 stone of the Vosges (gres vosgien), and variegated sandstone. 

 Muschelkalk and keuper come in contact with these rocks in 

 an unconformable position, a peculiarity which shows the epoch 

 of formation of this system of fractures. V^hile pointing out 

 this fact in regard to the Vosges, M. de Beaumont does not 

 extend the observation to the Black Forest, where the variegated 

 sandstone is found upon the inclined table land as well as at the 

 foot of the escarpment. (See Journ. de Geol. vol. iii. p. 349.) 

 We must also in this case compare Beaumont's views upon the 

 formation of the Vosges and the Black Forest, with those very 

 different ones adopted by my active friend M. Roget. The 

 latter maintains that these mountains are mere central masses 

 with diverging ramifications. (See Bull, de la Soc. Geol. de 

 France, vol. iv. p. 129, and his work on the Vosges now in the 

 press.) 



M. de Beaumont thinks he can find traces of these disloca- 

 tions in the directions of some chains, as in the hills between 

 Saone and Loire, in the hills of the centre and the South of 

 France, and in the Mediterranean part of the Var department, 

 although the deposits between the coal measures and the va- 

 riegated sandstone are not present in these districts, (p. 635.) 



The sixth system of M. de Beaumont is that of' the Thiirin- 

 gerwald, of the Bohmerwaldgcbirge^ and Morvan. I shewed 

 some years ago that the Jurassic rocks have been deposited in 



