# as advocated by M. Eire de Beatimont. 1 47 



courans diluviens qui n'ont rien de commun avec le deluge de 

 rhistoire." (P. 653.) 



It is a singular fact, that, in going from west to east, these 

 blocks are not found further than the outlet from the Alps 

 formed by the valley of the Inn ; and their size diminishes ex- 

 ceedingly beyond the Rhine valley. In Austria, I have met 

 with no blocks — there are merely pebbles, 



M. de Beaumont ascribes to a more ancient catastrophe the 

 dispersion of the rolled masses of northern Europe (p. 655.) ; 

 and here compare my Memoires, p. 77 and p. 359. 



As examples of his Uvelfth system, M. de Beaumont men- 

 tions the hills of Sainte Baume, of Sainte Victoire, of Leberon, 

 of Ventoux, Mount Pilate, the two Mythens near Schwitz, &c,; 

 the lines of the higher hills of Spain, and the northern chain 

 of Sicily. He also connects with it the gypsum and the salt 

 deposits, and the salt spring, together with the eruptions of the 

 ophite or diorite in the Pyrenees and in Spain. 



The shores of the seas of these early periods produced lines 

 pretty nearly parallel to the direction of the great chain of the 

 Alps. (P. 6oQ,) 



M. de Beaumont acknowledges that this elevation produced in 

 the south-east of France a double inclined plane, on the one side 

 ascending from Dijon and Bourges to the Forez and Auvergne, 

 and on the other from the shores of the Mediterranean to the same 

 districts. He then makes out a line of culminating points from 

 Hungary to Auvergne, which would explain some of the ano- 

 malies in the geodesic measurements. Lastly, he connects with 

 it very well the formation of rents or great valleys in the Can- 

 tal and Mont Dore ; giving to some parts of the latter the name 

 of craters of elevation. (P. 654.) 



Taking the direction as a guide, one would include in the 

 same system with the Alps the chain of Fogares in southern 

 .Transylvania and the Balkan ; yet in the former it is only the 

 greensand which is upheaved, and in the latter only the alpine 

 Jura limestone. 



With regard to the parallelism or coincidence of origin which 

 M. de Beaumont has established between his epochs of eleva- 

 tion, and the formation of the various chains, I shall rest satis- 

 fied with a. few observations, as we yet possess too limited a col- 

 lection of facts, and our maps are so imperfect. 



k2 



