254 SEE— FURTHER RESEARCHES ON IApni24, 



vertical walls and blocks of granite so often lifted thousands of 

 feet above the sea, with deep water all around their bases, frequently 

 encountered in diiTerent parts of the world, cannot be explained 

 except by the present theory. Thus along the west coast of Chili 

 and Patagonia, from Cape Horn to Valparaiso, in the Straits of 

 Magellan, as well as in the ranges of the Andes further from the 

 coast, in the Sierras of California, and elsewhere these vertical 

 uplifts are common. It is obvious that they cannot possibly be 

 explained by the old theories depending on the shrinkage of the 

 globe. But if lava is expelled from beneath the sea, owing to the 

 secular leakage of the ocean bottom, and the crust is fractured and 

 rent into blocks by the earthquake forces, some of these blocks would 

 naturally be pushed upward, leaving vertical walls of granite thou- 

 sands of feet high. Occasionally the blocks would be forced apart, 

 leaving the sea pass between, as so often seen in Chili, Patagonia 

 and Tierra Del Fuego. The Straits of Alagellan no doubt arose in 

 this way. As already remarked in § 27, Darwin describes similar 

 breaks in the Andes further north, through which the sea once 

 flowed, but they are now raised above the water. No doubt the 

 time will come when Tierra Del Fuego will be joined solid to Pata- 

 gonia, by uplifts which will cause the sea to withdraw from the 

 Straits of Magellan and it will become dry land, like those ancient 

 passages further north mentioned by Darwin. 



There are many other parts of the world where similar phenom- 

 ena may be seen. The origin of the fiords in Norway has long been 

 a matter of debate. It seems to be conceded that these inlets are 

 made by mountains running into the sea, and more or less modified 

 above water by ice and glaciers. They are supposed to be quite 

 old, and certainly date back of the glacial epochs. 



It may no doubt be safely assumed that these Norwegian moun- 

 tains originated, like other mountains, by the uplift of faults, owing 

 to the expulsion of lava from beneath the sea.^ Hence the precipiti- 

 ous walls along the sea coast, with deep water between. The blocks 



'Having read the earlier papers of tliis series with great interest, Pro- 

 fessor Schiaparelli has kindly called my attention to the trough in the sea 

 along the Norwegian coast. This confirmation of the theory by the illustrious 

 astronomer of Milan is exceedingly interesting. 



