PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE EARTH WIECHERT. 449 



denudation must rise in consequence of diminished pressure, while at 

 the points of deposition it must sag by reason of the increased pres- 

 sure. Hence, at the points of denudation hot, water-charged, and 

 therefore less dense rock masses will rise from beneath, while at the 

 points of deposition water-free, cold, and therefore denser strata will 

 descend. Consequently, as a final result, the former higher parts of 

 the earth become less dense, so that their surface, despite denudation, 

 must be raised still higher, while the former deeper parts of the earth 

 become denser and their surface therefore descends still lower than 

 it was before. Thus denudation and deposition, instead of equaliz- 

 ing, accentuate differences of level. Mountains rise still higher, the 

 sea bottom sinks still lower, and this continues until other factors 

 make themselves felt. We have thus arrived at the exceedingly com- 

 plex geologic i^rocesses which determine the formation and transfor- 

 mation of continents and seas, plains and mountains, and this reminds 

 me that it is time to close, for the discussion of that theme would 

 require a treatise by itself. I am all the mofe compelled to conclude 

 at this point because even the indications that I gave exceed the limits 

 of what is generally admitted in geology, and I shall therefore have to 

 prove the correctness of my assertions elsewhere before the tribunal 

 of science. 



