Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &¢. 
are absolutely vertical, others have a 
slight inclination; they alternate with 
sandstone, and thin ‘beds of ‘schist, in 
which are few or no fragments. ‘The 
total thickness of the beds of ‘schist and 
puddingstone is about 620 feet, and they 
may be traced along their basset edges 
to the distance of a league, where they 
are covered by earth. They are suc- 
ceeded by sandstone and slate. That 
these beds of puddingstone contain the 
true fragments of other rocks, cannot be 
doubted; had they been all of quartz, we 
might perhaps have supposed them co- 
temporancous with the bed in which 
they occur; but it would be contrary to 
all probability to believe that rounded 
pebbles, and bolders of gneiss and.mica- 
slate, together with angular fragments 
of other rocks, were originally formed 
in a bed of soft schist, and whilst it was 
in a vertical position. Indeed, such a 
mode of formation appears impossible; 
we have therefore a satisfactory proof, 
that these beds have been raised from an 
horizontal position, or nearly so, to their 
present vertical one ; and, as all the other 
beds in the same mountain, even the 
lower slate and granitic rocks, have the 
same range and position, we are compel- 
led. to admit, that they have all been 
elevated at the same time, and by the 
same cause. The mountains on the op- 
pesite side of the valley, present also the 
same yertical beds, and Saussure ob- 
serves, that it would be absurd to deny, 
that they owe their elevation toa similar 
cause, 
The range of the beds in the whole 
chain of Alps in Savoy and the Haut 
Vallais,is generally conformable to that 
of the beds in the Col de Balme and the 
Valorsine; I therefore think we should 
not extend the inference too far, were we 
to admit that the vertical, of highly-in- 
clined beds, in the whole of this range, 
owe their elevation to the same cause, 
whose operation is so manifest in the 
position of the strata of the Col de Balme. 
It is true we find nothing analogous to 
such a case in present operation, except 
the very extended, but less intense agency 
of earthquakes. We have however only 
1o conecive a similar force to that which 
shook the mountains, the earth, and the 
sea, over one-third of the surface of the 
globe, in 1754 and 1755, to be more con- 
centrated in its action; and we cannot 
doubt that it would be adequate to break 
a portion of the crust of our planet, and 
elevate its beds to the height of the lof- 
fiest mountains in the Alps. 
One important fact may be deduced 
597 
from these elevated beds of pnddingstone, 
sandstone, and other strata, ranging con- 
formably with beds of granite and gneiss; 
namely, that the granite did, not acquire 
its highly-inclined or vertical position, 
till after the formation.of | secondary , 
strata, which are comparatively modern, 
as I believe I shall be able to shew those 
in the Valorsine and in. the, valley of 
Chamouny to be. This opinion is, I 
know, at variance with that of many 
geologists. | Daubuisson, as if he had 
been present at the time; states, “ that 
the beds of granite in the Alps were 
raised into their present vertical, or 
highly-inclined position, soon after their 
formation,” an opinion opposed by the 
position of the secondary strata, both 
here and in every part of the Alps that 
I have examined, unless we admit the 
granite to be also of recent formation. 
In England, the dower secondary strata 
appear to have beey elevated by the 
same eause that raised the rocks on 
which they repose; but this: elevation 
took place before the deposition of the 
upper strata consisting of, magnesian 
limestone, lias, odlite, and chalk, and the 
intervening sandstones; for all these 
strata lie nearly flat over the edges of the 
inclined under strata. On the contrary, 
in Savoy, strata of similar formations 
occur nearly vertical, and frequently con- 
formable to the range and dip of the 
granitic formations. These facts would 
prove that the causes which elevated! the 
granite, have acted at different epochs on 
various parts of the globe, unless we are 
prepared to admit, that calcareous form- 
ations, containing similar organic re- 
mains, were not contemporaneous in 
different countries, a supposition, not 
altogether void of probability. 
RED SNOW. 
It will be recollected that, on the re- 
turn of Captain Ross from Baffin’s- Bay, 
much surprise was excited by the ac- 
count of the red snow (as it was called) 
covering some of the snow mountains 
near the coast in those high latitudes. It 
is a little remarkable that it should have 
escaped public attention at the time, 
that the same phenomenon occurs every 
year in the Alps, but at a season when 
it is not often exposed to the view of 
travellers. Our guide said that its ap- 
pearance was like that of minute red 
grains scattered on the snow; they were 
to be seen in March, and generally dis- 
appeared about the end of May or the 
beginning of June. Several persons: in- 
formed me that they had seen this red 
show, and, on referring to Saussure, I 
find 
® 
