352 M. Hoffmann mi Valleys of Elevation, 



ley. The western escarpment is nearly 400 feet higher than 

 the eastern side. The fact, that, precisely in this place, in the 

 whole extent of the chain of the Teutoburgerwald, the muschel- 

 kalk, which is pushed aside, forms the summit of the ridge, 

 occupying the place of the quadersandstein, does not appear to 

 be the result of a mere accident. 



Two miles to the north, the muschelkalk ridge is again seen 

 spht on its summit, in the Wulfesharte, near Vinsebeck. A 

 narrow wedge-shaped mass, of nearly vertical strata, of varie- 

 gated sandstone, occurs situated in this fissure ; and beside this 

 rock there issue some acidulous springs of large size. Lastly, 

 when the muschelkalk-ridge has attained its maximum of 

 height from the effect of elevation, in the Bellenberge, near 

 Horn, it sinks under the Keuper; and before it are seen the 

 large acidulous springs of Meiniberg, which issue from the 

 Keuper, and are met with precisely on the limits of the two 

 systems of mountains of the banks of the Rhine and the north- 

 east of Germany. Moreover, in the interior of the wedge- 

 shaped platform of Paderborn, there exist numerous acidulous 

 springs and great evolutions of carbonic acid. There may be 

 mentioned as examples, Saatzen, Istrup and Schmechten, Scho- 

 nenburg and Reelsen, near Driburg, and the north side of 

 Brackel, at the foot of the Hinneburg. It is possible to de- 

 monstrate that all these points owe their present position to vio- 

 lent disruptions of the original surface. 



In the bottom of the valley of Saatzen and Istrup, the varie- 

 gated sandstone appears in large spaces between the edges of 

 the surrounding muschelkalk mountains, and carbonic acid 

 escapes from it, with great force, by thousands of canals. In 

 the marshy meadows of Istrup, 1 have seen hillocks of mud 

 from 15 to 20 feet high, and 100 feet in circumference, pro- 

 duced by the currents of gas ; and at their surface there are 

 numerous small reservoirs of water, wlrose surface is kept in a 

 state of ebullition by gas-bubbles of the size of one's fist. Be- 

 .tween Schonenberg and Reelsen, rises the Melsberg, which is 

 composed of variegated sandstone, and is situated in the middle 

 ,of a plain of muschelkalk. It is on the western slope of this 

 mountain that the gaseous springs are situated. On the other 

 hand, the ridge on which is placed the Hinneburg, near Brae- 



