24fS Elie de Beaumont's Researches on some of 



of the Vosges, constitute the summits of the Ballon d' Alsace 

 and the Ballon de Comte, range from E. 10° or 15° S. to W. 

 10° or 15° N., and have thrown up the anthracitic rocks in 

 this direction. The coal-measures of Ronchamps are deposited 

 at the foot of these mountains on the edges of the upheaved 

 beds. The Ballon d' Alsace rises 2586 English feet above the 

 town of Giromagny, built on a level with the coal-measures ; 

 and the Ballon de Gebweiler, situated more to the N.E., rises 

 3067 English feet above the same point. Among those in- 

 equalities on the surface of the globe, the date of which we 

 can with probability refer to so remote an epoch, we cannot 

 cite any more considerable. 



The transition beds of Britanny and of the Bocage of Nor- 

 mandy, on which the coal-measures of Littry and Plessis 

 are deposited, run in a direction comprised within the above- 

 mentioned limits, as is also the case with the transition beds 

 of Ireland, so ably described by Mr. Weaver. The South of 

 Ireland is a hilly and diversified region, composed of ridges 

 having generally an east and west direction, and attaining 

 their greatest elevation in the mountains of Kerry, where Gur- 

 rane Tval, one of Magilly cuddy's Reeks, near Killarney, rises 

 3410 feet above the sea. The transition rocks of the same 

 region have a general direction from east to west, and dip 

 to the north and south with vertical beds in the axes of the 

 ridges. The strata, as they diminish in inclination, on each 

 side form a succession of troughs, the beds dipping rapidly to 

 the north or south, and bending to horizontality between the 

 ridges. 



These rocks decline gradually towards the north, and finally 

 pass beneath the unconformable deposits of the old red sand- 

 stone and carboniferous limestone of the midland counties ; a 

 discordance rendered particularly striking by the horizontal 

 position of the carboniferous limestone of some districts. 



In Devonshire and Somersetshire the grauwacke and slates, 

 sometimes containing small seams of carbonaceous matter, also 

 present a nearly east and west direction, and are seen clearly 

 to have been upheaved previous to the deposition of the Exeter 

 red conglomei'ate or todle liegende, because the latter covers 

 the edges of the former, as may be seen in many situations. 



The grauwacke chain of Magdeburg has also a direction 

 comprised within the above-noticed limits ; and according to 

 the observations of Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison, 

 it contains the abundant impressions of true coal plants. This 

 same direction is again observed in the older rocks of the 

 Hartz, where we are certain that the dislocations were in part 



effected 



