346 THE GEOLOGY OF THE ALPS. [XIV. 



of so-called primitive rock, is really an altered sedimentary 

 deposit more recent than many of the fossiliferous strata upon 

 ^heir flanks, so that the Alps, as a whole, have a general syn- 

 clinal structure." This view of the recent age of the crystal- 

 line rocks of this region, supported though it has been by the 

 authority of great names, must now, we conceive, be abandoned, 

 and their great antiquity, as maintained by the learned pro- 

 fessor of Geneva, admitted. It however remains true that the 

 extrusion and laying bare of these ancient crystalline rocks is, 

 as we have seen, an event geologically very recent. 



It would greatly exceed our present limits to notice our au- 

 thor's learned discussion of the superficial geology, including 

 the glacial phenomena, of the Alpine region. His views upon 

 some of the most keenly controverted questions with regard to 

 glacial action will be found set forth in his letter to Sir R. I. 

 Murchison on the Origin of Alpine Lakes and Valleys, which 

 appeared in the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical 

 Magazine for March, 1865. 



This beautiful work of Professor Favre is accompanied by 

 an atlas of thirty-two folio plates, embracing maps, sections, 

 views, and figures of organic remains, which elucidate the text 

 in a very complete manner. It is a magnificent monument to 

 the industry, acumen, and scientific zeal of one who for a quar- 

 ter of a century has devoted his time and his fortune to the 

 pursuit of science, and has worthily completed the task which 

 his illustrious countryman De Saussure commenced. 



