1S40— issij 1 AR rJH-MOVEM] 1 37 



mountain chains are mere accidents resulting from the eleva- Letter 489 

 tion of an area, and as mountain chains are generally Ion . 

 so should I view areas of elevation as generally large. 



Votir old original view that great oceans must be sinki. 

 areas, from there being causes making land and yet there 

 being little land, has always struck me till lately as very 

 good. But in some degree this starts from the assumption 

 that within periods of which we know anything there was 

 cither a continent in such areas, or at least a sea-bottom of 

 not extreme depth. 



To C. Lyell. Letter 490 



King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight, July iSth [1S5S]. 

 I write merely to thank you for the abstract of the Etna 

 paper. 1 It seems to me a very grand contribution to our 

 volcanic knowledge. Certainly I never expected to see 

 E. de B.'s [Elie de Beaumont] the ry of slopes so comple: 

 upset. lie must have picked out favourable cases I 

 measurement. And such an array of facts he gives ! You 

 have scotched, and will see die, I now think, the Crater of 

 Elevation theory. But what vitality there is in a plausible 

 theory ! - 



To C. Lyell. . :er 49 , 



Down, 5th [i860]. 



I have endeavoured to think over your discussion, but not 

 with much success. You will have to lay down, I think, 

 very clearly, what foundation you argue from— four parts 

 (which seems to me exceedingly moderate on your part) of 



of the same Tower by which Continents are Elevated," Trans. 

 Vol. V., p. 601, 1840. "Bearing in mind Mr. Hopkins' demonstration, 

 if there be considerable elevation there must be fissures, and, if I 

 almost certainly une4u.1l upheaval, or subsequent sinking down, the 

 argument may be finally thus put: mountain chains are thi ts of 



continental elevations ; continental elevations and the eruptive force 

 ot volcanoes are due to one great motive power, now in 

 action ..." (/< . p. 029). 



1 " On the Structure of Lavas which have Consolidated on Steep 

 Slopes, with Remarks on the .Mode of Origin of Mount Etna and on the 

 Theory of ' Craters of Elevation,' " by C. Lyell, Phil. Tram. R. i 

 Vol. CXLV1IL, p. 703, 1S59. 



■ ["he rest of this letter is published in Life and Letters. II., p. 129. 



