POSITION OF STRATIFIED ROCKS. 53 



density would increase, and therefore its magnitude 

 would diminish ; and because of this, the strata last 

 deposited, when subjected to that lateral pressure 

 which is induced at the circumference of a sphere 

 while that sphere undergoes a diminution of magni- 

 tude, would shift from a horizontal to an inclined 

 position, while adjusting themselves to the nucleus 

 of a globe which had thus diminished in magnitude? 

 Is it thus that the strata of one formation are so 

 often found to lie uncomformable with the strata of a 

 prior formation upon which they are recumbent ? 



The questions which follow in reference to the 

 alteration that has taken place in the position of 

 strata since the period of their deposition, are in- 

 serted from a paper which I contributed to " Black- 

 wood's Magazine," and which appeared in the 

 October number of that journal so long ago as 1819, 

 entitled " Predictions by C. C." 



81. How is it " that strata which were originally 

 horizontal in their position are now inclined to the 

 horizon ? " Is it because " our globe has suffered a 

 constant diminution of magnitude since the strata 

 were deposited which everywhere encompass it ; 

 and, therefore, since those strata at their formation 

 would form as it were the circumference of a larger 

 globe, and are now circumscribing the nucleus of a 



