264- AN ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF [Ch. X11I- 



cient, for our present purpose, that the possibility of strata 

 deriving their inclined position from some other cause than 

 that of forcible elevation is admitted. There is another exam- 

 ple, however, recorded in the excellent work of this geologist, 

 which must not be omitted, as it bears with great weight on 

 the point now under consideration ; viz., the inclined beds of 

 stratified shingles which are situated between the base of 

 Monte Calvo and the sea, in the vicinity of Nice. " Uni- 

 form and continuous as these strata appear, on a general 

 view, in the ravine of Magnan, we discover, if we attempt to 

 trace any one of them for some distance, that they thin out, 

 and are wedge-shaped. We believe that they were thrown 

 down originally upon a steep slanting bank or talus, which 

 advanced gradually from Monte Calvo to the sea. The dis- 

 tance between these points is about nine miles ; so that the 

 accumulation of superimposed strata would be a great many 

 miles in thickness, if they were placed horizontally upon one 

 another. The aggregate thickness, in any one place, cannot 

 be proved to amount to a thousand feet ; although it may, 

 perhaps, be much greater. But it may never exceed three 

 or four thousand feet ; whereas, if we did not suppose that 

 the beds were originally deposited, in an inclined position, 

 we should be forced to imagine that a sea, many miles 

 in depth, had been filled up by horizontal strata of pebbles, 

 thrown down one upon another."* 



Thus we learn, that strata of no inconsiderable extent may 

 be deposited on inclined planes ; and that they may be in- 

 dividually wedge-shaped, or gradually thickening from the 

 highest to the lowest portions : and on what evidence, then, 

 are we to assert, that the inclined fan-shaped strata of Caith- 

 ness, and all others similarly circumstanced, have not been 

 formed in the same way ? 



We are also further instructed by the last example, the 

 tertiary pebble -beds of Nice, to look for another cause of 



* Principles of Geology, vol. iii. p. 169. 



