OF CREATION. 17 



tended masses. It generally exhibits its own charac- 

 teristic features with sufficient distinctness to leave no 

 doubt as to its nature; and it may be found in our own 

 island, as, for instance, in Cornwall, Wales, and Scot- 

 land ; and in other parts of Europe, as in the Scandi- 

 navian mountains, the Hartz, the range of mountains 

 separating Northern Germany from Bavaria and Bo- 

 hemia, in the Alps both of Switzerland and the Tyrol, 

 in the Pyrenees, and in the Carpathians. In Asia it 

 forms the centre of the Caucasus; it occupies a large 

 part of the Himalayan, Uralian, and Altai mountains ; 

 and is found also in Siberia. In Africa it appears 

 in Upper Egypt, in the Atlas mountains, and at 

 the Cape of Good Hope ; and it may be traced along 

 the Western part of the whole of the two Americas, 

 and appears again in the Southern islands and in 

 Australia. 



A rock so universally extended might, almost for 

 that reason, be looked upon as the foundation and the 

 main solid frame- work of our globe. It must not be 

 lost sight of, however, that in many cases the granite 

 has been, if not formed, at least placed in its present 

 position, in a pasty or fluid state,'* long subsequent to 

 the early period of which we are now speaking ; and 

 thus, though we may safely consider the granite as 

 frequently the oldest rock, we should always remem- 

 ber that a material so widely extended and so im- 

 portant, may be elaborated and expelled from the 

 deep recesses of Nature's store-house at any time, and 

 even at the present day. 



I shall not detain the reader any longer with an 



* In either case the result of intense heat acting under enonnous 

 pressure. 



