TERRESTRIAL AND LUNAR PHENOMENA. 403 



the other, after some breaks, by the still more precipitous chapter 



Himalaya and the Paropamisan, and then by the fronts •^^^^" 



of the heiglits of Abyssinia and Lupata, — in all of whicli Wentitynf 



the slope is on the opposite side, forming, in the two i' "^""°'®''* 



chief instances, the continent of South America and the 



long inclination of Siberia. This is not a mere analogy 



but an identity of phenomena. And their solution 



must, in both orbs, be connected with the formation of 



the plains which these precipices engirdle. It has yet to 



be found : but our terrestrial geographer may, in the 



meantime, safely dismiss speculations concerning floods 



and vast currents as being the cause of the contrast of 



these opposite contours, seeing that he must comprehend 



the moon also, where there is no water, and never has 



been ! 



"It will be gi-anted, that when a terrestrial pheno- Test of tev- 

 menon is sought to be referred to some cosinical agency, no'',^cniJ' '^ 

 that is, to an agency not dependent on &i\y peculiarity of 

 the earth, but inherent in its nature as a planet, it is 

 wholly legitimate to test the truth of the theory by ap- 

 plying it to the constitution of other orbs. Now, until 

 vei-y lately, it was scarcely possible to scan a few pages 

 of a geological work without encountering cosmical theo- 

 ries regarding the elevation of our mountain chains. I 

 shall refer to only one. The ingenious and learned De 

 Beaumont proposed, not many years ago, what he termed Theory of De 

 ii, *i, e ^ f J it ■ 1 ^ Beaumont, 



the theory 01 secular renageration. It was m substance 



this : — The earth is still cooling ; in the process of cool- 

 ing the outer crust contracts ; and, in the course of ages, 

 it will press so violently on the molten mass within, that, 

 through the resistance of that mass, it must crack; and 

 the fragments will, by the protrusion of the internal 

 fluid, be pressed upwards, and form mighty ranges of 

 mountains. It followed, from this theory, that all the 

 ranges would, in the main, lie along great circles of the 

 sphere ; and De Beaumont superadded the assertion, that 

 there would be other parallel cracks at the same time ; 

 so that all parallel ridges of mountains might safely be 



