122 Scientific Intelligence. 
above the general level. 
Assuming the general unity of the upheavement of the whole area 
as evident from the consideration of the form of 
these fissures would open, and all the subsequent effects of the upheave: 
ment, m interi 
. 
Our suppositions on this point by the phenomena actually observed in 4 
Consexion with the ruptures at the surface ; and, in the present case, 
a 
ture already noted —." 
at the moment of rupture, wa 
of a beam supported and 
cen 
* 
On this hypothesis we should expect to find the chief longitudinal 
important, but-in a less 
ruptures in the centre of the area, with others important. 
egree, along the margins, while there would be two portions intern 
diate between the axis and the e ges, where the tendency to rupture 
would be a minimum. Further, as the tendency to transverse rupture 
is proportional to the amount of the elevation, it would havea minimum 
g € 
Comparing these theoretical views with the observed facts, we find:— 
_ Ist. The exist 
verse fissures, in every part of the mountains. a 
2nd. The more open character and greater importance of the long — 
tudinal fissures in the centre of the area, as evinced by the direction of 
rivers on the Tibetan table-land. oe. 
3d. The existence of an important line of fissure alung the outer — 
margin of the Himalayan slope, as proved by the narrow fringe of the 
latest formations that every where skirts the foot of the mountains, which — 
it is impossible to suppose could have been raised as they are, excepting 
im Connexion with some larger mass. a 
h. The occurence of two lines of least rupture running parallel (0 
the margin of the area, and intermediate between it and the axis, ind ‘2 
cated by the Indian and Turkish water-sheds ; these features being de> 
pendent for their existence, not on any superior elevation that the 
attain over other parts of the chain, but only on their continuil ia 
on the few transverse fissures by which they are broken through. — 
