309 



west. So far the statement is only an enumeration of certain con- 

 nected facts in physical geography. But it is followed by a coordi- 

 nate series of geological phenomena. 



A number of formations, including in the ascending order the 

 whole oolitic series, enter here and there into the composition of 

 the geographical system above described ; and without exception, 

 wherever they appear, all are in turn elevated, broken, or contorted; 

 yet in their lines of range they preserve a parallelism to the general 

 direction of the ridges. On the contrary, wherever rocks of an age 

 not older than that of the green-sand or chalk, appear in the vicinity 

 of any portion of this system, they are either found at a dead level 

 and expanded from the neighbouring mountains into horizontal 

 planes, like the sea at the base of a lofty cliff; or if, since their first 

 deposit, they have undergone any great movement, it is shown to 

 have no relation to the bearing of* the older ridges, and to have been 

 produced at a later period. 



From all these combined facts follow three important conse- 

 quences. 1st, That the whole system of parallel ridges, from one 

 end to the other, was elevated at the same period of time, after the 

 development of the oolitic series, and before the deposition of the 

 green-sand and chalk. 2ndly, That the action of elevation was 

 violent and of short continuance ; for the inclined strata are shattered 

 and contorted, and between them and the horizontal strata there 

 is no intermediate gradation of deposits. 3rdly, That the period of 

 elevation was followed by an immediate change in many of the 

 forms of organic life. 



2. The next great system includes the whole chain of the Py- 

 renees — the Northern Apennines — the calcareous chains to the 

 north-east of the Adriatic — nearly the whole Carpathian chain — 

 and a great series of inequalities, continued from that chain through 

 the Hartz mountains to the plains of Northern Germany. Through 

 the whole of these vast regions the principal inequalities range 

 nearly parallel to each other, and have a mean bearing about west- 

 north-west and east-south-east. So far again the statement is purely 

 geographical, and its truth is seen at once in glancing over any good 

 physical map of Europe; and will be still more clearly comprehend- 

 ed, by comparing some of the principal ranges of colour on Von 

 Buch's great geological map with the bearing of the Pyrenees. But 

 it is followed by a series of co-extensive geological phenomena. 



Through all parts of this great system, formations of the age of the 

 green-sand and chalk have had an enormous development, and with- 

 out exception, their strata are ruptured and contorted, and often lifted 

 up to the very pinnacles of the mountains. But on the contrary, 

 wherever any tertiary formations approach the confines of this system, 

 they are stated to be either in a position almost as horizontal as the 

 surface of the waters in which they were deposited ; or if they have 

 been moved at all, it is by forces uninfluenced by the parallels of the 

 older chains. And the same three conclusions, with a mere difference 

 of dates, follow here as in the former case. All the great parallel 

 ridges and chains of this second system must have been suddenly and 

 violently elevated, and at a period of time between the deposition of 



