714 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



it makes with the latter, that which is obtufe- 

 is always on the defcending lide -, a law that is 

 the fame with that which regulates the con- 

 fluence of ftreams running on a furface nearly 



This alone is a proof 



I 



of uniform inclination, 

 that the vallies are the work of the ftreams *„ 

 and indeed what elfe but the water itfelf, work- 

 ing its way through obftacles of unequal refill- 

 ance, could have opened or kept up a comma-* 

 nication between the inequalities of an irregular 

 and alpine furface. 



112. Many more arguments, all leading to 

 the fame conclufion, may be deduced from the 

 general fatSts, known in the natural hiftory of 

 mountains ; and, if the Oreologift would trace 

 back the progrefs of wafte, till he come in fight of 

 that original ftrudure, of which the remains are 

 Itill, fo vaft, he perceives an immenfe mafs of folid 

 xock, naked and unfliapely, as it firft emerged 

 from the deep, and incomparably greater than 

 all that is now before him. The operation of 

 tains and torrents, modified by the hardnefs and 

 tenacity of the rock, has worked the whole into 

 its prefent form ; has hollowed out the vallies, 

 and gradually detached the mountains from the 

 general mafs, cutting down their fides into fteep 

 precipices at one place, and fmoothing them in- 

 to gentle declivities at another. From this has 



refulted a tranfportation of materials, which, both 



for 



