33<=> 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 



no lefs extent than has juft b 



ed. 

 labou 



;en mention- 

 It was not till near the conclufion of thofe 



wi 



themfel 



BI 



•s, to \i 



:on{ider 



having 

 he perceived 



hich the geologifts of every ag 



as 



ghly 



bed the fumm 



or thought that 



ed. the flratification of 



gr 



ndebted, 



)f Mont 

 he per- 



e moun- 



tains. The Aiguilles or Needles which border 

 the valley of Chamouni, and even Mont Blanc 



i 



itfelf, appeared to be formed of vafl tabular 

 malTes of granite, in pofition nearly vertical, and 

 fo exadly parallel, that he did not hefitate to 

 call them by the name of ftrata. Till this mo- 

 ment, thefe fame mountains, viewed from a 

 lower point, had been regarded by him as com- 



pofed of great plates of rock, nearly vertical 

 indeed, but applied, as it were, round an axis, 

 and refembling the leaves of an artichoke*; 

 and the fiflures by which they are feparated 

 from one another, had been conlidered as efFeds 



of wafte and degradation. " But now," (fays he, 



of the view from the top of Mont 

 Blanc), '* 1 was fully convinced, that thefe 

 mountains are ent 



rely compofed of vaft pla 



f gra 



perp 



d 



to the h 



d 



directed from N. E 



S. W. Three of thefe 



plates, feparated from each other, formed the 



top 



* Voyages aux Alpes, torn, ii, § 910, &c. 



