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PIUTTONIAN THEORY. 



409 



ft the ftrata on the eafl fide in th 



ral place. 

 But, befides that no force which can ever be 



afcribed to a torrent could have removed at 

 once bodies of flrata 300 or 400 feet, nay even 

 800 or 1000 in thicknefs, which muft: have been 

 the cafe if this were the true explanation of the 

 hd, there is a circumftance which may perhaps 

 enable us to explain thefe phenomena without 

 the afTiftance of any extraordinary caufe. The 

 fecondary ftrata in which the whinftone hills 

 are found in this part of Scotland, are not hori- 



F 



zontal, but rife or bead towards the weft, dip- 

 ping towards the eaft. The fide, therefore, of 

 the whinftone hills which is precipitous, is the 

 fame with that towards w^hich the ftrata rife. 

 Now, from the manner in which thefe hills are 



h wkrcfiij fuppofed to have been elevated, the ftrata are 



likely to have been moft broken and ftiattered 

 towards that fide, while, on the oppofite, they 



had the fupport of the whinftone rock. 



They 



would become a prey, therefore, more eafily to 

 the common caufes of erofion and wafte on the 



; lower. The ftreams that 



upper fide than on th 



flowed from th 



high 



grounds would wear 



them on the former moft readily ; and the a6lion 

 of thefe ftreams would be reftfted by the fupe- 

 rior hardnefs of the whinftone, juft as the great 



torrent of the debacle is fuppofed to have been. 



