1855.] SHARPE ELEVATION OF THE ALPS. 119 



valleys connected by a common outlet, as well as those just men- 

 tioned, afford a satisfactory confirmation of the general accuracy of 

 my altitudes. These coincidences of levels in such distant localities 

 also confirm the remark already made, that the elevation of the 

 Alps must have been uniform from Savoy to the Tyrol, no such dif- 

 ference appearing in the levels as would occur if one part of the chain 

 had been more elevated than the rest. 



In Table No. III. p. 123, will be found a general comparison 

 of the elevation of the various water-levels, deduced from the pre- 

 vious observations on the Lines of Erosion, the Heads of Valleys, 

 and the Terraces, which harmonize in numerous points. There are 

 no terraces so high as the two upper lines of erosion, but the lower 

 line, noted at about 4800 feet, nearly corresponds with the heights 

 of the heads of several valleys and of four terraces observed in dif- 

 ferent parts of the Alps. And the close coincidences in the elevation 

 of the heads of many valleys with that of terraces elsewhere are very 

 numerous. 



The conclusion which I draw from all these observations is the 

 same ; — that they show the levels at which the surface of the sea 

 beat for long periods against the Alps as they rose out of the ocean ; 

 the effects produced at each level giving a sort of relative measure of 

 the length of time that the land remained stationary at that eleva- 

 tion, and the distances between them marking the steps in the pro- 

 gress of the elevation of the mountains. These steps appear to have 

 been greatest at the commencement of the elevation, and to have 

 gradually lessened as the mountains approached the height at which 

 we now find them. The periods of longest rest were undoubtedly 

 those marked by the lines of erosion at 9000, 7500, and 4800 feet 

 elevation. 



There are, however, some peculiarities in the unequal distribu- 

 tion of terraces in different parts of the Alpine Chain which may be 

 thought to favour the hypothesis that they were formed in lakes ; I 

 will state these fully, that both sides of the argument may be fairly 

 seen. The terraces are far more numerous in the upper valleys of 

 the Rhone above Sion, of the Rhine above Coire, of the Inn, and of 

 the Valtelline, and in all the lateral valleys which fall into these, 

 than they are either in the valleys on the north of the Alps, which 

 open on to the great central valley of Switzerland, or in those which 

 run southward to the plains of Lombardy. Thus, while there are 

 numerous well-marked terraces on the north side of the Splugen, 

 I observed none on the south side more than 1000 feet above the 

 sea, at about which height there is a terrace around the Lake of 

 Como some 300 feet above the lake ; and on the descent from the 

 S. Gotthard towards Bellinzona I noted no terrace above Giornico, 

 where there is a large one 1234- feet above the sea, though in the 

 branch valley of Misocco they occur above Misocco at more than 

 2500 feet elevation. 



Some stanch glacialist will probably offer to explain this differ- 

 ence by the greater facility of forming lakes in the inner valleys by 



