TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES 



GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS. 



Notice of Frof. B. Studer's ^Geology of Switzerland.' 1st vol.* 

 The Central Alpine Chain and the Chain immediately to the South. 



[Leonhard u. Bronn's N. Jahrb. f. Min. u. s. w. 1852. 2 H. p. 231 et seq."] 



The abstruse problem of the elevation of tbe great masses of om* 

 continents has of late years excited lively interest. In the earlier 

 days of geology, an isolated observer applied himself to the study of 

 a small portion of the Alps, the district of Mont Blanc or of St. 

 Gothard for instance ; the age of the Jura or of the Apennines was 

 then not so well known as that of many of the most distant quarters 

 of the globe is at the present day : while now we see a constantly 

 increasing number of labourers, struggling to arrive at a thorough 

 knowledge of this range. The Alps are encircled by a perfect army 

 of observers, who every summer penetrate into their recesses, and add 

 something to our information respecting them. 



This work of Prof. Studer derives its chief importance from the 

 circumstance that he has himself visited almost all the spots described, 

 some of them repeatedly, and not a few in the company of M. Escher. 

 Where the observations of others are introduced, reference is made 

 to the work quoted. The author gratefully acknowledges the valuable 

 assistance he received from M. Escher, who in the frankest manner 

 placed at his disposal the results of his own researches. 



The introduction is devoted to a general view of the Apennines, the 

 Alps, and the Jura. 



The Alps follow one another in their order of juxtaposition : the 

 Ligurian, or first Alpine group to the W. of Genoa : the Maritime, 

 in which the Alpine type begins to show itself more distinctly by a 

 second " central mass " (or nucleus) of crystalline slates : the Cottan 

 and Grecian Alps : the Alps of Oisans, which display a " central 

 mass" more clearly than any which Studer has travelled through, — 

 in no other locality can it be so distinctly seen that the felspathic 

 rocks, which form the nucleus, have been upheaved after the deposi- 

 tion of the overlying Neptunian formations, and have forced through 

 the latter, throwing them oiF on every side, and changing their 

 structure ; the Red Alps {Les Rousses), well known in the records 



* Geologie der Schweitz. Erster Band. pp. 485. 8vo. Berne, 1851. With wood- 

 cuts and a Geological Map. 



VOL. VIII. PART II. P 



