224 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE chap. 



if our English mountains are less imposing 

 so far as mere height is concerned, they are 

 most venerable from their great antiquity. 



But though the existing Alps are in one 

 sense, and speaking geologically, very recent, 

 there is strong reason for believing that there 

 w^as a chain of lofty mountains there long 

 previously. " The first indication," says Judd, 

 " of the existence of a line of weakness in this 

 portion of the earth's crust is found tov^rards 

 the close of the Permian period, w^hen a series 

 of volcanic outbursts on the very grandest 

 scale took place" along aline nearly follow- 

 ing that of the present Alps, and led to tlie 

 formation of a range of mountains, which, in 

 his opinion, must have been at least 8000 to 

 9000 feet high. Ramsay and Bonney have 

 also given strong reasons for believing 

 that the present line of the Alps was, at a 

 still earlier period, occupied by a range 

 of mountains no less lofty than those of 

 to-day. Thus then, though the present Alps 

 are comparatively speaking so recent, there 

 are good grounds for the belief that they were 

 preceded by one or more earlier ranges, once 



