1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. civ 



in the same rock ; thus creating a difficulty of saying which is or 

 which is not the set indicative of the strata. If we admit then 

 with some of our most celebrated geologists, that in the older rocks 

 the planes of structure have been erroneously attributed to stratification, 

 the difficulty with which we are contending will vanish.* In this 

 case there will be no necessity for inferring a continuation of the 

 strata underneath, and therefore no violation of generally received 

 notions as to the super-position of rocks. The newer formations 

 will rest on the older, and as in this case, the configuration of 

 the surface could not have had any effect in giving the present dip and 

 direction to the upper strata, (for it would have been the reverse,) 

 it is quite clear that neither in these rocks are the seams significative 

 of mechanical depositions. 



332. It is at all events very certain that, in all primary countries, the 

 stratification presents various anomalies not easy to be explained on 

 the hypothesis of the formations being mechanical deposits. It is 

 likewise not impossible, that a more particular examination of our moun- 

 tain strata may suggest some other explanation, or at all events lead 

 us to view it as less contrary to geological observation than I have 

 stated.f With these considerations in view we may for the present con- 

 sider the order of superposition as determined by the succession of 

 rocks found in proceeding southward, or at right angles to their direc- 

 tion. We will therefore suppose the schists to be deposited on the 

 gneiss, and the sandstones on the schists, notwithstanding the dip being 

 towards the crest of the chain. We have seen, that the two zones into 

 which, on a large view, the rocks may be divided, are parallel with the 

 direction of the mountain land, and with that of the elevated zone, 

 though not with that of the chains, which, as we have before shewn, 

 have no connection whatever with the geological structure. 



* If we could follow their limits with the eye we should probably find the fact 

 to be as now stated, a view of the subject which may tend to explain the apparent 

 inflections and contortions of rocks in general, and perhaps the stratified structure, 

 in all its varieties, may ultimately be considered as resulting from concretion on the 

 large scale. — Geol. Trans, vol. 5, part I, p. 176. 



t See Mr. Weaver's Paper on the Geology of Ireland in the 5th vol. Geol. Trans, 

 part 1. Dr. Macculloch and Professor Jameson appear also to be of this opinion. The 

 latter, however, combines with it a less tenable doctrine, that the Earth may be a 

 large polyhedral crystal, and the planes of stratification its cleavages. 



