30 



Ice is fallen in with much sooner in sailing towards the south 

 than it is in approaching the north pole. The dry lands or the 

 large continents are more or less pointed towards the south, 

 whereas the northern parts are more or less ragged and crowded 

 about the northern pole ; in a word, all observed facts tend to 

 prove that the ocean moves from the south pole towards the 

 north. (Plate V.) 



If, then, such an action is actually going on in the great ter- 

 restrial battery, its effects will not be confined to that of the 

 ocean, but will also produce corresponding effects on the solid 

 and semi-fluid part of the earth. Such an effect is apparent in 

 the meridional lamination of the crystalline rocks, as shown in 

 Plates IV. and V. 



In South America we find the whole region laminated in a 

 north and south direction, subject of course to great contortions 

 from various local disturbances. This lamination forms those 

 kind of rocks known by the name of gneiss and schistose, being 

 in fact a modification of the granitic base, produced by the polar 

 laminating action, and not, as it is erroneously considered, the 

 result of a mechanical sedimentary action. The planes of these 

 meridional laminations are generally more or less vertical, and 

 are often seen cutting through sedimentary beds at right angles 

 to the seams of deposition, and thus showing their independent 

 and subsequent origin. Nor is this meridional structure con- 

 fined to South America, but extends to the north, subject of 

 course to great bends from numerous mechanical resistances. 



It may be considered strange that such an universal structure 

 has escaped attention, and that it has not ere this been dis- 

 covered. The isolated facts have been long known, but not 

 properly used, and the laminated structure has been, and con- 

 tinues to be, confounded with those planes resulting from mecha- 

 nical deposition. As we have already noted, the granitic gneiss 

 and the schistose, which are commonly represented in geological 

 sections as sedimentary beds resting on one another, are the re- 

 sult of a crystalline action modifying the granitic mass in the 

 direction of the lamination, which structure is generally formed 

 in a more or less vertical position as commonly seen when not 

 disturbed. 



" Since the year 1792," says Humboldt in his treatise on Rocks, 



