More ancient than the al?s. 



153 



the intervening sandstones ; for all these strata lie nearly flat over 

 the edges of the inclined under strata. On the contrary, in Savoy, 

 strata of similar formations occur nearly vertical, and frequently con- 

 formable to the range and dip of the granitic formations. These 

 facts would prove, that the causes which have elevated granite, have 

 acted at different epochs, on various parts of the globe, unless we are 

 prepared to admit, that similar calcareous formations, containing sim- 

 ilar organic remains, were not cotemporaneous in different countries." 



In the latter part of the same volume I further stated, that as some 

 of the strata on the Diableret mountains in the Vallais contain, at the 

 height of seven thousand feet, fossils similar to those of the tertiary 

 strata in the Paris Basin, it was more reasonable to believe, that they 

 had been raised since their deposition, than that fresh-water forma- 

 tions had covered any part of the earth at such a vast elevation ; 

 and hence we may infer, that the epoch when the granite of the 

 Alps was raised, is comparatively recent.* 



When M. Daubuisson published his Geognosie, both he and almost 

 all the French geologists adopted the theory of Werner, respecting 

 the formation of granite prior to all other rocks : if, therefore, the 

 elevation of its beds took place soon after its original formation, this 

 elevation preceded the deposition of the secondary strata by many 

 geological ages, and could have had no effect on the position of beds 

 which did not then exist. My views with respect to the different 

 ages of granitic ranges, and the discovery of the true secondary 

 character of the calcareous mountains in the Tarentaise, have since 

 been brought forward by some French geologists, as their original 

 discoveries. My observations were made in the year 1820, at which 

 time they would have been warmly opposed in France 5 and the an- 

 swer to them would have been, " Have we not had an Ecole de Mines 

 at Moutiers in the centre of the Tarentaise, where some of our first 

 chemists and geologists resided for a long time ? we must therefore 

 know the true character of the country better than any occasional 

 visiter." 



It is not however certain, that the elevation of beds of granite or 

 other primary rocks might not take place deep under the ocean, and 

 a far more extensive elevating power may, at a later period, have 

 been required to raise them above the waves, until they formed is- 

 lands and continents. Indeed such must have been the case, where 

 primary rocks are covered with nearly horizontal strata of marine or 

 aqueous formation. Even the nearly horizontal beds of red marl, 

 that cover the elevated beds of granite on Charnwood Forest, must 

 have been formed or deposited under water : the whole, therefore, 



* Since the author published his opinion, in 1823, respecting the recent elevation 

 of the Alps, founded on an attentive examination of the structure of the Pennine 

 and Bernese Alps, M. Von Buch, M. L. Elie de Beaumont, and M. Andre de Luc 

 of Geneva, have advanced similar opinions, and stated that the elevation of those 

 mountains took place after the formation of the tertiary strata. 



20 



