92 



OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 



1 98. Applying these principles to the mountains of Europe, 

 de Peanmoi i found : 



That the central Alps, including St. Gothard, had been 

 raised after a great part of the diluvium had been formed, 

 while in the neighbourhood he found the indication we have 

 referred to, of a posterior deluge ; 



That Mount Blanc and the Western Alps were raised 

 after the deposit of the formations of the inferior order, but 

 before the diluvium ; 



That the Pyrenees and Appenines were of an origin sub- 

 sequent to the deposit of the chalk, and before the formations 

 of the superior order. 



Continuing this investigation he was led to the remarkable 

 result, that the height and magnitude of mountains diminish- 

 ed as the date of their origin became more remote. He also 

 inferred, that mountains of similar date were arranged in 

 lines parallel to each other ; and extending this to the case 

 of mountains which he could not visit, he inferred that the 

 Himmalaya was of the same date with the central Alps, and 

 therefore subsequent to a part of the diluvium. 



Reasoning in relation to the Andes, he infers, that this vast 

 chain of mountains, composed principally of trachyte, and 

 whose craters still vomit forth igneous matter, was the most 

 recent of all those which we find on the surface of the globe. 



He further found that the elevation of mountains had not 

 taken place separately, or in a continuous manner ; but that 

 numbers had been raised at or about the same period, and 

 the convulsion which gave them birth had been succeeded by 

 long intervals of repose. 



Thirteen such convulsions, including that which he suppo- 

 ses to have given birth to the Andes, were noted by him ; 

 the oldest of these only goes back to the epoch of the forma- 

 tion of the carboniferous groups. 



