ON THE CARTLANE CRAIG. 



495 



subject, inclines me strongly to prefer, on the 

 following grounds, which I submit with defe- 

 rence to the observation and judgment of geo- 

 logists. 



I. Admitting the fusion of greenstone by heat, 

 the mass in this case, considered as a mechani- 

 cal power, seems totally inadequate to the ef- 

 fect produced ; as it does not exceed a few feet 

 in thickness, while the mass of strata displaced, is 

 almost a square mile in extent, with a depth of 

 at least a hundred yards. 



II. The relative position of the mass or vein, 

 so far as it appears, is incompatible with the sup- 

 position of its having been the agent in this dis- 

 placement. Had the greenstone followed the di- 

 rection of the great chasm, appearing every where 

 along the bottom, or in its vicinity, such an in- 

 ference might have been plausible. But far 

 otherwise, as already noticed, it runs almost di- 

 rectly across the hollow ; so that the fissure which 

 has taken place, is nearly at right angles to that 

 which the laws of mechanism would teach us to 

 expect, from the presumed disruptive force of the 

 greenstone. 



III. The strata fractured and separated, exhi- 

 bit na marks of having been burst asunder by the 



