1U 



THE ULTIMATE SOURCE 



as upheavals ; and that this interchange of places between 

 the bed of the ocean and the surface of the ground has not 

 taken place once, but often ; so that scarce any land exists, 

 except perhaps the tops of high mountains, which has not 

 had its turn, more than once, above and below the water. 



If there were such upheavals of large areas from the salt 

 sea, we should find salt deposits upon them. That there were 

 such partial elevations in Pre-Silurian times is evidenced 

 inter alia, by the rock salt formations of the Indian range. 

 The salt rocks of England go to prove the same thing for 

 the Carboniferous era : those of Switzerland for the Lias ; 

 those of the Austrian Alps for the Oolitic ; and so of the 

 rest, up to the Tertiary period, in which we find the Vieliczka 

 salt mine. The covering strata lying over these rock salt 

 deposits moreover demonstrate, that the deposits have, after 

 their formation, sunk again into the depths of the sea, and, 

 whilst some have remained there for ages, before coming to 

 the surface, others have oscillated, as it were, above and below 

 sea level. Hence we find layers of rock salt, separated by 

 intervening sedimentary strata, placed over each other in 

 irregular succession, and covered in by other sedimentary 

 rocks. This last fact, however, I will account for presently 

 in another way. 



We have other evidence that these elevations of fixed areas 

 were partial, that they took place in each succeeding epoch, 

 and that they were widely distributed over the face of the 

 globe. Hock salt formations confirm this evidence in a 

 conclusive manner, and they further tell us what areas were 

 elevated, and at what periods. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the assumption of the 

 marine origin of rock salt is closely linked with that of the 

 movement of the earth's crust, which ranks as a well ascer- 

 tained fact. This alone creates a strong bias in favor of the 

 marine theory of its origin. 



