160 
WERNERIAN SYSTEM. 
P^rfici’lar 
phcnoineua. 
Strata ; chemi- 
cal or nieclia- 
])ical : iiiCUiicd 
or liorizontal, 
&c. 
Dijlocations. 
incessant action of the atmosphere, of rivers, and of the sea, ( 
into the forms, which it now exhibits*. i 
Such are, in general, the features of Werner's Theory of the Ij 
earth : but several important phenomena remain still to be ex- t| 
plained ; among which the appearances of stratified rocks, the \ 
inflection and dislocations of strata, the formation of veins, and if{ 
the eruptions of volcanoes, are some of the most remarkable. 
Werner considers strata, as “ particular and individual deposi- i| 
lions from a stale of solution or suspension in water j” the i 
position being influenced by the mode in which they have M 
acquired their solidity. In chemical depositions they would be j 
inclined at various angles, from accidents of crystallization and |i 
inequalities of the surface on which that process had begun ; — i 
but depositions from mechanical suspension would be more i 
nearly horizontal. The strata of the older rocks, accordingly, j 
are much inclined, and the most recent are generally the hast | 
so ; — in rocks deposited during a continued retreat of the fluid, | 
a certain conformity of position is to be observed, but those i 
precipitated during its revolutions, are variously and irregularly | 
arranged with respect to the strata over which they repose 3 and i 
sometimes they are even broken and disjointed. 
But further, some assemblages of strata are so disposed at | 
present, that a change from their original position must unques- I 
tionably have taken place ; and various appearances indicate jj' 
their violent, and sometimes even repeated, dislocation, f 
• In a general view, Saussure's ideas of the mode of the earth’s ' 
formation come very near to those of Werner, but his doubtful expres- | 
sion of them has more of the spirit of philosophy than the decided 
language of the Weineriau school. — “ Nonsvoyons done dans les Alpes,' li 
la preuve certaine de la catastrophe, ou de la derniere scene du grande 1 
drame de notre globe. Mats nous ne voyons que des indices fugitifs et 
probleniatiqucs,des actes precedentes; excepte les preiives de crystalliza- ! 
tioiis tranquilles dans les terns les plus anciens, qui ont precede la crea- 
tion des animaux; et de depots et de sediments dans ceux qui ont suivi |l 
eette epoque, avec des preuves du mouvements violentes, comme la | 
formation des breches, des poudingues, la brisement des coquilages, et 
la redreisemcnt des couches." Saussure Voyages— § 2303. 
Werner, ji 
