244 
41 The question is not whether volcanic force similar to 
that now in operation, and rain and rivers on the present scale 
are sufficient to produce the phenomena referred to , but 
whether, on the whole, the evidence is that they have actually 
d °42 S *The insensible rising of the land, stated to be going on 
along the line of the Andes, and on the Pampas and m Scan- 
dinavia, and the depressions now occurring m Greenland and 
other places, may be effects flowing from the same causes whicn 
raised^ the existing mountain-chains. But when we consid 
that sedimentary deposits have been actually tilted and raise 
up in the Alps 8,000 feet, m the Andes 14,000 feet, and in the 
Himalayas 16,000 feet, by action frequently violent and sudden 
we fail to find in the one occurrence anything but the slighte-t 
The work of earthquakes is a parallel case. It « 
doubtless of the same nature as *6. enirt-dtrtmbmcMrf 
ancient days. But who, after examining any old trappean 
district, such as North Wales, would think of c°mparmg the 
modern effects, in magnitude, with the ancient Wc adm t 
Sir Cliarles Lyell's statement that there has been ■; 
Sptionffi the 7 continued action of change from the remote* 
period but the vast differences in the amount of action 
displayed constitute a real discrepancy. The oscilktwns of 
the surface which have left their bench-maiks on the strantt 
of geological time were quicker and more intense m pio- 
nortion to their high antiquity. The strongest instances of 
modern action are fhose which' probably had thmr comm n - 
ment before the most modern epoch. Such *e jertmal 
valleys, 2,000 feet deep, in the Canons of the Colorado ai 
the accumulation of globigenna mud in the depths ot t ft 
Atlantic. The accumulation of peat-moss is an msta 
an operation displayed only in recent ^mes. m8 
44 The present phenomena, though displaying th * 
kind of force as the" most ancient, yet differ so ™selym 
its amount, as to entitle us to mark the distinction, 
no instance whatever of the formation of a 
the modern period, and we are thus warranted ln 
that the formation of mountain-chains is characteristic ot a 
must be held in connection with that ot progression 
advancement.’'* 
* Chips and Chapters , p. 55. 
