MOUNTAINS. 
of mountains are necessarily imperfect, as 
their pyramidal outline uniformly prevents 
the dropping of a plummet, the only cer- 
tain mode of accurate measurement. Be- 
fore the invention of the instruments now 
employed for this purpose, which undoubt- 
edly approach very nearly to certainty in 
their result, recourse was had to conjec- 
ture, and the erroneous practice of mea- 
suring their shadows. Strabo, judging from 
the means possessed in his time, declared 
the highest mountain in the world to be 
equal to 21,830 English feet. Kirchei', de- 
ciding from the length ot tlieir shadows, 
pronounced 
jEtna 25,600 
The Peak of Teneriffe ... 64,000 
Mount Athos 128,000 
And Larissa in Egypt 179,200 
height; Feuille reduces it to 13,248; and 
others assert that the Peak and ..Etna are 
the most elevated objects on the earth. But 
this supposition has been combated by Sir 
George Shuckborongh, who measured jEtna 
from an observation by M. de Saussure, and 
found it to be 10,954 feet above the level of 
the sea. The latter gentleman had obtained 
the height of Vesuvius, and Sir George 
measured Mont Blanc ; from which it ap- 
pears, that the height of Vesuvius added to 
that of jEtna is 14,854 feet, and that of 
Mont Blanc alone amounts to 15,662 feet : 
whence he infers, that Mont Blanc far eclip- 
ses all other mountains in Europe, Asia, and 
Africa; those of America, according to 
Condamine, are of vast height, and in some 
instances the elevation amounts to 19,200 
feet. 
Upon comparing the calculations of dif. 
M. Bourrit, who explored the Alps, gives 
the following table of the various elevations 
of places and mountains above tire level of 
the sea. 
English yards. 
The Lake -of Geneva, at the 
lower passage of the Rhone... 398 
The Lake of Neufchatel 456 
Highest point of the N eedle of 
Saleve 1488 
Summit of Canigou 3088 
Summit of Dole, the highest 
mountain of Jura 1800 
Summit of Mole 2014 
Valley of Chamouni 1121 
Ridge of Breven 2949 
Valley of Montanvert 1865 
Abbey of Sixt 797 
Granges des Communes 1769 
Highest Grange of Fonds 1458 
Summit of Grenier 2782 
Summit of Grenairon 2958 
Plain de Lechaud 2295 
Summit of Buet 3315 
Mont Blanc 5081 
Mount .Etna 4000 
Summit of the Table at the 
Cape of Good Hope 1153 
Summit of Snowdon in Wales 1224 
Pike Rucco in the island of Ma- 
deira 1689 
Pike of Teneriflfe 4399 
The same according to Dr. He- 
berden 5132 
Summit of Cotopaxi according 
to Ulloa 6643 
Some philosophers have estimated the 
Peak of Teneriffe to be 19,200 feet in 
ferent persons in their attempts to measure 
these enormous masses, it will be found 
that they vary greatly ; it is therefore ob- 
vious, that the methods at present in use 
are subject to impediments, which are at- 
tributable to many causes : some of those 
may hereafter be removed, but there are 
others so completely connected with local 
circumstances of heat, cold, moisture, and 
the reverse, that it is impossible they should 
ever be overcome ; neither is it quite cor- 
rect to infer, that tlie chain of the Caucasus, 
the Taurus, and the African mountains, are 
inferior to Mont Blanc, unless tlie same op- 
portunities were afforded for measuring 
their heights which exist in Europe. Mr. 
Coxe says, “ Conjectures are now banished 
from natural philosophy ; and until it shall 
be proved from undoubted calculations, that 
the highest part of the Caucasus rises more 
than 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, 
Mont Blanc may be fairty considered as 
more elevated.” This position rests on very 
slender grounds indeed, and resembling the 
conjectures said to be banished from natu- 
ral philosophy, it should be rejected with- 
out hesitation. In truth, this point will 
most probably never be satisfactorily ad- 
justed ; and we must rest satisfied with the 
knowledge we have already acquired, till 
reason or philosophy shall have taught, or 
extended civilization throughout the globe, 
and future naturalists have made measure- 
ments of hitherto unexplored mountains, 
with instruments similar to those used by 
Saussure and Shuckborongh. 
There are numerous and serious obstacles 
opposed to the ascertaining of the nature of 
the substances which compose the great 
