MOUNTAINS. 
trifactions; beneath are calcareous beds, 
which have petrified bivalves, mmimularii, 
and turbiuites ; still lower is a mass of black 
lava, hard and broken in small fragments, 
nearly of an angulated prismatical form ; after 
which red clay or marie, mixed with petri- 
factions, occurs ; then lava, pumice stone, 
breccia, or limestones, inserted in lava, and 
beds of limestone, w ith petrifactions. Ronca 
affords plenty of ostracites of different spe- 
cies, and in good preservation, murices, 
anomiae, and bones ; the species amount 
to thirty ; those are found in the calcareous 
strata, and in the volcanic sand and ashes 
which, coagulated with limestones, have 
produced a species of breccia. 
It has been judged necessary to dwell on 
the discoveries made as to the internal for- 
mation of the above hills, as their size and 
situation enable the curious investigator to 
accomplish his wishes ; and as the informa- 
tion thus obtained must be accepted in 
place of facts, in relation to the stupendous 
mountains to be noticed hereafter in this 
article ; those defy the labours of the phi- 
losopher, who is compelled to creep along 
their craggy and forbidding sides, attentive 
to his own safety, rather than their proper- 
ties, and to conjecture the internal state 
from external appearance. 
Ferber says, the island Elba is remark- 
able on account of its iron-mines, the moun- 
tains of which consist of granite generally 
of a violet colour and very fine, as the feld- 
spath lies in large oblong cubes of the 
above tint. The ore is not found in veins, 
but in an enormous mass surrounded by 
the mountains of granite, it is besides a fact, 
that several mountains in Sweden, Lapland, 
and Siberia wholly consist of iron-ore; and 
some hills in Campiglia, and other places in 
Tuscany, are either entirely, or in a great 
measure, of the same nature. 
Further particulars of the probable con- 
tents of mountains in other parts of the 
globe will be found as we proceed in this 
investigation, but it will next be neces- 
sary to mention the changes observable 
in the state of the atmosphere by those 
who have ascended to the summits of the 
highest portions of oiir earth ; several at- 
tempts had been made to attain the most 
elevated points of Mont Blanc by the guides 
of Chamonny, and by Messrs, de Saus- 
sure and Bourrit, tlie first undertaken by 
tlie guides was on the 13th of July 1776, 
when tliree of them accompanied by M. 
Couteran departed from the Priory, at some 
distance from the mountain, at eleven in the 
night, those persons passed through the 
interval between the glaciers of Bosson and 
Tacona, and were fourteen hours employed 
in ascending a most rugged way, crossing ex- 
tensive vallies of ice, and plains of snow, 
before they reached the vast elevation op- 
posite to Mont Blanc which then appeared 
as if very near them, but on a more at- 
tentive examination of the relative situa- 
tion of the places they found they had 
been deceived by the clearness of the air, 
and the brightness of the snow, and that 
it would require at least four hours of ad- 
ditional exertion to reach the summit, which 
they considered impracticable for many 
reasons, and particularly as the clouds ga- 
tliered on the sides of the mountain and 
threatened a tempest ; tliey therefore re- 
turned with precipitation, which had nearly 
been fatal to one of the party, who in leaping 
over a chasm in the ice, slipped and fell into 
it, but fortunately retaining his grasp of the 
pole with which he performed the spring, 
and that falling across the chasm, he was 
extricated by his companions ; the man 
fainted and remained insensible for some 
time, but they reached Chamonny without 
further accident after twenty-two hours of 
incessant labour. Sir George Shuckborough 
calculated that they had attained the height 
of 13,000 feet above the level of the Medi- 
terranean Sea. 
The failure of this arduous undertaking 
discouraged other attempts for some years, 
and till M. Bourrit prevailed upon six 
guides to accompany him on September 
11th, 1784, this gentleman pursued his jour- 
ney with great ardour and enthusiasm, but 
was arrested in his progress by tlie intense- 
ncss of the cold, which compelled him to 
return, the guides were less affected, and 
two that had preceded the rest reached the 
dome of Goute situated about 9,400 feet in 
a horizontal direction from the summit. On 
the fourth of September in the following 
year Marie Contet and James Lamhat as. 
cended to a great height, and passed the 
night under the shelter of a rock, advanc- 
ing with the dawn of day they reached the 
dome just mentioned about seven o’clock, 
and would have proceeded with every pros- 
pect of success, had not a dreadful storm 
of hail rendered further exertion impiac- 
ti cable. 
On the IStli of September the same year 
Messieurs de Saussure and Bourrit, and 
twelve guides, bearing a variety of instru- 
ments intended for observations, left Bion- 
say, and after some time arrived at a hut 
