72 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND, 
CHAPTER XIV. 
CENTRAL MASSIVES. 
The Alps are not, strictly speaking, a chain of 
mountains, but rather a series of bosses, or “central 
massives,” to use the term of the Swiss geologists. 
Speaking generally, we may say that the Central 
Massives have Gneiss as the central rock with Crys- 
talline schists, of uncertain age, on the sides; followed 
by other rocks undoubtedly of sedimentary origin, 
but so much metamorphosed that it is in many cases 
difficult, or even as yet impossible, to determine their 
geological position. 
The Central Massives were at first regarded as 
grand, but simple arches, and this impression is 
still widely dilfused, partly because in the small 
geneialised sections which alone can be given in 
text-books, it is impossible to give details. 
Their structure is much more complex than 
would be inferred even from the largest geological 
maps. In Studer’s excellent map, for instance, the 
whole of the St. Gotthard route from Erstfeld to 
