CHAPTER I. 
THE GEOLOGY OF SWITZERLAND. 
Vidi ego, quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus, 
Esse fretum: vidi factas ex lequore terras; 
Et procul a pelago concha; jacuere marinae. 
Ovid, Metam. xv. 262. 
Straits have I seen that cover now 
What erst was solid earth; have trodden land 
Where once was sea; and gathered inland far 
Dry ocean shells. 
Ovid’s Metam., trans. by H. King. 
The Scenery of Switzerland is so greatly due to 
geological causes, that it is impossible to discuss the 
present configuration of the surface, without some 
reference to its history in bygone times. I do not, 
however, propose to deal with geology further than is 
necessary for my present purpose. 
The subject presents very great difficulties, not 
only because the higher regions are so much covered 
with snow, accessible only for a few weeks in the 
year, and in many places covered by accumulations 
