INFLUENCE OF STRATA UPON SCENERY. 
26l 
So varied are the conditions that every mountain, 
even if the top only is visible, has a character and 
individuality of its own. 
“Le profil de Phorizon,” says Amiel, “affecte 
toutes formes: aiguilles, faites, creneaux, pyramides, 
obelisques, dents, crocs, pinces, cornes, coupoles; la 
dentelure s’inflechit, se redresse, se tord, s’aiguise 
de mille fajons, mais dans le style angulaire des 
sierras. Les massifs inferieurs et secondaires pre- 
sentent seuls des croupes arrondies des lignes fuyantes 
et courbes. Les Alpes ne sont qu’un soulevement, elles 
sont un dechirement de la surface terrestre. Le 
granit mord le ciel et ne le caresse pas. Le Jura 
au contraire fait comme le gros dos sous le dome 
bleu.” 
Not one of these varied forms is accidental. 
Every one of them has its cause and explanation, 
though we may not always know what it is. 
The same configuration will of course look very 
different from different points of view. What seems 
like a sharp point is often the end of a ridge. The 
sedimentary rocks of the northern Alps (Rigi, Pilatus, 
Bauenstock, Sentis, Speer, etc.), often slope up gently 
to the summit, and then drop away suddenly in a 
steep cliff, frequently broken into a succession of steps 
which are rendered conspicuous by lines of snow. They 
