72 
GEOLOGY 
parallelism of mountain chains of contemporaneous elevation , not only for countries out of Europe, 
but for the whole of Europe itself (See: An Analysis of Elie cle Beaumont’s work, in the Anni- 
versary Address of the President of the Geological Society of London, by W. Hopkins Esq., p. xxvin 
and following, of the Quart. Journ. of the Geol. Soc., vol. IX; London, 1853.), we recognize, never- 
theless, that such a parallelism of small contemporary chains exists in all circumscribed countries 
(See : A Synopsis of the Classification of the British Paleozoic rocks, in 4°; London, 1855 ; where the Rev. Adam 
Sedgwick says, pages xxxix and xl; « I freely made use of M. Elie de Beaumont’s theory of parallelism, 
<c and turned it to good account : and whatever may now be thought of the great and controverted 
((extension which he has given to it, I can only express myself towards him, in terms of grati- 
((tude for the great help, which his work, on the theory of parallelism, has lent to me. I conclude 
«with this practical remark. While we contend against what we may suppose to be the unphilo- 
(csophical extension of a theory, let us not fall into an opposite error, and reject it altogether, 
(( even when it helps us to compare and marshal facts together. The parallelism of contemporaneous 
« elevations is not a universal truth derived from any known law of nature. But, taken with proper 
((caution and proper limitations, it is , I believe, a fact of geology which admits of a very extensive 
((practical application, and greatly assists us in grouping together our unconnected phenomena. I 
((believe also that it is often suggestive of the right points towards which new observations ought 
((to be directed; and, on that account, an efficient help towards new generalisations and discov- 
(( eries. What has been the cause of this parallelism — in the cases where it does occur — , is a 
((question of physics rather than of geology#. Also: Manual of Geology , Crown 8°; London, 1855; 
where John Phillips, the celebrated nephew of William Smith, the father of English geology, says, 
page 575: (dt is not too much to assert, that in the present state of geology, the facts known 
(( are not clear and numerous enough to support this hypothesis — Elie de Beaumont’s theory — ; and 
((on the other hand, there are not facts to warrant the unconditional rejection of it. It must be 
((looked upon as a first attempt in a new field, as a generalisation carried to extreme', but it is certainly 
^founded on important data, and in several instances agrees well with observations y>. ^ ; and farther, that 
this parallelism with the contemporaneity extends sometimes even to America ; but , in this case , it 
is the e.\coption, and not the rule. We think the question is far from having been resolved', and, 
above all, we cannot admit, without large reservation, sci general a law, for so immense and com- 
plex a phenomenon. However this may be, we will try to class the dislocations that have affected 
the American strata Included in our Geological Map (See: Frontispiece if , by means of the parallelism 
of arcs of a circle. 
1. Lawrentine system. — The granitic, sienitic, and gneiss rocks, which make the foundation of 
the Lawrentine mountains, are affected with numerous dislocations that have uplifted them in different 
ways. Those dislocations are not all of the same epoch; nevertheless, there is one main direction which 
prevails much over the other directions, and is almost from east to west, with an average deviation of 
5°, which gives for the direction E. 5° N. and W. 5° S. 
These systems of dislocations are the most ancient I have examined. I regard them as anterior to 
the deposition of the first beds of Lower Silurian, that is to say previous to the formation of the Pots- 
dam Sandstone containing the primordial fauna of Joachim Barrande. 
Being the most ancient, it follows naturally that these primitive dislocations, which form in truth 
the mass of the Lawrentine mountains , have been subjected to much alteration by the crossing of the 
