In this view of things, the form of our land must be considered as having been determined by three different causes, all of which have operated, more or less, in producing the present state of those things which we examine.  First, There is a regular stratification of the materials, from whence we know the original structure, shape, and situation of the subject.  Secondly, There are the operations of the mineral region, some of which have had regular effects upon the strata, as we find in the veins or contractions of the consolidated masses; others have had more irregular effects, but which may still be distinguished by means of our knowing the original state and structure of those masses.  Lastly, There are operations proper to the surface of this globe, by which the form of the habitable earth may be affected; operations of which we understand both the causes and the effects, and, therefore, of which we may form principles for judging of the past, as well as of the future.  Such are the operations of the fun and atmosphere, of the wind and water, of the rivers and the tides.

It is the joint operation and result of those three different causes that are to be perceived in the general appearances of this earth, and not the effects of any one alone; although, in particular places of the earth, the operation peculiar to each of these may be considered by itself, in abstracting those of the others, more or less.  Thus there are several views in which the subject is to be examined, in order to find facts with which the result of the theory may be compared, and by which confirmation may be procured to our reasoning, as well as explanation of the phenomena in question.

CHAPTER I.

Facts in confirmation of the Theory of Elevating Land above the Surface of the Sea.

The first object now to be examined, in confirmation of the theory, is that change of posture and of shape which is so frequently found in mountainous countries, among the strata which had been originally almost plain and horizontal.  Here it is also that an opportunity is presented of having sections of those objects, by which the internal construction of the earth is to be known.  It is our business to lay before the reader examples of this kind, examples which are clearly described, and which may be examined at pleasure.

No person has had better opportunities of examining the structure of mountains than M. de Saussure, and no body more capable of taking those comprehensive views that are so necessary for the proper execution of such a task.  We shall therefore give some examples from this author, who has every where described nature with a fidelity which even inconsistency with his system could not warp.  Speaking of the general situation of the beds of the Saleve, (p. 179.)

“Dans quelques endroits, et meme presque partout, les couches descendent tout droit du haut de la montagne jusques a son pied:  mais au dessus de Collonge le sommet arrondi en dos d’ane presente des couches qui descendent de part et d’autre, au sud-est vers les Alpes, et au nord-ouest vers notre vallee; avec cette difference, que celles qui descendent vers les Alpes parviennent jusques au bas; au lieu que celles qui nous regardent sont coupees a pic, a une grande hauteur.