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our globe lias experienced ai'c entirely owing to the efFeils of fire and wateij which have,
at different epochs, powcifully and vifibly aded either together or feparate. 2. That the
continents have likewife been expofcd to fimilar revolutions ; and, in ihort, that the lail
great débâcle, or boule verfemen ts, is not, by fevcral centuries, of fo remote a date as has
been generally fuppofed.
VII. From die fandy hills wliich compofe the ^-al]e}' delcribed in the eighth chapter,
containing different fpecies of marine foffils, and which are as if inclofed or wedged in the
niidit of high calcarcous mountains, wliich do not contain any; from the dircâion of this
valley, which tends from north to fouth ; from the petrified trees likewife found ten feet
below the foil of the fame valley, in the environs of Nice, reiling on calcareous beds, the
roots of which contained in their ramifications a quantity of marine foflils ; I am induced
to conclude, 1. That the fea, in its flow and gradual reü-eat, muft have formed an
extenfive gulph in the neighbourhood of Efcarene j and that the calcareous mountains,
above alluded to, ferved as its eaftern and weftem boundary. 2. That the fummit of
the ländy hills, which now form the inner valley, indicate as nearly as poffible llie elevation
of the bottom of the gulph at that period. In fine, Üiat the waters having afterwards
effedled their retreat in that place from north to fouth, had, as it were, U'aced out the
valley, which has fince been finiflied by the draining of Üiat part of the fea which had been
accidentally retained in fome of die higher valleys, in confequence of having broken, by its
weight and ailion, the calcareous barrier which for a time retained it.
VIII. From the abrupt ilate of the calcareous moimtains which border the Mediterranean
coaft from Nice to Savona ; from their extreme height or elevation ; from the depth
of Ü1C fea which waihes tlieir bafis; as likewife from the diretftion of the rivers and valleys
of that part of the diain, which is in general from north to fouth, and the vail number of
gypfum quarries which are within a mile or two of the coall: ; I am led to fuppofe,
1. That the major part of the fecondary and tertiary chain of the Alps frill remain covered
by the fea. 2. That it appears probable that thofe mountains may extend to the iilands
of Corfica and Sardinia. In fine, that a number of thefe calcareous mountains owe their
abruptnefs to the laft retreat of the fea, which had, by infenfibly undermining their bafis,
occafioned part of their mafs to detach and fall into the water, from their not having at that
period acquired the fame degree of confiftence which they now poflcfs.
IX. From not having been able, with the greateft care and attention, to trace or difcover
the leaft indication of volcanic operations from La Bouchette, near Genoa, to Mont Vifo
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in Piedmont, whicli are the two mountains which terminate tlie Mai'ilime chain, I think
myfelf authorized to fay that there docs not appear to have exifted any volcanos in that
part of the Alps, except in the valley of Fontaine du Temple, mentioned in the laft chapter,
and which, from not having been able properly to inveftigate, I cannot to a certainty venture
to give my opinion.
Thefe are the conclufions I deduce from tlie foregoing premifes, and which I offer to
tlie confideration of the public with fome diifidence, fenfible o f the difficulties which attend
the ilruifture of all the theories of the earth; but, if I ihould be thought to have failed in
any of my inferences, I have ilill the fatisfa<5tion to know that, without any view to fyftem,
I have endeavoured faithfully to colleit and to record natural fails, of which others may
probably make a better ufe than I have made myfelf, and to which the attention of fcientific
men may not unprofitably be direfled. IL is not for me to pronounce how far I have fucceeded;
but as Sir Wi l l iam Hamilton's objeit has been to trace the operation of fire in the
formation of the great features of nature, fo it has been mine to frace and to notice the
operation of water; and, perhaps, when the power of thefe two mighty elements are duly
confidered, great light will be thrown on a fubjeil hitherto imperfeAly inveftigatcd.
I ihall be happy ihould my works, with their embellifhments, be allowed the honour of
ilanding as an invitation or introdu6Hon to the iludy of that part of the Alps, where the
few flowers and ears of com which I have gathered may ferve as a fpecimen of their richnefs
and fertility, as a field of fcience, and whofe harveft I muft leave to be reaped by otliers
more converfant than m}'felf in the philofophy of natui-al hiftory.
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