The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 33, February 13, 1841 — John Shaqi
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 33, February 13, 1841Various
History
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 33, February 13, 1841
Various
Ireland -- Periodicals
Let us turn to the consideration of the phenomenon of Boulders, as it
has appeared to the eye of science. And perhaps there are no two facts
which place it in so strong a light, and embrace so fully the reasonings
founded upon it, as the dispersion of blocks of the granite and other
rocks of Sweden over a large portion of Northern Europe, the boulders,
either singly or in clusters, being disposed in long parallel lines
or trainées, for upwards of two hundred miles from the mountains of
Scandinavia, to which, by identity of mineral composition, they have
been traced, although separated from them by the Baltic Sea; and the
occurrence of boulders of alpine granite resting on the secondary rocks
of the Jura chain, between which and the Alps are situated the deep
valley of the Rhone, the Lakes of Geneva and Neufchatel, the distance
travelled by the boulders being sixty miles. Saussure, struck by the
spectacle of clusters of these fragments so far removed from any rock
resembling them, declared that they looked as if rained down from heaven;
a sentence strikingly expressive of the difficulties which attend on an
explanation of their occurrence. De Luc rightly speaks of such travelled
masses of stone as being “one of the most important of geological
monuments, since they offer a rigorous criterion of the different systems
concerning the revolutions which have happened on our globe;” and in
describing the vicinity of Cuxhaven, situated at the extremity of the
Bremen country, which lying between the Gulfs of the Elbe and Weser, is
as it were a peninsula, he cites the very forcible example it affords of
a vast abundance of boulders at a distance of more than two hundred miles
from the Scandinavian chain, the outlet, itself sixty miles wide, of the
Baltic, forming part of the intervening space.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account