In some instances, as the mass is elevating itself it bears up upon it a large mass of the over-laying rock, which forms the apex of the mountain, crowning it as a stately castle crowns the summit of the hill on which it is built. In this case the crowning mass is entirely different, and perfectly distinct from the subjacent materials. _For some further remarks on the structure, and formation of mountains, and mountain masses, and the deluge, see Theory of the Earth, end of Sect. 2, chap. iv._ 9. As there was a rapid and irresistible chemical action, at a very high temperature, going on during this first great geological period, and the whole globe in almost omnipotent fermentation, there is no difficulty in accounting for the irregularities, contortions, dislocations and fractures which we observe in the earth. This whole process was anterior to the existence of organized being. _Transition Rocks._ 1. _This class was deposited subsequently to the primitive rocks, and after they had consolidated._ This is evident from the fact that, in their natural order, they _overlay_ the primitive, which could not be the case, unless they were deposited subsequently, any more than the roof of the house could be put on before the foundation was laid. 2. _Their structure is evidently the result both of chemical action, and mechanical deposition._ These principles appear to have acted sometimes conjointly; and at other times to have alternated. Hence the crystallization is more imperfect than in the primitive, and occasionally seems to disappear. 3. _From the complex action under which they were deposited, they are generally, neither verticle nor horizontal, but inclined about between these two positions._ 4. _They were deposited as the primitive chaotic ocean was subsiding, and the elevations of the new-born earth had recently emerged._ Hence they are found next to the summits of the primitive mountains, _on their flanks_. 5. _The transition rocks contain some fragments of all the primitive class._ This would be the natural consequence of the summits of primitive rock formations being exposed to the fury of the elements; which would rend portions of them, and thus deposit the fragments mechanically in the floods subsiding below on the flanks of the mountains. 6. _In these rocks we meet with the first traces of organized being._ (SILLIMAN.) This fact is irresistible proof that these rocks were deposited _subsequently_ to the existence of the enclosed remains. The probability is, that the animals and vegetables found in transition rocks, were created at the _commencement_ of the transition period, and their remains deposited as the rocks were successively deposited.