It is evident,
however, that this quantity must have been very great. In the Mont-Rosa
we find those strata at present in the horizontal situation, as high as
the summits of those granite pyramids that overlook the mass of vertical
strata which we are now considering; and, in those mountains of Rosa,
the valleys are most profound. It is therefore most reasonable to
suppose, that the mass out of which the Breven and all the other
mountains had been formed, was once as high, at least, as the summit of
Mont-Blanc. It is altogether inconceivable, that this mass of vertical
and horizontal strata could have been formed, either originally, or by
any mineral operation, into the present shape of things; therefore, we
must look out for another cause.

Let us now suppose them degraded by the hand of time, and all their
moveable materials transported in the floods; In what state would they
be left for our examination?--Here is a question that must decide the
theory of those mountains; for, if it is not possible to conceive the
present appearances as arising from any other cause than this gradual
degradation which we see operating at present, we must conclude that
this is the system of nature established for the purpose of this world.
But this is the very state in which they are found; every where the
solid parts are going into decay, and furnishing those heaps of earth
and stones that form the slopes by which we ascend from step to step.
Wherever earth and stones may lie, there they are found to form a bank
for vegetation; whenever these loose materials are carried away to a
lower; station, the more solid parts above are still decaying in order
to furnish more. There is not one step in all this progress, (of the
summit of the solid mountain forming earth and stones, and travelling
to the sea) that is not to be actually perceived, although it is only
_scientifically_ that man, who reasons in the present moment, may see
the effect of time which has no end.

The summit of the granite pyramids of Mont-Blanc, the summit of the
Breven, that of the Saleve[19], and of every little hillock upon the
surface of the earth, attest this truth, that there is no other natural
means by which this end may be attained. It is true, indeed, that
geologists every where imagine to themselves great events, or powerful
causes, by which these changes of the earth should be brought about in a
short space of time; but they are under a double deception; _firs