I.—On some Physical Changes in the Earth's Crust

Extract

There always appears an objection to the agencies by which mountains and hills are formed being designated by such terms as “mountain architecture,” “ mountain building,” etc., leading to the inference that to the deposition of the materials which enter into their composition these elevated regions owe their form and structure. There certainly are mountains which have been built, and some such are at the present time in process of building; but these instances refer only to elevated masses of volcanic origin: they have been constructed as the railway engineer builds his embankments, or, with greater preciseness, as the miner forms the bank at the pit's mouth, by tipping over the rubbish brought from below. To hills and mountains forming volcanic cones the term mountain building is quite correct; the volcano in eruption pouring over its lava, and belching forth scoriæ and ashes, which fall and accumulate around its vent.