Note 60 — Chapter IV · Attempts to Discover General Laws in Geology.

Mr. Lyell, in the sixth edition of his Principles, B. i. c. xii., has combated the hypothesis of M. Elie de Beaumont, stated in the text. He has argued both against the catastrophic character of the elevation of mountain chains, and the parallelism of the contemporaneous ridges. It is evident that the former doctrine may be true, though the latter be shown to be false.