CIL4PTER IV.

4

REMARKS ON THE GEOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL RELATIONS OF THE ENVIRONS OF WILDBAD.

Thk cliain of the Black Forest, extending along tlie volcanic line betwecn tlie volcanoes of ltaly and tliose of the Rljinc, very probably owes is origin to thosc revolutions of our globc, which raisc-d also the interniediary chain of the Swiss alps. ln tlie measure however as the distance increascd froin the central point of connnotion, the effects of the plutonic powers prononnced themselves in a minor degree Tluis it may be explained that, while the Southern portion of the Black Forest ahnost entirely consists of pri­mitive rocks, such as granite and gneuss, these gradually disappear as we advance in a northcrn direction, and at last are, will) a fcvv exceptions, overtopped everywhere by rocks of the secondary forination, such as the variegated and lower red sandstone. Of these all the neighbouring heights consist as far as Pforzheim, wliere the shelly linie­stone appcars, forining the northcrn boundary line of the Black Forest. In the east, west and south of Wildbad the variegated sandstone also prcdominates, up to the highest points of the neighbourhood, and huge blocks of this rock pealed off likc cggshells froin their original position, by plutonic forccs, are scattcrcd over all the plateaus of this