Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/477

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THE FORMATION OF MOUNTAINS.
461

Fig. 1.

which he wished to compress to rest on a body which itself could not be compressed, while I placed the layer of clay employed in these experiments on a sheet of caoutchouc, tightly stretched, to which I made it adhere as much as possible; then I allowed the caoutchouc to resume its original dimensions. By its contraction the caoutchouc would act equally on all points of the lower part of the clay, and more or less on all the mass in the direction of the lateral thrust. 2. Hall compressed, by a weight, the upper surface of the body which he wished to wrinkle, which prevented any deformation, while by leaving that surface free, I have seen, during the experiment, forms appear similar to those of hills and mountains which may be observed in various countries. . . .

Fig. 2.

"The arrangement of the apparatus is very simple. A sheet of India rubber 16 mm. in thickness, 12 cm. broad, and 40 cm. long, was stretched, in most of the experiments, to a length of 60 cm. This was