denudation. Vaster still is the valley of the Jordan through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, continued by the Wady Arabah to the Gulf of Akaba, believed to form one vast geological depression or fracture extending in a straight line for 400 miles.
Thousands of such faults, dykes, or depressions exist in every part of the world, all believed to be due to the gradual shrinking of the heated interior to which the solid crust has to accommodate itself, and they are especially interesting and instructive for our present purpose as showing the tendency of such fractures of solid rock-material to extend to great lengths in straight lines, notwithstanding the extreme irregularity both in the surface contour as well as in the internal structures of the varied deposits and formations through which they pass.
Probable Origin of the Surface-features of Mars.
Returning now to Mars, let us consider the probable course of events from the point at which we left it. The heat produced by impact and condensation would be likely to release gases which had been in combination with some of the solid matter, or perhaps been itself in a solid state due to intense cold, and these, escaping outwards to the surface, would produce on a small scale a certain amount of upheaval and volcanic disturbance; and as an outer crust rapidly formed, a number of vents might remain as craters or craterlets in a moderate state of
