Whether this upward movement is still in progress we 

 cannot tell. Rapid as they are compared to the immensity 

 of Geological time, they are infinitely slow in terms of hu- 

 man history. New England may not yet have entirely 

 recovered from the crushing weight of the great glacier. 

 On the other hand it is possible that tjie rebound of the earth 

 carried us too far upward and we may now be settling back 

 to equilibrium. The fact that our peat bogs show fresh water 

 vegetation beneath salt water deposits indicates a local sett- 

 ling at least. There is also the fact that we find southern 

 plants in such places as Cape Ann, Nova Scotia and New- 

 foundland. To account for these isolated colonies some bot- 

 anists have held that since the Glacial period the land has 

 stood higher than it does today. This would leave a coas- 

 tal plain extending from New Jersey to Newfoundland. The 

 southern plants worked north along this plain at least as far 

 as Newfoundland. Since then a sinking of the land has 

 drowned the plain and only a few isolated colonies of south- 

 ern flora are left in the north. However, there is no geo- 

 logical evidence for such an elevation and sinking of the 

 land since the end of the glacial period. 



The above gives briefly the main features of our more 

 recent geological history. Much of it appears vague and 

 indistinct through the mists of the past. A great deal of 

 work remains to be done and many problems solved before 

 the history is known in its entirety. We do know that the 

 present is but a scene in a drama which extends back with 

 a remote past and forward into an equally remote future. 



96 



