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minutely investigated, is the position of the bones of the mam- 

 moth and other quadrupeds. In this country and in the north of 

 Europe these are limited to the most recent formations, such as 

 peat-bogs, swamps, and river alluvium. In Switzerland and 

 Italy, on the contrary, they occur in gravel deposits, (diluvium,) 

 which are said to have been separated previous to the scattering 

 of the Alpine boulders over the plains of Switzerland and the 

 Jura, and previous also to the furrowing and polishing of the 

 rocks. 



It is plain, from these facts, that in taking as points of reference 

 the transportation of boulders and the polishing of the rocks, 

 which are similar in both countries, the mammoths of Switzer- 

 land and Italy must have lived long before those of the north of 

 Europe and America ; being moreover separated from them by 

 the most important event of the quaternary period, the transport- 

 ation of the boulders and furrowing of the surface rocks. Ac- 

 cording to some geologists it was an event of such magnitude 

 that it caused the destruction of all the living animals, which 

 were supposed to have been suddenly frozen to death ; and in 

 support of this view we are referred to the elephants which are 

 found frozen in the mud along the rivers of Siberia. Other 

 geologists take a different ground. They contend that since the 

 mammoths of the north of Europe and America are identical 

 with those of Italy and Switzerland {Elephas primi genius^) they 

 cannot but be of the same geological age ; and rather than to 

 refer them to different periods, they prefer to oppose the assump- 

 tion of a simultaneous transportation of boulders in both coun- 

 tries, thus assuming two glacial epochs instead of one. This is 

 especially the ground taken by M. d'Archiac. In reference to this 

 question, Mr. Desor read the following extract from a letter from 

 M. Martins, Professor of Geology at the Sorbonne, at Paris. 



" I do not see why you consider it absolutely necessary that 

 the mammoths of Asti, (Italy,) and those of the North (of Europe 

 and America) should have lived at the same epoch. I, for my 

 part, do not feel compelled to that conclusion. I go further and 

 say, that a priori, the contrary opinion appears as the most 

 warrantable. There, (in America.) you have a vast continent 

 which is undergoing upheavals and subsidences even during the 

 actual period ; here, (in Switzerland,) we have a country with 



