Mesozoic and Cmnozoic Geology and Palmontology. 283 



the Arctic current was flowing across the lower laud. There is noth- 

 ing to indicate a glacial period, but, on the contrarj^ every known 

 geological aud palaeontological fact tells us that it never existed. And 

 in the face of all these evidences furnished by scientific investigation, 

 without the intervention of au}^ extraordinary or unusual exercise of 

 the powers of nature, except the depression and elevation of a coast 

 line, which is proven by the deposit of the shells and bones of marine 

 animals, it is difficult to understand how any one can conceive of a con- 

 tinental sheet of ice rising up from Hudson's bay, crossing over the 

 Laurentian mountains, going down to the depths of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and then ascending tlie mountains of Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, and Vermont, for no other purpose than that of taking a trip 

 south; and if the imagination extends that far, it is still more incom- 

 prehensible why any one should believe it. 



The submergence and elevation of tliis margin may have included 

 the whole of the Pliocene, and part of the Post-pliocene periods, for the 

 vegetable remains, in the peat beds of Brandon, Vermont, and in Nova 

 Scotia, and other places which were covered by the drift, and evi- 

 dently mark the age next preceding it, have been doubtfull}' identi- 

 fied with both the Eocene and Miocene, and other palaeontological 

 evidence is wanting, except so far as furnished by the Post-pliocene, 

 and probably Pliocene fossils enclosed within the drift itself 



The submergence and elevation of this coast, preceded the lake drift 

 of the central part of the continent, or at least could not have been 

 contemporaneous with it, as will be shown in the sequel. Lake Ontario 

 is an old river channel with the adjacent low lands covered with 

 water. It is about 245 feet above the ocean. It will be readily seen 

 that with the coast submerged this lake would fall at the east end 245 

 feet, which would bring it within less than one third of its present 

 dimensions, and leave the maximum depth of the channel less than 

 500 feet. And with the elevation of the coast, as there is no canon to 

 the sea, the elevation of the lake would follow to its present level. The 

 consideration of this subject, however, belongs to succeeding pages, 

 and we will now pass to a brief summary of the Tertiary' of the Rocky 

 mountain region or western part of the continent. 



The gradual elevation of the western ranges of mountains through 

 the later Cretaceous and all of the Tertiary time, and the formation 

 of bays and arms of the sea and lakes, which have drained themselves 

 more or less completely, and yet in ever continuing succession, 

 have made it possible for the geologist to link the Tertiary with the 



