244 Progress of Geology. 



so happens, moreover, that our island exhibits, in a form singu- 

 larly condensed, and yet distinct, most of the members of the 

 secondary stratigraphical series of Europe ; and our coasts af- 

 ford natural sections which eminently facilitate the examination 

 of these phenomena. From these causes it has arisen, as we have 

 already said, that England has hitherto been the head-quarters of 

 secondary geology — the country where its cultivators are most 

 active and successful, and where most of its leading and normal 

 exemplifications are sought. 



France : Tertiary Geology. — The glory of the third great 

 branch of the subject, tertiary geology, belongs to France, and 

 forms one of the brightest points in the luminous path of dis- 

 covery which her men of science have trodden in our times. 

 We cannot sufficiently admire the happy conjunction which, at 

 this period of geological investigation, placed together the ex- 

 cavations of the Parisian district, so teeming with new and strange 

 facts, and the vast talents and profound knowledge of Cuvier, 

 so peculiarly adapted to create the new science which these phe- 

 nomena required for their solution. It was in 1808, that Cu- 

 vier and Brongniart began to publish those views of the mineral 

 geography of the neighbourhood of Paris, which soon became a 

 subject of leading curiosity throughout Europe. Their investi- 

 gations led them to the conviction, that the rock on which Paris 

 rests is composed of a succession of deposites, not extending 

 across the country like the secondary strata, but limited within 

 a certain circle or basin, and most remarkable for their contents. 

 It appeared that these rocks contain some beds, characterized 

 by remains, belonging entirely to land and fresh water animals ; 

 that above these were other beds, in which the organic remains 

 were exclusively marine ; that above these again were other 

 beds, containing bones and shells of fresh water origin, but of 

 kinds entirely diff'erent from those of lower fresh water forma- 

 tion. It appeared, too, that those fresh water formations con- 

 tain bones of various quadrupeds of great size, differing in a 

 curious manner from the animals which at present exist. Many 

 of these remains were of course very imperfect and obscure ; 

 and, in all cases, the structure and habits of the animals to which 

 they belonged, could be divined only by the most consummate 

 knowledge of natural history and anatomy. These requisites 



