THE REIGN OF MAMMALS. 



211 



ing, and it looked as if the apex of improvement would 

 first be reached in that quarter of the world. 



The uplift of the American and &quot;European continents to 



Fig. 79. D. I). Owen. 



their present levels marked the close of the Tertiary Age. 

 Europe had been an archipelago ; but America had long- 

 possessed its destined outline, and lacked only the belt 

 which was now added along the two oceans and the Gulf. 

 The continent was now complete. What next could ensue 

 but the creation of man, and the final consummation of the 

 grand work of creation ? Human judgment would now 

 have proceeded to the finishing stroke ; but Infinite Wis- 



