THE FUTURE AGES. 



599 



other formidable foes. We have noticed the stone ages, the rough and 

 the smooth as they may be called, and we can picture the primitive 

 agriculture and work of the neolithic man. But it is by no means to 

 be believed that neolithic man in Britain was a race all over the world. 

 We may assume that in eastern climes the human race were in a more 

 civilized condition as improvements made their way slowly westward. Our 

 island history commences in the time of Julius Caesar. Eastern chronicles 

 go back many thousands of years farther. 



It is so short a time, geologically speaking, since man appeared within 

 the limits of history, that the earth's changes, except from direct volcanic 

 action or water erosion, are very trifling. The change is, as we said, con- 



Fig. 688. Carboniferous Flora. 



tinually proceeding ; ceaselessly the earth is wearing away, and depositing 

 her riches where she is undisturbed by civilization and man's excavations 

 and intrusions. The rock is worn by water ; the grit is carried down and 

 deposited to form sedimentary rocks as of old ; the lime will continue to 

 assist the coral to be built up ; and the chalk cliffs will be born under the 

 sea, and our organic remains shall be found to tell remote ages that we 

 were an enlightened people. For all we can tell, and it is by no ^ means 

 unlikely another recurring cycle of Arctic and Tropical periods will in time 

 pass over our earth ; the bear and reindeer, the hippopotamus and the 

 rhinoceros, may again inhabit our islands. If our generation be destroyed, 

 the purely animal creation with the vegetable world will reign over the 

 land, and new forests will deposit new coal measures for the support and 



