260 GEOLOGY. 



mountains at all ; but if it was not, they would be thus 

 sloped in proportion to the degree of raising in the ter- 

 tiary, and such sloping is actually found to exist. All 

 this is simply an illustration of what is explained with 

 figures in 226. In this uplifting of strata in the forma- 

 tion of mountains, remains of animals which once lived 

 in the sea have been raised to very great heights. They 

 have been found imbedded in the strata in the Alps at 

 the height of six or eight thousand feet, and in the An- 

 des, according to Humboldt, at the height of fourteen 

 thousand feet that is, over two miles and a half. 



365. Destruction of Life at the End of this Age. As at 

 the end of Paleozoic time ( 338), so now at the end of 

 Mesozoic time, there was nearly, if not quite, a universal 

 destruction of life. In both cases this was owing to the 

 great disturbances that occurred. It is supposed that 

 after the Cretaceous period was completed, in the move- 

 ment which raised the mountains, of which I have spoken 

 in 364, there was a general elevation of the land of the 

 northern regions, and that the severe cold which was 

 thus produced was at least a prominent agency in the 

 destruction of life at this period. Hugh Miller makes 

 these two gaps or breaks the basis of a division of the 

 life of the world into three dynasties : the dynasty of the 

 Fish, extending from the Azoic age to the end of Palae- 

 ozoic time, when the first break occurs ; the dynasty of 

 the Reptile, from this period to the end of Mesozoic time, 

 when the second break occurs ; and the last, the dynas- 

 ty of the Mammal, which, commencing after the second 

 break, continues at the present time. 



366. New Creations. During all the progress of the 

 ages, whenever a new species of plant or animal ap- 

 peared, there was a new creation, as already intimated 

 in 273. And as the life-record of the rocks shows that 

 there have been continually extinctions of species, and 

 introductions of new species in their places, creative pow- 

 er has been continually exerted in the domain of life upon 



