THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH. 



Black Forest were also augmented, as well to the west in the 

 direction of Lorraine, as to the east in the direction of Germany, 

 where several islands, left separate in the Triassic age, became 

 united so as to form a single island or continent of considerable 

 magnitude. But while in some places the land was thus in- 

 creased, in others it was submerged. Thus the continental tract, 

 which in the Palseozoi* age extended over France, between 

 St. Malo and Lyons (see map of the Carboniferous period, fig. 148), 

 was in this age submerged by the Breton Strait which connected 

 the Anglo-Parisian and Pyrenean basins. Thus Poitiers and the 

 surrounding region were alternately dry land and submerged by 

 the sea, being submerged in the Silurian, dry in the Carboniferous 

 period, again submerged during the Jurassic age, and finally 

 raised to their present level. 



334. It will be also apparent by inspecting the charts of 

 M. Elie de Beaumont and D'Orbigny, that the tract between 

 Toulon and Innspruck, which in the Palaeozoic age was dry 

 land, was completely submerged by the Mediterranean basin 

 in the Jurassic age, being subsequently raised to its present 

 elevation. 



335. Owing to the extent of the Jurassic deposits in Europe, 

 and the clearness with which they are distinguishable from those 

 which lie below them, the outlines of land and water during that 

 age can be traced with nearly as much precision as the geogra- 

 phical form of the existing continents. 



336. The Jurassic geography of central Europe will be further 

 elucidated by the map of M. Elie de Beaumont, fig. 154, here 

 reproduced by permission from the work of M. Beudant. 



The great Belgivosgian continent, a part of which only is 

 included in the map of M. D'Orbigny, fig. 153, is here more fully 

 represented. It appears that it extended on the north of the 

 Mediterranean basin from Calais and Dunkirk to Cracow east and 

 west, and from Wesel and Leipsic to Basle and Salzbourg north and 

 south. By reference to fig. 142, 144, it will be seen that in the 

 Silurian and Carboniferous periods Saxony and Bohemia formed a 

 large island, and that another extended from Frankfort to Arras. 

 In the Jurassic age these became united by the upheaving of the 

 land, and formed the Belgivosgian continent shown in figs. 153 

 and 154. A well-defined coast then extended from Dunkirk 

 to Metz, which, after passing round the two peninsulas, the 

 Yosges and the Black Forest, reached Hatisbon, Yienna, and 

 Cracow, where it was intersected by a strait directed N.W. 

 and S.E. 



An island existed between Toulon and Nice, and Corsica was 

 raised above the waters. 

 74 



