250 THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. 



more worthy of notice as we do not recollect any earthquake 

 recorded to have taken place in Attica ; and the state of the 

 architectural monuments of Athens shows that they have not 

 suffered in former times from this formidable cause of 

 destruction. 



The Geology of the Mediterranean basin is a subject 

 which would lead us beyond our present limits. To give a 

 bare outline of it would be, in fact, to enumerate as appear- 

 ing in different localities of its coasts and isles almost every 

 one in the long series of formations, from granite and the 

 primitive slate rocks to the newest tertiary strata laden with 

 the shells of existing seas. Though the zealous activity of 

 geologists during the last quarter of a century has left few 

 regions untouched, there are yet certain portions of coast 

 as in Asia Minor and on the southern shore of the Black Sea, 

 which require, and will repay, a much closer examination. 

 This is especially true as regards the fossiliferous strata, those 

 wonderful exponents of ages and conditions of the earth 

 prior to the existence of man. The localities just named are 

 near to that region which bears the earliest records of the 

 human race ; and the research here, (though in no way 

 affecting the physical relations of time and succession already 

 determined,) would have an interest peculiar to itself, in asso- 

 ciating these records with the more silent antecedent memo- 

 rials, stamped in their long series on the strata beneath. 



On the zoology and botany of the Mediterranean we are 

 equally unable to dwell, seeing the multitude of details they 

 comprise, and the difficulty of reducing them to any brief 

 delineation. A future work on this Sea, such as we desire to 

 obtain, must attest its completeness by embracing these 

 topics in their full extent, and with all the aids and results 

 of modern research. Such research directed to this locality 

 has certain interests which may well sanction and encourage 

 it. A vast circuit of profound sea, so nearly severed from 



