570 THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTER VI. 



QUATERNARY OR POST-TERTIARY PERIOD. 



THE first phases of this epoch are connected with the 

 tertiary period, and it is during one of those which follow 

 that we finally see man appear, man, whose supreme es- 

 sence shows like a grand crowning of the work of creation. 



The post-tertiary is, then, the epoch to which we be- 

 long, and nearly all the creatures which serve to enliven 

 it are those we see at present contributing their share to 

 beautify animated nature. But this period, which perhaps 

 contains many myriads of years, was far from being so tran- 

 quil as many geologists would have it. Though we no 

 longer see the immense seas which rolled their untamed 

 waves from pole to pole, we find great deluges, the up- 

 heaval of mountain chains, and horrible invasions of ice, 

 which waste or engulf everything living. 



This last epoch abounds less in new animal forms than 

 those which preceded it ; but the creatures which were 

 brought forth at this time are often remarkable for their 

 vast size, their number, and the extent to which they were 

 disseminated. In every part of the globe their vestiges, 

 disinterred by patience and learning, prove the truth of 

 these assertions. 



We have seen invisible antediluvian Infusoria, heaped up 

 into mountains by the waters of the globe, exist through a 

 cycle of ages, and present themselves to our astonished gaze 

 with all the details of their organization. In the diluvium, 



