292 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE CONDITION OF EUROPE AFTER THE OLDER TERTIARY BEDS HAD 

 BEEN DEPOSITED, BUT PREVIOUS TO THE HISTORIC PERIOD. 



THE great series of modifications of the surface af- 

 fecting Europe, of which the commencement has been 

 described in the last chapter, continued at intervals 

 through a very long period, marked by successive 

 changes in animal and vegetable organization, until 

 at length we reach to the existing creation. Look- 

 ing, however, at the most recent conclusions of palae- 

 ontologists concerning tertiary formations generally 

 in the old continents, there does not appear any pro- 

 bability of a true subdivision of those beds into dis- 

 tinct periods, nor does there seem any proof of more 

 than a mere local grouping of the various parts. The 

 whole of the tertiary geology in Europe may certainly 

 be regarded as continuous ; and perhaps it would be 

 found that all the other epochs were in the same way 

 really unbroken, if we were in possession of materials 

 enabling us to observe with accuracy the mutual 

 bearing and influence of each part upon the whole 

 development throughout all time. 



We left off in the last chapter with an account of 

 deposits chiefly in the vicinity of London and Paris, 

 but reaching also on the one side to the capital of 

 Belgium, and on the other to the south flanks of a 



