OF CREATION. 293 



portion of the Alps, and the eastern part of the Me- 

 diterranean. There can be little question that through- 

 out the whole of Europe the general change of level 

 the commencement of which is thus marked was such 

 as to produce elevation on a grand scale, but it was 

 long before this elevation was sufficient to raise above 

 the waters the great plains of our continent, or those 

 districts watered by its principal rivers. These, in- 

 deed, were the recipients of the great mass of the 

 deposits then going on ; and it is not unlikely that 

 the very fact of reiterated changes of level may have 

 rendered the amount of material thus removed very 

 considerable. 



The great valleys of the Loire and the Garonne in 

 France ; the tract between the High Alps and the 

 Jura mountains in Switzerland ; the tract north of 

 the Alps extending eastwards in the present valley of 

 the Danube towards Turkey, and as far as Hungary, 

 and then northwards into Poland ; the tract, also, 

 north of the Alps extending in the Ehine valley as 

 far as Mayence, and occupying a breadth of many 

 leagues ; the eastern coast of England, the western 

 coast of the Spanish peninsula, and the south of 

 France, all these districts are marked by deposits, 

 for the most part more recent than the London and 

 Paris beds, but more ancient than the great south 

 Italian series, and distinctly separated from the ca- 

 vern and gravel deposits, which appear to be among 

 the newest of the geological formations in what is 

 now called Europe. The more remarkable character- 

 istics of this intermediate period, so far as fossils are 

 concerned, must be sought for in the strata of the 

 Rhine valley, where we find some remarkable and 



