244 FOSSIL MEN. 



of the Baltic, indicating a considerable rise of land, 

 of which there are also indications in raised beaches 

 in Scandivania, and in the canoes found in Scotland 

 from seven to twenty feet above the present sea level. 

 One of these canoes found near Glasgow, had a plug 

 of cork, which must have come from the south of 

 Europe ; and with others implements of iron, as well as 

 finely polished stone implements, have been found. On 

 the other hand, the case already quoted from Professor 

 Torell, and multitudes of submerged forests on the 

 coasts of Europe, point to very considerable subsidence 

 even within the Christian era. In volcanic regions, 

 such as the south of Italy and the west coast of South 

 America, such changes are much more rapid ; but 

 even in countries remote from volcanic centres, the 

 oscillations of the earth's crust during the historic 

 period have been so great that we do not require to 

 allow very much longer time for the date of Palseocos- 

 mic man. 



2. We are also liable to very grave error when we 

 assume that the rate of change in particular cases has 

 been no greater than we observe in modern times. 

 Even the changes in the rate and character of erosion 

 and deposit arising from the clearing of the forests, 

 so familiar to all observers in America, and which so 

 strongly impressed the mind of Sir Charles Lyell, 

 seem often to be left out of the account. In Kent's 

 Cavern the thin film of carbonate of lime which has 

 formed over dates scratched on the rock more than two 

 centuries ago, would lead to the belief that the thick 



