I 



GIANTS AND PIGMIES. 



73 



istic of the formation is its Coprolites, from which phosphatic 

 fertilizers are manufactured. These are properly the fossil 

 excrements of carniKora, Ichthyosauri, <fec., and fossil bones of 

 the same. From these were derived vertebrae of ichthyosauri 

 described in a preceding No. (22). Shark's teeth abound, 

 especially those of Carcharodon wegalodon. Their name indi- 

 cates their size — (shark-tooth — great tooth). A very singular 

 fossil in the deposit is the Getiotolite, the petrified ear- bone of 

 a whale. The analysis of this fossil by Prof. Henslow led to 

 the discovery of the phosphatic character of" the so-called 

 Coprolites. Thus originated the profitable industry of phos- 

 phate fertilizers — a valuable appliance for the agriculturist. 

 Crossing over to Antwerp, the capital of Belgium, we find 

 the same formation, the Crag d'Anvers of the French geologists. 

 Sections of this are not found, as in Suffolk, but excavations of 

 a few feet in depth exhibit it in the city and environs. It is 

 distinguished by the same sea-shells as the Crag of Suffolk, 

 e. g., Fusua contrarl.us, Valuta lamherti, &c. There is also 

 the Norwich Crag, associated with that of Suffolk. French 

 geologists correlate with the Crag of Norwich, the Calcaire de 

 Girgenti : its thickness is from 200 to 300 metres. The shells 

 are 70 per cent., recent shells, the most remarkable for size and 

 abundance is Peden Jacohaeus. Mountain elevation — System 

 of the Alps. We translate, " The Alps are not the effect of 

 one only, and unique elevation, but the work of several " — 

 such as our own Cobequid Mountains, on a small scale. *' It 

 is believed that that which raised the Pyrenees and the 

 Apennines has had an influence on the chain of the Alps in 

 certain countries, as in Switzerland. But generally geologists 

 distinguish only two principal elovatory movements, the one 

 of which the direction is North 26° East, that of the Western 

 Alps, the other which has formed the principal chain runs 

 East 16° North, and extends without interruption to Valais in' 

 Austria. The elevation of the Western Alps appears to have 

 been effected between the Miocene and Pliocene periods, while 

 that of the principal chain might have been later, before the 

 formation of the Quaternary, Post-Pliocene or Pleistocene, 

 (Glacial)." 



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