274 EOCENE PERIOD. [Ch. XIX. 



these cones, several hundred in number, must be post-dilu- 

 vian. 



Gthly. But since the beffinninsf of the historical era, or the 



/ o o 



invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar, the volcanic action in Au- 

 vergne has been dormant, and there is nothing to countenance 

 the idea that, between the date usually assigned to the Mosaic 

 deluge and the earliest traditional and historical records of Cen- 

 tral France (a period of little more than twenty centuries), all 

 or any one of the more entire cones of loose sconce were thrown 

 up, 



Lastly, it is the opinion of some writers, that the earth's 

 surface underwent no great modification at the era of the Mo- 

 saic deluge, and that the strictest interpretation of the scriptural 

 narrative docs not warrant us in expecting to find any geological 

 monuments of the catastrophe,, an opinion which is consistent 

 with the preservation of the volcanic cones,, however high their 

 antiquity. 



