480 OSBORN AND REEDS PREHISTORY OE MAN IN EUROPE 



skeptical of the eustatic movement theory and of the conclusions reached 

 by General de Lamothe, but that the studies of terrace and shoreline 

 altitudes have multiplied in the last few years in the Mediterranean and 

 France with such concordant results that one can not escape being im- 

 pressed by them. Everywhere are found the terraces of 15-20 meters, 

 30-35 meter s, 50-60 meters, and 90-100 meters. Everywhere are found 

 the valley ways carved below the present level of the sea near mouths of 

 great rivers and for a considerable distance upstream.. Particularly 

 striking are the observations of Gignoux (now professor in the Uni- 

 versity of Strasbourg), who has found in Italy that the levels of Deperet 

 and de Lamothe are very well marked where there have been no recent 

 dislocations. Chaput, although he was rather skeptical when he began 

 his studies upon the terraces of the Loire, was convinced by the evidence, 

 and found the 15 and the 30 meter level everywhere. There seems to 

 be some question as to the upper levels in the Sahel of Algeria indicated 

 by de Lamothe. In developing his theory, Deperet, it appears, has not 

 been strict enough in the choice of evidence supporting the trace of the 

 upper shorelines; that he is too systematically opposed to continental 

 movements (diastrophism) ; that there are some contradictions in his 

 argument. He considers the Saxonian (Second glaciation of the north) 

 as the equivalent of the Mindelian (Second Alpine glaciation) and of 

 the Milazzian (epoch of the shore of 55-60 meters, on the Mediter- 

 ranean) ; but he tells of terraces of 33 meters referred to the Saxonian. 



(16) There is something rather astonishing in the statements of 

 Deperet about the altitudes of cold and warm faunas : for example, the 

 deposits with Yoldia arctica at — 13 meters, near Hamburg, would be 

 contemporaneous with those of the warm fauna of Xeudeck at +100 

 meters, the first being formed at the bottom of the sea, which was cold, 

 the second near the shore; so that the deposits with Yoldia which one 

 finds at sealevel in England, would indicate an old shore of -(-100 me_ 

 ters. . . . However, when Deperet defines the shore of 100 feet (33 

 meters), as later than the Polonian (Third glaciation of the north), it is 

 by the deposits with Yoldia which are at this altitude. 



(17) De Martonne recognizes difficulties in the application of the 

 eustatic theory. The lowering of sealevel must be very rapid, being due 

 to the sinking of submarine depths; but the rising of the water must 

 be very slow, since it is due to sedimentation ; the result is that the shore- 

 line, during the transgression, must be constantly displaced. Deperet 

 notes, however, after the regression below present sealevel, an uplift of 

 -f-33 meters, which maintains itself at this level during two glacial 

 periods and an interglacial period at least. Concerning the Cotes de 



