372 Gaudnj — Light thrown hy Geology on the Greeks. 



IV. — On the Light that Geology can throw on some points con- 

 nected WITH the Ancient History of the Athenians. 



By Albert Gaudry. 



[Des lumieres que la geolojie peut jeter sur qiielques points de I'histoire ancienne 

 des Atlieniens. Paris, 1867. pp. 32. 



Extrait de I'ouvrage intitule — " Animaux fossiles et geologic de I'Attique."] 



FOSSIL bones were known to the ancients, and the sight of these 

 remains probably confirmed their belief in the fables of the 

 transformation of living beings into stone. The Greeks had, under 

 their eyes, instances of incrustations produced by the waters of regions 

 composed of marble or compact limestone. Some have thought that 

 the sight of fossil bones would have been regarded by the ancients as 

 indications of the former existence of giants and other monsters. 

 Since, however, it is admitted in our countries that man has been 

 contemporaneous with several animals of extinct species, M. Gaudry 

 inclines towards the opinion that these legends relating to gigantic 

 beings have been based chiefly on the tradition of the animals that 

 have been known in the living state. And it appears to him that 

 the mythological animals of Pikermi have been imagined from a 

 distant remembrance of living animals and not from the fossil bones. 



That fossil shells were known to the ancients is, says M. Gaudry, 

 without doubt, and this knowledge, in his belief, led them to adopt 

 certain names for places in conformity with their former configura- 

 tion, when a sight of these shells led them to such a conclusion ; for 

 instance, Peloponnesus (Isle of Pelops) was named for a country 

 which in our days is no longer an island, and probably because the 

 presence of the marine shells in the limestones of this isthmus of 

 Corinth had revealed to them that where the isthmus is placed to-day 

 there was formerly an arm of the sea forming a separation between 

 Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. 



The division of Greece into little states, each possessing an inde- 

 pendent position and maintaining a distinct character, resulted from 

 the orographical disposition of the country. 



Attica always had an '' ungrateful soil." This agricultural poverty 

 results from its geological constitution. Marbles are unfavourable 

 to the development of vegetation ; the mountain-chains where these 

 rocks predominate are distinguished by their nudity, owing to the dry- 

 ness which is due to the force with which they reflect the sun's rays. 

 Travellers who have climbed the white marble mounts well know 

 the burning character of these rocks. Moreover, the vegetable soil 

 gets cemented by the infiltration of water containing bi-carbonate of 

 lime. 



The plains or valleys are usually occupied by loose mud and frag- 

 ments of rocks brought down by torrents, not consolidated, so that 

 the water sinks through and forms subterranean sheets which could 

 furnish spring water. 



Attica is well favoured for navigation. Tlie isles of the Archi- 

 pelago have contributed above all to the prosperity of Greece : they 



