174 Louis Fr: 'r / • . [^pril, 



Eke pictures of the periods under consideration, will call to mind 

 the fabled monsters of the Ancients — 



" Gorgons and Hydras and Chfmaeras dire." 



The late Professor E. Eorbes's division of the stratified rocks into 

 Paheozoic and Xeozoic will probably be ultimately adopted. insfe 

 of Palaeozoic, Mesozoic. and Cainozoic. M. Figmer considers the 

 Cainozoic strata rmder the heads of Tertiary and Quaternary, includ- 

 ing in the Tertiary, the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene formations, 

 and in the Quaternary period describes the Postpliocene, and Pieeent 

 Deposits. This portion of the work calls for no special remark. 

 The plant-life of the globe at this period, as well as during the 

 Secondary era, is not lost sight of, and is prominently discussed. 

 Amongst the engravings are restorations of the chief Tertiary Mam- 

 mals ; those of the Eocene period so well known in connection with 

 the name a ; and the gigantic Dinotherinm is represented as 



an elephant with recnrTed tusks proceeding from the lower jaw. 

 Becent discoveries, however, would seem to call for a considerable 

 modification of our views respecting the affinities of this huge 

 ma m mal, for further remains of this animal, lately found, are 

 undoubtedly of a Marsupial chara 



The principal features in the account of the Quaternary period 

 are the descriptions of the u European deluges,'*' the Glacial epoch, 

 and the Asiatic deluge. The first of these deluges was caused by 

 the sudden upheaval of the Scandinavian mountains : " as the 

 regions in the midst of which this great mountainous upheaval 

 occurred, as the sea snrrounding these vast spaces were partly 

 frozen and covered with ice, from their elevation and neighbour- 

 hood to the pole, the wave which swept these countries carried 

 along with it enormous masses of ice. The shock produced by 

 the collision of these several solid blocks of frozen waters (: 

 would only have contribute! to increase the extent and intensity of 

 the ravages occasioned by this violent cataclysm. The physical 

 proof of this deluge of the north of Europe ez:-:s in the vast cover- 

 ing of unstratirlel earth which wven all the plains and depressions 

 of Northern Europe.'"* The second European deluge was occa- 

 : . ".:•_■;■" ~A. Firiie:- vr:^::^. : :y the "::"_e^"l ;: :"_e A>:s. ^e 

 need scarcely Bay, there is not the least proof of either of these 

 supposed deluges having taken place. All the phenomena attributed 

 to their action are well known to be the result of icebergs formed in 

 the mountain valleys, when the greater part of Europe was sub- 

 merged, during the Glacial epoch. This part of the work seems to 

 be crude and not well arranged TVe find scarcely any attempt 

 made to distinguish these diluvial deposits from those of glacial 

 origin. The task would truly be difficult. That the Glacial epoch 

 came on suddenly is proved, the author thinks, by the immense 



• P. 367. 



