Epochs ', Periods, Formations, 33 



atmospheric cold. All these, however, are speci- 

 mens of purely theoretic probabilities so far; the 

 major part of the light to illumine them being noth- 

 ing more than speculation. 



31. Before the glacial period, which bound the 

 zone of temperate Europe in fetters of Epochs 

 ice, the climate in the same parts was Periods, 

 most mild, and even tropical. The fos- Formations * 

 sils of the tertiary age, which had just elapsed, ex- 

 hibit palms, cypresses, plane-trees, fig-trees, laurels, 

 cinnamon, all growing in the Northern, and even 

 the Arctic regions. Then followed the glacial 

 epoch with its chilly exhibition of phenomena, 

 when even the South became Arctic, with Northern 

 bears and mammoths prowling about, and men hid- 

 ing themselves in holes. After that comes the 

 quaternary period, which brings us to our own 

 times, itself subdivided into two formations, the 

 diluvial or post-pliocene, and the alluvial or re- 

 cent. The prehistoric men whom we have been 

 speaking of thus far, whether neolithic or palaeo- 

 lithic, are identified as diluvial, of quaternary times. 

 These geological distinctions we mention because 

 of this term " diluvial," as applied to the man whom 

 we have been speaking of as palaeolithic or neolithic. 

 The other name for diluvial, that is, post-pliocene, 

 is so conceived as referring to the last portion of 

 the age which was previous to the quaternary, or 

 fourth age, and which is therefore called tertiary, 

 or the earlier, third age. This tertiary, like other 



