94 



ISLAND LIFE. 



[PAET I. 



Europe at the close of the Cretaceous period was generally 

 identical with what it is now, and perhaps even more extensive, 

 it is absurd to suppose that it was all, or nearly all, under water 

 during that period ; or in fact that any part of it was submerged, 

 except those areas on which we actually find Cretaceous deposits, 

 or where we have good reason to believe they have existed. 



The several considerations now adduced are, I think, suffi- 

 cient to show that the view put forth by some naturalists (and 

 which has met with a somewhat hasty acceptance by geologists) 

 that our white chalk is an oceanic formation strictly comparable 

 with that now forming at depths of a thousand fathoms and 

 upwards in the centre of the Atlantic, gives a totally erroneous 

 idea of the actual condition of Europe during that period. In- 

 stead of being a wide ocean, with a few scattered islands, 

 comparable to some parts of the Pacific, it formed as truly a 

 portion of the great northern continent as it does now, although 

 the inland seas of that epoch may have been more extensive and 

 more numerous than they are at the present day.^ 



Fresh-water and Shore Deposits as proving the Permanence of 

 Continents. — The view here maintained, that all known marine 

 deposits have been formed near the coasts of continents and 

 islands, and that our actual continents have been in continuous 

 existence under variously modified forms during the whole period 

 of known geological history, is further supported by another and 



^ In his lecture on Geographical Evolution (which was published after 

 the greater part of this chapter had been written) Professor Geikie expresses 

 views in complete accordance with those here advocated. He says :■ — " The 

 next long era, the Cretaceous, was more remarkable for slow accumulation 

 of rock under the sea than for the formation of new land. During that 

 time the Atlantic sent its waters across the whole of Europe and into Asia. 

 But they were probably nowhere more than a few hundred feet deep over 

 the site of our continent, even at their deepest part. Upon their bottom 

 there gathered a vast mass of calcareous mud, composed in great part of 

 f oraminif era, corals, echinoderms, and molluscs. Our English chalk, which 

 ranges across the north of France, Belgium, Denmark, and the north of 

 Germany, represents a portion of the deposits of that sea-floor." The 

 weighty authority of the Director of the Geological Survey of Scotland 

 may perhaps cause some geologists to modify their views as to the deep- 

 sea origin of chalk, who would have treated any arguments advanced by 

 myself as not worthy of consideration. 



