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largest exhibitions of elevatory force on our earth’s surface ; for in 
these later periods the great Himalayan, Persian, Carpathian, and 
Alpine chains have been upraised, carrying high upon their 
flanks, as a part of their structure, beds of Nummulitic limestone 
of Middle Eocene age ! 
If, then, the Himalayas with Mount Everest have been raised 
up to 29,000 feet above the sea in this recent period, our islands 
may well have oscillated a few hundreds of feet ; and trivial as 
such phenomena may be when compared to the elevation of the 
great backbone of the Asiatic Continent, nevertheless these lesser 
changes have for us an interest which even the lofty moun- 
tain masses do not possess. Nor is it an idle question to ask — 
“ Was man present to witness these modifications of our islands ? ” 
He may have been, judging by his implements. Certainly in 
France and Switzerland he saw and killed the musk-sheep; 
and in France he also saw the mammoth alive and pictured 
him. But the reindeer and the horse were the chief objects of 
the chase, as their remains testify. Nor is it at all improbable 
that these nomadic cave-dwellers are represented to-day by the 
tribes of the Arctic seaboard, who have retreated with the 
amelioration of the climate which compelled the reindeer to go 
further north to give place to more southern animals and 
hunters, and these in time to civilized man himself. 
