190 
Geology of Sydney. 
organic changes of a remarkable character took place, 
both in the northern and southern hemispheres. Dr. 
Geikie states that some of the most colossal disturb- 
ances of the terrestrial crust of which any record 
remains took place within the Tertiary period ; and 
adds : ‘ Not otdy was the floor of the Cretaceous sea 
upraised into lowlands, with lagoons, estuaries, and 
lakes, but throughout the heart of the Old World, 
from the Pyrenees to Japan, the bed of the early 
tertiary or nummulitic sea was upheaved into a suc- 
cession of giant mountains, some portions of that sea- 
floor now standing at a height of at least 16,500 ft. 
above the sea.” 
In other words, the Alpine peaks of Switzerland 
and a vast tract of England, Ireland and Central 
Europe were yet beneath the sea when our Triassic 
rocks were formed. Much, too, of the elevated 
portions of the earth’s surface, from the Pyrenees, 
across Europe and Asia, to Japan, was slowly formed 
under marine conditions, and lifted to its present 
altitude since the deposition of the Triassic Sand- 
stones around Sydney. 
Viewed in this light, every vestige of the life that 
flourished so long ago becomes doubly precious, and 
the geologist may be pardoned when he treasures in 
cabinets and museums the records of such antiquity. 
Hugh Miller gives expression to this idea in his own 
picturesque way when, writing on the subject, he 
states : — “The historian or the antiquary may have 
traversed the fields of ancient or of modern battles. 
