THE FERN FORESTS. 
65 
investigations thus far undertaken in those re- 
gions would lead to the supposition that the same 
granite upheaval which raised Canada stretched 
northward in a broad, low ridge of land, widen- 
ing in its upper part and extending to the neigh- 
borhood of Bathurst Inlet and King William’s 
Island, while on either side of it, to the east and 
west, the Silurian and Devonian deposits ex- 
tended far toward the present outlines of the 
continent. These fundamental relations of the 
continents are admirably presented by Professor 
Guyot in his charming volume entitled, “ Earth 
and Man.” 
Indeed, our geological surveys, as well as the 
information otherwise obtained concerning the 
primitive condition of North America and the 
gradual accessions it has received in more recent 
periods, point to a very early circumscription of 
the area which, in the course of time, was to be 
come the continent we now inhabit, with its mod- 
ern features. Not only from the geology of 
America, but from that of Europe also, it would 
seem that the position of the continents was 
sketched out very early in the progressive devel- 
opment of the physical constitution of our earth. 
It is true that in the present state of our knowl- 
edge such wide generalizations must be taken 
with caution, and held in abeyance to the addi - 
tional facts which future investigations may de- 
