274 
EOCENE PERIOD. 
[Ch. XIX. 
these cones, several hundred in number,, must be post-dilu- 
vian. 
6thly. But since the beginning of the historical era, or the 
invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar, the volcanic action in Au- 
vergne has been dormant, and there is nothing to countenance 
the idea that, between the date usually assigned to the Mosaic 
deluge and the earliest traditional and historical records of Cen- 
tral France (a period of little more than twenty centuries), all 
or any one of the more entire cones of loose scoriae were thrown 
up. 
Lastly, it is the opinion of some writers, that the earth's 
surface underwent no great modification at the era of the Mo- 
saic deluge, and that the strictest interpretation of the scriptural 
narrative does not warrant us in expecting to find any geological 
monuments of the catastrophe, an opinion which is consistent 
with the preservation of the volcanic cones, however high their 
antiquity. 
