like pictures of the periods under consideration, will call to mind the fabled monsters of the Ancients

"Gorgons and Hydras and Chimæras dire."

The late Professor E. Forbes's division of the stratified rocks into Palæozoic and Neozoic will probably be ultimately adopted, instead of Palæozoic, Mesozoic, and Caïnozoic. M. Figuier considers the Caïnozoic strata under the heads of Tertiary and Quaternary, including in the Tertiary, the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene formations, and in the Quaternary period describes the Postpliocene, and Recent Deposits. This portion of the work calls for no special remark. The plant-life of the globe at this period, as well as during the Secondary era, is not lost sight of, and is prominently discussed. Amongst the engravings are restorations of the chief Tertiary Mammals; those of the Eocene period so well known in connection with the name of Cuvier; and the gigantic Dinotherium is represented as an elephant with recurved tusks proceeding from the lower jaw. Recent discoveries, however, would seem to call for a considerable modification of our views respecting the affinities of this huge mammal, for further remains of this animal, lately found, are undoubtedly of a Marsupial character.

The principal features in the account of the Quaternary period are the descriptions of the "European deluges," the Glacial epoch, and the Asiatic deluge. The first of these deluges was caused by the sudden upheaval of the Scandinavian mountains: "as the regions in the midst of which this great mountainous upheaval occurred, as the sea surrounding these vast spaces were partly frozen and covered with ice, from their elevation and neighbourhood to the pole, the wave which swept these countries carried along with it enormous masses of ice. The shock produced by the collision of these several solid blocks of frozen waters (ice?) would only have contributed to increase the extent and intensity of the ravages occasioned by this violent cataclysm. The physical proof of this deluge of the north of Europe exists in the vast covering of unstratified earth which covers all the plains and depressions of Northern Europe."* The second European deluge was occasioned, M. Figuier supposes, by the upheaval of the Alps. We need scarcely say, there is not the least proof of either of these supposed deluges having taken place. All the phenomena attributed to their action are well known to be the result of icebergs formed in the mountain valleys, when the greater part of Europe was submerged, during the Glacial epoch. This part of the work seems to be crude and not well arranged. We find scarcely any attempt made to distinguish these diluvial deposits from those of glacial origin. The task would truly be difficult. That the Glacial epoch came on suddenly is proved, the author thinks, by the immense

* P. 367.

number of mammoths found frozen in Siberia. On this question again, an acquaintance with Lyell's 'Principles' would be of much service, but we cannot dwell on the subject. He seems to be at a loss, too, for any theory that will explain the existence of this intense cold, which he thinks came on so suddenly. Several astronomical theories are discussed, none of which he adopts. No diminution in the calorific power of the sun took place at this time, nor would any modification of the physical geography of the globe, that he is aware of, be adequate to produce this excessively cold climate; but this is the very direction in which he should have sought for an approximate explanation.

From considerations based upon a profound and comprehensive knowledge of the present physical geography of the globe, and the fluctuations in the relative position of sea and land indicated by the history of the sedimentary deposits, Sir Charles Lyell concludes that in past ages of the earth there might be, without reference to astronomical causes, such gradual changes brought about in the physical geography of the globe as to have at one period so high a temperature prevailing all over the earth as to banish all traces of snow and glaciers, even from the highest mountains; and at another such an intensity of cold as might render the whole earth uninhabitable.

In the last chapter of the work M. Figuier treats of the origin of the human race, and of the Asiatic deluge. He does not believe in the ape-origin of man. The first man was placed on the earth by the Creator in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. “There is no doubt," he says, "that primitive man passed through a period in which he had to contend for existence with ferocious beasts, and to live in a savage state in the woods and savannas where Providence had placed him; but this period of his existence came to an end, and man, an eminently social being, by combining in groups animated by the same interests and the same desires, soon found means to intimidate the animals, to triumph over the elements, to protect himself from the innumerable perils which surround him, and to subdue to his rule the other inhabitants of the earth." This period in man's history, as it is held by the author, is the subject of one of his illustrations which we have selected for insertion, not, however, as a representation of what may be supposed to have been his appearance at that stage of his existence, but as an example of the admirable illustrations accompanying the work. It is impossible, in the present state of our knowledge, to "restore" man as he appeared along with the hairy elephant, the hyena, and the cave-bear. M. Figuier then describes the cave-deposits, peat-beds, shell-mounds, and lacustrine habitations, and discusses the evidence of the contemporaneity of man and certain extinct animals.

* P. 407.

The Noachian deluge was the result, he conjectures, of "the upheaval of a part of the long chain of mountains, which are a prolongation of the Caucasus. The earth opening by one of the fissures made in its crust in the course of cooling, an eruption of volcanic matter escaped through the enormous crater so produced. Masses of watery vapour or steam accompanied the lava discharged from the interior of the globe, which, being first dissipated in clouds and afterwards condensed, descended in torrents of rain, and the plains were drowned with volcanic mud. The inundation of the plains over an extensive radius was the instantaneous effect of this upheaval, and the formation of the volcanic cone of Ararat, and the vast plateau on which it rests, altogether 17,323 feet above the sea, the permanent result."*

With this extract we must close our notice of M. Figuier's 'World before the Deluge,' a book which will probably be regarded in future ages as a fair illustration of the mixed views held by the various thinkers of our days on geological and palæontological questions.

Every reader will find something to his taste, and the feelings of none will be outraged by too great one-sidedness. There is the plate of the Garden of Eden, with our first parents and Cain, and the Biblical account of the Deluge for those who cling to tradition, whilst there are calm discussions, well-arranged data, and the beautiful illustrations to support a belief in the antiquity of man and his contemporaneity with the great extinct mammifera. Leaving M. Figuier to render these views consistent with each other, we pass on to his 'Vegetable World,'t an exquisite work, which has just been issued as a companion to the World before the Deluge.'

If excellent paper, legible type, beautiful illustrations, and good printing be any recommendation to a book, this work should have an extensive sale. The first part of the volume treats of the structure of the various organs of plants and their functions. Commencing with the root, the various kinds of which are fully described, it passes on to the stem; the varieties, structure, and mode of growth of acrogenous, endogenous, and exogenous stems are clearly explained; buds, boughs, and branches successively engage the reader's attention; a brief notice of the different modes of grafting is given, and the structure, functions, and different forms of the leaf are described in a pleasing manner. "Leaves," he says, "transform themselves into other organs with wonderful facility. It is, in fact, by modification of the leaves that nature produces many essential organs in the life of plants." This law of Morphology is often inaccurately stated.

* P. 418.

The Vegetable World: being a History of Plants, with their Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties.' 446 Engravings and 24 Full Page Illustrations, chiefly from Nature. Chapman & Hall, 1867.

+ P. 83.