that the dry land once extended far to the west of the present
Levantine coast, and not improbably forced the Nile to seek an
outlet to the north-east of its present delta--a possibility of
no small importance in relation to certain puzzling facts in the
geographical distribution of animals in this region. At any
rate, continuous land joined Asia Minor with the Balkan
peninsula; and its surface bore deep fresh-water lakes,
apparently disconnected with the Ponto-Aralian sea. This state
of things lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the
thick lacustrine strata to which I have referred. I am not aware
that there is the smallest ground for the assumption that the
AEgean land was broken up in consequence of any of the
"catastrophes" which are so commonly invoked.<12> For anything
that appears to the contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, straits
between the islands of the AEgean archipelago may have been
originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream
action; and may then have been filled from the Mediterranean,
during a slow submergence proceeding from the south northwards.
The strait of the Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed
pleistocene strata forty feet thick, through which, to all
appearance, the present passage has been quietly cut.

That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the
Thessalian basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an
often cited "confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet
ceased to be in vogue, apparently because those who entertain it
are not aware that modern geological investigation has
conclusively proved that the gorge of the Penens is as typical
an example of a valley of erosion as any to be seen in Auvergne
or in Colorado.<13>