For untold ages the earth, to all appearance, had been preparing itself for the reception of man. There was an abundance of game, the forests were beautiful, the domestic animals had made their appearance, the climate was warm, the soil rich, and the coal had been formed. Everything seemed to point to a bright and glorious future for man, who had already entered upon the scene. It is true there were fierce and savage beasts to contend with. These seemed but a motive power to stir man to action and develop the resources of his mind. Should he fail for a time to overcome the wild beasts a retreat was provided in the hollow recesses of the earth. But nature felt her work was still unfinished. The earth had passed through the ordeal of fire, and withstood the devastations of water, and now her long summer must come to an end. The arctic regions had been growing colder and colder, and the change was felt in the countries to the south. The northern animals were being clothed with a hairy or woolly garment for their protection. The aspect began to be forbidding. The future prospect of man was not only gloomy, but foreboded he should perish along with the many species of animals that were gradually succumbing to the cold. Great fields of ice were slowly accumulating at both the poles, and at last, by the power of their great weight, assisted by some geographical changes, began to move toward the equator, crushing and grinding the great rocks, and either driving before them, or else destroying, every living thing in their relentless march. Slowly but surely they moved on. The mountains groaned under the enormous weight of ice. Their heads were scarred, their sides bruised, torn and cut. The icy monsters listened not to the pleadings of earth, the lowing of cattle, or the cries of man. Centuries elapsed before the sun re-asserted his power. The rays of the sun, the internal heat of the earth, and other causes, produced a change. The northern ice was broken up by the time it reached latitude 39° North America, leaving its indelible traces in the bowlders, gravel, beds of sand and clay which mark its course. In Europe this sheet of ice extended as far south as Spain and Corsica. The glaciers of the Antarctic regions extended as far as latitude 41° south.