At the close of this epoch, therefore, there is every probability that Europe and Asia had pretty nearly attained their present general configuration. QUATERNARY EPOCH. The Quaternary epoch of the history of our globe commences at the close of the Tertiary epoch, and brings the narrative of its revolutions down to our own times. The tranquillity of the globe was only disturbed during this era by certain cataclysms whose sphere was limited and local, and by an interval of cold of very extended duration; the _deluges_ and the _glacial_ period--these are the two most remarkable peculiarities which distinguished this epoch. But the fact which predominates in the Quaternary epoch, and distinguishes it from all other phases of the earth’s history is the appearance of man, the culminating and supreme work of the Creator of the universe. In this last phase of the history of the earth geology recognises three chronological divisions:-- 1. The European Deluges. 2. The Glacial Period. 3. The creation of man and subsequent Asiatic Deluge. Before describing the three orders of events which occurred in the Quaternary epoch, we shall present a brief sketch of the organic kingdoms of Nature, namely, of the animals and vegetables which flourished at this date, and the new formations which arose. Lyell, and some other geologists, designate this the POST-TERTIARY EPOCH, which they divide into two subordinate groups.--1. _The Post-Pliocene Period_; 2. _The Recent or Pleistocene Period._ POST-PLIOCENE PERIOD.