Page:The Journal of geology (IA journalofgeology21894univers).pdf/252

son for this is that there has been no distinct break in the continuity of marine conditions throughout the epochs, only a gradual transition of conditions. In this gradual transition there was, however, a reversal of the epeirogenic movement of the coast from a process of depression to a process of uplift. This turning point of the disastrophic pendulum....is believed to correspond well with the beginning of the Pleistocene." With this definition of the Pleistocene, of which we are not disposed to complain, there can be no doubt as to the age of the remarkable changes of level which Professor Lawson describes. It is to be hoped that at some future day he may give us an account of the corresponding phenomena along a greater and connected stretch of the California coast. The results announced in this paper purport to be no more than the results of a general reconnaissance of the regions described.