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:--