SHAPE, RELIEF, AND GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 
The western portion of Europe is peculiarly insular and peninsular 
in nature ; and this, combined with a very diversified surface, has tended 
to the creation of numerous States, characterized by marked individuality, 
while the physically homogeneous nature of the eastern part has aided 
its absorption by a single political power—Russia. The irregular shape 
of the continent and consequent remarkable length of coastline have 
been of commercial advantage in bringing all places within easy reach 
of the sea, and have also materially affected the climate. 
More than half of Europe is a diversified plain, under 700 feet high, 
which extends over Russia, broken only by the comparatively low Valdai 
Hills, and stretches across the rest of the continent between the plateaus 
which occupy much of Central Europe and those of Scandinavia and 
North-West Britain. In Russia, excluding Finland, this plain is com- 
posed of old rocks, with the strata very slightly tilted; and here, as 
elsewhere, it is largely overlain by accumulations of rock particles, due 
to glacial action in past epochs. Long ago the huge glaciers, which 
gradually passed over much of Northern Europe, must have transported 
a great deal of debris, which was deposited when they melted. These 
glacial deposits were even sufficient to form low hills in Northern 
Germany, and to influence the river system in many districts. "The rivers 
which traverse this plain have also spread a thick layer of loose soil 
over the old worn-down rocks underneath—eoil which, in parts, is noted 
for its fertility. The commercial importance of the plain lies, however, 
not only in its fertility, but in the easy path it affords for routes in all 
directions, though the rivers which cross it have formed some hindrance 
to communication east and west. 
In Scandinavia and the north-west portions of the British Isles there 
exist large plateaus of crystalline schists and other old rocks. These 
plateaus have been trenched by rivers and modified by glacial action till 
they have assumed the appearance of rounded mountainous masses 
severed by deep glens. Granite, which occurs freely in North Britain 
and Scandinavia, prevails over the whole of Finland; and the lakes 
Onega and Ladoga, lying between the White Sea and Gulf of Finland, 
mark the junetion of the granite with the stratified rocks of the Russian 
plain. "The surface of Finland has been worn down, largely by glacial 
action, 4ill it is a gently undulating plain, with innumerable shallow lakes 
in the rocky hollows.