312 CAVES IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. 



argument admitted of a satisfactory answer, it must be con- 



v 



ceded that the evidence derivable from cave contents would 

 always be liable to grave suspicion. I trust, however, to be 

 able to show that this is not the case. 



As long ago as the year 1828, MM. Tournal and Christol 

 in the south of France had found fragments of pottery and 

 human bones and teeth intermingled with remains of extinct 

 animals; and M. Tournal distinctly expressed the opinion 

 that these had certainly not been washed in by any diluvial 

 catastrophe, but must have been introduced gradually. The 

 presence of pottery, however, throws much doubt on the sup- 

 posed antiquity of these remains. 



A few years later, in 1833 and 1834, Dr. Schmerling* 

 published an account of his researches in some caves near 

 Liege in Belgium. In four or five of these he found human 

 bones, and in all of them rude implements, principally flint 

 flakes, were discovered, scattered in such a manner among 

 the remains of the mammoth, Rhinoceros ticJwrhinus, cave- 

 hyeeua, and cave-bear, that Dr. Schmerling referred them to 

 the same period. One feels a natural surprise that such 

 animals as these should ever have been natives of England 

 and France, ever have wandered about among our woods or 

 along our streams ; but when it was also suggested that they 

 were contemporary with man, surprise was succeeded by 

 incredulity. Yet these cave researches appear to have been 

 conducted with care, and the principal results have been con- 

 firmed by more recent discoveries. 



The hesitation, however, with which the statements of Dr. 

 Schmerling were received by scientific men arose, no doubt, 

 partly from the fact that some of the fossil remains discovered 

 by him were certainly referred to wrong species, and partly 

 because, with reference to several of the extinct species, and 



* Kecherches sur les Osements ernes de la Province de Liege. Par 

 Fossiles decouverts dans les Cav- le Dr. P. C. Schmerling. 



