278 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



linguishable. The conclusion reached by Professor Wol- 

 drich was that the whole belonged to the bronze period, and 

 that the epoch was one when stone implements were still 

 used in connection with bronze. 31 C^ January^ 1873, 1. 



ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN BRITAIN. 



Mr. Geikie, director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, in 

 a lecture recently delivered upon the antiquity of man in 

 Britain, calls attention to the differences between the paleo- 

 lithic and neolithic stone periods of that country, marked by 

 the occurrence of rude stone implements in the former, and 

 polished ones in the latter. He estimates a wide interval of 

 time between these two periods, the paleolithic being charac- 

 terized by the occurrence of the implements referred to in 

 caves and in river gravels, associated with the remains of an- 

 imals which are now either extinct or which have retreated 

 far to the north, and are only to be found in an arctic cli- 

 mate the former including the cave bear, the Irish deer, sev- 

 eral species of rhinoceros, elephant, etc. ; the latter the rein- 

 deer, the glutton, and the musk-ox. 



He concludes that paleolithic man must have entered on 

 the stage ages before the valleys of the south of England 

 were hollowed out to their present depth ; that during his 

 long occupation the rivers succeeded in cutting out these val- 

 leys, and that not until after this was effected did paleolithic 

 man disappear and neolithic man take his place, no neolithic 

 remains occurring in the ancient river gravels. 



Mr. Geikie then inquires into the nature of this break, and 

 the causes which produced the simultaneous disappearance 

 of paleolithic man and the old pachyderms, and the subse- 

 quent introduction of neolithic man and the animals of an al- 

 most totally different form. This he explains by the inter- 

 vention of the glacial epoch, and concludes that during the 

 paleolithic period man experienced two kinds of climate, one 

 almost arctic, the other mild and genial, the two represent- 

 ed by the preglacial and interglacial periods. 



After the unknown period of time in which the last gla- 

 cial changes were completed and the surface of the land was 

 again exposed, neolithic man made his appearance. Mr. CroU 

 estimates the commencement of the glacial epoch as being at 

 least 240,000 years ago, and the period itself ^is lasting for 



