between Archceology and Geology. 237 



in the detritus accumulating in the beds of the present seas, 

 — in the recent tracts of limestone forming on the sea-shores, 

 — and beneath the cooled lava currents erupted from volcanoes 

 still in action, — that the remains of man and works of art 

 have hitherto been found imbedded. 



The contrast presented by the contents of modern deposits 

 with those of the earlier formations, is thus eloquently enun- 

 ciated by Sir Humpbrey Davy in his interesting work, " The 

 last Days of a Philosopher :" — " Were the consolidated de- 

 positions of sand and mud,, now forming in the depths of the 

 ocean, to be elevated above the waters and become dry land, 

 how entirely different would they be in their characters from 

 any that have preceded them I Their chief features would 

 be the works of man — hewn stones, and statues of bronze 

 and marble, and instruments of iron ; and human remains 

 would be more common than those of animals on the greatest 

 part of the surface. The columns of Psestum or of Agri- 

 gentum, and the bridges of iron and granite of the Thames, 

 would offer a striking contrast to the bones of the crocodiles 

 and colossal saurian s, in the older rocks ; or even to those of 

 the mammoth or elephant in the diluvial strata. And who- 

 ever reflects on this subject, must be convinced that the 

 present order of things, and the comparatively recent exist- 

 ence of man as the master of the globe, are as certain as 

 the destruction of a different order, and the extinction of 

 numerous animal forms, of which no living types now remain 

 on the surface of our planet." 



It is these modern deposits that constitute the fields of 

 research which the antiquary and the geologist may explore 

 with mutual advantage ; for they abound in objects of the 

 highest importance, relating to the interesting problem as to 

 the contemporaneous existence of the human race, and certain 

 species and genera of animals now only known by their 

 fossil remains. 



The idea that a concise view of the present state of our 

 knowledge as to the occurrence of the relics of man and 

 works of art in the mineral kingdom, might be acceptable to 

 this learned society, first suggested itself to my mind from a 

 perusal of the treatise of M. Boucher de Perthes, entitled, 

 " Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes ;" in which the 



