1864. J 3§9 [Lesley. 



ference with which it was presented, and the silence with which it 

 was received The fact is, no one was prepared, twenty years ago, 

 for such a fact It was as hlindint:' and unpleasant as a flash of sun- 

 light in a mirror. The inteHectual eyes of science must become 

 accustomed to such astounding discoveries. It required thirty years 

 to produce a state of science in Europe susceptible to the impression 

 which M. Boucher de Perthes' cabinet had a destiny to make. And 

 nearly as long a time was required to obtain for the Natchez pelvis 

 the first reception into the text-book of a distinguished geologist. 

 At the instigation of Dr. Falconer, I am happy to say that Dr. Leidy 

 has promised to renew the discussion of this bone by instituting a 

 chemical and microscopic examination of its condition. We may 

 then know more about its antiquity. But since the discovery by M. 

 Desnoyers of pleiocene fossil bones, scratched and cloven by the 

 hands of men, there is no longer any good reason for throwing doubt 

 upon its alleged geological position. 



The distinguished chief of geology in France, IM. Elie de Beau- 

 mont, is understood to occupy solitary ground in the matter of the 

 Abbeville implements. Their antiquity depends upon that of the 

 formation in which they lie, and upon the fact that they lie in it 

 mixed with the bones of extinct species of animals. If the form- 

 ation be strictly In situ, there is no escape from the conclusion that 

 the implements and the bones are of equal age, and therefore that 

 Man lived with these extinct animals. If, on the contrary, it can 

 be shown that the formation is an after-make, a slide from above, a 

 debacle, a local deposit hastily brought together from different neigh- 

 borhoods, the argument for the antiquity of the implements is lost. 

 Elie de Beaumont is said to assume Cuvier's view of the formation, 

 and calls it a slide from the upland into the valley of the Somme, 

 and then denies the antiquity of the implements. 



It was especially with a view to form an opinion upon this point 

 that I visited Abbeville; and after enjoying the same courteous 

 reception from M. Boucher de Perthes that he accords to all stran- 

 gers, I examined the quarries in the neighborhood ; first, that of 

 Moulin Quignon, where the jaw was said to have been found; and 

 then those of Menchecourt. The former had so fallen in that I 

 could not obtain access to the depth at which the jaw is j)]aced. 

 But I saw no reason to imagine any change in the original coinlition 

 of tlie deposit. There is no escarpment or steep valley wall to give 

 the remotest chance of a slip. The whole valley is shallow, and the 

 slopes are so gentle that it is hard to say where the valley ends and 



