354 THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. 



by laborious investigation of the ancient remains of the implements of 

 human industry. We distinguish among these a Stone age, when only 

 instruments of silex were used, indicating by their rude form the savage 

 condition of the primitive tribes j then followed the Bronze age, which 

 manifested a growing civilization by the working of metals and the 

 preparations of alloys of copper and tin ; and lastly the Iron age, which 

 commenced with historic times and continues in our day. 



At these different periods man was contemporary with a great num- 

 ber of now extinct animals, as is proved by the remains of his industrial 

 implements, found mingled in the same strata with the bones of these 

 animals. Prom the time when Esper discovered, in the cavern of Geleu- 

 reuth (Francouia), human bones with those of extinct mammalia, until 

 our day, proofs of this kind have been so multiplied that the existence 

 of fossil man is now one of the best established facts of science. Be- 

 sides the discoveries of F. Frere, of Buckland, of Tournal, of Joly, M. 

 Lartet discovered, in ISGO, in a cave of Aurignac (Haute-Garonue), hu- 

 man remains mingled with the bones of animals which tbey had proba- 

 bly cooked and eaten there. M. Garrigou, of Tarascon, found some 

 jaw-bones of the cat of the caves (Felis cultridens) polished and orna- 

 mented by the hand of man. 



The most important discovery in favor of the antiquity of the human 

 race was made in 1SG3 by M. Boucher, of Perthes. This was the famous 

 human jaw-bone found at Moulin-Quignou, near Abbeville, in a place 

 where previously numerous implements of quartz had been discovered. 

 A lively discussion ensued among savans, who came from all sides to 

 examine minutely into the authenticity of the discovery ; and, a fact 

 worthy of remark, the most incredulous yielded to the evidence pre- 

 sented.' Only M. Elie de Beaumont positively denied the deposit in 

 which it was found to be Quaternary. He thought it an alluvium quite 

 modern. A more recent discovery, made in 1865 by MM. Lartet and 

 De Vibraye, proves that man was contemporary with the Eleplias prlnii- 

 genius. Upon a fragment of a tooth of the elephant with a mane, found 

 in the caves of Dordogue, we readily distinguish the contour of this 

 aninaal traced with a point evidently by contemporary man. The de- 

 posit was in this case diluvial. 



If the discoveries of late years add some pages to the history of man, 

 still the unresolved problem of the origin of the race remains with all 

 its difficulties. " Man,'' says M. Troyon,* " appeared in America with 

 the Quaternary period. He was established in several parts of Europe 

 at the time of the retreat of the great glaciers ; was witness to the pow- 

 erful action of the diluvial waters. Hidden in the depths of caves or 

 established upon the edge of the retiring seas, he saw disappear gradu- 

 ally from the center of Europe the cave-bear, the rhinoceros, the mam- 

 moth, the stag with gigantic horns, the reindeer, and the removal to 

 other climates of various species of animals." But as to the origin of 



* L' Homme fossile, 1867, p. 178. 



