148 JOHN ETANS ON TEETIAKT MAN". 



origin, both above and below fresh-water limestone. ISI. Roujou 

 has found flint flakes in the Upper Miocene near Aurillac, and M. 

 Eibeiro has found worked flints at Otta in the valley of the Tagus, 

 in beds below those containing Hipparion gracile, Rhinoceros minutus, 

 Sus choeroides, and Mantodon angustidens, and which have been in- 

 differently regarded as Pliocene and Miocene. Perhaps the most 

 renowned discovery is this in the valley of the Tagus, and I had an 

 opportunity lately not only of seeing the objects collected at this 

 place, but also of visiting the spot where they were found. Some 

 few of these were flakes showing more than one trace of human 

 workmanship on them, and they occurred here, according to the 

 reports of the Portuguese geologists, not only in Pliocene, but in 

 Miocene beds. 



These, then, are the presumed facts, and they lead to the theory 

 of man being found on the earth at a period far anterior to the 

 Quaternary ; but I will proceed to discuss the question of his assumed 

 existence at somewhat greater length. The subject, however, is 

 one full of difiiculty, and requires to be approached with great 

 caution, but that is exactly what I am afraid every one who has 

 treated of this question has not done. In order to establish the 

 existence of man at such a remote period, the proofs must be con- 

 vincing. It must be shown, first, that the objects found are of 

 human workmanship ; secondly, that they are really found as asserted ; 

 and, thirdly, the age of the beds in which they are found must be 

 clearly ascertained and determined. Unless this were done, the 

 whole question would di'op through, and be at an end. The cut 

 bones, belonging to the Pliocene time, are in most cases those of 

 the whale or of some marine animal, some of which have sharp cuts 

 upon them, in one case at least the cuts appearing almost as if made 

 with a steel knife. They are, indeed, so sharp that I doubt whether 

 they could be produced by flints, and no tools have ever been found 

 with the bones, except at St.-Prest. It has been suggested that the 

 early man found the whales or other animals stranded, and cut off 

 the fleshy parts from the bones, leaving on them the marks of where 

 they had been cut ; and it did appear that the cuts were where the 

 muscles would be most firmly attached, and where they would most 

 likely be made. On the other hand, it was suggested that these 

 cuts might be made by the teeth of sharks or of the sword-fish. M. 

 Delfortrie, of Bordeaux, found bones in the Upper Miocene of 

 Leognan (Gironde), nearly all cut and scratched, but these beds are 

 essentially marine, and contain carnivorous fishes, such as the Sargus 

 serratus. If the cuts are of human workmanship, there is no trace 

 of tools, and I can hardly accept the theoiy that these bones of 

 animals should be cut and scratched by man, and yet no tools be 

 found near them. The beds were, moreover, deposited in the sea, and 

 unless the mermaids of that early time had very numerous families, 

 it is difficult to realise who lived on the flesh of the whales and 

 marine animals. In the same way, in respect to the bones found at 

 St.-Prest, it has been suggested that the cuts might have been made 

 by the shark or sword-fish, and certainly remains of Conodontes 



