THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
The antiquity of man is a subject of such surpassing interest 
that I have selected it in response to a request to write a paper for 
the meeting of this Society. My chief difficulty is that the sub- 
ject is so extensive that it would require a volume, rather than a 
short paper, to discuss it fully. I will endeavour, however, to con- 
fine myself to a few salient points, and to the light thrown on the 
question by the latest discoveries, and trust to your indulgence if 
many important matters seem to be omitted, or mentioned too 
briefly. 
Tur Hisroric PERIOD. 
I must begin by saying a few wordsas to the historical period, for 
here also recent discoveries have thrown a light on ancient records, 
which have revolutionized previous conceptions almost as com- 
pletely as those of geology and palzontology have done those of 
the periods which precede history. The historical period is also of 
primary importance, because it affords the first measuring rod, or 
standard of dates, from which we can rise to the far more distant 
dates of geological periods. As in space we rise from standards 
verifiable by a strict measurement, such as the metre, the mile, 
and the are of the meridian, to inferences derived from them by 
reason such as the dimensions of the earth, the distances of the 
sun, moon, and planets, and finally those of the nearer fixed stars ; 
so in time, history affords the standard in years, from which we 
haye to work back in trying to assign an approximate date for pre- 
historic, neolithic, paleolithic, und possibly pre-glacial or tertiary 
traces of human existence. By neolithic and paleolithic we must 
understand that these denote the classification of ancient remains 
of the stone age, from the earliest rude implements of chipped 
flints found in the oldest deposits, down to those of polished stone 
which are found in more recent deposits which immediately pre- 
cede the historic period. Now, as I have said, ancient history has 
been revolutionized in recent times by two great discoveries. One 
