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of animal remains obtained from that and from other caverns in the neigh- 

 bourhood, by the veteran Beakd, who has dedicated a life-time to that pur- 

 pose, and has by his industry amassed a treasure of the highest interest and 

 importance, which it is to be hoped will never be permitted to be dispersed. 



Since publicity has been given to the very remarkable aggregation of 

 evidence bearing upon the discovery in caves of the bones and works of 

 man, in company with those of extinct animals, to which discoveries the 

 important work of Sir Charles Lyell, on the " Antiquity of Man," has now 

 set the seal of recognition, the question of these caves and their strangely 

 associated contents has become one which opens to us a novel and most 

 fascinating field of enquiry. Already great advances have been made in 

 opening up this question, and the vigour with which it is being prose- 

 cuted promises 'ere long to lift the veil of obscurity which has so long 

 shrouded this class of facts. 



It unfortunately happens that these caverns at Banwell, and elsewhere, 

 have been opened at a time and under circumstances which have precluded 

 a fair and impartial examination of the conditions under which the osseous 

 remains were accumulated within their recesses. The theory that all such 

 evidences were referrible to a " deluge" that took place some 4 or 5,000 

 years ago, which found the predaceous animals whose remains are there 

 preserved, inhabiting these fissures as dens, and conveying thither as prey 

 those others whose bones are entombed with them, obtained such universal 

 acceptance, that nobody presumed to doubt the fitness of the explanation 

 to meet all the difficulties of the case; while as regards the discovery of 

 human remains, the theory of " burial" at once satisfied all the requirements 

 of the case, and conveniently dispensed with further enquiry. 



Thus it happens that the presence of animal remains in the Banwell 

 Caverns was at once referred to the causes above-mentioned; and as a 

 natural consequence of this method of reasoning, the exploration of the 

 contents of the cave was not conducted upon any systematic principles. 

 Everything there now appears to have been so much disturbed by human 

 agency that little rehance can be placed upon present appearances. Enough, 

 however, still remains to guide the observer to certain facts and conclusions. 

 In the first place there are distinct marks of water-action upon the roof and 

 sides of the cavern, which tell unmistakeably of the passage of a powerful 

 current of water through the fissure during a lengthened period of time. 

 Secondly, the cave has been filled from floor to roof with a mass of angular 

 and subangular fragments of rock compacted in a muddy paste, throughotit 

 which the bones and teeth of quadrupeds are found, not in layers, as might 

 be expected to be the case, had the cavern been used as a den, the floors 

 of which were gradually raised, but strewn as it were broadcast throughout 



