30 



dififerent conditions, and that consequently they formed a very 

 imperfect natural chronometer for registering tlie flux of geological 

 time. 



After discussing the existing flora and fauna of caverns, the 

 Lecturer referred to the remains of pleistocene mammalia which 

 formed so conspicuous a feature in our bone-caves. Keferring to 

 the history of these ossiferous deposits, he dwelt on the labours of 

 Buckland, and traced the development of our knowledge of the 

 subject. By aid of a map he traced the distribution of bone-caves 

 in Britain, distinguishing those which had yielded, in association 

 with the extinct mammals, relics of human workmanship. The 

 Caves of France were appealed to in order to complete the picture 

 of the palseolitliic cave-man. 



Palseolithic cave-man was described as being a hunter, fowler, 

 and fisher of rude type, ignorant alike of domesticated animals and 

 of cultivated plants. He was probably clad in the skins of animals 

 taken in the chase, these skins being dressed with stone scrapers, 

 and sewn together by means of sinew-threads and bone-needles. 

 Of textile and fictile industries he appears to have been ignorant, 

 neither spindle-wheels nor potsherds having been found in well- 

 authenticated association with palseolithic implements and pleistocene 

 mammals. His weapons and tools must have been made of stone 

 and bone, of wood • and horn. "Well-shaped harpoons of reindeer 

 antler have been found both in tliis country and in France. As 

 ornaments, he wore necklaces of perforated teeth and shells, and 

 he probably used red oxide of iron as a pigment for personal 

 decoration. His perception of art was remarkable for one so low 

 in the scale of culture, and is abundantly attested by the incised 

 outlines of animals executed on fragments of bone and antler which 

 are foimd not only in French caves, but, to some extent, in our 

 own : witness the engraving of a horse from the palseolithic deposits 

 of one of the caves at Cresswell Crags. 



Attention was dra^\•n to the remarkable resemblance between 

 the habits of the old cave-men and tkose of the Esquimaux of the 

 present day. It was possible that a yet earlier race of cave-men had 

 existed in tliis country, inasmuch as rudely-formed stone implements 

 had been found, both at Kent's Cavern and at Cresswell Crags, 



