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that these were ancient burials, but it was difficult, or even 
impossible, to assign any exact date to these remains. Neither 
was it wise to presume that all the theories built up around these 
discoveries were correct. 
Samuel Laing, in his ‘Human Origins,” said: ‘The 
preservation of human remains depends mainly on the practice of 
burying the dead. . . . Now it is not until the neolithic period 
that the custom of burying the dead became general, and even 
then it was not universal. In many nations, even in historical 
times, corpses were burnt, not buried. It was connected, doubt- 
less, with ideas of a future existence, which either required 
troublesome ghosts to be put securely out of the way, or to 
retain a shadowy existence by some mysterious connection with 
the body which had once served them for a habitation. Such 
ideas, however, only came with some advance of civilization, and 
it is questionable whether in paleolithic times the human animal 
had any more notion of preserving the body after death than the 
Other animals by which he was surrounded. . . . A great many 
caves which had been inhabited by paleolithic man were selected 
as fitting spots for the grave of their neolithic successors, and 
thus sometimes the remains of the two periods became inter- 
mixed.” 
Concluding, the Lecturer said that if such an authority dealt 
with the matter in such a careful way, he would not presume to 
be dogmatic in any of the statements he had made. ‘There were 
difficulties in attempting to “ lift the veil” from the shadowy 
past, but it was a fascinating occupation, and, as with the past, so 
with the future, the desire to ‘lift the veil ’’ was almost universal. 
Imagination must have its rightful sway, and if we had been 
interested in trying to spell out the obscure writing of a letterless 
age, how much more would our successors in the distant future 
revel in the relics left behind by this ancient capital of a mighty 
Empire, when its ‘“‘cloud-capped towers, its gorgeous palaces,” 
had passed away ! 
Into Macaulay’s picture of the New Zealander sitting on 
London Bridge, the Lecturer introduced a second figure—-a 
companion who, looking over the New Zealander’s shoulder, 
should exclaim, his face beaming with joy, “ Eureka, I have 
found it!” and, pointing to a bright red spot on the ground plan 
of London, near the ruins of St. Martin’s Church, say with some 
authority, “‘ That was once the happy home of the celebrated 
Camera Club.” 
At the conclusion of the lecture a collection of paleolithic 
and neolithic implements was shown, some of the specimens 
being very interesting. 
