TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 119 



to manipulate with, and as it was only the corner of the brick that was acting as the 

 stylus, the cumbrous brick would soon be substituted by a triangular stylus as the 

 most convenient agent to be employed in inscribing the cuneiform on plastic clay. 

 In proof of this Mr. Nasmyth exhibited to the meeting an impression from a Baby- 

 lonian brick which he had access to in the British Museum, in which the absolute 

 size as well as the form of the stylus employed in impressing it was given. This 

 specimen appeared to set at rest all doubt as to the nature of the instrument employed, 

 as well as to illustrate the mode of using it. Mr. Nasmyth gave a practical illustration 

 of the capability of such a stylus in enabling the inscriber to produce cuneiform cha- 

 racters of a vast variety of size as well as form, simply by varying the depth to which it 

 was impressed into the clay. 



In conclusion, Mr. Nasmyth stated his views as to the probable connexion that 

 appeared to him to exist between certain parts of our own alphabetic characters and 

 that of the cuneiform, referring in this respect to those portions of our alphabetic 

 characters termed " Serifs," namely, the cross strokes which terminate the limbs of 

 most of our capital letters. In illustration of this part of the subject he referred to 

 several ancient Greek inscriptions, in which he showed that the characters of which 

 they were formed were decomposable into absolute cuneiform elements ; in many 

 cases the bottom strokes terminating the limbs of the letters were so identical with 

 the cuneiform element, that they were at right angles to the axis of the limb of the 

 letter, and not parallel to the line of inscription. 



Remarks on the Esquimaux. By John Rae, M.D., F.R.G.8. 



The Route between Kustenjeh and the Danube. By Capt. Spratt, C.B. 



On recent Discoveries in Australia. By Capt. Charles Sturt, F.R.G.S. 



On the earliest traces of Human Remains in Kent's Cavern. 

 By E. Vivian, M.A., Torquay. 



The cavern is situated between Torquay and Babbicombe, beneath a conical 

 hill of the Devonian limestone, extending to a circuit of about 600 feet. It appears 

 to have been first occupied by the bear and hyena, the remains of which, with the 

 bones of elephants, rhinoceros, deer, &c., upon which they preyed, were strewn 

 upon the rocky floor. By some violent and transitory convulsion, a vast amount of 

 the soil of the surrounding country was injected into the cavern, carrying with it the 

 bones, and burying them in the inmost recesses. Immediately upon its subsidence 

 the cavern appears to have been occupied by human inhabitants, whose rude flint- 

 knives and arrowheads are found upon the mud beneath the stalagmite. A period 

 then succeeded, during which the cavern was not inhabited until about half of the 

 floor was formed, when a streak containing burnt wood and the bones of the wild 

 boar and badger was deposited, and again the cave was unoccupied, either by men 

 or animals, the remaining portion of the stalagmite being, above as below, pure and 

 unstained by soil or any foreign matter. Above the floor have been found remains 

 of Celtic, early British and Roman remains, together with those of more modern 

 date. Among the inscriptions is one of interest as connected with the landing of 

 William III. on the opposite side of the bay, " W. Hodges, of Ireland, 1688." 



The position of the flint instruments beneath the stalagmite, although contrary to 

 the generally received opinion of geologists, and carrying back the first occupation 

 of Devon to very high antiquity, was shown to be not necessarily at variance with 

 Scriptural chronology, the deposit of stalagmite having apparently been much more 

 rapid at those periods when the cavern was not inhabited, in consequence of a greater 

 discharge of carbonic acid gas. Without attempting to affix with any certainty 

 more than a relative date, Mr. Vivian suggested that there was reason for believing 

 that the introduction of the mud was occasioned, not by the comparatively tranquil 

 Mosaic Deluge, which spared the olive and allowed the ark to float without miracu- 

 lous interposition, as was once assumed by Dr. Buckland, but by the greater 

 coavulsioD, alluded to in the first chapter of Genesis, which destroyed the pre- 



