22 Remains of a Mammoth, 



sandy loam, a substance and depth they might easily have 

 penetrated in that lapse of time by their own gravity, aided 

 by the action of rains and ordinary surface water. 



But as the general arguments of the case are against this 

 view of the question, it becomes necessary to investigate the 

 matter more closely. By supposing the race of Mammoths 

 to have existed subsequently to the last debacle, we at once 

 deprive ourselves of the most reasonable mode of accounting for 

 their extinction. If, however, they did so exist in Great Britain, 

 we might have expected they would have maintained their race 

 in spite of the hostility of savages, at least down to the Roman 

 invasion ; we might have expected their remains would prove 

 plentiful in alluvial grounds, as in Siberia ; but we would not 

 have expected to have found their remains so situated, as to 

 shew that they also existed previous to the last debacle, for in 

 that case we must suppose they were first rooted out of the 

 island by a natural event ; that they again colonized the island, 

 and were a second time rooted out by human means. 



Neither does there appear to be any strong ground to suppose 

 this island has been subjected to the action of any debacle, 

 since that which accompanied its original formation or emer- 

 gence from the ocean. 



It is therefore necessary to look more minutely into the cir- 

 cumstances, attending the state in which the remains were found, 

 before we adopt the first view of the question. 



These remains were found on the west bank of the Medway 

 about two miles and a half south from Rochester Bridge ; at a 

 place where a lateral valley meets that, in which the Medway 

 flows at an acute angle pointing down the stream. The point 

 of land separating the two valleys is fundamentally chalk, 

 covered with gravel, sand and loam. On the side of the point 

 of land, towards the lateral valley two well-marked shelves 

 or ledges are seen, indicating the different heights at which the 

 water formerly rested. The perfect level of the surface of these 

 ledges and the regularity and steepness of their talus, combined 

 with their situation and extent, are quite decisive of the mode 

 of their formation. On the lower of these two shelves, and 



