130 BRIXHAM CAVE. [l859. 



H. Falconer to J. Prestwich. 



31 SACKVILLE STREET, W., 25th June 1859. 



MY DEAR PRESTWICH, Many thanks for both your kind 

 notes. I feel exceedingly obliged by the lively interest which 

 you have taken in the Brixham Cave matter throughout. It is 

 your cordial co-operation that has led to so much being effected. 

 If the special results as at present disclosed are not very striking, 

 the indirect consequences have been of great importance in 

 launching the question of the antiquity of human remains in a 

 fair and unprejudiced manner. Much attention will now be 

 directed to the subject everywhere, by inquirers of every shade 

 of belief, and we will arrive at the truth shortly. There is 

 nothing that you have done in the matter in which I would not 

 have joined. . . . 



In the Maccagnone cave there was ample work for a pair of 

 collaborateurs for months. I pretend to have done nothing more 

 than score the first lines. 



Many thanks for Vivian's edition of M'Enery. I have referred 

 to Desnoyer's paper, but can find notice only of bones on the 

 walls, not on the roof of the bone cavern. 



We must make an effort to bring out the plates of M'Enery's 

 fossils, &c. If the Palseontographical will not do it, we must set 

 a subscription on foot. Yours very truly, H. FALCONER. 



J. Prestwich to H. Falconer. SUFFOLK LANE, 28th June 1859. 



MY DEAR FALCONER, Thanks for your note. I quite agree 

 with you that it is not the importance and beauty of the 

 specimens that constitute the value of the Brixham Cave. I 

 have constantly heard it objected that we have got but a poor 

 collection of specimens. No doubt Kent's Cave would yield a 

 richer store ; but that is a subordinate consideration. The great 

 object effected at Brixham is the complete and thorough exam- 

 ination of our cave, the number of the bones, the relative 

 number of each set and of each animal, their condition, their 

 place, &c., &c. Besides, there are all the sections and valuable 

 physical data obtained, and which could have been obtained 

 by no other means. So that if we cannot show fine specimens, 



