170 THE RECENT. 



bones of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and Irish deer ; but whe- 

 ther these may not have been washed up, drifted, and re-as- 

 sorted from earlier deposits, is a question not always easily 

 determinable. However the question may be ultimately 

 answered, one thing is certain, that just as the mammoths 

 and mastodons drop away, and the horse, ox, goat, and 

 sheep begin to spread over Europe in increasing numbers, 

 so the traces of primeval man become more frequent and 

 unmistakable. In all likelihood nay, it is all but certain 

 that over the plains and through the forests of the Old 

 World man hunted the Irish deer and speared the mam- 

 moth, just as at a later period, and in the same region, he 

 lassoed the wild horse and impounded the urns and buffalo. 

 With regard to this subject, however viz., the first appear- 

 of man much unnecessary discussion has taken place, and 

 a great deal of uneasy tenderness been displayed. Like 

 other events in geological history, we have at present no 

 means of assigning to it a definite date in years and cen- 

 turies. The time is merely relative, and all that science 

 can safely do is to ascribe it to an early, though not to the 

 very earliest, stages of the pleistocene epoch. Whether this 

 was six thousand or sixteen thousand years ago, we cannot 

 by any known data determine, though this much is evident, 

 that the amount of change since effected on the physical 

 and vital world, as well as the course of civilisation itself, 

 would, at the current rate of progress, require for their 

 elimination a much more extended period than is usually 

 allowed. 



And here it may be remarked, that while in these 

 superficial accumulations we find frequent traces of prim- 

 eval man his stone -implements, tree -canoes, &c. we 

 rarely or ever discover the remains of man himself. Not 

 a human bone has been detected, even in the valley of 

 the Somme, where the flint-implements lie in thousands 



