THE EARLIEST TRACES OF MAN 29 



these is that of the skull now in the museum of 

 Florence, supposed to have been found in the pliocene 

 of the Val d'Arno. It is, however, a skull of modern 

 type, and may have been brought down from the 

 surface by a landslip. But this explanation does not 

 seem to apply to the human remains found in lower 

 pliocene beds at Castelnedolo, near Brescia. They 

 include a nearly entire human skeleton, and are said 

 by good observers to have been imbedded in undis- 

 turbed pliocene beds. M. Quatrefages, who has 

 described them, and whose testimony should be con- 

 sidered as that of an expert, was satisfied that the 

 remains had not been interred, but were part of the 

 original deposit. Unfortunately the skull of the only 

 perfect skeleton is said to have been of fair propor- 

 tions and superior to those of the ruder types of post- 

 glacial men. This has cast a shade of suspicion on 

 the discovery, especially on the part of evolutionists, 

 who think it is not in accordance with theory that 

 man should retrograde between the pliocene and the 

 early modern period, instead of advancing. Still we 

 may ask, why not ? If men existed in the fine 

 climates of the miocene and early pliocene, why 

 should they not have been a noble race, suited to their 

 environment ; and when the cold of the glacial period 

 intervened, with its scarcity and hardships, might they 

 not have deteriorated, to be subsequently improved 

 when better conditions supervened? This would cer- 

 tainly not be contradictory to experience in the case 

 of varieties of other animals, however at variance 



