114 A15SKX0K OF IIIMAN 150NF.S KXIM-VINKD. chap. viii. 



iSoiunio is ;i lormation whioh. in all likolihooil. took ihousamls 

 of years tor its i^fowih. Init no ohanoo ota nuirkod oharaotor 

 has oocurrod in tho inanimalian tauna sinoo it bogan to ao- 

 cmnulato. Tito contrast ot'iho launa ot'tho anoiont alluvium, 

 Avhothor at high or low lovols, Avith iho launa of the oUlost poat 

 is> ahnost as givat as its contrast with tho existing fauna, the 

 memorials of man being conunon to the whole series: hence 

 wo mav infer that the interval of time which separated the 

 era of the largo extinct mammalia from that of tho earliest 

 peat was of lar longer duration than that K^i the entire givwtli 

 of the peat. Yet we by no n\eans need the evidence of tho 

 ancient I'ossil fauna to establish tho antiquity of man in this 

 part of Franco. Tho more volume of tho drit\ at various 

 heights would alone suflice to demonstrate a vast lapse of 

 time during which such heaps of shingle, derived both iVom 

 the eooeno and the cretaceous rocks, were thrown down 

 in a succession o( rivor-chatincls. Wo observe thousands of 

 rounded and half-rounded liinis. ai\d a vast number of angular 

 ones, with rounded pieces of white chalk of various siies, 

 testifying to a prodigious amount of mechanical action, 

 accon\panyii\g tho ivpoatod widening and deepening of the 

 valley, botbre it became tho ivcoptaclo of peat; and tho^ po- 

 sition of many ot' tho llini tools leaves no doubt oii the mind 

 of the geologist that their fabrication proooded all this 

 ivitorated denudation. 



On the -16^rwlY of Munuin Bones in the Alluvium of tht 



iSommc, 



It is naturally a matter of no sn>all surprise that, after we 

 have oollocted many hundred tiint imj^lomonts (^including 

 knives, many thousands\ not a single human bono has yet 

 boon mot with in tho alluvial Siind and gravel of tho Sommo. 

 This dearth of iho mortal ivmains of our species holds true 



