jm.J LIFE IN ST. ANDREWS. 419 



manent disability, which a complete remission of such 

 symptoms for a good many years had enabled me in a 

 measure to shake off. It is ascribed to a very moderate 

 exertion which I made on one of the late warm days, 

 to which in this country we are strangely unaccustomed. 

 We have not had any heat to speak of here since 1857 

 until now. I am afraid Dr. Irvine at least will never give 

 his consent to my venturing on the Continent in summer, 

 which I had ever looked forward to.' 



To A. WILLS, ESQ. 



' PITLOCHRIE, July 13^, 1863. 



' . . . Mrs. Forbes and I spent most of the month of 

 May at St. Andrews, I being engaged in writing an 

 article on " The Antiquity of Man," which, if you are 

 curious about it, you may see in the forthcoming Edin- 

 burgh. It was not volunteered on my part, and, in fact, 

 cost me a great deal of study. It is rather unfortunate 

 that the singular story or cause cSlebre as it has been 

 called of the human jaw of Abbeville was developed 

 after the article was in great part written, and new facts 

 or rather assertions kept pouring in up to the final 

 correction of the last proofs. There is perhaps in conse- 

 quence some want of homogeneity in the article. My 

 own belief from the first was favourable to the genuine- 

 ness of the relic, as I confess it is still ; but I am assured 

 that the oral traditions of the Geological Society of 

 London are now decidedly contrary, and the editor, as 

 he was quite entitled to do, made some modifications at 

 the very last moment. I do not know whether you have 

 nded to the question ; but the fact, admitted on all 

 hands, that many genuine flint weapons have been found 

 in the sand formation with elephantine remains seems to 

 make it a matter of comparative indifference whether the 

 human jaw found in similar circumstances was genuine 

 or not, so far as any scientific argument is concerned ; 

 and consequently the excessive anxiety displayed to 

 elude the admission seems to me to show a very need- 

 less scepticism. However, probably all this concerns you 



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