Primitive Maji. 47 



was anterior to the cataclysm to which the deposit owed its 

 formation. In this case there was no possibility of doubt. 

 Diluvian deposits do not, like peat bogs, present an elastic 

 and penetrable mass" (i.e. a mass into which objects could 

 have been forced by various external agencies), <'nor do they, 

 like the bone-caves, present a gaping chasm, into which 

 objects might have been thrown by torrents, or into which 

 they might have been conveyed by men or animals, but, on 

 the contrary, each period is sharply defined. The layers 

 are disposed horizontally, the strata differ in color and sub- 

 stance. If this work of human hands has remained there 

 from the first, as irremovable as the bed itself, then it had 

 a prior existence, and these rude stones, in all their imper- 

 fections, prove the existence of man no less surely than 

 such a building as the Louvre itself could have done." 

 This was evidently a true scientific induction, inferred in 

 accordance with the well recognized scientific formula that 

 the opposite of the proposition cannot be conceived as 

 true. 



The question as to the age of the diluvium itself makes 

 it necessary for us to turn a few leaves of the geological 

 record. As set forth in the subjoined table,* the periods 

 with Avhich we have to deal are of the Tertiary and Quater- 

 nary epochs, these having been preceded by the immensely 

 long eras of the Primary and Secondary, in which it is not 

 claimed that any traces of man's existence have been dis- 

 covered. 



Considering now the question as to the possible or prob- 

 able existence of man in the several epochs of the Tertiary, 

 it is agreed that no traces of human remains or human 

 workmanship are discoverable in the earliest, i.e. the 

 Eocene. The mere absence of human remains does not, 

 however, conclude the question, for such are but rarely 

 found in the long subsequent Pleistocene strata, whence, 

 at the same time, thousands of flint implements have been 

 excavated. But the argument from the character of the 

 fauna of the period militates strongly against the prob- 

 ability of man's existence. Giving here the conclusions as 

 summarized by Prof. Fiske in his interesting essay on 

 "Europe before the Arrival of Man," we note the first 

 appearance, in the Eocene, of the placental mammals, fol- 

 lowing the marsupials of the earlier periods, of which 



* See next page. 



