. 



[12] 



rhinoceros, lion, and hyena, none of which existed in the later Pleisto- 

 cene era ; but there have been no perfect skeletons found here like 

 those in France. Human bones, however, have been discovered in 

 various deposits, together with the skeletons of long-extinct animals. 

 The best British human fossil is the portion of an upper jaw containing 

 four teeth, from Kent's Cavern. Hermetically sealed in stalagmite, 

 deposited on the floor of the cavern by water dropping from the roof, 

 this jaw lay below the remains of extinct mammals ; while beneath all 

 were bone and stone implements of human workmanship, equally 

 firmly fixed in a natural limestone cement. Geology fixes the date of 

 troglodyte at the early Palaeolithic period, and it is beyond doubt 

 that man existed at this remote period, or even earlier, on the earth, for 

 - a numan skull was found in the delta of the Mississippi beneath four 

 different layers of forest growth, which must have formed part of a living 

 human being 50,000 years since. The celebrated Neanderthal skull, 



of which so much has been heard, certainly belongs to the mammoth 

 age, if not earlier; and, if it represent a race, and not merely an 

 individual, that race would lie in a position intermediate between the 

 lowest man and the highest ape. It may only represent a man of 

 peculiar formation, as we often see men in the present day deformed or 

 of eccentric build ; and, therefore, we cannot look upon it positively 

 as the " missing link." One other similar find, however, would for 

 ever settle the question, and proclaim to the world that the " missing 

 link " was, at last, found. In capacity, the cranium is human, while the 

 superciliary arches and the brow are distinctly ape-like. Professor 

 Huxley sums up his examination of this skull with the remark that 

 " the Neanderthal skull is, of human remains, that which presents the 

 most marked and definite characters of a lower type." 



Following the Palaeolithic era, or rude stone age, is the Neolithic, 

 or new stone, age ; and now we find man using polished weapons, 

 making pottery, using fire to warm himself with, and developing 

 social manners. Instead of living in caves, he lived in lake dwellings, 

 with others of his species, and gradually developed agricultural tastes. 

 This metamorphosis, we know from the fossil remains found deposited 

 in various strata, occupied a long period of time, probably thousands 

 of years ; and even then we are left thousands of years before the 

 historical era, which followed the bronze and iron ages. Compare 

 these men with those who lived in the Grecian and Egyptian eras, and 

 again compare these latter with ourselves, and the record is one of 



