VARIATION AS A TEST OF ANTIQUITY. 289 



In this way we cany the antiquity of man high as it 

 may be in Europe to a still higher antiquity in the other 

 continents of the Old "World, and which must be geo- 

 logically investigated before any definite conclusion can 

 be arrived at either as regards time or developmental 

 descent.* The European men of the Bovine and Rein- 

 deer periods evidently belonged to the white or Caucasian 

 variety, but we have no certain evidence whether the 

 Abbeville flint-fashioners were of Caucasian, Mongolian, or 

 other variety. To whatever variety they belonged, they 

 were clearly of a date immediately post-glacial; though, 

 could it be shown by craniology that they were of other type 

 than the Caucasian, it would in our opinion be further proof 

 of their high antiquity. If we are to pursue the subject 

 of man's antiquity in Africa or Asia, this question of type 

 must constitute one of the main elements of determination, 

 for it would be outraging every principle in science to ap- 

 ply the test of variation and development to the other 

 orders of life, and shrink from applying it in the solitary 

 instance of man. Where we can prove by archaeological 

 means a high antiquity for man, let us adopt them ; where 

 we can show the same result by geological methods, let us 

 not neglect them ; but at the same time let us also value 

 those palaeontological doctrines of progression and develop- 

 ment which have thrown so much light on the order and 

 connection of vitality in general. If there be such a law of 

 progression, man must be as amenable to it as the rest of 

 creation, and whatever variation occurs in his race must be 

 taken, along with other elements, as a measure of time and 

 duration. We are aware that many geologists shrink from 



* Since the above was written, we observe that implements of quartzite 

 have been discovered in the lateritic formation of Madras by Messrs Foote 

 and King of the Indian Geological Survey, thus opening the way to this 

 new and much desiderated line of evidence. 



