246 FOSSIL MEN. 



deposit the flint, gravel, and stones found in the terraces 

 of its sides, not only may the time required be counted 

 by tens or hundreds of thousands of years, but it may 

 be said to be practically infinite ; for no geologist, 

 acquainted with the facts, and with the nature of river 

 erosion, could affirm that the present river would ever 

 produce such results. They require, in short, the ope- 

 ration of much more powerful forces, and whatever 

 we assume these to have been, whether fluviatile, dilu- 

 vial, or partly marine, they must have operated in a 

 comparatively short time. 



Such illustrations might be indefinitely extended. 

 In short, the great difficulty of dealing with this sub- 

 ject consists in the immensity of the mass of imper- 

 fectly observed facts and crude reasonings that have 

 accumulated with reference to it, and which become 

 positively wearisome in their discussion. The above 

 examples are sufficient to show their nature. 



I conclude, then, that there is no adequate geological 

 reason for attributing the so-called " Neolithic " men 

 to any time older than that of the early Eastern em- 

 pires, or say 2,000 or 3,000 years before Christ, and 

 that the time required for the Palaeolithic men need 

 not be more than twenty or thirty centuries additional. 

 What evidence the future may bring forth I do not 

 know, but that available at present points to the ap- 

 pearance of man, with all his powers and properties, in 

 the Post-glacial age of geology, and not more than 

 from 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. This abrupt appear- 

 ance of man in his full perfection, his association with 



