76 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



on the inexorable and logical principle of 

 facts, which reminds us of Dr. Johnson's 

 severe remark before quoted respecting 

 Lord Monboddo's " Of a standing fact 

 there ought to be no controversy, sir ; if 

 there are men with tails, they hide them." 

 True, most learned doctor ; but inasmuch 

 as there are exceptions to every rule, so is it 

 here. There are some men who have tails 

 and do not hide them. Let the follow- 

 ing evidence decide whether such is the 

 truth or the reverse. Although you will 

 naturally be reminded of the old saying 

 that " travellers tell strange tales (? tails)," 

 it may be met by another of equal force 

 that " truth is stranger than fiction;" so 

 that on the balance of probabilities, the 

 caudal appendage possessed by some of 

 your early progenitors according to Dar- 

 win, has been retained by some of their 

 unfortunate descendants. The ancient 

 Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the learned 

 Greeks, prove by their monuments their 

 belief in the fact. In the Choragic monu- 

 ment of Lysicrates, on which the adventures 



