120 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



appeared, " having melted," as Professor 

 Tyndall has quaintly phrased it, " into the 

 infinite azure of the past." 



Hence Sir John Lubbock was venture- 

 some enough to declare that the science 

 of his time had made such surprising pro- 

 gress, that he was enabled to " see at a 

 glance that the stripes of a tiger have 

 reference to its life among jungle grasses ; 

 that the lion is sandy like the desert; while 

 the markings of the leopard resemble spots 

 of sunshine glancing through the leaves ! " 



I am inclined to think that the British 

 Association of 1881 must have fallen to a 

 very low ebb from its original formation 

 half a century before, when its President 

 could have adopted such wild reasons, and 

 such almost ludicrous speculations to ac- 

 count for the stripes of the tiger or for the 

 colour of the lion's skin ! Sir John Lubbock 

 might have as well argued that the skin of 

 cattle and sheep ought to be green, since 

 they are always feeding on grass ; or you 

 may ask why he hesitated to describe 

 the remarkable scenery, which a similar 



