THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 207 



Period, for it is still true, as Sollas states (p. 69) : 

 " On the important question of man's first arrival 

 on this planet we may for the present possess our 

 minds in peace, not a trace of unquestionable 

 evidence of his existence having been found in 

 strata admittedly older than the Pleistocene." 

 Hence it becomes of interest to make the attempt 

 to place these different races in their proper re- 

 lationship to the various epochs which have been 

 assigned to the Ice Age. This can only be done 

 by the consideration of a number of different 

 arguments which cannot be more than indicated 

 here, but amongst which the most important is 

 the character of the animal and to a less extent 

 vegetable remains found in connection with those 

 of human character, whether skeletal or imple- 

 ments, such giving important indications as to 

 the kind of climate which existed at the period 

 to which the implements and other relics 

 belong. 



Though there are differences of opinion on 

 this point, the general view is that there were, 

 during the Ice Age, four periods of intense glaci- 

 ation, with three milder intervals, and succeeded 

 by a fourth mild period, namely, the present and 

 recent epoch. Various names have been given to 

 these periods, and the following table will exhibit 

 the classification of Geikie (pp. 248 seq.), associ- 

 ated with which is the Alpine classification of 

 Penck and Bruckner (P.). The relation of human 

 races, according to Geikie (G.) and Hoernes (H., 

 see p. 8 for his classification), to the various periods 

 at least illustrates the differences of opinion which 



