88 HUMAN BONES, ETC. 



formed in a few years from sand-banks composed of similar 

 materials, on the shores of tropical seas. 



Frequent discoveries have also been made of human bones, 

 and rude works of art, in natural caverns, sometimes en- 

 closed in stalactite, at other times in beds of earthy mate- 

 rials, which are interspersed with bones of extinct species 

 of quadrupeds. These cases may likewise be explained by 

 the common practice of mankind in all ages, to bury their 

 dead in such convenient repositories. The accidental cir- 

 cumstance that many caverns contained the bones of ex- 

 tinct species of other animals, dispersed through the same 

 soil in which human bodies may, at any subsequent period 

 have been buried, afibrds no proof of the time when these 

 remains of men were introduced. 



Many of these caverns have been inhabited by savage 

 tribes, who, for convenience of occupation, have repeatedly 

 disturbed portions of soil in which their predecessors may 

 have been buried. Such disturbances will explain the oc- 

 casional admixture of fragments of human skeletons, and 

 the bones of modern quadrupeds, with those of extinct spe- 

 cies, introduced at more early periods, and by natural 

 causes. 



Several accounts have been putlished within the last few 

 years of human remains discovered in the caverns of France, 

 and the province of Liege, which are described as being of 

 the same antiquity with the bones of Hyrenas, and other ex- 

 tinct quadrupeds, that accompany them. Most of these may 

 probably admit of explanation by reference to the causes 

 just enumerated. In the case of caverns which form the 

 channels of subterranean rivers, or which are subject to oc- 

 casional inundations, another cause of the admixture of hu- 

 man bones, with the remains of animals of more ancient 

 date, may be found in the movements occasioned by running 

 water.* 



* since this work was in the press, the author has seen at Li^ge the 



