ON PRIMITIVE MAN : I. HIS TIMES AND HIS COMPANIONS. 241 



carried into the ancient gravels bj the Indian miners of far 

 later date than that of the formation of the gravels, these 

 miners would have driven deep tunnels and sunk shafts in 

 them, seeking, as we know they did in this way, in that and 

 •other districts for the precious metals. It may, in addition, 

 be noted that Mr. Skertchley doubts the Pliocene age of the 

 gravels of the Sierra Nevada, and considers them to be 

 probably Pleistocene. 



As to M, Ameghino's discoveries of human remains in the 

 Pampas, in connection with the bones of an extinct fauna, it 

 is observed that it is impossible to correlate that strange 

 fauna with that of any known beds, and for all that is known 

 as yet, it may just as well be of Pleistocene as of Pliocene age. 



Here then we may leave the question as to man's existence 

 during the Tertiary period : as far as present evidence goes, 

 we can surely say this much, that that evidence is not clear 

 enough yet to compel our belief. M. Cartailhac, in his work, 

 La France prehistorique, 1889, says that he " has never 

 adopted the views of M. de Mortillet and other friends 

 respecting the bones of Monte Aperto, or the flints of Puy- 

 Courny," and he also states that careful study of the sites 

 where they were found, the discussion to which they gave 

 rise, and various other considerations have, by degrees, caused 

 him to abandon the favourable impression which he had at 

 first formed regarding the flints of Thenay and Otta. 



M. Reinach in his La Preliistorique, is also an opponent 

 of the believers in Tertiary man. He asks, " Have we any 

 certain traces of the existence of an intelligent being in the 

 Tertiary period?" and he replies, "We think the answer must 

 be No, in spite of the numerous alleged discoveries. Not 

 one," he says, " is of such a nature as to carry conviction to 

 an impartial mind." He agrees with M. Arcelin with regard to 

 the much vaunted Thenay flints, and brings forward four 

 objections to then' authenticity : first, their occurrence in a 

 bed of water-worn flints between which and themselves it is 

 impossible to make a distinction ; secondly, a calcined flint is 

 unfitted for any purpose; thirdly, atmospheric, chemical, 

 thermal, and geological agencies are sufficient to explain all 

 the appearances of workmanship, splitting, and calcination ; 

 and lastly, he says, they are too small to have served any 

 useful purpose. This last objection may, however, be passed 

 over, as very diminutive worked flints have been found in 

 India and elsev/here, whatever may have been the use to 

 which they v/erc put. M. de Mortillet has suggested that the 



