Sept. 13, 1877] 



NATURE 



417 



hereditary station seem to have existed, for it was not 

 every person who was honoured by so large a cairn." 



The contents of the long-shaped barrows differed from 

 those of circular outline. The former contained neither 

 metals nor burnt bodies ; all the human skulls were long 

 or '•'boat-shap;d;" and the barrows seemed of higher 

 antiquity than the others. 



The neolithic and the bronze people had similar cus- 

 toms ; each disposed of their dead by cremation, as well 

 as by burying some of them entire and in a contracted 

 position ; each used polished stone celts, and jet and 

 amber ornaments ; each made coarse pottery, and orna- 

 mented it with the same rude designs ; and during each 

 period the skulls of some of the people were long and 

 narrow, whilst those of others were round. 



The evidence of infanticide, slaughter of slaves, and 

 cannibalism during the prehistoric ages is thought to be 

 too conclusive to admit of doubt. 



We must content ourselves with a brief mention of the 

 Palaeolithic " finds " described by the author. He first 

 found bones in 1870 in Windy Knoll quarry, near the 

 northern part of the mountain limestone of Derbyshire. 

 Aided by Mr. Tym he began systematic work there in 

 1S74, and Prof Boyd Dawkins joined them in 1S76. A 

 cavity in the rock — not a cavern — proved to be crammed 

 with remains of grizzly bear, wolf, fox, water-vole, shrew, 

 bat, bison, reindeer, roe deer, hare, and rabbit. Omit- 

 ting vas' numbers of mere fragments, there were more 

 than 3,500 bones and teeth of bison, of which a large 

 number were calves ; 1,200 specimens of reindeer, also 

 including calves, but in a lower ratio ; and sixty canine 

 teeth of grizzly bear — the only ursine species met with. 

 The remains varied much in their state of preservation, 

 but a very large number were perfect, and many were in 

 their proper relative positions. 



The history of the "find" was probably this: — "A 

 swampy place was resorted to by the migrating herds of 

 bison and reindeer. The overflow would escape into the 

 ' water-swallow ' hard by, a precipitous place into which 

 animals might and did fall." There was no trace of 

 mammoth, rhinoceros, hya;na, or man. 



A fissure in a mountain limestone quarry at the Staf- 

 fordshire village of Water-houses yielded, in 1864, 

 remains of mammoth, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros, 

 about twenty feet below the surface of a deposit of loam 

 and angular fragments of limestone, and containing a 

 number of quartz pebbles. In 1873 relics of bison, horse, 

 and wolf, were met with in a prolongation of the same 

 fissure, but at not quite so low a level. The bones were 

 probably all of them those of animals which had fallen in. 



Mr. Pennington has increased the value of his book 

 by giving an account of the Rev. Mr. Mello's discoveries 

 in the caverns of the Permian formation at Creswell 

 Crags, on the confines of Derby and Nottingham shires. 

 Mr. Mello began his researches in 1S75, and in 1876 an 

 exploring committee was formed, who have thoroughly 

 examined the Pin Hole, Church Hole, and Robin Hood 

 Caves. In the last the deposits were, ist, or uppermost, 

 soil containing Romano-British relics ; 2nd, breccia ; 3rd, 

 light-coloured " cave-earth ; " 4th, a mottled bed ; and 

 Sth, or lowest, red sand. Remains of extinct animals 

 occurred in the lowest three, and included Machalrodiis 

 latideiis, cave lion, leopard, wildcat, cavehysena, wolf, fox. 



Arctic fox, glutton, grizzly bear, brown bear, pole-cat, 

 water-vole, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, bison, 

 reindeer, great Irish deer, wild boar, and hare. We 

 observe, however, that Prof. Boyd Dawkins does not 

 mention the Arctic fox, or the glutton, or the wild boar as 

 amongst the " finds " (see Qmirt. Jouyji. Gcol. Soc, No. 

 ■31. PP- 590> 602). The remains of hyajna were very 

 numerous, and the condition of the older osseous relics 

 betokened that at least most of them had been introduced 

 by him. The author is of opinion that the fauna was 

 Arctic or north temperate. 



The lower deposits contained large numbers of broken 

 and chipped fragments of quartzite, which must have been 

 derived from a distance. Flint flakes occurred in hundreds, 

 and of all sizes and forms, in the upper layers, where 

 quartzite fragments were but few. Scrapers andjlance- 

 points were the commonest of the flint tools. Bone 

 implements were also met with, and included a needle and 

 a pin or lance-head, &c. There was also a sketch of a 

 horse on a piece of flit bone— the first, and, up to the 

 present time, the only example of palEeolitbic fine art 

 found in Britain. The explorers also met with a piece 

 of amber and bits of charcoal, and found reason to believe 

 that the hare was largely used as food. The amber does 

 not appear to be mentioned by Prof Dawkins. 



Our limited space forbids us to follow the author through 

 his interesting speculations on palajolithic anthropology ; 

 but we cannot help doubting whether the exploring com- 

 mittees of the caverns near Settle and Torquay will 

 endorse his opinion that "no caverns in this country 

 have furnished such a variety of evidence as to ancient 

 man and the animals which furnished him with food and 

 clothing " as those of Creswell Crags. Those of us who 

 at the close of the Plymouth meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation, visited the caverns at Brixham and Torquay, and 

 noted that they almost overhang the sea, cannot but 

 regard the author's proposition that "the paktolithic 

 cave dweller of England was an inlander " as being much 

 too sweeping. 



Finally, whilst perusing the volume which we now close 

 reluctantly, we have again and again caught ourselves 

 wishing that anthropologists would supply us with good 

 definitions of "savage" and "barbarian," and tell us 

 whether the words are to be used as synonyms. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Mathematical Questions, with their Solutions, from the I 

 '■'■Educational Times." Edited by W. J. C. Miller, 1 



B.A. Vol. xxvii. from January to June, 1877. (Lon- 

 don : C. F. Hodgson and Son.) 



Ju.ST fifteen years ago we became aware, by the chance 

 sight of a copy of the Educational Times, of the exist- 

 ence of a paper which gave up three or four pages 

 monthly to the proposal and solution of mathematical 

 questions. We at once sent to England, and a more 

 careful examination of the copy we received showed us 

 that it was a publication of very high merit, at least as 

 regarded this one department. Hitherto we had in the 

 main confined our mathematical reading to the usual rut 

 passed over by mathematical masters who have only to 

 do with the teaching of ordinary boys ; now we were in- 

 duced to join the, at that date, small band of contributors 

 who rallied round the mathematical editor and derived 

 much pleasure and profit from the study of the many 



