NATURE 



[May 30, 1872 



of three feet, in the midst of which were shirp splinters of 

 flint, and a thick mass of briil<en and split bones, and the 

 shattered skulls and jaw bones of a heterogeneous 

 mass of animals of all kinds. In the lowest layer 

 no trace of men, cither by their remains or by their 

 handiwork, could be found, all the remains consisted 

 of bones of animals, chiefly the cave bear, hyaena, 

 and lion. These cave-dwelling animals appear to 

 have been the first and earliest possessors of the cave. 

 But soon after this men must have discovered the cave 

 and inhabited it, for from this layer up to the newest layer 

 of. ill the presence of man is clearly shown, and the re- 

 mains of their feasts and of their daily life are mingle i 

 with those of the previously-named anim.als. The most 

 numerous remains consist of flints of which many thousand 

 were found, but these do not appear to have been used as 

 implements, but come rather under the category of fliot- 

 flakes, the chippings from knives, saws, lances, &c. Tlic 

 most perfect one found is three inches long, and half-an- 

 inch wide, and is toothed like a saw, and was probably 

 used as such to saw off the ends of the deer's horns, of 

 which quantities were found. 



In order to judge the age in which men began to in- 

 habit this cave, we must examine the remains of the 

 bones and skeletons of the animals which they hunted, 

 and whose flesh was eaten in the cave. The most con- 

 spicuous amongst these is the cave bear, and although it 

 might at first sight appear very difiicult to recognise in 

 the broken and burnt bits of bone that they really do 

 belong to the cave bear, nevertheless, careful comparison 

 with specimens in museums has proved that this is the 

 case. Every care seems to have been made to utilise to 

 tlic utmost all parts of this animal, which was apparently 

 the most important game in the surrounding forests, and 

 which no doubt required much labour and time to 

 capture. At the same time, together with the bones of the 

 cave bear are found bones of the elephant and of the 

 rhinoceros, but not many in comparison. These remains, 

 however, show conclusively, by the ^way in which they 

 have been split up and broken, that man hunted these 

 animals at the time he first appears on the scene. Re- 

 miins of horses, oxen, cats, and wolves were also met 

 with, and in proof that the early inhabitants were not un- 

 mindful of fish, there are the bones and scales of large 

 pike and carp. The smaller banes of mice and frogs do 

 not appear to owe their origin so much to man as to the 

 owls which seem to have held possession of the cave as 

 well. 



Great interest attaches to the fragments of pottery 

 which were found in the cave, and which rival the ilint 

 flakes in quantity. It appears to have been all hand 

 made, but although rough, shows considerable beauty of 

 shape and form. It is possible to put together from the 

 fragments one or two more or less complete vessels, 

 which, however, show great diversity as to sizj, &c., so.ue 

 being between 10 and 20 centimetres in diameter. The 

 material of which they are made appears to be clay 

 mixed with sand, but few, if any, seem to have been 

 regularly burnt. Much of the pottery is ornamented with 

 lines or rows of dots, which run in zigzag lines over the 

 wider parts. The internal smoothness would appear to 

 be due to the river mussel, Unio, obtained from the River 

 Naab which flows close by, and of which many well 

 rubbed and polished specimens were found in the cave. 

 A block of granite with one side rubbed smooth, and by 

 long usage appearing quite polished, can hardly be any- 

 thing else than a well-worn millstone, and this is rendered 

 more probable by two holes having been bored into the 

 upper side as if for the purpose of affixing a handle. 

 The presence of this mdlstone would indicate the cultiva- 

 tion of land in the immediate neighbourhood, which is 

 confinned by the finding of sever.al spindles made of 

 clay. 



The different objects found in this cave are of great 



interest, as they apparently run counter to the somewhat 

 hard and fast lines which have been drawn as to different 

 well marked periods in the early history of man. 



r//E PARIS SIEGE BALLOONS 



"T^HE lessons learnt at Paris in regard to balloon navi- 

 ^ gation will be of great value in any future employ- 

 ment of aerial machines, and the statistics which have 

 now been collected and published are well worthy of a 

 brief notice. As many as sixty-four balloons, it appears, 

 actually started from Paris in good order, with a.persoi!iiel 

 of 161, and with something like three million letters. The 

 first ascent was made on the 23rd of September, 1870, by 

 M. Duruof with safety, and the fifth balloon carried in it 

 Gambetta, who arrived without accident at Amiens after 

 a voyage of four hours. M. Janssen, whom, it will be 

 remembered, was desirous of watching the approaching 

 eclipse in the south of Europe, left Paris with all his in- 

 struments complete in the balloon Volta, on the 2nd of 

 December, landing at Savenay (Loire Inferieure) after a 

 journey of five hours and a half One of the later voyages 

 was made with two cases of dynamite, to be dropped and 

 exploded at a seasonable moment ; but fortunately for the 

 enemy no such opportunity presented itself. The last 

 balloon left Paris on the 2Sth of January, 1S71. 



Of these sixty-four balloons only seven were unsuc- 

 cessful in fulfilling their purpose, two of the machines 

 being utterly lost at sea ; while five were captured by the 

 enemy. As many as sixteen actually fell within the 

 hostile lines ; but the aeronauts were in most cases too 

 quick for their pursuers, and managed to escape. Indeed, 

 of the five actually taken only three were re-aliy captured 

 by the enemy's forces, the other two falling in fact upon 

 German soil, namely, in Prussia and Bavaria. The most 

 interesting voyage was certainly that of M. RoUier, who 

 travelled safely from Paris to Christiania in fourteen hours, 

 after a journey across the North .Sea of nearly twelve 

 hours. Of the two lost at sea, one was observed to go 

 down by some sailors at Rochelle ; while of the other 

 nothing certain is known. 



The regularity with which the balloon service was con- 

 ducted during the winter of 1S70 under grave disadvan- 

 tages will be remembered by all who studied the daily 

 newspapers at that period, the news from the French 

 Capital never being interrupted for rnore than three or 

 four days together. Most of the aerial machines contained 

 2,000 cubic metres of gas, and one of them consisted of 

 twin spheres tethsred together ; they were usually started 

 from the Orleans or North railway stations at nightfall, 

 so that they might escape the vigilance of the German 

 troops posted round the city. Besides a freight of letters 

 the majority carried baskets of pigeons, and in five cases 

 dogs, destined to return with news to the beleagured city ; 

 how well the pigeon-post itself was organised may be 

 gathered from the fact that fifty thousand inessages were 

 sent into Paris by its means alone. 



Some attempts were made by MM. Tissandier Freres to 

 return to Paris by means of aerial machines impelled by 

 favourable winds ; but two successive essays made from 

 Rouen on the 8th and gth of November were quite fruit- 

 less. M. Jules Godard, the aeronaut, and i\l. Nadarwere 

 the principal agents in organising the balloon service. 



NOTES 



At the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 held on Monday last, the Royal medals for the encouragement 

 of geographical science and discovery were presented. The 

 Founder's Medal was given to Sir W. Baker for Colonel Henry 

 Yule, C. B., in recognition of the eminent services he has ren- 



