562 REPORT—1883. 
It will be borne in mind that the same paper was read the month before to the 
Geological Society. The Council of that body, being apparently unprepared to 
print in their Quarterly Journal the statements it contained, contented themselves 
with the following notice, given here in its entirety (op. cit. ili. 8353) :— 
“ On Kent's CAVERN near Torauay, by Epwarp Vivian, Esq.—In this paper 
an account was given of some recent researches in that cavern by a committee of 
the Torquay Natural History Society, during which the bones of various extinct 
species of animals were found in several situations.” 
It will be observed that the ‘flint knives’ were utterly ignored; a fact ren- 
dered the more significant. by the following announcement on the wrapper of the 
Journal: ‘The Editor of the Quarterly Journal is directed to make it known to 
the public that the authors alone are responsible for the facts and opinions con- 
tained in their respective papers.’ 
Such, briefly, were the principal researches in Kent's Cavern, at intervals from 
1825 to 1847. Their reception was by no means encouraging: Mr. MacEnery, 
after incurring very considerable expense, was under the necessity of abandoning 
the intention of publishing his Cavern Researches; Mr. Austen’s paper, though 
printed unabridged, was given to an apathetic unbelieving world, and was appar- 
ently without effect; and Mr. Vivian's paper, virtually the Report by a Committee 
of which he was a member, was cut down to four lines of a harmless unexciting 
character. 
For some years nothing occurred to break the quietude, which but for an 
unexpected discovery on the southern shore of Torbay would probably have 
remained to this day. 
Early in 1858, the workmen engaged in a limestone quarry on Windmill Hill, 
overhanging the fishing town of Brixham in South Devon, broke unexpectedly a 
hole through what proved to be the roof of an unknown and unsuspected cavern, 
I visited it very soon after the discovery, and secured to myself the refusal of a 
lease to include the right of exploration. As the story of this Cavern has been 
told at some length elsewhere (see Phil. Trans. clxiii. 471-572 ; or Trans. Devon. 
Assoc. vi. 775-856), it will here suffice to say that at the instance of the late Dr. 
H, Falconer, the eminent paleontologist, the subject was taken up very cordially 
by the Royal and Geological Societies of London, a Committee was gay tivn by 
the latter body, the exploration was placed under the superintendence of Mr. (now 
Professor) Prestwich and myself, and, being the only resident member of the 
Committee, the actual superintendence fell of necessity to me. 
The following facts connected with this Cavern were no doubt influential in 
leading to the decision to have it explored :— ‘ 
Ist. It was a virgin cave which had been hermetically sealed during an incal- 
culably long period, the last previous event in its history being the introduction of 
a Reindeer antler, found attached to the upper surface of the stalagmitic floor. It 
was therefore free from the objection urged sometimes against Kent’s Cavern, that, 
having been known from time immemorial, and, up to 1825, always open to all 
comers, it had, perhaps, been ransacked again and again. 
2nd. It was believed, and it proved, to be a comparatively very small cavern, 
so that its complete exploration was not likely to require a large expenditure of 
time or of money. 
It will be seen that the exploration was placed under circumstances much more 
likely to command attention than any of those which had preceded it. It was to 
be carried on under the auspices of the Royal and Geological Societies, by a Com- 
mittee consisting of Mr. S. H. Beckles, Mr. G. Busk, Rey. R. Everest, Dr. H. 
Falconer, Mr. Godwin-Austen, Sir C. Lyell, Professor Owen, Dr. J. Percy, Mr. J. 
Prestwich, Professor (now Sir A. C.) Ramsay, and myself—all Fellows of the 
Geological Society, and almost all of them of the Royal Society also. 
It was impossible not to feel, however, that the mode of exploration must be 
such as would not merely satisfy those actually engaged in the work, but such as 
would command for the results which might be obtained the acceptance of the 
scientific world generally. Hence I resolved to have nothing whatever to do with 
