ON KENT S CAVERN, DEVONSHIRE. 17 



what he conjectured to be a favourable spot, he found several teeth and 

 bones. He thus describes his feelings on the occasion : — " They -were the 

 first fossil teeth I had ever seen, and as I laid my hand on these relics of 

 extinct races, and witnesses of an order of things which passed away with 

 them, I shrank back involuntarily ; though not insensible to the excitement 

 attending new discoveries, I am not ashamed to own, that in the presence of 

 these remains I felt more of awe than joy." He at once communicated his 

 discovery to Dr. Euckland, and with great energy followed up his " good 

 fortune " for several years. So far as can be ascertained from his memoranda, 

 the date of his latest visit was August 14th, 1S29. 



Though he at one time intended to publish a narrative of his labours and 

 discoveries, and had made arrangements for the requisite illustrations, the 

 intention was unfortunately abandoned. After his decease, it was feared 

 that his manuscripts had been destroyed or lost ; but after experiencing a 

 variety of fortune they passed into the hands of Mr. Vivian of Torquay, who 

 from them compiled a Memoir which was published in 1859*. 



In 1840, Mr. Godwin- Austen read a paper before the Geological Society 

 of London, on the " Bone Caves of Devonshire," when he described the results 

 of his investigations in Kent's Hole. 



In 1846, the Torquay Natural History Society appointed a Committee to 

 conduct an exploration of a small portion of the cavern. Though their object 

 was mainly to obtain specimens for the Society's Museum, very careful atten- 

 tion was given to the positions and associations of all the articles found. A 

 paper embodying the results of this investigation was drawn up by Mr. 

 Vivian, a member of the Committee, and read in 1847 before the Geological 

 Society of London. A mention of this communication appeared in the 3rd 

 volume of the Quarterly Journal of the Society. 



Though it may be doubted, perhaps, whether any of the foregoing explora- 

 tions were conducted with that rigid observance of method which is now held 

 to be necessary, all the explorers are unanimous in stating that they found 

 flint " implements " mixed up with the remains of extinct animals. 



In 1858, the results of the systematic and careful exploration of Brixham 

 Cavern, on the opposite shore of Torbay, induced the scientific world to sus- 

 pect that the alleged discoveries which, from time to time during a quarter 

 of a century, had been reported from Kent's Hole, might, after all, be en- 

 titled to a place amongst the verities of science ; and from that time various 

 proposals for further investigations have been made. As is well known, 

 these suggestions took a definite form at the last Meeting of this Association, 

 when a liberal grant of money was made, and a Committee was appointed 

 for the purpose of further exploration. It is the object of this communica- 

 tion to state what up to this time the results have been, so far as they are at 

 present determined. 



The Committee have great pleasure in stating that, in reply to their appli- 

 cation for permission to make the proposed investigation, the proprietor, Sir 

 L. Palk, Bart., M.P., assured them most promptly that it would " give him 

 great pleasure to place every facility in their hands." He placed the cavern 

 in their exclusive custody, and suggested the most satisfactory arrangement 

 for the ultimate disposal of such objects of interest as might be found. 



Though large portions of the deposits were broken up by Mr. M'Enery 



and his successors, there is still within the cavern a very considerable amount 



of virgin ground. The Committee, however, were desirous of selecting an 



area in which not only were the deposits certainly intact, but which would 



* Cavern Kesearches. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1851?, 



1865. c 



