INVESTIGATION VERSUS PROPAGANDISM 315 



It appeared further that, while some of the relics were very 

 fragile and could only be supposed to have been moved by very 

 gentle processes — if moved at all after they reached their present 

 condition — most of such fragile material belonged to the lower layer 

 or to the more undisturbed portions of the upper layer, and so a 

 correlation between the condition of the layers and the condition of 

 their content was suggested. 



The question of possible transference was further affected by 

 finding relics of the same species as those to which the fragile speci- 

 mens belonged in a condition that could easily stand transporta- 

 tion. There remained, however, in some parts of the deposit 

 sufficient fragile material to indicate that it had not undergone more 

 than the most gentle handling since the fragile state was acquired. 

 Such cases, however, were largely in the lower layer and in the less 

 irregular parts of the upper layer. 



On the whole, this closer inspection of the deposits and their 

 fossil content seemed to strengthen the presumption that some of 

 the rehcs of the extinct animals were deposited in the lower layer 

 when that layer was taking on the form it now bears and that these 

 relics were not introduced by any subsequent process. 



The import of these observations had the effect of throwing 

 the stress of interpretation on the dividing tract between the two 

 layers and on the upper layer. The termination of deposition of 

 the upper part was definitely fixed at the year 19 13, when the 

 digging of the canal stopped the normal work of the creek. It 

 appeared that such bones of extinct vertebrates as were found in 

 this upper layer were much scattered; that their number was 

 small relative to the whole number in the original skeletons, 

 being commonly a few teeth, or a lower jaw, or one or two other 

 bones, which did not seem to exclude some reworking but rather 

 to imply it.^ 



In the Hght of this inquiry along physico-dy'namic lines, the 

 balance of evidence, taken all together, seemed to Dr. Chamberlin 

 to favor the reference of such portions of the creek deposits as 

 bear human relics to the later stage of filhng, since all observers 



' For specific details on these critical points see Symposium 2, Jour. GeoL, XXV 

 (October-November, 1917), 676-82. 



