474 Revieics — Hoivorth's Mammoth and the Flood. 



Even when such terms as Silurian, Jurassic, and Cretaceous are em- 

 ployed in all quarters of the globe, it must not be inferred that the^ 

 periods embraced can be limited in the same way as they are in this 

 country. With the later epochs of Pleistocene and Recent, it is 

 possible, however, to speak more confidently, though in a general 

 way, of contemporaneous forms of life. 



Mr. Howorth candidly dismisses the first chapter of Genesis as 

 " absolutely valueless in geological discussion " ; but, granting this 

 to be the case, he adds, " there is no reason M^hatever why sub- 

 sequent chapters which profess to report, not how things arose before 

 man appeared, but the traditions of man himself, should be 

 discarded." Thus approachiug his subject, the author continues, 

 " To speak more definitely, the Flood, as reported in the Bible, is 

 undoubtedly a very old tradition, it is in correspondence with similar 

 traditions among widely separated peoples, hehoeen ivhoni there has 

 been no intercourse, so far as ive knoio, at least since the first dawn of 

 history. These traditions general]}^ agree in placing a great cata- 

 strophe, involving widespread destruction to animal life, at the verge 

 of human memory. Such widespread and continuous traditions 

 need explanation." At the outset we are disposed to question the 

 value of the traditional evidence, so far as it suggests " a deluge 

 apparently unparalleled in extent and completeness in any other 

 geological period " : for the words we have placed in italics indicate 

 a flaw in that evidence, as the ideas held by the various peoples may 

 have been transmitted from one independent source, and not have 

 originated simultaneously all the world over. Be this as it may, the 

 main object of the work before us is to bring forward facts to prove 

 that a very great cataclysm or catastroj)he occurred at the close of 

 the Mammoth period, by which that animal with its companions, 

 were overwhelmed over a vei'y large part of the Earth's surface ; that 

 this catastrophe constitutes the gap which is almost universally 

 admitted to exist in Northern Europe between so-called Palaeolithic 

 and Neolithic man ; and that while this flood was exceedingly wide- 

 sj)read, considerable areas escaped, and from these insular areas man, 

 animals, and plants spread out again and reoccupied those districts 

 which had been desolated. 



We may pass over those portions of the work that deal with the 

 etymology of the word Mammoth and its identity with Behemoth ; 

 or that review the old records of fabulous beasts and giants, based 

 on the discoveries of huge bones. These accounts, together with 

 the speculations on the origin of the bones, furnish a good deal of 

 interesting matter. 



The author is evidently quite " at home " with " the Mammoth in 

 Siberia," and he gives full and instructive accounts of the discoveries 

 of bones and frozen carcases ("Mammoth Mummies") ; of the trade 

 in fossil ivory ; and of the physical features of the land. The larger 

 portion of Northern Siberia, as is well known, consists of flat tracts, 

 known as tundras, upon which few if any trees will grow. The 

 areas are covered with moss, and they are swept by icy winds. The 

 ground is in parts frozen to a depth estimated at 630 feet, although, 



