October 20, 18S3 ] 



SCIENCE. 



5fi3 



>rr. M.icKnerv inteiidpil to piiUUsli liis ' Civorii 

 researches' in one volnme qn.irlo, illnstrateil with 

 thirty plates. In what appears to have heen Iiis 

 second prospectus, nnfortunately not dateil, lie said, 

 "The limited circulation of works of this nature 

 Deing by no means equ.al to the expenses attendant 

 on the execution of so large a series [of jilates], the 

 author is obliged to depart from his original plan, 

 and to solicit the support of those who may feel an 

 interest in the result of his researches." 



There is reason to believe that at least twenty-one 

 of the plates were ready, and that the rough copy of 

 much of his manuscript was written, but thai, the 

 support he solicited not being forthcoming, the idea 

 of publishing had to he abandoned (see Trans. 

 Devon, anxoc, iii. 198-201). 



In 1840 Mr. R. A. C. Austen, F.6.S. (now Godwin- 

 Austen), read to the Geological society of London 

 a paper on the bone-caves of Devonshire, which, 

 with some amplifications, was incorporated in his 

 memoir on the geology of the south-east of Devon- 

 shire, printed in the transactions of the society in 

 1842 (2d ser. vi. 4?>.S-480). Speaking of his own re- 

 searches in Kent's Cavern, he said, " Iluman re- 

 mains, and works of art, sueli as arrow-heads and 

 knives of flint, occur in all parts of the cave, and 

 throughout the entire thickness of the clay; and no 

 distinction founded on condition, distribution, or rela- 

 tive position, can be observed whereby the human can 

 be separated from the other reliquiae '' ( Ihid., p. 444). 

 Ho .ad<leil, " My own researches were constantly 

 conducted in parts of the cave which had never been 

 disturbed, and in every instance the bones were pro- 

 cured from beneath a thick covering of stalagmite. 

 So far, then, the bones and works of man must have 

 been introduced into the cave before the flooring of 

 stalagmite had been formed" {Ilnil., p. 44G). 



Though these important and emphatic statements 

 were so fortunate as to be committed to the safe 

 keeping of jirint with but little delay, and under the 

 most favorable circumstances, they appear neither 

 to have excited any interest, nor, indeed, to have re- 

 ceived much, it any, attention. 



In lS4('p the Torquay natural history society ap- 

 pointed a committee, consisting of Dr. Battersby, 

 Mr. Vivian, and myself, — all tolerably familiar with 

 the statements of Mr. MaoEnory and Mr. Austen, — 

 to make a few diggings in Kent's Cavern for the 

 purpose of obtaining specimens for their museum. 

 The work, though more or less desultory and unsys- 

 tematic, was by no means carelessly done; and the 

 committee were unanimously and perfectly satisfied 

 that the objects they met with had been deposited 

 at the same time as the matrix in which they were 

 inhumed. At the close of their investigation they 

 drew up a report, which was printed in the Torquay 

 directory for Nov. ti, 1840 (see Trans. Devon, a-i-ioc, 

 X lt)2). Its substance, embodied in a paper by Mr. 

 Vivian, was read to the Geological .society of London 

 on May 12, 1847, as well as to the British associa- 

 tion In the succeeding June; and the following ab- 

 stract was priiitcil in the Report of the association 

 for that year (p. 701 : — 



" The Important point that wp have establlshoil Is, 

 that relics of human art are found henralli the un- 

 broken floor of stalagmite. After taking every pre- 

 caution by sweeping the surface, and examining 

 most minutely whether there were any traces of the 

 floor having been previously disturl)Pd. we broke 

 tlirough the solid stalagmite in three different parts 

 of the cavern, and in each instance found flint knives. 

 ... In the spot where the most highly finished 

 specimen was found, the passage was so low that it 

 was extremely ditticult, with quarrymen's tools and 

 good workmen, to break through the crust; and the 

 supposition that it had been previously disturbed is 

 impossible." 



It will be borne In mind that the same paper was 

 read the month before to the Geological society. The 

 council of th.at bodj', being apparently unprepared 

 to print in their Qunrierly journal the statements it 

 contained, contented themselves with the following 

 notice, given here in its entirety (Op. cU., ill. 353) : — 

 " 'On Kent's Cavern, near Torquay,' by Mr. Ed- 

 ward Vivian. — In this paper an account was given 

 of some recent researches in that cavern by a com- 

 mittee of the Torquay natural history societv, during 

 which the bones of various extinct species of anim.als 

 were found In several situations." 



It will be observed that the 'flint knives' were 

 utterly ignoreil. — a fact rendered the more signifi- 

 cant by the following announcement on the wrap- 

 per 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 contained In their respective papers." 



Such, briefly, were the principal researches in 

 Kent's Cavern, at intervals from 182.') to 1847. Their 

 reception was by no means encouraging: Mr. Mac- 

 Enery, 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 apparently 

 without effect; and Mr. Vivian's paper, virtually 

 the report by a committee of which he was a mem- 

 ber, was cut down to four lines of a harmless, unex- 

 citing char.acter. 



For some years nothing occurred to break the 

 quietude, which, but for an unexpected <llscovery on 

 the southern shore of Torbay, would probably have 

 remained to this day. 



Early in 18.")8 the workmen engaged in a limestone- 

 qnarry on Windmill Hill, overhanging the fishing 

 town of Brixham in South Devon, broke unexpect- 

 edly a hole through what proved to be the roof of an 

 unknown and imsuspected cavern. I visited It very 

 soon after the discovery, and secnred 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. Iran.i., clxiii. 471-572; or 

 Trans. Devon, oxhoc, vi. 775-8.50), it will here suffice 

 to say, that at the instance of the late Dr. H. Fal- 

 coner, the eminent paleontologist, the subject was 

 taken up very cordially by the Royal and geological 

 societies of London, a committee was appointed by 



