A STUDY OF PREillSTOKlC ANTHROPOLOGY. 605 



By all means do not seek to clean the specimens by scraping or wash- 

 ing, nor even by brushing. The archajologic value of the Calaveras 

 skull was destroyed by this means. 



These objects may be sought for in the clays and gravels of the 

 Washington Columbia formation, in the phosphate beds of South 

 Carolina, the coral beds in the lagoons of Florida, and the equus beds 

 of Texas and Mexico. It is the contention of some geologists, though 

 disputed by others, that the auriferous gravels of California also be- 

 long to the tertiary formation. 



THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD. 



The paleolithic period of the stone age has been subdivided into vari- 

 ous epochs, though in these subdivisions and their nomenclature the 

 scientists of Europe are by no means agreed. M. Lartet named the 

 epochs after the animals which have been found associated with the 

 implements and called them, respectively, the epochs of the cave bear, 

 the mammoth, and the reindeer. MonsieurDupont, of Belgium, divided 

 it only into two and named the epochs after the mammoth and the 

 reindeer. M. de Mortillet has divided it into four epochs and has 

 named them, respectively, the Chellian, after the station of Chelles, a 

 few miles east of Paris ; the MoustiiBrian, after the cavern of Moustier 

 on the river Vezere, Dordogne; the Solutian, after the cavern of Solu- 

 tre near Macon ', and the Madelenian, after the cavern or rock shelter 

 of La Madeleine, Dordogue. 



In later days the tendency seems to be to divide them otherwise. 

 M. Cartailhac, M. Keinach, following Mr. John Evans, are in favor of 

 the first period being called that of the alluvium and the second that 

 of the caverns. All these gentlemen are, however, unanimous in their 

 agreement that this jieriod and all these epochs, whatever they are to 

 be called, belong to the quartenary geologic period ; that they were 

 earlier than the, present geologic period, and that they came to an end 

 before its commencement. The most certain, and therefore to me the 

 most satisfactory division, has been that of M. de Mortillet, named 

 after the various localities where the respective implements have been 

 found in their greatest purity. I give my preference to it, but do so 

 subject to the correction incident to further discovery. If for no other 

 reason it is more convenient. The names given are for localities and, 

 consequently, are purely arbitrary. They may not, perhaps, serve for 

 general terms over the world, but within their own locality they have 

 a definite and certain meaning, while to say the epoch of alluvium, 

 the epoch of caverns, the epoch of the drift, or the epoch of the mam- 

 moth, bear, reindeer, etc., might have an application in other coun- 

 tries which would deceive the student or reader. The names of Chel- 

 lian, Moustierian, etc., have no such application, are not possible to be 

 applied to other countries. They mean, then, just one kind of civiliza- 

 tion, one kind of implement, and thus we know what is meant when 



