134 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 630 



depth, he and his companion, the son of 

 Berthoumeyrou, the innkeeper, sat down to 

 rest. In lighting a cigar, the extra light of 

 the match added to the feeble candle light 

 and placed at the proper angle revealed to 

 one of them what had not been observed 

 before— an engraving on the wall. The 

 discovery was duly announced and marked 

 the beginning of a new epoch in cavern ex- 

 plorations. Not that Riviere's discovery 

 was the first of its kind; but that the two 

 previous finds of a similar nature had not 

 been accepted as authentic. These were in 

 the cavern of Altamira, Province of San- 

 tander, Spain, explored in 1879 by Sautu- 

 ola,^* and of Chabot (Gard), explored prior 

 to 1889 by Leopold Chiron. Then followed 

 Riviere's discovery at La Mouthe and that 

 of Daleau in 1896 in the cavern of Pair- 

 non-Pair (Gironde). 



The mural decorations at La Mouthe oc- 

 cur in four groups or panels. The first 

 panel is about ninety-three meters from the 

 entrance. The second, four meters farther 

 on, is called the 'Hall of the Bison.' Seven 

 animals are represented on an area 5.02 m. 

 by 2.6 m. The third and fourth panels are 

 one hundred and thirteen and one hundred 

 and thirty meters, respectively, from the 

 entrance. 



In 1899, Riviere was so fortunate as to 

 find a stone lamp in the floor deposits of 

 this cavern at a point about seventeen 

 meters from the entrance. The pick of the 

 workman broke the lamp into four pieces, 

 of which three were immediately recovered. 

 Riviere and two of his men searched for 

 the missing fragment an entire day, but 

 without success. The shallow bowl con- 

 tained some carbonized matter, an analysis 

 of which led M. Berthelot, the chemist, to 

 conclude that lard was used for lighting 

 purposes. On the base, there is an en- 



" Don M. S. de Sautuola, ' Breves apuntea sobre 

 algunos objetos prehistoricos de la provincia de 

 Santander,' 1880, Libreria Murillo, Madrid. 



graving of a wild goat's head and horns. 

 A figure exactly like this was found on the 

 third mural panel already mentioned. This 

 was the fourth lamp to be found in French 

 caverns. The first and second were from 

 the cavern of Monthier (Gharente), and 

 the third from the cavern of Coual (Lot). 

 The necessities of men dwelling in dark 

 caverns would be likely to lead to the in- 

 vention of artificial light, which light made 

 it possible for them to depict the frescoes 

 and engravings on the walls of their abodes. 



The past six years have witnessed a suc- 

 cession of remarkable discoveries by MM. 

 Capitan, Breuil, Bourrinet and Peyrony, 

 in the caverns of Combarelles, Font-de- 

 Gaume, Bernifal and others. 



The Combarelles cavern has a total 

 length of two hundred and thirty-four 

 meters, is from one to two meters wide, and 

 high enough to admit of walking upright 

 for most of the way. The engravings begin 

 at a point about one hundred and eighteen 

 meters from the entrance, and occupy both 

 walls for a distance of one hundred meters. 

 Some of the figures are deeply incised; 

 others are mere scratches. In some, the 

 effect is heightened by the application of 

 a dark coloring matter (oxide of mangan- 

 ese). Portions of the walls are covered by 

 a coating of stalactite thick enough in 

 places completely to hide engravings ; while 

 in others the more deeply incised figures 

 are still visible. On areas devoid of in- 

 crustations, the figures are fresh and dis- 

 tinct. The artist sometimes had recourse 

 to champleve; sometimes natural promi- 

 nences were utilized to add relief to the 

 figures. Of the one hundred and nine en- 

 gravings of various animals on the walls 

 at Combarelles there are some forty equine 

 figures, occurring either singly or in groups, 

 and fourteen of the mammoth. The mural 

 engravings belong precisely to the same 

 school of art as the relief and incised figures 



