134 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



observations, of about eighty feet to the mile. It is inconceivable on any 

 hypothesis that this ancient lava-flow could have followed any mountain ridge or 

 spur. Indeed, all the evidence goes to show that it followed an old river-bottom, 

 with its superimposed beds of gravel and horizontally depostted layers of sand 

 and clay. 



While this lava-stream formerly occupied a river-channel, presumably de- 

 pressed below the surrounding country, now this consolidated mass stands far 

 above the deep gorges and canons that have been furrowed out since. In other 

 words, this region, once a valley, is now in turn a mountain ! The enduring 

 nature of the basalt has partially protected these plateaus from the universal 

 erosion of that area. Beneath this basaltic mountain tunnels have been run, in 

 one case to a distance of nearly a third of a mile. 



The old river-bed upon which Table Mountain rests has been found, with 

 its characteristic worn pebbles and bowlders, and gold has been got in precisely 

 such positions as it would be found to-day in existing rivers. And from these 

 tunnels, even from one which measured nearly a third of a mile in length, the 

 remains of man in the shape of his actual bones, as well as beads, rough 

 pestles, and other relics of human fabrication, have been brought to light, and 

 these discoveries have been made, not by one man, but by many. Their sworn 

 statements are given, and the specimens collected by different people, at different 

 times, now enrich the collections of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Museum of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. 



In regard to the famous skull itself, we can do no better than to quote from 

 Professor Whitney's preface to Part II, wherein he says that "all those who re- 

 fuse to accept my conclusions as to the great antiquity of man in California, do 

 so on the ground that the Calaveras skull was not taken from its bed by the hand 

 of a scientific man. In so doing, they not only ignore the evidence presented 

 by the skull itself, which is positively a fossil, and was chiseled out of its gravelly 

 matrix in the presence of several eminent authorities, but they also reject the 

 very full testimony from other quarters, some of which comes from men of edu- 

 cation, and even of professional education. The body of the other evidence is 

 so great that it does not appear to me that it would be materially weakened by 

 dropping that furnished by the Calaveras skull itself." 



The voluminous testimony offered by Professor Whitney will impress all who 

 read this volume dispassionately. 



In regard to the age of these remains, Professor Whitney says that "it will 

 be safe to say that the human race in America is shown to be, at least, of as 

 ancient a date as that of the European pliocene ; and to have an idea how far 

 that epoch is from the present one, it is only necessary to recall the amount of 

 erosion which has taken place since the cessation of volcanic activity in that part 

 of the sierra in which he the formations which have been described in the present 

 volume." 



