﻿440 J. B. Dakym — The Antiquity of Man. 



the Pleistocene mammals, the prejudice is that he should be considered 

 post-Glacial. Yet, geologically, the question is practically settled by 

 the evidence afforded bj"^ the Victoria Cave. There the usual Pleisto- 

 cene fauna is found overlain by a true glacial deposit. Whether or not 

 the bones of man have really been found there, is a question for 

 osteologists to detei'mine; but though of great, this is not of the first 

 importance- The fauna is that often associated with man ; therefore, 

 without prejudice, we conclude that, what is true of them as to age, 

 is also true of him : whether or not a human bone has been found 

 in that particular collection is comparatively unimportant. As, 

 however, owing to the reluctance shown in certain quarters to admit 

 the evidence, the simplicity of the geological question is not generally 

 known, a short summary of the facts and arguments may be of 

 interest. At the Victoria Cave the remains of Hyaena, Fox, Brown 

 Bear, Grizzly Bear, Elephas antiquus, Bhinoceros leptorhinus, Hippo- 

 potamus, Bos primigeniiis, Bison, and Eed Deer, and a questionable 

 fibula, have been found in the lower cave-earth. The ends of this 

 deposit were covered by a mass of erratic boulders and of till. 

 This was a true glacial deposit, as I have myself seen. This glacial 

 deposit immediately overlies the Cave-earth containing the Pleistocene 

 mammalia, without the intervention of any talus; but it was itself 

 covered by an enormous mass of talus, twenty feet and upwards in 

 thickness, composed of limestone fragments, fallen from the cliff 

 above, without the intermixture of any boulders whatever. 

 This sequence of deposits, consisting of : — 

 Modern screes, resting upon 

 Glacial Boulder-beds, overlying 

 Cave-earth, with the Pleistocene fauna, 

 sufficiently establishes the fact that the animals, whose remains 

 have been there found, lived in the country before the end of 

 the Glacial period. This is perfectly simple : but it is contrary 

 to the common opinion formed entirely upon the evidence 

 gleaned in a very different part of the country, to wit, the Ouse 

 and Thames basins, where the said fauna is post-Glacial. So 

 prejudice sets to work and puts its votaries through remarkable 

 contortions. First, it is suggested that the boulders are not a true 

 glacial deposit in place, but have tumbled into their present position 

 off the cliffs above. This is simply impossible, and therefore the 

 suggestion is absurd, for the following reasons : — Had the boulders 

 fallen off the cliff' in the course of its weathering, they would be 

 mixed up with ordinary talus and screes. But they are not so ; they 

 form a distinct deposit by themselves. Moreover, one cannot 

 suppose, if one would, that a nest of boulders and a patch of 

 Boulder-clay had been providentially, though most improbably, 

 placed on the top of the scar above the mammalian remains, so as 

 to fall in a lump and leave not a stone behind to mix with the sub- 

 sequent screes, for this reason : restore to the cliff the amount of 

 rock that has subsequently fallen as screes upon the boulder-bed, 

 and make due allowance for the enormous amount that has been 

 carried away in solution without leaving a trace behind; restore all 



