OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF GIBRALTAR. 



561 



from points in the Mediterranean resorted to by the Phoeni- 

 cians, were to be found in the British Musenm. 1 The proof 

 of the antiquity of the human race is one of the leading ques- 

 tions that occupy the attention of educated and scientific 

 men at the present day. That human remains and other 

 objects bearing upon it are considered of high value is suffi- 

 ciently proved by the fact that a grant of 1000L was passed 

 for the purchase of a collection of this kind from the Valley 

 of the Vezere, in the south of France, during the last session 

 of Parliament, for the British Museum. One of the human 

 skulls yielded by the rocks many years since appears to us to 

 point to a time of verj r high antiquity. In fact, it is the most 

 remarkable and perfect example of its kind now extant. 2 In 

 the absence of a properly organized museum no record exists 

 of the precise circumstances under which this interesting 

 relic was found, and that it has been preserved at all may 

 be considered a happy accident ; it has cost us much labour, 

 and with but partial success, to endeavour to trace its his- 

 tory on the spot where it turned up. 



Our time has been so fully occupied by the examination of 

 the cave collections and collateral subjects that we have 

 only been able to make a cursory examination of the geology 

 of the rock. We entirely agree with the opinions expressed 

 in the excellent memoir of Mr. James Smith, of Jordan Hill, 

 that it bears unmistakeable evidence of having undergone 

 extraordinary disturbance, both of upheaval and depression, 

 during the Quaternary or immediately pre-modern period ; 

 but the data are complex, and in some instances obscure. 

 ISFow that a complete topographical survey of the rock has 

 been completed on a large scale, a geological survey would 

 be a matter of comparative ease ; and we would submit to 

 your Excellency's consideration the expediency of an appli- 

 cation being made for the services of an assistant upon the 

 Geological Survey of England, to be deputed for the purpose. 

 The area is so compact and limited that the survey, includ- 

 ing that of the surrounding bay, need not occupy much 

 time. 



We cannot bring this letter to a close without expressing 

 our opinion of the value and importance of Capt. Brome's 



1 Extract of Letter from Dr. Falconer 

 to M. le Due de Blaeas. — ' Of the pot- 

 tery, several rude vases are quite entire. 

 None of them in the slightest degree 

 resembles the ' Hut Vase ' to which you 

 refer, but rather some of the small vases, 

 cups, &c, which surround the Hut Vase 

 figured by Viseonti (PL i.), or as figured 

 in "Lirch's Ancient Pottery,'" vol. ii. p. 

 197, fig. 175.' 



2 Respecting this skull, Dr. Falconer 

 WTote to a relative as follows : ' If you 

 hear any remarks made, you may say 

 from me, that I do not regard this pris- 

 can pithecoid man as the " missing link," 

 so to speak. It is a case of a very low 

 type of humanity — very low and savage, 

 and of extreme antiquity — but still man, 

 and not a halfway step between man 

 and monkey.' — [Ed.] 



VOL. II. 



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