LECTURE IX. 253 



stalagmite. The passage to tlie left is nari^ow and winding, 

 leading almost horizontally to an abrupt precipicej beneath 

 which a large hall opens, the roof being formed by loose blocks 

 which threaten to fall at any moment. The floor of this cave 

 is very declivitous. On the elevated spots are large heaps of 

 ossiferous mud, and in the depression there is a bed of osseous 

 mud incrusted with thick, smooth, and uniform stalagmite. 

 In the most precipitous spots there is a threefold alternation of 

 mud and stalagmite. 



In this ossiferous mud were found, along with teeth, shoul- 

 derblade, arm and foot bones of man, a number of bones of the 

 cave bear, the old brown bear, some few remains of the cave 

 hyaena, cave lion, dog, wolf, and some species of deer. Of 

 the cave bear there were seven skulls, fifty half lower jaws, 

 above 300 teeth and all the bones of the skeleton, and some 

 bones of embryos. The human teeth were found in a thin 

 mud layer intermixed with hyena and bear teeth, under a thick 

 stalagmite covering which was so crystalline that when struck 

 with the hammer it split into large crystalline planes. This 

 crust had never been disturbed. Besides the human remains 

 were found evidences of human industry : a triangular flint 

 knife, a round bone of the cave bear which had been trans- 

 formed into a cutting instrument, three lower jaws of the cave 

 bear, the ascending rami of which were perforated for the pur- 

 pose of hanging them up, and the trochings of a deer carved 

 and pointed. The most remarkable weapons however con- 

 sisted of twenty half jaws of the cave bear, from which the 

 ascending ramus had been struck off" and the body of the lower 

 jaw had been so carved that it presented a convenient handle. 

 The projecting canine tooth thus formed a hook which might 

 serve as a weapon, or a hoe for digging up the earth. Had 

 we found, say the authors, but one sample of these singular 

 tools it might have been objected that it was merely accidental, 

 but having found twenty, all worked in the same manner, how 

 can we speak of accident ? We are moreover enabled to fol- 

 low the method by which the primitive man gave this form to 

 the jaw. In each of the twenty jaws may be seen the traces 

 of incisions made with the edge of a badly sharpened flint 



