276 LECTUEE X. 



animal bones bear traces of workmansbip, eflfected wlien tbey 

 were in a fresb state, tbe aspect is cbanged. Were it possible 

 to expunge from science the discoveries of Scbmerling, Lartet, 

 and many others, the jaw of Moulin-Quignon might, as is sug- 

 gested by Beaumont, be considered a perfectly isolated case. 

 But as these facts, perhaps unknown to the celebrated acade- 

 mician, are on record, it is impossible to treat a multitude of 

 facts as a collection of exceptions. 



With regard (apart from this jaw) to the parallelism of the 

 stone hatchets of the valley of the Somme (and, by the way, of 

 many other localities) with the pileworks of the Swiss stone 

 period, it will excite both in the archaeologist and paleeontolo- 

 gist a smile of incredulity; in the antiquary, because the 

 hatchets of the diluvium bear traces of diiferent and more rough 

 workmanship, whilst the Swiss implements indicate a much 

 higher culture and a more recent epoch ; in the anatomist, be- 

 cause the Swiss pile-works, as Eiitimeyer has shown, present 

 a different Fauna, in which there is no trace of extinct species, 

 and which are perfectly distinct from those of the diluvial de- 

 posits. Whoever has read with attention the accumulative evi- 

 dence given in a previous lecture, will find that I need not here 

 prove again that the ingenious opinion of Cuvier, if it was 

 such, has been in every respect refuted, and that the parallel- 

 ism of the deposits of the Somme valley with the Swiss pile- 

 works has turned out an unfortunate attempt void of any 

 foundation. 



We shall pass on now to the geological aspect of the ques- 

 tion. I shall here summarise the assertions of Elie de Beau- 

 mont, and those of his opponents whose names are of not less 

 weight in geology. 



In a note read August 10th before the French Academy, Ehe 

 de Beaumont expresses himself thus: — " My theory rests chiefly 

 on the distinction between the real or Alpine diluvium and cer- 

 tain gravel deposits which, like those of Moulin-Quignon, more 

 or less resemble the diluvium. 



" I attribute the origin of the latter to the effect of still 

 acting forces, the action of which has, in my opinion, been mo- 

 mentarily interrupted by the diluvial phenomena, whilst other 



