OU GOSSIP- ON ANTTQUITl" OF MAN, 



lower carboniferous rocks, and at about a mile from the medicinal 

 spring is situated the " salt mountain," supposed to be so called 

 from a salt spring which issues from it. H. Gesner, Esq., informs- 

 me that this spring is not strongly saline. I leani from Dr. Honey- 

 man that there is in this district another spring of a highly gaseous 

 character, which is continually sending off bubbles of gas, carrying: 

 up a fine sand ; its water is not saline but sweet to the taste. 



Brine Spring, 12 miles from Bedeque. H. Gesner, Esq., in- 

 forms me that a very strong brine, affording one bushel of salt to< 

 the hundred gallons of water, or six per Cent, of salt, is found on 

 the north side of the St. Patrick's Channel. 



From what we see of the number and distribution of the brine 

 springs of the Province, mentioned in this paper and elsewhere, the 

 manufacture of salt may be expected to become a considerable 

 branch of industry. The composition of the brines issuing from the 

 lower carboniferous rocks is favourable to the manufacture, if, as- 

 may be supposed, they all resemble those of which the analysis has 

 just been given, in containing sulphate of lime as the most abundant 

 ingredient next to salt. As this is a substance not readily dissolved 

 by water, it will separate almost entirely from the brine on boiling 

 down to a certain stage, and the deposit on further evaporation will 

 be table salt of considerable purity. Bromine of course, if present, 

 will be found in the fluid from which the salt has deposited. 



Art. IX. Enquiry into the Antiquity of Man. 



By Wm. Gossip. 



[Read March 6, 1865.] 



The evidence relied on by geologists who endeavor to caiTy 



back the antiquity of man to an era far beyond the historic, 



is gathered from strata of the tertiary period, in which, associated 



with remains of extinct animals, are flint implements and weapons, 



similar to those which are known to be of the recent period; and 



from cavern deposits, in which the remains of man are found, 



mingled with those of other animals, the species of which it is 



supposed did not come down to the chronologic or historic age. 



Geology, however, reveals no data to establish positive conclu- 



