THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 125 



place, the femur, tibia, fibula, ankle-bone, or astragalus, all in 

 juxta position. Even the patella or ^detached bone of the knee- 

 pan was searched for, and not in vain. Here, therefore, we have 

 evidence of an entire limb not having been washed in a fossil state 

 out of an older alluvium, and then swept afterwards into a cave, 

 so as to be mingled with flint implements, but having been in- 

 troduced when clothed with its flesh, or at least when it had the 

 separate bones bound together by their natural ligaments, and in 

 that state buried in mud. 



" If they were not all of contemporary date, it is clear from this 

 case, and from the humerus of the Ursus spelceus, before cited as 

 found in a floor of stalagmite, that the bear lived after the flint 

 tools were manufactured, or in other words, that man in this 

 district preceded the cave-bear." 



Multitudes of questions arise out of these observations, and 

 many of them will probably long remain unanswered ; but we 

 may in the remainder of this article, profitably restrict ourselves 

 to three of them : 



1. What style of men were these contemporaries of the mam- 

 moth, as compared with those who now walk the earth ? 



2. How great is their antiquity ? 



3. What bearing have the conclusions which we must form on 

 these points, on the facts known to us on other evidence than that 

 of geology, as to the origin and early history of man ? 



The writer of these pages, on a former occasion, ventured to 

 predict that if any osseous remains of antediluvian man should be 

 discovered, they would probably present characters so different 

 from those of modern races that they might be regarded as be- 

 longing to a distinct species.* With perhaps one exception, this 

 anticipation has not yet been realized. The skull from the cave 

 of Engis, in Belgium, supposed to be the oldest known, is in the 

 judgment of Prof. Huxley, not by any means abnormal, but on 

 the contrary, not unlike some European skulls. Another skull, 

 that of Neanderthal, not found with remains of extinct animals, 

 and therefore of uncertain geological antiquity, has however ex- 

 cited more attention than the Engis skull. Its pre-historic anti- 

 quity has been assumed by many writers, and its low forehead, pro- 

 minent superciliary ridges, and general flatness, giving a more ape- 

 like air than those of the heads of any modern tribes, together 



* Archaia p. 237. 



