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little hesitation in falsifying facts to subserve a similar purpose. Tliey talk of 

 religion and infidelity ! There is no profession of religion more offensive than 

 that which, under the assumption of superior piety, attempts to vilify the 

 honest convictions of others ; the ' stand aside because I am holier than thou 

 art ' is, in general, void of reality, as it is wanting in Christian humility and 

 charity. They talk of reconciliation between the utterances of science and 

 religious beliefs, as if true religion and sound science ever have been or can be 

 at variance. If religion means belief in certain dogmas and adherence to 

 certain ritualistic forms, science and religion may often be in conflict ; but, 

 if, on the other hand, the exercise of religion consists in search after truth, 

 regard to the relations in which we are placed to the universe, and devotion to 

 the Great Author of all, then science and religion ' are at one, and need no 

 reconciliation.' " 



Agreeing entirely with these sentiments, I wish it to be borne in mind, 

 that in the enquiries I propose to make in this lecture, I hold myself free from 

 those theological dogmas which attempt to put arbitrary limits of time to man's 

 presence upon earth, and to dictate the character in which he first appeared, 

 and that I intend to deal with this part of the cpiestion under the light which 

 the investigations of scientific men have recently thrown upon it. 



Now we are told, by a late writer upon this part of our subject, that " the 

 first appearance of man in Europe dates back to a period so remote, that neither 

 history, nor even tradition can throw any light on his origin or mode of life," 

 and we accordingly find that Prehistoric Archaeologists are driven to acquire 

 a knowledge of the character and habits of these early races, by examination 

 of the remains they have left behind .them . 



Adopting this test, careful enquiry has enabled Archaeologists to divide 

 (by way of ad interim classification) the prehistoric period of Europe into 

 four epochs. 



1st. The " Palaeolithic," in which man shared the possession of Europe, 

 including England itself, with the Mammoth, the Cave Bear, the woolly-haired 

 Rhinoceros and other now extinct animals. 



2nd. The " Neolithic," in which men used beautiful polished stone 

 weapons and other instruments, but did not until nearly the close of this age, 

 possess any knoAvledge of metals except gold. 



3rd. The "Bronze Age," in which bronze was used in the manufacture of 

 arms and instruments of all kinds. 



4th. The "Iron Age," in which iron had superseded bronze for many 

 uses, though the latter metal was still used for ornamental purposes. 



During the first of these periods we shall find that even in England man 

 was the contemporary of the Elephant, the Rhinoceros, the Cave Bear, the 

 Reindeer and the Hyaena. Mr. Lubbock in his recent work on " Prehistoric 

 Times " tells us as follows : — ■ 



" In the year 1840, Mr. Godwin Austin communicated to the Geological 

 Society a memoir on the Geology of the south-east of Devonshire, and in his 

 description of Kent's Hole, near Torquay, he says that ' human remains and works 

 of art, such as arrow heads and knives of flint, occur in all parts of the cave, 

 and throughout the entire thickness of the clay ; and no distinction founded on 

 condition, distribution, or relative position, can be observed, whereby the 

 human can be separated from the other reliquiae, which included bones of the 

 Elephant, Rhinoceros, Ox, Deer, Horse, Bear, Hyaena, and a feline animal of 

 large size. 



" The value," he truly adds, " of such a statement must rest on the care 

 with which a collector may have explored; I must therefore state that my own 

 researches were constantly conducted in parts of the cave which had never 

 been disturbed, and in every instance the bones were procured from beneath 



