124 MAN : 



and when the facts are rightly observed there need 

 be no more hesitation in accepting it than in receiving 

 any other kind of testimony the earnest and honest 

 can offer. 



Understanding then the nature of geological evi- 

 dence and geological chronology, let us next inquire 

 what light has been thrown upon the antiquity of 

 man by recent researches among the superficial ac- 

 cumulations of Western Europe. We say Western 

 Europe, for as yet this is the only region that has met 

 with anything like attention from geologists, though 

 other regions may, and in all likelihood wiU, contribute 

 a richer harvest, and give evidence of a still higher 

 antiquity. In passing from the historic to the pre- 

 historic in Western Europe, sepulchral mounds, 

 sculptured monoliths, and other kindred monuments, 

 first demand the attention of the antiquarian and 

 geologist. Many of these are clearly of vast antiquity, 

 but people who could sculpture huge monohths and 

 transport them often for considerable distances, must 

 have made some progress in the mechanical arts, and 

 must, in the ordinary course of events, have been pre- 

 ceded by others more primitive and less advanced. 

 The same may be said of the lake-dwellings which 

 have recently received such minute and pains-taHng 

 attention from the archaeologists of Switzerland. 

 People who were capable of erecting pile-works and 



