138 



ample geological evidence of man's having been an 

 inhabitant of Western Europe for a period vastly 

 exceeding that of the ordinarily-accepted chronology. 

 As all historical, traditional, and ethnological testimony 

 points to the descent of the men of Europe from more 

 Oriental stocks, so the fair presumption is, that the 

 human race existed in Asia and in Northern Africa 

 for ages anterior to its appearance in the caves and 

 river- valleys of France and Belgium. It is true we 

 have as yet no evidence of the ethnology of the 

 cavem-dweUers and flint-workers of Western Europe : 

 if they were of Mongolian origin (as some are disposed 

 to think) it would not lessen their antiquity, and if 

 they were of Caucasian descent it would vastly in- 

 crease it, seeing that this brings into play the 

 argument of ascensive development, of which the 

 lower must precede the higher — the Mongol the 

 Caucasian, and the Negro the Mongol, — thus carry- 

 ing back the antiquity of mankind immeasurable 

 ages before his appearance either on the platform of 

 South-western Asia or on that of Southern Europe. 



