PREHISTORIC MAN IN CALIFORNIA. 27 



place obstacles in the way of the State Survey, and shows the 

 animus which characterized the opposition which brought 

 such an amount of pressure to bear upon the State Legisla- 

 ture, that it refused to make further appropriations for carry- 

 ing on the survey, or even for the publication of the results 

 which had already been obtained, leaving them to be published 

 by private individuals, as has been done in the volumes on 

 botany and ornithology, a liberality by which all who take 

 interest in the natural history and resources of our State are 

 greatly benefited. Having at the time of the aforesaid oppo- 

 sition been brought into communication with many of the 

 intelligent portion, beside several of our (at that time) Solons ! 

 (no offense intended by the distinction) I was surprised and 

 somewhat disgusted at hearing men, even legislators, who 

 were personally or representatively dependant upon the 

 extraction of minerals from the earth for their support, 

 express their supreme contempt for science and scientific pur- 

 suits, especially the shell sharps, as they dubbed geologists, 

 stating that they wanted some one who could and would show 

 them right where they could strike rich deposits of the 

 precious metal, instead of going around hunting shells, bugs, 

 etc. They evidently did not realize the necessity of the study 

 of conchology and other sciences allied to geology for a proper 

 understanding of the laws of the formation and deposit of 

 mineral veins. 



But to return to the skull. Dr. Foster further says: "But 

 Professor Whitney, who succeeded in securing the relic for the 

 Museum of the State Geological Survey, after a careful exam- 

 ination of the locality where it was said to have been found, 

 and after having questioned the persons who had had it in 

 their possession, arrived at the conclusion that the find was 

 authentic. ***** 



"The skull was given to Professor Wyman to describe, who 

 found great difficulty in removing the cemented gravel with 

 which it was encrusted. 



"This skull, admitting its authenticity, carries back the 

 advent of man to the pliocene epoch, and is therefore older 



