328 A Geological Problem. " [July, 



3rd. That until they have been so found, the doctrine of 

 " Man amongst the Mammoths" remains non-proven. 



We purpose devoting this paper to a consideration of these 

 assumptions, and in the order in which they stand. 



I. The proposition that, " under all conditions, the bones 

 of man are as conservable as those of other mammals," as- 

 sumes a very plausible aspect, no doubt, when we are told 

 that their composition is the same ; that in Egypt no differ- 

 ence is observed between the condition of the mummies of 

 men and those of quadrupeds ; that, on ancient battle- 

 fields, the bones of the warrior and of his horse are equally 

 well preserved ; and that Cuvier, who gave much attention 

 to the question, did not believe in the contemporaneity of 

 man with the mammoth. 



Let it be supposed to be the fact that, in a general way, 

 the bones of man and the lower mammals have the same 

 composition. Since as much may be said in the case of 

 plants, it might be thence argued that had there been in the 

 old Carboniferous Period the same variety of plants as we 

 have in the present day, representatives of all of them would 

 have occurred as fossils in the coal and associated beds. 

 The fact, however, is otherwise ; for certain groups of the 

 vegetable kingdom are totally unrepresented in the beds in 

 question ; and hence, if the argument is worth anything, 

 they could have formed no part of the flora of the coal 

 period. To this, however, it is sufficient to reply that in 

 March, 1833, the late Dr. Lindley placed in water, in a 

 tank, 177 specimens of various plants belonging to all the 

 more remarkable natural orders, including representatives of 

 all those which are constantly present in the coal measures, 

 and also those which are universally absent. The uncovered 

 vessel was exposed to the air, and left untouched, further 

 than filling it up as the water evaporated, until April, 1835, 

 or upwards of two years. At the end of that time it was 

 found that certain kinds had entirely disappeared ; others 

 had left some more or less recognisable traces; whilst others 

 — especially fungi, ferns, and coniferous trees — were compa- 

 ratively well preserved. In short, the plants remaining and 

 the plants which had disappeared were respectively of the 

 same groups as those which are and those which are not 

 present amongst the coal fossils. * 



Again, it is well known that certain shells, such as oys- 

 ters and limpets, are more frequently met with in a fossil 

 state than others are, such as cockles. Now, both groups are 



* See Lindley and Hutton's Fossil Flora, vol. ii;., pp. 4 — 12. 



