§40. DISEASED BONES FOUND IN CAVES. 183 



muscles and skin : the extreme freshness of many of them (especially 

 in Banwell Cave) supports this opinion. Upon the elevation of the 

 land, these fissures were raised above the water, and gradually drained, 

 during which period the formation of stalactite commenced from the 

 percolation of water through the superincumbent beds of limestone. 

 When Kent's Cave was accessible, and before the formation of the floor 

 of stalagmite, some of the wandering tribes of the early Britons may 

 have prowled into the recess, or occasionally sought shelter there ; 

 and stone implements, bones, or any hard substances, left in the cave, 

 would soon sink a few feet in the soft ossiferous mud, and become 

 hermetically sealed up, as it were, by the stalagmitic deposit. 



From what has been stated, we learn that our wastes 

 and forests were once inhabited by extinct herbivora and 

 carnivora, belonging to genera of which the recent species 

 are almost entirely restricted to southern climates ; that 

 some of the caves were tenanted by successive generations 

 of bears, wolves, &c. ; that the hyenas, according to their 

 peculiar habits, dragged into their dens the creatures which 

 they killed or found dead, and devoured them at their 

 leisure ; — that subsequently all these races were annihilated 

 except the few allied species which still inhabit the Euro- 

 pean continent and islands. In England, the only living 

 representatives of the three families of carnivora which 

 swarmed in these latitudes during the Mammoth period, 

 are the Fox, of the dog tribe ; the Wild Cat, of the feline 

 order ; and the Badger, of the bear tribe.* 



40. Diseased bones of carnivora found in caves. — 

 Among the bones found in the caves of Germany are many 

 in a condition which must have resulted from accident or 

 disease. In some there has been a formation of new bony 

 matter to repair fractures ; in others there is anchylosis, or 

 adhesion of the joints from inflammation: while in some 

 the effects of caries, or decay of the bones, the result of 

 tedious and painful diseases, are apparent. Others have a 



* British Fossil Mammalia. 



