he immediately afterwards proceeded to Sicily to examine the ossiferous 

 caves of that island, and there discovered the " Grotta di Maccagnone,'^ in 

 which flint-implements of great antiquity were found adhering to the roof- 

 matrix, mingled with remains of hyaenas now extinct in Europe. (Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc. 18.59.) Thus in 1859 the subject of the antiquity of 

 the human race, which had previously been generally discredited by men 

 of science, was launched upon fresh evidence. Since then it has been 

 actively followed up by numerous inquirers, and Dr. Falconer himself was 

 contemplating, and had indeed actually commenced, a work ' On Primeval 

 Man.' In 1863 he took an active share in the singularly perplexed dis- 

 cussion concerning the human jaw of Moulin- Quignon ; and in the confer- 

 ence of English and French men of science held in France, he expressed 

 doubts as to the authenticity of the specimen, but in that guarded and 

 cautious manner which was characteristic of him. In the spring of 1864 

 he published a notice on the remarkable works of art by "primeval man," 

 discovered by Messrs. Lartet and Henry Christy in the ossiferous caves of 

 the Dordogne ; and in September he accompanied his friend Mr. Busk to 

 Gibraltar, to examine caves in which marvellously well-preserved remains 

 of man and mammals of great antiquity had been discovered. A joint 

 report of this expedition by himself and Mr. Busk was afterwards published. 



But his valuable life was drawing to a close. In January 1865 he was 

 seized with a severe attack of acute rheumatism, from which he had formerly 

 suffered in Cashmeer, and which on the 31st of the same month termi- 

 nated fatally. 



At the time of his death Dr. Falconer was a Yice- President of the Royal 

 Society, and Foreign Secretary of the Geological Society ; and as a proof of 

 the high esteem in which he was held by his many friends, it may be men- 

 tioned that the sum of nearly two thousand pounds has been collected for 

 founding a Fellowship in Natural Science in the University of Edinburgh, 

 to be called ''The Falconer Fellowship," and for the execution of a marble 

 bust which has been presented to the Royal Society. 



From what has been said, it is obvious that Falconer did enough during 

 his life-time to render his name as a palaeontologist immortal in science ; 

 but the work which he published was only a fraction of what he accom- 

 plished. The amount of scientific knowledge which perished with him was 

 very great, for he was cautious to a fault ; he always feared to commit 

 himself to an opinion until he was sure that he was right ; and he died in 

 the prime of life and in the fulness of his power. Lovers of science and 

 those who knew him well can best appreciate his fearlessness of opposition 

 when truth was to be evolved, his originality of observation and depth of 

 thought, his penetrating and discriminating judgment, his extraordinary 

 memory, the scrupulous care with which he ascribed to every man his due, 

 and his honest and powerful advocacy of that cause which his strong intel- 

 lect led him to adopt : they also have occasion to deplore the death of a 

 staid adviser, a genial companion, and a hearty friend. 



